WWDTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY ■ $3.00

PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI

Check MatesMarc Jacobs delivered his collection for Louis Vuitton in pairs

of happy chic. Descending from four grand escalators, the models came two-by-two, showcasing Jacobs’ structured take on linear

thinking with boldly graphic stripes and checks. For more, see page 4.

RETAILERS VS. CRITICS

Rating Saint Laurent:Was Hedi a Hit or Miss?

AU REVOIR,PARIS

THE COLLECTIONS ENDED WITH MIU MIU, ELIE SAAB, L’WREN SCOTT AND MORE.

PAGES 5 AND 6

By MILES SOCHA

PARIS — Did one of the most hyped shows of Paris Fashion Week — Hedi Slimane’s debut at Saint Laurent — sizzle or fi zzle?

That depends on whom you ask.While Slimane’s big debut

Monday night garnered largely lukewarm reviews from the press, and a few barbs, many retail big-wigs raised a fi nger in objection.

“I loved it,” Pete Nordstrom, ex-ecutive vice president and president of merchandising at Nordstrom, told WWD on his way into the Alexander McQueen show Tuesday night. “We were very encouraged by what we saw. It was defi nitely one of the high-lights of the week.”

Mark Lee, Barneys chief execu-tive offi cer, went further, saying “there was a unanimous and spon-taneous love from all the Barneys team members immediately after the [Saint Laurent] show.”

Lee’s opinion carries an in-sider’s weight given that he was at the management helm of YSL from 1999 to 2004, orchestrating the cre-ative transition from Tom Ford to Stefano Pilati, who Slimane suc-ceeded earlier this year.

Indeed, Lee pointed out Ford’s most successful collections, both commercially and press-wise, sprung directly from house codes. These included Ford’s “gypsy” and African collections, plus a color-drenched, Forties-inspired show for fall 2003.

“YSL is one of only two French houses that has a complete style and an arsenal of iconic elements so rich as to constitute a ward-

robe,” Lee said. “Critical elements of YSL style and wardrobe have been underutilized by YSL over the past 12 years and overutilized by dozens and dozens of other brands and houses. I think it was only correct that Hedi reclaimed for Saint Laurent Paris what be-longs to the maison.”

Lee lauded Slimane for show-ing “modern, sexy, desirable cloth-ing that the Barneys customer will want, among others, in what has been a stellar and thrilling Paris season.” (For the Paris buyers’ roundup, see page 2.)

“Hedi’s collection touched both my heart and my mind. It was emo-tional to see him back at the house where he clearly belongs and also see the thought and care that went into this fi rst presentation,” said Lee.

“We were extremely excited about Hedi’s fi rst collection. It’s real-ly going to usher in a new era for the brand,” echoed Bergdorf Goodman president Joshua Schulman, who was YSL’s executive vice president of worldwide merchandising from 2000 to 2004. “We felt there was a mo-dernity and a diversity and we can’t wait to get to the showroom and see it all up close.”

A swath of international retail-ers were similarly smitten.

“The focus was very much on the cut, fi t and fabrication, and this was a collection that is perfect for our customer,” said Marigay McKee, chief merchant at London-based Harrods. “[Slimane] delivered a slick collection fusing his contempo-rary silhouette with rock-meets-Sev-enties-inspired styles that echoed an iconic era of the house.”

SEE PAGE 7

COLOR CHARTBOLD SHADES MAKE A STATEMENT IN MEN’S DENIM. PAGE MW1

SPRING 2013COLLECTIONS

PARIS

2 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

Retailers Praise Paris’ Creativity, ExcitementTO E-MAIL REPORTERS AND EDITORS AT WWD, THE ADDRESS IS FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME@FAIRCHILDFASHION.COM, USING THE INDIVIDUAL’S NAME. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2012 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 204, NO. 71. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, October and December, and two additional issues in February, March, April, August, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. For New York Hand Delivery Service address changes or inquiries, please contact Mitchell’s NY at 1-800-662-2275, option 7. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For all request for reprints of articles please contact The YGS Group at condenast@theygsgroup.com, or call 800-501-9571. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

ON WWD.COM

THE BRIEFING BOXIN TODAY’S WWD

While Hedi Slimane’s debut at Saint Laurent garnered largely lukewarm reviews from the press, many retail bigwigs raised a finger in objection. PAGE 1 The Paris collections, according to retailers who attended the shows, kept the French capital in pole position as a hotbed for creative, exciting fashion. PAGE 2 The NFL’s offices were transformed Tuesday night into a fashion presentation for the introduction of a high-end T-shirt designed by Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman. PAGE 3 Louis Vuitton hosted a breakfast for its VIP guests in a Space Age-themed luxury lounge before its show in the courtyard of the Louvre museum. PAGE 3 The diametrically opposed trends of fashion-forward colored denim versus a return to classic, authentic washes will dominate the men’s jeans market this spring. PAGE MW1 Century 21 is experimenting with an elevated men’s shopping experience at its Paramus, N.J., store in a break from the merchandising morass. PAGE MW2 Hugo Boss has opened the first of its new-concept stores in the U.S. at Long Island’s Americana Manhasset. PAGE MW2 As they geared up for the final leg of the presidential race, the NRF launched a get-out-the-vote initiative, while the AAFA revealed results from its most recent straw poll. PAGE MW2 Ralph Lauren Corp.’s David Lauren discussed marketing strategies at the Executive Marketing Summit on Tuesday at the New York Stock Exchange. PAGE MW7 It’s Deborah Needleman’s first week at The New York Times, and she has big plans for T: The New York Times Style Magazine. PAGE MW8

Karlie Kloss at the MAC Cosmetics ball.

MAC/Carine Roitfeld ball: MAC Cosmetics hosted a black-tie ball Tuesday night to fete its collaboration on a limited-edition line with Carine Roitfeld. For more images, see WWD.com/eye.

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Due to a publicist’s error, the British artist Sam Taylor-Johnson was identified incorrectly in a story on page 17, Tuesday. Taylor-Johnson is the artist formerly known as Sam Taylor-Wood.

By RACHEL STRUGATZ

NEW YORK — Burberry does it again.

The U.K.-based brand has nabbed the top ranking for the second consecutive time in New York University think tank Luxury Lab’s, or L2’s, fourth-annual Digital IQ Index, ranking fashion brands according to their online competence. It’s also the leader of the seven brands that comprise the “genius” category — joined by runners-up in the study Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade and Tory Burch (tied for the third place), Gucci, Coach and Louis Vuitton.

Brands are still clamoring for the most Facebook “likes” and

followers on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, but the “quiet bat-tle” companies are fighting this year is for e-commerce market share, the study found.

“What’s old is new again. E-commerce is now the new must-have accessory for fashion brands,” said Scott Galloway, NYU professor and cofounder of L2, adding that the growth rates of e-commerce for Burberry, Ralph Lauren and Tory Burch — which grew 30, 23 and 90 percent, respectively, year-over-year from 2010 to 2011 — are indi-cations that this channel is becom-ing very meaningful for business.

“We got it totally wrong on Facebook commerce,” Galloway ad-mitted, calling the social network’s commerce platform the “ultimate head fake for this industry.” But moving forward, e-commerce reigns as the key function for fashion brands to focus on, followed by best representation on the “very small screens” (tablets and smartphones).

Smart phones are becoming a

force to be reckoned with for the industry, Galloway said, citing that a quarter of searches relat-ing to fashion brands come from a mobile device.

“We just wouldn’t have pre-dicted that [number] a year ago. If it keeps growing this way, in 24 to 36 months, the majority of fashion searches will come from mobile,” he said. “The little screen is becoming the primary looking glass through which peo-ple interact with brands.”

While the top two, Burberry and Ralph Lauren, are estab-lished legacy brands — it was newer (and relatively smaller) Kate Spade’s and Tory Burch’s rapid rises to shared third-place status that impressed Galloway

and L2 director of research and advisory Maureen Mullen.

“If you buy our thesis that dig-ital IQ is an indicator of success, they’re the icons in the making of fashion. Tory Burch is rocking it through this ranking every year,” Galloway said.

“Tory Burch and Kate Spade have effectively built their busi-nesses with robust e-commerce sites that are a big growth chan-nel for them — if not the most significant channel for their business,” Mullen added, noting that each have leveraged social media to build lifestyle brands.

Coach, number six in the study, is another brand that Galloway and Mullen praise for implementing e-commerce and digital into the over-all business from an organizational perspective.

Mullen believes Coach does a better job at coach.com of con-necting users with its physical stores than anyone else in the study. The company has integrat-ed back-end retailing and the

user experience between brick-and-mortar and online.

“If you go online, you can see inventory in the store, actually pur-chase a product on coach.com and pick it up at the store two hours later. That sounds obvious and sim-ple, but it’s very operationally com-plex,” Galloway said, pointing out two additional ways Coach stands out in digital: it was one of the first to enlist a senior-level executive to head e-commerce operations and its innovations with respect to the blogger community.

As for the biggest winners this year, Balenciaga’s new flash-free Web site and increased social media activity caused its ranking to skyrocket by 37 percent. Other major gainers this year included Cole Haan, Giorgio Armani, Oscar de la Renta and Prada (which fi-nally launched a Facebook page in January and is one of seven brands that customizes product on its site). In fact, of the eight brands (out of 64 total) that re-launched their digital flagships in 2012, seven increased their Digital IQ scores (Alexander McQueen was the only site that saw a relaunch and decreased its ranking by 11 percent this year).

On the flip side, Paul Smith went from gifted to average sta-tus, falling 26 percent in the study. Other brands declining in the ranking included Fendi, Stuart Weitzman, Jimmy Choo, Dolce & Gabbana, Marc Jacobs (which has the highest Pinterest score, yet no mobile site or apps) and Theory.

But for Galloway, the biggest digital disappoints in fashion are Hermès and Prada.

“It’s shocking how poorly they’re doing,” Galloway said. On a tactical level, he believes the two fashion houses just haven’t embraced innovation around so-cial or mobile with the same ea-gerness as their peers.

