Fashion. Beauty. Business.

DAILY EDITION 15 APRIL 2016 1

WATCH SALESMANBernard Arnault talked up the Tag Heuer smartwatch at the LVMH annual meeting. PAGE 5

DEEPER DIVEBurberry sales fell further in the second half as business suffered in Hong Kong, Europe and the U.S. PAGE 3

NEW GEMBulgari unveils a new Peter Marino-designed store concept in London. PAGE 12

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● The two are embarking on a relationship that marries payments, marketing and the in-store experience.

BY RACHEL STRUGATZ

Amazon is aiming to boost its cred in the fashion world via a partnership with Moda Operandi.

The five-year-old e-commerce site is Amazon’s first luxury partner and the two are embarking on a symbiotic relationship that marries payments, marketing and the in-store experience.

It’s no secret that Amazon has spent the past decade growing its fashion profile. This started with the acquisition of online retail destinations such as Shopbop and MyHabit and has since expanded to signifi-cant on-site efforts that have made fashion one of the e-tail giant’s biggest categories. Until now, though, the company has yet to implement a meaningful luxury fashion play, focusing on the contemporary seg-ment and below.

The first initiative — which softly launched last week — in the multipronged partnership allows Moda Operandi cus-tomers to use their Amazon accounts to check out on the high-end e-commerce site. Next month, Amazon will roll out a new advertising product that can target consumers on its own platform and direct them to Modaoperandi.com, taking Ama-zon’s hundreds of millions of consumers and turning them into potential designer shoppers. Lastly, a series of first-to-market tools developed by Amazon will be imple-mented within Moda’s physical showroom and retail spaces. The tools allow shoppers to use their Amazon identities to check out.

“We are not putting ourselves between the merchant and customer — that would be really, really wrong. The way that

RETAIL

Amazon PartnersWith Luxury SiteModa OperandiMajed Al-Sabah takes Manhattan and sells $35,000 of fragrance in a day.

For more, see page 4.

BEAUTY

New York Sheikh

● The retailer was often called “the godfather of Rodeo Drive.”

BY LORNA KOSKI WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM KHANH T.L. TRAN

Fred Hayman, former owner of the Gior-gio Beverly Hills store and its best-selling fragrance that came to signify the Power Eighties with both designer excess and even headier scent, died Thursday at age

OBITUARY

Fred Hayman ofGiorgio BeverlyHills Dies at 90

90 after a long illness.Giorgio Beverly Hills on Rodeo Drive

epitomized the Reagan years, with its yellow-and-white striped awning, bar, pool table and cappuccino machine — then an American novelty. Hayman, who was often called “the godfather of Rodeo Drive,” brought to retail a sense of showmanship and focus on service, both of which he learned while working at hotels and restau-rants, and created a store whose fame extended far beyond Rodeo Drive. The scents he subsequently launched were so strong that they also could be smelled from afar — and lingered for hours.

In November 1961, Hayman, then a ban-quet manager at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, lent $12,000 to George Grant — who owned a shop called Giorgio on Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way in Beverly Hills — becoming a silent partner in the business. It was Grant

who came up with the store’s signature yel-low-and-white awning stripes and chande-lier. By 1964, Hayman was the sole owner of the boutique. In 1966, he married the former Gale Miller, whom he had originally hired as a waitress at the Beverly Hilton. It was his third marriage and her second, and it would prove to be a relationship made in retail — though not necessarily romantic — heaven.

Hayman was born on May 29, 1925, in St. Gallen, east of Zurich, Switzerland, to Richard Pollag and the former Irma Levy. The family moved to Paris, then the U.S. The young Hayman worked in the kitchen of the Waldorf Astoria, then went into the Navy during World War II, a stint he spent Stateside as a dentist-in-training. When the war ended, he spent time in Paris and Mexico on the G.I. Bill before returning

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Fred Hayman in 2007.

http://www.mcmworldwide.com/en/home

15 APRIL 2016 3

● The company said full-year 2016-17 profits are to fall at the “bottom end” of analysts’ projections.

BY SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — The mainland Chinese are still shopping but their spending habits are changing rapidly — and the shift has taken a further toll on Burberry Group. The Brit-ish brand saw second-half revenue shrink by 1 percent in the six months to March 31, on the heels of a flat first half.

Sales in the six months were 1.41 billion pounds, or $2.1 billion at average exchange, marred by a steady deteriora-tion in Hong Kong; a sharp downturn in Continental Europe, and uneven demand in the U.S., where Burberry sells mostly to a domestic audience.