“On a more macro level, their offline businesses are so strong that they don’t feel the need to invest in digital. And time will tell whether that will bite them or haunt them,” Galloway said.

Mullen credits hotel compa-nies like Marriott, Starwood and Hyatt as areas where fashion can learn a lot. For example, Marriott — which owns Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott and Marriott hotels — has been able to increase the dig-ital presence of the Ritz-Carlton through a universal set of plat-forms and technologies employed across its brands.

By WWD STAFF

PARIS — While at times wintry and sober in coloration, the Paris collections kept the French capi-tal in the pole position as a hot-bed for creative, exciting fashion.

That’s the main message from retailers who attended the shows, which wound up Wednesday here.

“Paris presented one of the most highly anticipated seasons in years,” said Colleen Sherin, senior fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue.

“All eyes were on Raf Simons at Christian Dior and Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent, encour-aging other designers to up the ante in their offerings for spring 2013. This competition was excit-ing and is crucial for our industry in keeping everyone on the top of their game,” she added.

Many buyers said they would increase investments. Polat Uyal, chief merchandising of-ficer at Istanbul-based Beymen, said Paris would get the lion’s share of its budget increases to feed a vibrant luxury business in Turkey. In Europe, retailers were finding reasons for optimism de-spite a gloomy economic climate.

“This is going to be a good opportunity for those that know their audience,” said Ed Burstell, managing director of Liberty.

“If you’re somebody who un-derstands who their customer is, and you apply a focus or an edit to it, where the customer responds to it — not just because there is a lot of it, but because they want it almost on an emotional level — I think you’re going to win. All that said, I do think you have to be price sensitive and you have to balance your buys appropriately

knowing that there is a shaky economy,” he added.

Buyers praised collections including Balenciaga, Givenchy, Saint Laurent and Dries Van Noten, while cropped jack-ets, slim pants, tunics, oversize shirts and lower heels were cited among key items.

“There is an overall soft and sensual hand that graced many of the Paris collections,” said Tomoko Ogura, senior fashion director at Barneys New York. “We could feel and visualize this from our seats. Whether the theme was grunge, religion, punk or something more sinister and melancholy in feel, the softness made it beautiful.”

There were some detractors.“Paris had its ups and downs.

There were collections that were dark and somber that seemed

A page at Burberry.com.

Burberry Again Tops Digital Rankings

{Continued on page 8}

WWD.COM

By JEAN E. PALMIERI

NEW YORK — The ladies took the spotlight at the NFL head-quarters Tuesday night when the league’s offices were trans-formed into a fashion presenta-tion for the introduction of a high- end T-shirt designed by Georgina Chapman, cofounder of Marchesa.

For more than a year, Chapman and Suzanne Johnson, wife of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and brand ambassador for NFL women’s appar-el, have been working on the “sport meets couture” project. The fruits of that project were unveiled at the event, where the limited-edition $110 shirt, which is covered in Swarovski Elements, was introduced. The top,

made from a viscose jersey fabric with the team’s name spelled out in a femi-nine beaded pattern, will be sold on-line, at MetLife Stadium and the Jets’ Manhattan shop.

Johnson, who wore one of the Ts under a Theory blazer with leggings and boots, said the idea was to mix “high and low. Georgina is known for her red-carpet staples, but they’re out of touch for most girls. Her husband [Harvey Weinstein] is a huge Jets fans, so I asked her to design something. She said yes immediately.”

Since the shirt was created, Johnson said, five other teams have come forward asking for their own versions — the Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.

Chapman is not so sure she’s up for creating versions for other teams. “I’ve had so much fun with this, but my hus-band is a Jets fan, so I had to do it.” And if she whips some up for the com-petition, “I might be divorced,” she said with a laugh.

Chapman also created a couture version of the design, which was auc-tioned off, with proceeds going to the NFL’s A Crucial Catch campaign, which helps raise funds for the fight against breast cancer. Guests also bid on a Marchesa dress, a Marchesa bag and four tickets to a movie premiere, with the funds going to Chapman’s charity, the Rose Home for Girls.

The shirts will be featured in the NFL’s new women’s-themed ad cam-paign, worn by Melania Trump, DJ Kiss, Summer Sanders and others.

3WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

NFL Unveils Chapman-Designed T-shirt

Georgina Chapman

and Suzanne Johnson

COFFEE OR TEA?: Louis Vuitton hosted a breakfast for its VIP guests in a Space Age-themed luxury lounge before its show in the courtyard of the Louvre museum — but not everyone was hungry. As “Skins” star Kaya Scodelario tucked into miniature pastries, French actress Bérénice Bejo turned down a plate of layered chocolate slices. “It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?” she said.

Bejo revealed she is about to start filming “The Past” with Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, who this year won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film with “A Separation.” Unlike Jean Dujardin, her costar in “The Artist,” she has no plans to cross the pond at present. “Working in the United States is not an end in itself. What is interesting is meeting people who are great at what they do,” she said.

Scodelario will soon be on the set of “Southcliffe,” a four-part series about the aftermath of a mass shooting, directed by Sean Durkin for British network Channel 4. The British actress is keeping a level head about predictions that she is about to vault into the league of Hollywood leading ladies. “It’s lovely, but for me, I just want to work. I really like my job, and whether that be in England or Hollywood or in the middle of a forest somewhere, it’s fine,” she said with a laugh.

French actress Céline Sallette is preparing for the November release of “Capital” by Greek director Costa-Gavras, which depicts the ruthless world of investment banking. “He paints them as spoiled, badly behaved children. It’s a jungle,” she noted.

Natalia Vodianova, flanked by boyfriend Antoine Arnault, sported a pair of blue stiletto pumps with a sparkly crown design on the heel — part of a capsule collection she designed for Russian low-cost shoe retailer Centro to benefit her Naked Heart Foundation.

Dubbed Fairytale, the line launched last week in 280 stores and is selling fast. “We’re going to continue collaborating. We would like to build a play park, and so the idea is that when a woman buys a pair of shoes, she’s contributing back to her community, maybe to her own child,” she said.

The Russian model has also spent part of the week with a BBC television crew. “They’re filming over 20 people, and it’s about the last 10 years and how the world has changed. They’re going to India, they’re going to China, Brazil, all these emerging and important economies right now, and doing a piece on influential people,” she explained. — JOELLE DIDERICH

WHAT A CROQUE: The actresses lining the front row of the Miu Miu show in Paris on Wednesday have been making the best of their time in the French capital.

Dianna Agron has practically gone native, having spent the last two months in France filming “Malavita,” alongside Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones. “It’s been such a load of fun. I don’t ever want to leave Paris,” she said. Agron has been hanging out in the tony Saint-Germain neighborhood, and has even picked up some useful lingo. “J’aimerais une table pour trois, s’il vous plaît,” she said, displaying her skill at reserving a table for three.

Amanda Seyfried was taking advantage of a break before her year-end promotional tour for “Les Misérables,” in which she stars as Cosette. “I gave myself extra days on either side

of the show so I can go look for antiques,” she said. The actress had already paid a visit to taxidermy specialist Deyrolle, but she was hesitant to add to her collection of stuffed animals. “I really don’t have the room,” she admitted.

Emma Stone, whose next film project will be “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” was looking forward to “eating a lot.” “I’ve already had two croque madames,” she reported proudly, using the French term for a grilled ham and cheese sandwich topped with a fried egg.

British actress Felicity Jones recently completed “The Invisible Woman,” directed by Ralph Fiennes. “He constantly pushes you, and because he knows acting so well, he’ll never let you do anything too easy or clichéd,” she said. “It’s a film very much about character, so we had lots of rehearsal and lots of takes.”

— J.D. AND MILES SOCHA WHERE THERE’S SMOKE: In terms of eye makeup, this Paris party was off the charts. MAC Cosmetics hosted a black-tie ball Tuesday night to fete its collaboration on a limited-edition color cosmetics line with Carine Roitfeld, with a smoky eye integral to the dress code, for many men included.

How long has Carine been devoted to that raccoon aspect? “About 20 years. It’s easy,” she said, making a rubbing motion around her peepers.

Wearing an organza dress fresh from Givenchy’s spring runway, Roitfeld embraced guests such as Karl Lagerfeld, Nicolas Ghesquière, Riccardo Tisci,

Kanye West and Azzedine Alaïa, who thronged through a Parisian townhouse thumping with house music and lit in moody fashion.

“Everyone wants to look like Carine, but there’s really only one Carine,” beamed the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. honcho John Demsey as he surveyed the crowd, packed tightly to catch a performance by British singer Paloma Faith.

Beauty rituals were among the topics at the party.

“I’ve been using Nivea cream all of my life,” confided Valentino Garavani.

“Clé de Peau,” said Alexander Wang as he scooped up a vodka-

apple cocktail mixed to his specifications. “You only have to use a little of it. Potent, potent, potent.”

“I love to take an hour-long really hot, hot bath and then a 10-minute really cold, cold shower. It makes you glow, gets your blood circulating and gets your metabolism working again,” added Orlando Pita.

Asked if he had a beauty secret, Tom Pecheux yelped, “I wish,” as he was whisked off by friends into the roiling crowd.

— M.S. AND JENNIFER WEIL

TOP OF THE TOWN: Sir Philip Green threw a private dinner at Soho House West Hollywood Tuesday night to celebrate the opening of the Topshop and Topman private showroom on Melrose Avenue. Opening ahead of the company’s first Los Angeles store at The Grove in February, the space will accommodate both celebrity dressing and appointment-only shopping, so clients can actually purchase the latest pieces. “I know when people see a storefront with the windows papered over they usually think it’s closed, but we’ve only just opened,” said Green, who was also in town for a wedding. Joining him was an eclectic crowd — by Hollywood dinner-party standards — that included Britney Spears (barely recognizable but for the “Hit Me Baby One More Time” -style cardigan and collared shirt), Sofia Vergara, Dita Von Teese, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher, Mario Lopez, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Christa B. Allen, Ashley Madekwe, Demi Lovato, Simon Cowell and new girlfriend Carmen Electra, and Nicole Richie. There was a place card marked simply “Kate” presumably for Kate Moss, though she wasn’t spotted at dinner. Green didn’t reveal where his next U.S. store would be, pointing to his nose and saying, “I follow this,” but he did visit South Coast Plaza and ventured that there could eventually be 15 to 20 U.S. locations. He also expressed confidence in the European economy and nonchalance about Chinese inflation, saying, “I produce less in China now than I did five years ago. I’m a speed guy, and it’s all about bringing it closer to home. We’re producing in 30 countries, including many in Europe.” — MARCY MEDINA

Amanda Seyfried, Emma Stone, Dianna Agron, Felicity Jones and Chloë Sevigny.

Antoine Arnault and Natalia Vodianova

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4 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

PARIS COLLECTIONS

Spring 2013WWD CLOSES OUT THE PARIS SEASON WITH AN OPEN LETTER TO

FRANCE — REGARDING LOUIS VUITTON’S REMARKABLE SET — ALONG WITH LAST-DAY COLLECTIONS FROM MIU MIU, ELIE SAAB AND MORE.

Dear France, Please don’t take all of Mr. Arnault’s money away. Fashion is one reason

France is so special. You can help ensure that after way too long a season, the people who buy this essential export to sell in their far-off lands, and those who photograph, report on, blog about and otherwise play a role in the global fashion game, leave your glorious capital (or if lucky enough to live here, just go home and kick off the stilettos) happy and a little amused. If you take away all of Mr. Arnault’s money, Marc Jacobs will still be a brilliant designer, but not one with the wherewithal to collaborate with Daniel Buren on a remarkable Louis Vuitton set with an enormous yellow-and-white glass checkerboard floor (who knew Grandma’s-kitchen-linoleum look could get such an upgrade?) and four mile-high silvery-sleek escalators, which, when in motion, revealed Damier stripes on their risers. Descending the escalators in sisterly pairs, Marc’s models made for sunny viewing, especially because he gave bright yellow a rare fashion moment.

The clothes worked the happy, if one-note, side of chic. Save for a few pants, the show was all about dresses in three lengths — mini, midi, maxi — and all about the Sixties. Jacobs was inspired by Buren’s “Les Deux Plateaux” in the Palais Royal, an installation of 260 columns of three different heights. One could also draw a fairly straight line to his signature show in New York, which was slouchier and more overtly sexy; here he offered a more structured take on linear thinking.

He also switched his graphic interest from stripes to checks in various sizes interspersed with clean florals. As always, the workmanship approached couture level — another benefit of Mr. Arnault’s good fortune — with much of the craftsmanship in the fine print: embroideries of near-microscopic sequins creating full-body shimmer; a flocked-velvet effect achieved by “tuffetage,” an embroidery carpet-making technique; floral lapel corsages set into sterling silver stems.

As for the handbags, almost every model carried one, yet there wasn’t a single monogram in sight. Rather, Jacobs let the Damier do the talking. Maybe he just wasn’t feeling the lettering thing, or maybe he wanted to address the increasing sophistication of the Chinese market, where the clamor for obvious logos isn’t what it used to be. How fortunate that he could diversify the Damier’s inherent chic so indulgently, as in one labor-intensive checkerboard crafted from little feathers aligned painstakingly into precision squares.

Dear France, such intricacy doesn’t come cheap. Yet it has such great power to please, not only the over-it fashion crowd but rich ladies around the world, too. Therefore, please don’t take all of Mr. Arnault’s money away.

Respectfully, WWD

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton

WWD.COM5WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

Miu Miu Elie Saab

FOR MORE COVERAGE, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

Miu Miu: The classic femininity belonging to the generation that came before her is a constant touchstone for Miuccia Prada, who routinely shapes her Prada collection around Fifties and Sixties silhouettes. This time, they took the stage at Miu Miu, where the models wore the trappings of proper attire — jackets cut with Sixties couture volume, fur stoles, jewelry, pointy pumps, long gloves with a three-quarter sleeve — their polish disrupted by a host of counterintuitive treatments.

“It’s elegance done a different way,” Prada said after the show. “It’s about elegance, not elegance. Couture, not couture. Tailoring, not tailoring.” She called it a dialogue, presumably between the traditional notions of refinement and poise that the couture cuts represent and their opposites: the casual, the bohemian and subversive.

The show opened with denim in the chicest, darkest wash possible but still a surprise to see on pencil skirts and ladylike jackets. The baseline silhouette was a slim

skirt or dress with a long jacket cut with chic unorthodoxy in mind. There were rumpled fabrics with raw strokes of white, red or black. Furs could have been hit with a can of spray paint — albeit, artfully — and shiny fabrics looked like vinyl. On the accessories level, some of the “ladies” wore their finery with flat gladiator sandals with oversize jewel embellishments.

The result was elegant, as Prada intended, an interesting fusion of conventional chic and something alluringly raw. Yet the impact was not as piercing as some of her recent tightly wound collections, such as last season’s retro pantsuit parade. Perhaps it was a matter of pacing, and casting the runway intentionally in murky light. Thick velvet curtains were drawn at the start of the show, cloaking the wood runway in a dim after-hours haze.

Elie Saab: That Elie Saab chose “heiress” as his spring theme is not a surprising move, given that the designer knows how to woo the social set. The woman

he channeled this season is multifaceted; as Saab put it in the show notes, she could be “an artist, a photographer, a blogger or a philanthropist.”

With that in mind, he rendered this collection with a more youthful vibe than in seasons past. Several fluid dresses in a bright, Rorschach-like print had a casual elegance that felt fresh. There was also some appealing tailoring: a button-down shirt with matching pants, and a sculpted jacket, shorts and handbag, all worked in a strong blue tone. While they were heavy on monochromatics, the looks had a working-girl sensibility — she doesn’t just rely on a trust fund.

Still, plenty of Saab’s more expected eveningwear was mixed in, including embellished formfitting lace dresses — both short and sexy and long and slinky — in nude, turquoise and fiery red. The strongest ones came in the finale: gowns in a fine lace with ribbons placed around the lower torso and waist to accentuate a more sensual silhouette. They added a romantic touch.

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WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 20126

L’Wren Scott: After canceling her New York show originally scheduled for Sept. 13, L’Wren Scott resurfaced at the tail end of the Paris circuit, taking appointments in her Ile Saint-Louis showroom. In many ways, the private format benefits a designer like Scott, whose very specific, consistent aesthetic is not about overstatement but impeccable, salable polish and special details that don’t necessarily get picked up at a distance.

The clothes were meticulously finished — a white leather bomber jacket was lined in charcoal-and-white striped cotton, the same pattern of the shirt under it. “You know I love a good matching set,” said Scott, who is adding sunglasses, done with Menrad, to her coordinated offer for spring.

A David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London was a reigning influence this season. Scott adopted his intense colors — calling them “Hockney blue” and “Fire red” — for her shrunken cardigans and some nicer summer cotton tweeds. But it was the black-and-white graphic styles, such as her signature Headmistress dress with an interlocking diamond motif across the chest, that stood out as the most crisp and current on the showroom racks.

Sonia Rykiel: April Crichton presented her final collection for Sonia Rykiel before artistic director Geraldo da Conceicao arrives in October. Crichton,

who worked alongside Rykiel for two decades, turned to Kate Bush as the season’s muse, a theme she executed with a romantic touch.

Rykiel is best known for knits, and Crichton offered plenty, in lovely pastel hues, including a chunky pink poncho and a “Cadillac green” top and skirt, which had a striking string detail. The designer also amped up the bohemian

feel via quilted sweaters, a patchwork dress in various muted artisanal patterns and a brown coat and top in a material that resembled raffia.

Several fluid dresses, along with the crinkled silk chiffon numbers done in a cool flower print, added to the lineup’s hippie spirit.

Azzaro: Mathilde Castello Branco got into party mode with an

Azzaro collection made up almost entirely of dresses: from short and charming to long and slinky. She added pleated details throughout; a standout featured them layered in a panel over a sophisticated jersey gown.

Embellishments were also plentiful in crystal and diamanté adornments and as a fireworklike motif on several looks.

As for Castello Branco’s martini-glass print, it felt

gimmicky, even if it did drive home the party theme.

Veronique Leroy: The Belgian designer added a soupçon of kink — lots of mesh tube skirts and peekaboo cutouts — to her Mormon-inspired parade of demure boxy tailoring with a Fifties allure. The combination yielded one of her most polished and on-trend collections in years.

SPRING 2013COLLECTIONS

PARIS

FOR MORE COVERAGE, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

L’Wren Scott

Sonia Rykiel

Azzaro Veronique Leroy

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Diversity. it’s not what you think. At Macy’s, it is part of everything we do.

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Andrew Keith, president of the Hong Kong-based specialty retail-ers Lane Crawford and Joyce, said he spies great potential for Saint Laurent in the region, given widespread inter-est in Slimane. What’s more, the fact that YSL ready-to-wear is not widely distributed is attractive to customers looking to differentiate themselves.

“[Slimane] presented a strong, con-fident woman, which will appeal to the Chinese customer, and the skinny silhouette, fitted jackets and mascu-line approach with a softer side ex-pressed through the use of lace, bows and frills, will work nicely on the Chinese body shape,” Keith said. “The longer dresses provide some beautiful evening looks for a younger customer and as both Hong Kong and China have vibrant social scenes, should prove successful at retail.”

Neiman Marcus was pleased that “it looked like a Saint Laurent collection,” according to Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director at the Dallas-based retailer.

“It’s the new cool girl’s uniform. Every girl wants those clothes before

they even really get into the store,” he said. “It’s all about that skinny tuxedo pant, the spencer jackets, and I loved the softening of the very strict tailoring that he’s known for with the beautiful romantic blouses.”