After dropping 7.9 percent in midday trading, Burberry stock closed down 3.6 percent at 12.96 pounds, or $18.45 at cur-rent exchange.

Burberry said in the trading update that comparable retail sales were down 2 percent in the second half, having dipped 5 percent in the fourth quarter after a flat third quarter. Stripping out the impact of Hong Kong and Macau, second-half comparable retail sales would have risen 1 percent.

Wholesale revenue fell 1 percent on an underlying basis, in line with earlier guidance. Worldwide, clients have become more cautious, the company said.

Carol Fairweather, Burberry’s chief financial officer, said during a confer-ence call that the external environment continues to be challenging for luxury goods players, and that Chinese spend globally had slowed in the third and fourth quarters.

Comparable sales in Hong Kong declined by more than 20 percent for the third successive quarter. Fairweather said the trend was not Burberry-specific, but a sector-wide issue caused by mainland Chinese tourists opting to shop elsewhere in Asia.

“Hong Kong is the highest-margin mar-ket in the world and footfall, sector-wide, is down 30 percent,” she said, adding that Burberry’s stores in the region remain profitable. In keeping with the climate, Burberry plans to “re-evaluate” the rent it pays as leases come up for renewal and, as reported, has already given up one floor of its two-story Hong Kong flagship.

Hours after Burberry unveiled its sec-ond-half update, Barclays offered up more grim news about Chinese spending.

Using the latest figures from the tax-free tourism company Global Blue, Barclays said that, in March, Chinese global spend-ing “fell deeply into negative territory for the first time,” with a minus 24 percent decline after a 5 percent uptick in Febru-ary and an 11 percent rise in January.

Barclays said Chinese spending in the Asia-Pacific region also declined by minus 6 percent after strong double-digit increases in January and February. In Europe, Chinese spending plummeted 35 percent year-on-year in March. “The overall growth of the Chinese consumer

globally has slowed, and remains a con-cern,” the bank said.

While demand in Hong Kong has been on the wane since the city was gripped by violent pro-democracy protests in late 2014, the decline in Europe was the big surprise: Fairweather acknowledged that the slowdown “may have been exacer-bated” by the tragic events in Paris in November, although factors including new biometric visa requirements in Europe also contributed to the decline.

Burberry added that the U.K. and the Middle East, which is grouped with Europe on Burberry’s balance sheet, remained “difficult” throughout the half.

On a more positive note, the company saw midsingle-digit growth in mainland China in the second half, as well as growth in Korea and Japan, although the Asia-Pa-cific region as a whole was broadly flat.

Fairweather said Burberry now has 63 stores in mainland China and the focus going forward would be on polishing the retail offer in Beijing and “elevating” the store portfolio in key markets. She added that Burberry, which recently terminated its longtime license in Japan and began rolling out its own stores, has a “long-term strategy” for the company.

“We have seen great growth on a tiny base,” she said.

The U.S. also proved a tricky market in the second half, with the Americas

region as a whole contracting 1 percent on a reported basis, and 3 percent on an underlying one.

Burberry said demand from U.S. domes-tic customers, who represent 85 percent of sales in the region, was “uneven” throughout the six months, while spend by the traveling luxury consumer remained down by a double-digit percent-age, likely due to the stronger U.S. dollar.

Fairweather said that U.S. department stores were also finding market conditions “pretty challenging.”

Overall, sales of women’s and men’s wear both contracted by 3 percent, while accessories edged up 1 percent, with bestsellers including the new leather and nylon rucksack, scarves and ponchos. Children’s wear and beauty grew in the double digits.

Overall beauty revenue was up 13 per-cent on a reported basis and 10 percent underlying, driven by the sell-in of Mr Burberry, the new male fragrance that launched earlier this month, and by fur-ther product extensions around the signa-ture My Burberry juice. Fairweather said the company would be further expand-ing the Burberry color cosmetics line at Sephora, both online and in-store.

Asked about the departure of Simona Cattaneo, Burberry’s head of beauty who is joining Coty Inc. later this year, and its impact on the beauty division, Fair-weather said: “Simona has been a tremen-dous asset, and helped us to position our beauty business. We wish her well, and she leaves us in good shape.”

Asked whether, as some observers have speculated, Burberry might now return to a licensing model for beauty — rather than preserve its new in-house business — Fairweather said: “There is nothing to comment on today. We continue to build our beauty pillar and are pleased with what we are seeing in the business.”

Regarding Burberry’s new-format run-way show in September, when the com-pany plans to sell in-season looks in-store and online immediately after the lights go down, Fairweather said the move was more than a commercial decision.