The kudos from stores contrasts with reviews from top critics, many of whom found the hotly anticipated show disappointing. The front rows and Twitter also buzzed with charges that the collection was very “à la Rachel Zoe,” as blogger BryanBoy expressed himself on Twitter.

Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, said the show was no triumph and more of a trip down memory lane, tinged with touches of Goth and West Coast under-ground. “Perhaps Mr. Slimane can use the YSL codes next season to move for-ward from homage to something more dynamic,” Menkes wrote.

Lisa Armstrong, fashion editor of The Telegraph, allowed that “the man has taste” and that the collection was “extremely commercial.”

“What was most surprising was that it was so unsurprising,” Armstrong wrote. “Crucially, what was lacking was the frisson of the unexpected — that challenging jolt that only a really strong show delivers.”

Cathy Horyn of The New York Times was barred from the show, but wrote a re-view based on digital images, and found the collection “lacked a new fashion spir-it. Indeed, it was as though [Slimane] re-fused to interpret the YSL style, beyond updating the proportions. Even the colors seemed flat, suppressed.”

The blogosphere also lit up with gripes about the alleged highfalutin at-titude of YSL’s press department and the restrictive invitation policy that ex-cluded many editors, or relegated them to standing.

Horyn highlighted that “the self-important air of Saint Laurent’s media relations –—the calls informing report-ers that Mr. Slimane wouldn’t be taking questions backstage — is out of touch.”

Laura Craik, fashion editor of The Times of London, published an open letter to Slimane on Wednesday and took him to task for making journalists feel “very unwelcome” and for being

7WWD thursday, october 4, 2012

’’’’

Opinions Vary on Slimane’s YSL{Continued from page one}

overly controlling.“I respect that you value your friends so

highly, but I don’t respect some of the peo-ple on the YSL payroll who were unneces-sarily rude,” she wrote. “Please don’t ban me from your next show, because I really want to see it. We all do. We like you, even though you treat us like a bitch.”

Louise Beveridge, PPR’s communi-

cations director, said the French group — parent of brands including Gucci, Balenciaga and Puma — aims to be atten-tive to the needs of working journalists. “We are here to build relationships,” she said. “Mutual trust is key.”

— With contributions from Joelle DiDerich, Paris,

anD samantha conti, lonDon

We were very encouraged by

what we saw. It was definitely one of the

highlights of the week.— Pete Nordstrom

Hedi Slimane takes his bow.

A YSL look from the show.

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WWD.COM8 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

more like fall-winter, so they were difficult to identify as new,” said Linda Dresner, owner of the boutique in Birmingham, Mich., that bares her name. “Our buy will likely not increase. The important aspect is to create an exciting and interesting mix in the store that will stimulate the client.”

Here’s more of what buyers had to say:

Ed Burstell, managing director, Liberty, London:Sound off: “For me it was very simple. This is the perfect season to start dis-tancing ourselves from trying to find trends. I think all the best collections kind of worked outside of that idea, and played specifically on the individual DNA of each house.”Favorite collections: Dior, Lanvin, Kenzo, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Haider Ackermann. Business: “The ones we’ve seen in Paris so far that we thought were exceptionally strong, we’re going to be buying 15 per-cent more than last year.”Raf vs. Hedi: “Dior. I think they both went back to the roots of the house. I think Raf was more successful at making it modern.”

Marigay McKee, chief merchant, Harrods:Sound off: “Overall, Paris’ new-found chic commercialism is a recipe for success. We will increase our budgets for spring 2013 in Paris, following the opening of new Stella McCartney and Chloé boutiques, which have been extremely well received. This December, we will also unveil a new contemporary room that will house the first dedicated Carven boutique.”Trends: “Arm and shoulder candy was bold with huge Hermès Birkins and hula hoop-inspired bags at Chanel. Statement jewelry continued to be prominent with huge hoop earrings at Balmain and over-size pearls at Chanel, which adorned both wrists and necks.”Favorite collections: Lanvin, Givenchy, Celine, Roland Mouret, Stella McCartney, McQueen, Dior and Chanel.One to watch: Vionnet. Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director, Neiman Marcus:Trends: “We had two new designers at two houses, which brought a buoyancy to the season, a whole new energy. In a season that’s been obsessed with black, it was nice to see Paris come back with a lot of great color, as well as romance with ef-fusive flounces, ruffles and feminine de-tails. The idea of sheer is a major trend, be it through chiffon, organza and con-tinuation of all the lace. The overriding message is relaxed chic. We saw more re-laxed silhouettes for pants and the con-tinuation of the jacket.”Favorite collections: Balenciaga, Nina Ricci, Givenchy, Stella McCartney, Saint Laurent Paris, Dior, Gareth Pugh and Alexander McQueen.Raf vs. Hedi: “Sometimes I feel like having an apple and sometimes an orange. They were two entirely different design sensi-bilities and both delivered beautiful col-lections for the design vernacular of the houses they represent.” Stephanie Solomon, vice president of fashion direction, Bloomingdale’s:Sound off: “Nothing compares to Paris. Raf Simons for Christian Dior just challenges the status quo. In that one show, he will change the way women dress for spring. And then Chanel, also blockbuster. Karl Lagerfeld went back to his roots. The black-and-white beginning, the pearls, the silhouettes, the balance of the jackets and the dresses — a perfect show. Those two were the absolute highlights of my week in Paris. Paris is the pulse of fashion. Paris is where it all changes. It raises the bar.”Favorite collections: Dior, Chanel, Dries Van Noten, Roland Mouret and Barbara Bui.Trends: “We’ve been in a season of dresses for so long, it really looks like spring will be the season of the jacket. The black jacket certainly looks very modern to my eye again.”

Colleen Sherin, senior fashion director, Saks Fifth Avenue:Trends: “Paris, more so than any other city, focused on tailoring, often with a sharp, strong-shouldered silhouette. There was the idea of geometry, both in terms of print, pattern and shape, with the A-line being key. To contrast this, there was a polished femininity, with ruffles and frills and plays on transpar-ency. The sport influence continued, with mesh used in every possible way.”Favorite collections: Dior, Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Haider Ackermann, Chanel, Junya Watanabe and Saint Laurent Paris.Raf vs. Hedi: “Raf Simons exceeded the ex-pectation and proved that he could propel Dior into the 21st century. Hedi Slimane presented a sexy, cool, very rock ’n’ roll collection for Saint Laurent. I am looking forward to seeing both of them up close and personal in the showrooms.”

Tancrède de Lalun, general merchandise manager, men’s and women’s apparel, Printemps:Sound off: “Paris was all about elegance. They were ultrafeminine in a very light way, from the hair and makeup to the shoes. There was a lot of airy white and transparency with sheer fabrics and lace.

There was nothing aggressive about any of it. Nonetheless, there was enough nov-elty to keep buyers satisfied. This wasn’t the minimalism of two seasons ago — there was a lot of research into details. ”Favorite collections: Kenzo, Balenciaga and Givenchy.Business: “We had a very good month of September, on the heels of a very good month of August. We are still in the pro-cess of renovating our women’s ready-to-wear floors, so we are very optimistic.”Raf vs. Hedi: “Both took the codes of their respective houses and looked at their histories. One came up with a more in-tellectual take, while the other went for something more obvious and immediate-ly wearable, a little less processed. But the two brands are not in competition.”

Linda Fargo, senior vice president, fashion office and store presentation, Bergdorf Goodman:Sound off: “Paris has ended the four-city sea-son on a high note and as the fashion capital.”Trends: “New cool suiting, jackets and tailor-ing; romanticism in lengths, ruffles, linge-rie details and lace; Le Smoking; wearable volumes; veiling and transparency; leath-ers and mixed surface complexity; black or

white or both were frequent favorites.”Favorite collections: “Balenciaga and Givenchy turned out exceptional modernist collec-tions. Junya Watanabe, Gareth Pugh, Rick Owens and Haider Ackermann’s shows were moving, not-to-be-missed fusions of the fashion and performance art. Lanvin, Valentino, Chanel and Stella McCartney will be great for us. We valued the balance of editorial newness with wearability and reality. Sarah Burton’s vision for McQueen was an ultimate fashion tour de force.”Raf vs. Hedi: “Dior and Saint Laurent Paris provided the drama and lived up to the hype, ushering in a new relevance for these important houses.”Last word: “We are satiated by what we found here.” Nicole Fischelis, group vice president and fashion director, Macy’s:Sound off: “The city was a mess with all the demonstrations. I missed two shows.”Trends: “The new volume; all the graph-ic expression in black and white; the clothes are easy and generally pretty wearable; the continuation of masculine and feminine. I see a lot interesting tops, whether they are blouses, or shirts, or tu-nics or crop. I see a lot of shorts [and] a lot of new proportions in jackets.”

Favorite collections: Lanvin, Dries Van Noten, Jean Paul Gaultier, Chloé, Giambattista Valli, Rochas, Manish Arora, Sharon Wauchob and Thierry Mugler.Ones to watch: Le Moine Tricote, Damir Doma, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Cédric Charlier. “I loved the Designers’ Apartment initiative for young French designers, and the CFDA and British Fashion Council showrooms, too. It gives an additional edge, an additional reason to come to Paris.”

Tiziana Cardini, fashion director, La Rinascente, Milan:Sound off: “The next generation of great designers for the future, includ-ing Haider, Phoebe [Philo], Raf, Hedi and Nicolas [Ghesquière] were all very strong, and they get better and better each season, with a very strong esthetic. It was a very good season in Paris, one of the strongest for a long time.”Trends: “Graphic and minimal in terms of the purity of design, with no embellish-ment, true to the DNA of each brand. The clean lines and pared down designs were very elegant and very modern.”Favorite collections: Celine, Valentino, Balenciaga, Dior and Saint Laurent.

Tomoko Ogura, senior fashion director, Barneys New York:Trends: “We’ve seen a focus on sleeve shapes and sleeve details. The array of ruffles that emerged on the runways looked modern. We saw them in vari-ous shapes, sizes and placements. The Balenciaga ruffles were a standout, and we loved the soft ruffles peeking out under tuxedo jackets at Saint Laurent.”Must-haves: Saint Laurent black tailored short jacket; Sacai peplum motorcy-cle jacket; Delvaux metallic painted leather and ostrich clutch; Dries Van Noten embroidered robe; Pierre Hardy spray painted wedge sandal, and Junya Watanabe nylon and mesh jacket dress.Favorite collections: Saint Laurent Paris, Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten and Sacai.Ones to watch: Cédric Charlier and Paul Andrew. Barbara Atkin, vice president, fashion direction, Holt Renfrew, Toronto:Sound off: “Paris gives us the opportunity to always pick up newness from young-er, spirited brands like Kenzo, Carven and Acne, as well as grow and expand the more established brands in all their commodities, including ready-to-wear, accessories, leather goods and footwear. As a result, our budgets for Paris have in-creased to fuel this growth.”Trends: “Japanese Eighties influenc-es, feminine ruffles, black and white, print remix, sheer, cutouts and leather. Cropped jackets, slim pants, culottes, tu-nics, oversize shirts and romantic blous-es make our shopping list along with beautiful evening dresses and skirts — both long and cocktail-length.”Must-haves: “The shoe category is particu-larly strong and the large-brim fedora will be a must-have item, as Hedi Slimane de-clared at his Saint Laurent debut show.”Favorite collections: Dior, Saint Laurent, Dries Van Noten, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Celine, Stella McCartney and Sacai.Ones to watch: Damir Doma, Cédric Charlier and Pedro Lourenço. Laura Larbalestier, buying director, Browns, London:Sound off: “It’s a mixed season, some de-signers have lost track of what customers really want, and others have made won-derful new and exciting pieces.” Must-haves: “More separates all about day-wear; check and plaid strongest prints.”Favorite collections: Dries Van Noten, Kenzo and Haider Ackermann. Judd Crane, director of women’s wear, Selfridges, London:Sound off: “Sheer, wide-leg trousers and tailored jackets are trends which have proven a success for the past couple of seasons, so it’s promising to see their continued relevance. I think that’s an incredibly wearable aesthetic which women are keen to hold on to.”Trends: “This season we’ve seen a heavier focus on layering and more autumnal ref-erences for spring than we usually do.”Favorite collections: “Standout shows for me have included the designers we’re championing in our Women’s Designer Galleries: Yohji Yamamoto, Haider Ackermann and A.F. Vandevorst.”

Seville Chow, vice president, merchandising, Joyce, Hong Kong:Sound off: “It has been an exceptionally posi-tive season in Paris. We’ve seen designers show great effort and energy with new ele-ments. The season of femininity and fluidity was seen throughout the week. Trends: “Maxi-length silhouettes at Ann Demeulemeester and Gareth Pugh. Dries Van Noten and Rick Owens introduced transparency through working with or-ganza fabric and layering effects. Sporty inspired details and techno fabric influ-ence was seen in Junya Watanabe, Sacai and Stella McCartney.”Ones to Watch: “We’ve introduced emerging talents Aganovich, Huishan Zhang, Vika Gazinskaya and Yiqing Yin last season and have received positive response.”

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For more reactions, see

WWD.com/retail-news.

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POLS OF THE WEEK

Cool and CasualPresident Obama and Mitt Romney seemed to be taking a somewhat more laid-back approach as the campaign heated up. Page MW8

Color, Heritage WashesAnd Nondenim OptionsDrive Spring Jeans Trends

October 4, 2012

MAD ABOUT HUE

{Continued on page MW6}

by DAVID LIPKE

THE DIAMETRICALLY opposed trends of fashion-forward colored denim versus a re-turn to classic, authentic washes will domi-nate the men’s jeans market this spring.

In color, retailers have stocked up on a range of hues, including vivid brights, dusty tonal colors and even pale pastels, while offering a heritage counterpart in vintage, Americana-inflected indigo with fading, whiskering and rips and repairs.

Also central to the season will be the continued popularity of nondenim five-pock-ets, which gives wearers the familiarity of a jean with the novelty of twill, moleskin or lightweight corduroy. Fits continue to evolve towards slim and skinny across the board, even among heartland shoppers who have up until now remained loyal to boot cuts.

“Going into early spring we definitely feel the idea of rip and repair coming back strong, with more wash details, with light-er-weight denim and lighter washes,” said Durand Guion, vice president and men’s fashion director at Macy’s.

At the same time, the department store, which operated 799 units as of August, has posted a strong year in colored chinos and colored denim. “Deep reds, cranberries and burgundies have been the most impor-tant, followed by a range of blue hues,” said Guion. “For spring, the idea of color will intensify and we will see double and triple color wash, with rinses in several colors that add dimensional finishes to the denim. It al-lows you to get ranges of purples and greens and blues on a single jean.”

Back-to-school men’s denim sales have been strong at Macy’s stores, said Guion. The retailer saw robust sales this season with its Levi’s, American Rag, INC, Hudson, True Religion, Armani Jeans and G-Star businesses. Slim fits are growing in popular-ity at Macy’s in all areas of the country, at the expense of boot fits, added Guion.

In total, U.S. men’s jeans sales climbed 3.3 percent to $5.61 billion, up from $5.43 billion, in the 12 months ended in August, according to figures from the The NPD Group. Higher price points outpaced lower price points, with sales of jeans at $50 or higher increasing 37.1 percent to $1.28 bil-lion, while sales of jeans priced under $50 decreased 3.7 percent to $4.34 billion.

Guion pointed to a measure of price fa-tigue at the very top of the premium sector, as high-end looks have become attainable at a range of price points, particularly in clean styles that have few discernible points of differentiation. “A lot of premium details, fits and washes are available in so many dif-ferent brands,” observed Guion. “Pricing has become a lot more democratic and we’ve seen a leveling of pricing at the high end. There are very few brands that can

Diesel, Seven For All Mankind add stores as U.S. men’s jeans sales inch ahead 3 percent.

The twin trends of colored denim offset by a return to true-blue heritage washes

will dominate the jeans scene this spring. Retailers are also betting on nondenim

five-pocket options in twill and the continued influence of slimmer fits, even

in areas that have remained dedicated to boot fits up until now. For more on this new direction, see pages MW4 and MW5.

PLUS: Century 21 is experimenting with an elevated men’s shopping experience at its Paramus, N.J., store. Page MW2

Jean-etics

Umit Benan’s cotton jacket, A.P.C.’s wool sweater and DL1961’s cotton denim jeans.

Ami’s suede jacket, Paul Smith’s wool blazer, Alexander McQueens’s cotton sweater and J Brand’s cotton twill jeans.

PHOTO BY ELI SCHMIDT

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Men’s WeekMW2 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

Century 21 Updates Men’s Areaby DAVID MOIN

CeNtury 21 Is experimenting with an elevated men’s shopping experience at its Paramus, N.J., store in a break from the mer-chandising morass.

the 24,000-square-foot men’s wear floor has been renovated and reorganized by life-style with big metallic signs designating sec-tions for the preppy, rocker, Americana, ath-letic, workwear, classic, designer and denim categories. each area is dressed up with man-nequins in designer outfits, vintage props and rustic wood fixtures, easing shoppers into the rows and rows of racks and bargains.

there’s a visual appeal atypical to off-pricers and geared to spur sales and project some style, trend and organization, without intimating shoppers or give the impression of raising prices.

“the redesign is all part of our commit-ment to create a better shopping experience. We hope to become not only a destination for incredible savings but also a personal style guide for the consumer,” said raymond Gindi, co-chief executive officer of Century 21 Department stores.

“We understand the importance of listen-ing to our customer and continuously strive to deliver the best possible Century 21 experi-ence. the Paramus men’s floor renovation test provides us with the necessary tools to better educate the consumer on the latest trends and designers and how to incorporate them into everyday life,” said I.G. Gindi, co-ceo.

“We’re updating without changing our DNA,” added Valentino Vettori, Century 21’s creative director, which is a new position at the store reflecting the owners’ desire for change. “We’re still discounting the goods but not the lifestyle of the consumer or the Century 21 brand. It’s the start of an evolu-tion to be closer to our consumers. We can’t remain in the past.”

Century 21, a seven-unit, family-owned $700 million off-pricer, has long thrived with a strong buying team and sharp discounts at up to 65 percent off. Its rudimentary approach to

the selling floor notwithstanding, Century 21 is among the metro area’s most trafficked de-partment stores on a consistent basis, attract-ing about 70,000 customers chainwide daily.

Aside from taking a dare with the men’s business in Paramus, Century 21 is launching a regular Web site in mid-October in addi-tion to the existing members-only flash-sale site. the company also last week dramati-cally expanded its lower Manhattan flagship at 22 Cortlandt street by adding three levels amounting to 70,000 square feet, bringing the location to a total of six selling floors and 225,000 square feet.

In a couple of years, Century 21 will open a second unit in Brooklyn, bringing the chain to eight stores. the others are in Bay ridge, Brooklyn; rego Park, Queens; Westbury, N.y.; Morristown, N.J., and on Manhattan’s upper West side.

the 135,000-square-foot Paramus store, situated in the Bergen town Center, intro-duced the experimental men’s floor Aug. 28 and will test the format through November. It

will be judged by the sales results and reac-tions from consumers, vendors and employ-ees. Vettori acknowledged the higher costs and extra labor required for the floor, and said that a “little task force” was created to interpret market trends and keep the floor relevant. While a large percentage of the goods are a season old, they still reflect cur-rent trends, he said.

the men’s floor features 40 mannequins that get restyled every week as merchan-dise sells out. Wood pallets, work tables, old military bullet boxes and other vintage finds, many obtained from the Brimfield Antique show and Flea Market in Massachusetts, are used for display in Paramus. At other Century 21 locations, displays are very limited with just a few forms or mannequins to been found anywhere in the store.