“The runway represents a small per-centage of sales, less than five percent, and this decision is very much about the brand responding to consumer sentiment and change in the market,” she said.

Looking to the 2016-17 fiscal year, the company said adjusted profit before tax will be “around the bottom of the range” of analysts’ expectations, currently about 405 million pounds, or $577 million, as the “environment remains challenging and underlying cost inflation pressures persist.” Currency tailwinds are set to underpin that figure in the coming year.

Barclays said in its report on Burberry that “good news was hard to find in Q4 except for foreign exchange, which will have a 60 million pounds, or $85 million, benefit in 2017.” The bank said it cut its estimates for 2017 earnings per share by 8 percent, in line with guidance, and it awaits the cost strategy outline at the results presentation in May.

Fairweather said that Burberry contin-ues to focus on reducing discretionary costs, and had met its target of saving upwards of 25 million pounds, or $36 mil-lion, this year as sales have slowed.

She said the company has not been hiring new people, is keeping an eye on travel and expenses, and is “looking at what further savings we can deliver.”

In the statement issued earlier in the day, Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative and executive officer, said the company was “making good progress with developing enhanced future productivity and efficiency plans.”

Burberry is set to elaborate on those plans on May 18, when it issues its profit figure for the year ended March 31.

BUSINESS

Burberry Shares Dive as Sales Continue Slide

LVMH Signs Rihanna to Create a Makeup Brand ● Kendo division to launch a Rihanna brand in the fall of 2017.

● The 21 Best Mini-Bags For Fall 2016

● Social Media Star Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah Floods Bergdorf’s With Fans

● They Are Wearing: Paris Fashion Week Fall 2016

● Top 10 Shoes and Bags of Fall 2016

Global Stock TrackerAs of close April 14, 2016

ADVANCERS

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Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. +5.36%

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group +5.11%

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Ted Baker plc -4.66%

J.C. Penney Company, Inc. -3.98%

Dillard’s Inc. -3.80%

Burberry Group plc -3.21%

Express Inc. -3.13%

TOP 5TRENDINGON WWD.COM

Burberry fall 2016

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4 15 APRIL 2016

● The social media star is also launching scented luxury chocolates, shaped like fragrance blotters.

BY ALLISON COLLINS

NEW YORK — Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah, his U.S.-based social media following and his fragrance line, The Fragrance Kitchen, have taken Manhattan by storm.

Roughly 1,000 people showed up for Al-Sabah’s personal appearance at Bergdorf Goodman on Tuesday. About 800 poured into his launch party at The NoMad Hotel — 200 in the pent-house, where the party, with its 15-piece traditional Kuwaiti band, was scheduled to be held — and 600 more downstairs who were barred from going up by fire regulations.

Al-Sabah’s fragrance line launched at Bergdorf ’s on Monday and is expected to do about $125,000 in sales for the week. On Wednesday alone, the collec-tion had an estimated $35,000 in sales, according to industry sources, with $15,000 in sales for Monday and another

$15,000 on Tuesday. Sales for the com-pany globally hover around $22 million, according to sources. The fragrances sell for $225 or $320.

“Product-wise, the brand has a very sophisticated, unique and interna-tional appeal,” said Patricia Saxby, vice president and divisional merchandise manager at Bergdorf ’s. “Our customers are well-traveled and very savvy to new exciting product in other parts of the world, so we think the brand will be very successful at Bergdorf Goodman.”

“We want to make sure that it does not feel or look or seem as a Middle

Eastern collection,” Al-Sabah said. “It’s very contemporary, it’s very modern — it’s fresh, it’s young, it’s a new twist to niche fragrances. It’s very easygoing. We’re not sort of a preppy brand, we’re a very cool brand.”

Bergdorf ’s beauty section houses 60 of the line’s fragrances, including one that is New York-specific and sold only at the Fifth Avenue store, inspired by the view from Al-Sabah’s Central Park-adjacent hotel room and the roses of New York. It’s called A Rose With a View. He also recently launched the line at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills, Calif., where Palm Fiction — a Pulp-Fic-tion-Palm-Tree name hybrid — sells as the exclusive fragrance.

“We loved the breadth of the brand, the different collections and the scents — literally something for everyone,” Saxby said. “The names and packag-ing were unique and catchy and that appealed to us as well.”

Al-Sabah’s travels are one of his main sources of fragrance inspiration, he said, and he whips up a new exclusive scent or fragrance collection for each city The Fragrance Kitchen moves into. He started the business in 2012, although he’d gone into the fashion

business long before that. In 1992, he started a retailing operation in Kuwait, pulling in U.S. and European designers to the region. Eventually, he sniffed out an opportunity in beauty, partnering with Tom Ford in 2005 on fragrances including Arabian Wood, which was successful.