On the men’s floor in Paramus there were many prominent brands, including Hugo Boss, Vestimenta, ermenegildo Zegna and Giorgio Armani in the classic area. Workwear featured Woolrich and Plainfield. In design-er, such labels as Dolce & Gabbana, John

Galliano and Versace were found. the prep-py section had tommy Hilfiger, Fred Perry, Penguin and Nautica, among other labels, and the denim section served up J Brand, Adriano Goldschmied, Joe’s Jeans and seven For All Mankind.

Merchandise on mannequins is “within arm’s length” of racks with the same items, making it easier to select. “I don’t think men like to spend hours shopping,” Vettori said.

He also suggested that organizing the floor by lifestyle — instead of by brands, which is how Century 21 generally mer-chandises — further speeds the shopping for men. “We know our look. We know if we like classic styles, we will probably wear that everyday,” Vettori observed. “Normally, we stick to one look.”

Asked how the men’s floor was far-ing so far, Vettori said preliminary results are encouraging, with the denim selling at twice the old rate. In addition, Vettori said, “Merchandise displayed on the mannequins is selling three times faster than the average on the selling floor.”

IMG0601: In a new approach to selling men’s wear, Century 21 merchandises by lifestyle.IMG0593: Motorcycle jackets and skinny pants in the “rocker” area. IMG0555: Workwear on the experimental men’s floor at Century 21 in the Bergen Town Center.

by JeAN e. PALMIerI

HuGO BOss HAs opened the first of its new-concept stores in the u.s. at the Americana Manhasset in Manhasset, N.y.

the design, which has been used mainly in higher-end lo-cations in China and europe, will continue to be rolled out next year with four addi-tional units opening interna-tionally in Asia-Pacific and scandinavia. However, the Manhasset unit will be the only one in the states.

“this is a really exciting project for Hugo Boss globally,” said Mark Brashear, chief ex-ecutive officer of Hugo Boss, the Americas. “It’s our first in America and reflects a very pol-ished retail experience. It’s a big step forward for us.”

the 3,400-square-foot store features dark brown color themes with contrasting beige matte fabric back walls. Interior elements include bronze brushed and high-gloss surfaces, stone flooring and leather accents.

the store carries Boss and Boss Green men’s wear, and Boss, Boss Orange and Hugo women’s collections, along with shoes and accessories. Men’s wear makes up about 75 per-cent of the mix, but Brashear said the women’s wear, which represents “a bigger women’s expression than in our typi-

cal store,” has been exceed-ing plan since the unit opened about three weeks ago. He also said that in both men’s and women’s, the “most premium product” is doing the best. “We’re encouraged that our customer is looking for luxury and quality,” he noted.

Brashear said the brand had been looking for a space in the Americana for quite some time and was encouraged to finally find a location. “It’s a very pro-ductive center — among the most productive in the u.s.,” he said. the open-air center boasts 60

luxury and contemporary brands.“Having this shop concept in

Manhasset shows the versatil-ity of the brand. the concept is luxurious and sophisticated and I am sure that Hugo Boss will do very well there,” added Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, ceo and chair-man of Hugo Boss.

the company has experi-enced strong results from its re-tail stores. In the last month, six stores have been either remod-eled or opened, and the brand plans to add another eight doors in the u.s. next year — five Hugo stores and three Boss stores.

Hugo Boss’ New Store Design Debuts

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In a new approach to selling men’s wear, Century 21 merchandises by lifestyle.

Workwear on the experimental men’s floor at Century 21 in the Bergen Town Center.

Motorcycle jackets and skinny pants in the “rocker” area.

The new store offers an elevated design.

by KrIstI eLLIs

WAsHINGtON — the National retail Federation launched a get-out-the-vote initiative and Web site on Wednesday, while the American Apparel & Footwear Association revealed results from its most re-cent straw poll, as the industry’s trade and lobbying organizations gear up for the final leg of the pres-idential race.

the outcome of the presiden-tial and congressional elections could have a major impact on policies critical to the fashion in-dustry, ranging from trade and job growth to taxes and health care.

One snapshot of the state of the presidential race was unveiled by Kevin Burke, president and chief executive officer of the American Apparel & Footwear Association on tuesday at the WWD Global sourcing summit in New york. Burke said the AAFA surveyed 125 of its members two weeks ago on which candidate would get their vote. the outcome showed 52 percent said they would vote for President Obama and 42 percent said they would vote for republican challenger Mitt romney. six percent said they would vote “other.”

that was a significant shift from a straw poll of 150 industry chief executive officers that the AAFA took at its executive summit in March in which 43 percent said they would vote for romney and

30 percent said they would vote for Obama. there were still other GOP contenders in the race at the time and 27 percent said they would vote for another candidate. An AAFA spokesman said that about 40 percent of the AAFA’s membership is headquartered in New york, while 35 percent is based in battleground states.

Meanwhile, the NrF hopes to educate voters about the can-didates’ positions and how they could effect their businesses. David French, senior vice presi-dent for government relations at the NrF, said the Web site, re-tailmeansjobs.com/election, is a nonpartisan portal intended to bring light to the policy issues crit-ical to retailers and to the 42 mil-lion Americans that are directly or indirectly employed in the indus-try or in companies supporting it. It will compare the positions of the presidential and senate candidates and also highlight the retail indus-try’s top policy priorities.

the Web site will have several features, including an area high-lighting six key issues — corpo-rate tax reform, sales tax fairness on the Internet, implementation of the health care law, labor reg-ulations, credit card swipe fees and trade — and comparing the positions of Obama and romney, based on public information. It will also feature pages on where senate candidates stand on those six issues in 33 senate races.

NRF Unveils Voting Initiative

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Men’s WeekMW4 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

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denim manufacturers anbrands collide on a pa

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Kenzo’s cotton coat and sweater, Surface to Air’s cotton shirt and Hudson’s cotton and spandex denim jeans.

Bottega Veneta’s wool blazer, Belstaff’s linen Henley, Comune’s cotton shirt and Benson’s cotton twill jeans.

Marc Jacobs’ cotton and polyamide jacket, Won Hundred’s cotton shirt and Bottega Veneta’s cotton pants.

Gucci’s cotton blazer, Acne’s wool and polyamide sweater, Belstaff’s cotton shirt and AG Adriano Goldschmied’s cotton denim jeans.

Marni’s cotton jacket, Bally’s leather shirt and Levi’s cotton twill jeans.

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Tim Coppens’ cotton and leather jacket, Lanvin’s cotton tank top and Seven For All Mankind’s cotton denim jeans.

Bottega Veneta’s nylon jacket, Umit Benan’s cotton and polyamide shirt and Paige Denim’s cotton twill jeans.

Perry Ellis by Duckie Brown’s cotton jacket, Theory’s cotton denim jacket and jeans.

Won Hundred’s nylon vest, Dries Van Noten’s cotton shirt and Edun’s cotton twill pants.

Mackage’s cotton blazer, Ami’s linen sweater, Marc Jacobs’ cotton shirt and Diesel’s cotton twill jeans.

command a big premium. The high end isn’t as high as it was three or five years ago.”

Nondenim offerings have overshadowed denim this year, particularly in light of the dress-up trend shaping men’s wear, said Cristiano Quieti, chief executive officer of Diesel USA. “There’s definitely a general feeling in the market of a slowdown in the cycle of denim. I hear this from the key de-partment stores and from competitors. Denim has its peaks and valleys and I think we are going through a valley,” he noted. “There’s more tailoring so that calls for chinos or col-ored bottoms with that kind of outfit. For us, we’ve been doing chinos and nondenim well, so we’ve covered those bases, as well.”

Men’s denim sales at Diesel have been in-creasing in the high single digits to low dou-ble digits this year, depending on the month, said Quieti. The five-pocket category com-prises 43 to 44 percent of total Diesel sales.

In the denim segment, it’s the high-end of-ferings at Diesel, in the $230 to $350 range, that have led sales. “Consumers are ready to spend a little more on something that is extremely different from what they already have in their wardrobes, from herringbone denim to vintage slub textures. Where we’ve seen the slowdown is in basic styles, where there’s more compe-tition, and everyone already has two or three pairs in their closets,” said Quieti.

Following a period of retrenchment, Diesel is launching a retail expansion in 2013, with new leases inked for King of Prussia, Pa., Salt Lake City and Orlando for the first quarter. Additional locations are being sought for later in 2013 and the company will also relocate some existing mall locations to bigger spaces. Diesel currently operates 40 full-price and 11 outlet stores in the U.S.

Seven For All Mankind is also boosting its store count. Next month, the VF Corp.-owned brand will open locations in Somerset, Mich., Valley Fair, Calif., and Livermore, Calif., bringing its total store count to 45 in the U.S. and Canada. “We entered the men’s business very early and developed and held on to a very loyal customer,” said Barry Miguel, president of the VF Corp.-owned brand, where men’s com-prises 40 percent of total sales.

At Seven For All Mankind, colored bottoms have reached 20 percent of total sales, with 80 percent still in in-digo. While color remains a much smaller percentage than traditional blue, it’s added ex-citement to the category as a whole, driving sales across the board, noted Miguel. “There’s so much diversity and choice now in color and fabrics, and there’s more reason for custom-ers to spend their dollars in the premium denim world,” he ex-plained. “We’ve become experts in bottoms and we’ve grown a really nice twill, corduroy and chino business. They’re good ex-tensions for us.”

Color will be key at Guess, where stores this spring will high-

light themes of orange, soft green and light blue in February, moving into cobalt blue and yellow for March and then teal and red in April. These color themes encom-pass denim, twill bottoms and other sports-wear offerings. The retailer plans to make pairings of casual jeanswear with colorful structured blazers in teal and red as well as printed wovens and stretch poplin shirts a centerpiece of stores this spring.

While color reaps lots of attention, Lucky Brand is betting on vintage worn-in and washed denim styles in heritage blue for spring. “We think that there will be a return to authentic washes in true blue indigo as colorful denim starts to downtrend,” said Michael Griffin, ex-

ecutive vice president of product at Lucky Brand. “We’re planning on introducing

light and medium washes to gain mo-mentum, but believe that dark washes will continue to perform best. Color still has a presence, but remains small. We’re also investing in lighter fabrications.”

Lucky Brand added 100 new doors this year at key department store

partners, including Nordstrom, Macy’s, Dillard’s, Belk, Von Maur and Lord & Taylor, bringing its wholesale distribution in that channel to 600 points of sale. The Fifth & Pacific Cos. Inc.-owned brand also operates 171 Lucky Brand retail stores.

The company has a con-siderable collaboration program this spring, with

co-branded product from Riviera Club, SeaVees, Triumph motorcycles, Indian motorcycles, Martin Guitar, Fender, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, among others.

Citizens of Humanity is also seeing a resurgence of interest in true denim washes. “A year ago it was about clean and dark but now

we’re seeing more interest in abrasion and whiskering,” said Amy Williams, president of Citizens of Humanity, where men’s com-prises a hefty 40 percent of total sales. “We haven’t had a denim wash cycle in so long, so people are buying what’s new.”

This summer, Citizens of Humanity acquired its own production facility in Huntington Park, Calif., one block from its Los Angeles headquarters, adding to a sepa-rate laundry facility it previously owned. The purchase has given the company in-creased flexibility and control over manufac-turing timelines, forecasting requirements and inventory management. “We can priori-tize what we cut and have better control over availability for customer reorders, which is so important today,” said Williams.

Reorders are an essential part of the season as Citizens of Humanity prefers to take a conservative tack on initial orders to improve sell-through ratios. “Our phi-losophy has always been to take smaller orders up front and let the market pull us rather than have too much product in the market. We’d rather get the reorders later in the season and have great end-of-season margins and sell-throughs, rather than too much stock at retail,” explained Williams.

With the purchase of the manufactur-ing facility, Citizens of Humanity has also invested in acquiring pricy laser finishing machines, which it uses to create innovative vintage effects.

A focus on fabric technology is central to Turkey’s Mavi brand, where “ultramercer-ized” cotton is created using a process it’s dubbed Alchemy One. This washing process is eco-friendly, with almost 100 percent of the processing liquids used in a closed circuit, producing very little water waste. The result is denim with increased strength and recovery properties, in addition to a lustrous look and feel. The fabric also lends itself to a deeper saturation of dyes during the coloring process.

This year, Paige has reaped the benefits of a re-branding program that modernized the look of the Los Angeles-based brand and uni-fied men’s and women’s under the single Paige label. Men’s sales tripled this year, outpacing growth in women’s. In July, San Francisco-based TSG Consumer Partners took what is believed to be a majority stake in the brand.

A syrah color has been the top seller this fall at Paige and the company expects a range of Hi-Liter-like shades to drive sales in the spring, including bold hues like canary yel-low, watermelon and a vivid blue. Offsetting that fashion product are classic, faded wash-es. “We have some really amazing washes with great highs and lows. They look like your best friend that you pulled out of the bottom drawer,” said Paige Adams-Geller, founder and creative director at Paige.

The Normandie slim-straight fit has been the brand’s biggest seller in men’s, but Adams-Geller expects the even slim-mer Federal fit, which has a leg opening an inch smaller than the Normandie, to become more popular heading into spring. “Even in the slim fit, guys increasingly want that ta-pered look down to the ankle — but not a painted-on look,” explained Adams-Geller.

At Hudson Jeans, colored bottoms now make up about 25 percent of sales, with blue and black at 75 percent. “I think the color trend is here to stay and will become almost like a basic,” said Peter Kim, ceo of the Los Angeles-based company.

Men’s sales expanded about 85 percent this year at Hudson and the company is forecast-ing to double business in 2013. The company has narrowed its assortments and focused on key styles, including the Byron slim-straight fit. “We found a fit that is working across the board and have developed around it with col-ors, fabrics and washes,” explained Kim.

The unpredictable retail climate has Hudson focused on business fundamentals, emphasized Kim. “With the uncertainty around the election, the European crisis and the slowdown in China growth, it’s a pretty scary time from one perspective. But we are tightening every nut and bolt to make sure we are running an extremely efficient opera-tion,” said Kim. “We are pushing our creativ-ity and not resting on our laurels.”

Men’s now comprises 15 percent of total sales at Hudson and Kim is aiming to reach 35 percent within two years, which he be-lieves is a healthy ratio. “I just got out of a board meeting last week and everyone is pumped and excited going forward,” he noted when asked about a potential sale of the brand by investors Fireman Capital Partners and Webster Capital.

In 2013, J Brand forecasts that men’s will make up 15 percent of total sales. Slimmer fits and color — including two-tone effects — will lead the way in denim, while tai-lored chinos, with cuffed and cropped op-tions, complement the jeans offerings. “We are the fastest growing brand in most of our major stores. We feel ecstatic about our men’s business. It’s like when our women’s business was growing,” said Jeff Rudes, ceo of J Brand, which is carried in about 800 doors globally. “It’s all about quality of our customer base. We are expanding specialty stores and doors, and expanding doors each season at our majors. And we are expanding our presentation space in key major doors.”

Men’s Week

CLASSIC WASHES, COLOR DRIVE SPRING DENIM ORDERS

MW6 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

{Continued from page MW1}

SELF EDGE, a denim boutique with a cult following, will trans-form its New York City store into an Iron Heart unit for 10 days at the end of the month.

Self Edge bills itself as “the ul-timate denim source” and oper-ates three high-end stores in Los Angeles, San Francisco and on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Its mix is almost entirely Japanese brands with one exception, Roy Denim from Oakland, Calif. Other brands include The Flat Head, Strike Gold, Real Japan Blues, Dry

Bones, Sugar Cane, Mister Freedom, Imperial Denim and 3sixteen.

“We specialize in really small artisan brands,” said co-owner Kiya Babzani, who opened the business with his wife, Demitra, six years ago. The aesthetic of the offering is American casualwear of the Fifties, he said, and the labels offered in the store are all exclu-sive to the North American market. “We offer 65 variations of the five-pocket jean,” he said.

Babzani said Iron Heart, which is a motorcycle-inspired brand

from North Tokyo that operates two stores in its native country, has a “huge fan base” in the States. “So we came up with the idea to close Self Edge for 10 days, ship their

whole product line to New York and just sell Iron Heart.” In addition to the jeans, the offering will include T-shirts, jackets and accessories, and three special items have been

created for the run: a 23-oz. pair of denim jeans, a special denim jacket “with all the bells and whistles,” and a loop-wheeled Iron Heart x Self Edge T-shirt, Babzani said.

The store will hold an opening party at the Orchard Street store on Oct. 20 and will convert back to Self Edge on Nov. 1.

Babzani said although he has considered opening an Iron Heart store in the States, he thinks it’s too risky: “We’re a small business, it’s just my wife and me, and having just one brand is scary.” He said, how-ever, that he expects to announce a fourth Self Edge store location shortly. — JEAN E. PALMIERI

Self Edge to Be Transformed

Citizens of Humanity

Paige

Diesel

Self Edge’s New York City store.

Men’s Week

by DAVID LIPKE

NEW YORK — At the beginning of his career, Ralph Lauren debated naming his brand Basketball, rath-er than Polo, due to his affinity for the sport. As a Bronx native, he had never been to an actual polo match, but he decided, fortuitously, to go with the grander name.

“He had this vision of this real-ly beautiful life that he could never live and never thought he could live, because there was no money in the fashion industry and there was no such thing as a designer,” remembered David Lauren, ex-ecutive vice president of adver-tising, marketing and corporate communications at Ralph Lauren Corp. — and Ralph’s younger son — at the third annual Executive Marketing Summit, hosted by NYSE Euronext, Interbrand and The New York Times, on Tuesday at the New York Stock Exchange.

To this day, that founding ethos permeates the company’s strategy and corporate culture. “We are not about selling a single shirt. What we do at this company bet-ter than any brand in the world is we tell stories. We’re making movies. Ralph Lauren is in the en-tertainment business,” explained Lauren, who was interviewed onstage by the Times’ Dealbook editor Andrew Ross Sorkin, who is also coanchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We’re telling stories

through a line of clothing that con-jures up images of the American West or conjures up images of sa-fari or thoroughbred ponies. It’s not about the shirt.”

In fact, Ralph Lauren de-signed safari clothes for decades before actually going on a safari. “He didn’t go on safari until two years ago,” said the younger Lauren. “When he got to safari, he’s like ‘This isn’t quite what I thought a safari was.’ ”

Similarly, Ralph Lauren has designed collections inspired by Spain and Vietnam without trav-eling to those countries. The de-signer and his family may now own the sprawling Double RL ranch in Colorado, but his vision of the West is still cinematic rather than reali-ty-based. “His interpretation of the American West is his interpretation of what it was, or should be and never really was,” said Lauren.

Of the wide range of price points and labels in the Ralph Lauren universe, Lauren dubbed them “different movies coming out of the same studio,” pointing out that “Warner Brothers makes great gangster films and they make great romance films.”

Despite the reach and global appeal of Ralph Lauren — a single issue of the New York Post has shown pictures of Prince Charles and a Brooklyn-born rapper wear-ing the brand, pointed out Lauren — the company strives to imbue all

of its various labels and products with an aspirational quality. “As big and mass as you may think Ralph Lauren is, it’s very boutique,” said Lauren, emphasizing that each of its stores is tailored to a specific neighborhood, aesthetic and clien-tele. “If you look at any one of our brands, the quality goes to every

brand and every price point.”China presents fertile oppor-

tunities for Ralph Lauren, as the company does less than 10 percent of its business there now — a much smaller percentage than com-peting luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Ralph Lauren bought back its China license two

years ago, and in the past month has opened six stores in the Asia-Pacific region, including two in China and units in Macau, Tokyo, Hong Kong and South Korea.

“In China, they might not re-spond to the same magazine ads. They might want to do gigantic automated video billboards, and that’s exciting. There will be tons of new technology,” said Lauren, adding that Ralph Lauren has been a pioneer and early adapter in a host of new technology plat-forms, including luxury e-com-merce, mobile commerce, QR codes, online interstitial adver-tising, digital kiosk shopping and even “4-D” light and scent shows.

Asked by Sorkin for any lessons learned from the summer uproar over the U.S. Olympic uniforms made by Ralph Lauren in China, Lauren acknowledged the indus-try faces enormous challenges in reviving domestic apparel manu-facturing. “I think people expected that everything would be made in America and they realized it’s a lot more complicated in a global eco-system. It takes an entire industry to get together to get product made in America,” he explained. “We’re going to do what we can to lead the charge and the change to try to bring some of it back. But it’s more complicated than people think to get the volume, the craftsmanship and the details at prices that are affordable.”

MW7WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

5x7

Andrew Ross Sorkin and David Lauren

David Lauren Talks Marketing Strategy

w04b007a;8.indd 7 10/3/12 6:40 PM10032012184124

ShanghaiOctober 23-24, 2012East Dock

The premium denim event in Shanghai

ParisNovember 28-29, 2012La Halle Freyssinet

For the stuff jeans are made of

Denim by Premiere Vision

© T. Gosselin

DEBORAH’S TEAM: It’s Deborah Needleman’s first week at The New York Times. She’s spent it partly in Paris, for the collections, and mostly avoiding questions about T.

A spokeswoman for the Times said Tuesday, “It’s her second day and she’s focused on getting herself settled here. She’s not ready to talk to the press and likely won’t be for a while. Similarly, it’s too early to talk about who might stay, who might go, who might join.”

She declined further comment Wednesday.

But plans Needleman has. She had big ideas even before she was named Sally Singer’s replacement last week.

According to sources, Needleman started negotiating with the Times while Singer was still holding court on the sixth floor. Needleman had always wanted to work at the Times, but for her, it wasn’t just a question of money. Journal managing editor Robert Thomson told her he’d match any offer from the Times, and, sources said, the Times had to dip into its discretionary budget to get her — a move that will not endear management to the Times union, still in the middle of an endless contract battle.

Needleman also wanted perks that had eluded previous T editors — a publisher of its own, for starters, which would lessen the pressure on the editor in chief to bring in ad dollars. She also asked to reposition T as a monthly that would be more general-interest, instead of themed, with each issue including coverage of fashion, design and travel.

It’s unclear if she got any of this. In the past, when Stefano Tonchi had asked for a monthly T, the ad sales team, which sells ads across categories for several Times sections, pushed back — they feel they can sell 15 issues. A sole publisher at T would make it more difficult to sell more ads in the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

But it was telling that in appointing Needleman, Jill Abramson said she was brought in to “strengthen the franchise and reimagine its future on all platforms.”

More certain are the requests she did get. Although contracts haven’t been finalized, several sources confirmed two WSJ. staffers are joining her at T.: fashion features director

Whitney Vargas and creative director Patrick Li. He resigned Friday; another staffer, market editor Andrew Lutjens, also resigned recently, but for reasons unrelated to Needleman’s departure.

It is widely expected other WSJ. staffers will migrate down to the Times on Eighth Avenue. Needleman prefers to work with familiar faces: she brought several Domino staffers to the Journal, including Off Duty editor Ruth Altchek and European editor Rita Konig.

Any additional departures at the Journal are unlikely to happen until Needleman’s successor has been named. The Journal has only begun the search, although some have thrown out possible candidates: perennial bridesmaid and GQ deputy editor Michael Hainey; Vanessa Friedman, the Financial Times’ fashion editor; and Rachel Johnson, sister to London mayor Boris Johnson and editor of the British weekly magazine The Lady. Hainey met with the Journal two years ago when it was casting about to replace Tina Gaudoin, the Brit who launched the magazine, and was also a possibility for T. Johnson, renowned for her p.r. skills, is conveniently profiled in October’s Vanity Fair. Johnson and Hainey did not respond to requests for comment.

At T, no one’s resigned or been reassigned. But with Vargas and Li, at least two staffers, Singer acolyte and features director Jacob Brown and creative director David Sebbah, would seem to be vulnerable. Both declined comment.

Singer, meanwhile, has not entirely skipped this season. She turned up in Paris at the Lanvin and Balenciaga shows — she is friends with the creative directors of both houses. Singer did not returns calls for comment on her next move. — ERIK MAZA

UP THE MASTHEAD: Details has made a pair of promotions, naming Matthew Marden fashion director and Eugene Tong style director, both reporting to editor-in-chief Dan Peres. Marden was previously market director and Tong was previously senior style editor. In their new roles, Marden will oversee all fashion coverage for the magazine, including conceptualizing cover shoots and the fashion well, while Tong will assume responsibility for the front-of-book “Style” section. The fashion director post had been vacant for several years and style director is a new position at the title. — DAVID LIPKE

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

MOODS OF NORWAY, the irreverent European fashion brand, has hired Keanan Duffty as a de-sign consultant as it continues to expand in the U.S. market through its own stores and whole-sale operation.

George Santacroce, chief executive officer for the U.S. market, said Duffty’s back-ground was key to the hire.

Born in the U.K. but based in San Francisco, Duffty studied fashion de-sign at Central Saint Martins in London and is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In 1999, he established his fash-ion label, which drew inspi-ration from youth culture, music and British iconog-raphy. In 2006, he created the England’s Dreaming by Keanan Duffty line for Target, and in 2007 also designed a limited-edition men’s collec-tion for Target inspired by David Bowie. He coauthored the book “Rebel Rebel Anti-Style,” which was published by Rizzoli in 2009, and is currently coproducing the documentary film “Malcolm McLaren: Spectacular Failure,” slated for release next year. Most recently, he joined the Academy of Art University in San Francisco as senior di-rector of fashion merchandising.

“As we expand into new markets, we were discussing how we can ensure we have the right design input and decided

to bring Keanan on board to consult with the design team,” Santacroce said. Neither the founders — Stefan Dahlkvist, Simen Staalnacke and Peder Børresen — nor Santacroce are designers, and, while the label has grown to a sales volume of $60

million, the executive team believes it needed some help with fit, fabric selec-tion and trend analysis.

“My role is to lead the de-sign work across all our prod-uct categories, and I will have a key role in translating the founders’ creative ideas into a consistent look across all categories and into a collec-tion that works equally well in the home market, in the U.S. and other overseas-interna-tional markets, starting with the spring-summer ’14 collec-tion,” Duffty said. He said he will continue to be based in the U.S., but expects to be in Norway every six weeks.

Moods of Norway opened its second U.S. store in New

York’s SoHo neighborhood on Fashion’s Night Out last month. It entered the U.S. retail market with a store on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles. It operates 15 stores around the world and added women’s wear three years ago, which currently ac-counts for around one-third of the company’s volume. Beyond the U.S., the plan is to ex-pand internationally with a new distributor-ship agreement in Germany and exploration of the U.K. and French markets.

Men’s WeekMW8 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012

Pols of THE WEEK

As the presidential candidates were readying for their first debate, they undoubtedly were ironing the wrinkles from their most classic business attire. But in the run-up to Wednesday night’s big showdown, they opted for more casual looks as they continue in their quest to appeal to the average American voter.

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SUNNY DIEGO has left Saks Fifth Avenue after 18 years to join LF USA, the U.S. divi-sion of Li & Fung, as senior vice president of merchandising in the men’s division.

Her most recent position at Saks was vice president and divisional vice president of men’s private brands. However, over the course of her career with the retailer, Diego had also served as a buyer of women’s foot-wear, men’s accessories and men’s designer clothing as well as fashion director of women’s footwear, accessories, women’s contemporary sportswear and men’s wear, according to her LinkedIn page.

Saks confirmed her departure but had

no comment about a successor. In January, Richard Cohen joined Saks as vice president of business development, a newly created position at the company. His primary respon-sibility is the development of Saks’ private men’s brands.

Rick Darling, president of LF USA, said of Diego’s appointment: “She joined about a week ago. She’s going to be working with Paul Raffin and we think she’ll be a great addition.” Raffin is the group president of men’s, kids and entertainment licensing for LF USA.

Diego did not return seeking comment. — J.E.P.

MEMO PADDuffty to Consult With Moods of Norway

Sunny Diego Exits Saks for LF USA

Keanan Duffty

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The well-executed Obama haircut looks like he had it

done at the local barbershop — the true Average Joe ’do.

The exploration of a more playful pattern, such as this gingham

check, emerges as a major trend of the campaign

as all the candidates move beyond their

white or blue comfort zone. However, a more

form-fitting silhouette would suit him better.

He’s definitely having a bad hair day, however,

his style is so perfect, it’s reminiscent of

John Edwards’ now-infamous $400 haircut.

The tonal leather belt adds a touch of sophistication and

provides a much-needed visual relief

from the Western buckles he’s prone

to wear.

The high-waisted pant has now become the

Republican silhouette, but after being on the

trail and eating too much fast food, it’s probably

not the best choice.

The battle of the checks continues with

yet another youthful patterned shirt. He’s

finally moving past the boxy silhouette and into

the form-fitting arena.

A slender cut of the blue cotton pants is definitely

flattering, but they’re an inch too long. And

the same rule applies: no creasing please.

We’ve learned to accept the orthopedic loafer as part of his fashion legacy, but consider a regular lace-up or

normal penny loafers.

The Ray-Ban metal frames are not

the trendy thick plastic frames of the moment;

they’re boring but very guy’s guy and practical.

Continuing in the younger and more

sophisticated take on casualwear, the stone

gray khaki is the perfect choice. But in

the future, lose the heavy crease — it’s a

definite no-no.

The casual brown lace-up is the ideal

finishing touch to the chic casual effort.