“It gave me the confidence to start my own business of fragrances,” Al-Sabah said. “I consider myself like a chef when I do the blending.” The process serves him the same way yoga or meditation serves others, he said. “Whenever I come back home I start blending fra-grances to just give me this feeling of [serenity].

“I am also a nose and I’m not a chem-ist. I just go with my gut feelings. I blend fragrances and then I pass my blends to labs to develop it,” he said. “I got the whole knowledge of blending fragrances from my grandmother,” Al-Sabah said. “She was doing all these blends for the family members.”

Al-Sabah is the son of the Emir of Kuwait’s first cousin.

The business sells in 13 stores in Russia, 11 in the Middle East, four in Europe and two in the U.S. By the end of the year, The Fragrance Kitchen is planning to sell in another six locations in Europe, six shops in the Middle East and four stores in Russia.

Up next for the brand is luxury, scented chocolate, shaped like the blot-ters for testing out fragrances in stores. “We collaborated with a chocolate artist from Torino in Italy and we’re launching in a few weeks the conversion of scents into flavor,” he said. Boxes will retail for between $80 and $90.

THE MARKETS

Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah Plans Fragrance Line Expansion

● The company blamed expenses related to the integration of the Jean Paul Gaultier perfume business and investments in its other brands.

BY JENNIFER WEIL

PARIS — Net profits at Puig declined 28 percent in 2015 to 126 million euros, or $139.8 million, dented by expenses related to the integration of the Jean Paul Gaultier perfume business and investments in its other brands.

The Barcelona-based fragrance and fashion company maintained the objec-tive of reaching a two billion euro, or $2.23 billion, sales target in 2017.

Its sales came in at 1.65 billion euros, or $1.83 billion, up 9 percent in reported terms and 2 percent on a like-for-like basis. Dollar figures are con-verted from euros at average exchange rates for the period in question.

Marc Puig, chief executive officer of Puig, told WWD he recognized that company growth had stalled over the past two years, but emphasized that was foreseen as part of the strategy put in place to attain the revenue goal in three years.

“Last year at this time we said that for 2015 we were projecting a midsin-gle-digit [sales] growth, but a reduction

of profits,” he said in an interview.There were investments made to sup-

port its brands and expenses linked to the preparation for the incorporation of the Gaultier fragrance business, which began on Jan. 1, 2016. These included an early termination compensation, since the license with Shiseido’s Beauté Pres-tige International originally ran through June 2016, and IP rights valued at 69 million euros, or $76.5 million.

Puig had become the majority share-holder of Gaultier’s fashion house in 2011.

On the perfume front, the company trumpeted a robust performance for the Paco Rabanne brand, including the ongoing successes of the 1 Million and Invictus men’s scents and the more recently launched Olympéa feminine fragrance. There was also L’Extase from Nina Ricci, plus premium offers from Prada and Valentino. Puig also highlighted the strength of the Caro-lina Herrera brand, and of some of the masstige labels, especially in many of the emerging markets.

The company did not break out financials related to its fashion activity. However the executive did say, referring to Guillaume Henry and Julien Dossena, respectively: “We have two new design-ers at Nina Ricci and Paco Rabanne, who are in their third or fourth seasons, and we are very happy with how this is evolving. Carolina Herrera is evolving very nicely.”

When asked whether there are any plans afoot to reintroduce a ready-to-wear collection at the Gaultier fashion label, which produces just couture, Puig said: “Not for the moment.”

In general these days, big luxury players are not having an easy time with fashion and leather goods businesses. Sales for that activity at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, for instance, stalled in the first quarter, as reported.

Yet Puig remains bullish on the categories.

“As long as you do a good job, when you’re still a small player there are always opportunities for growth,” he said. “It’s more difficult when you are the leader and have such huge brands.”

Last year, 86 percent of Puig’s reve-nues were generated abroad. Domesti-cally, company sales grew 8 percent.

Puig’s three production facilities in Spain manufactured 68 percent of the company’s products, while its factory in Chartres, France, generated 29 percent.

Puig’s products were sold in more than 150 countries. It has subsidiaries in 22 of them.

In 2015, the company had 4,483 employees, of which 1,620 were domestic.

It launched in Spain and Latin America a social action initiative, called Invisible Beauty, which supports entrepreneurs with innovative projects created to better the lives of young people. The program is run by the Puig

Foundation with Ashoka, a global non-profit organization.

Looking ahead through yearend, Puig said: “We are expecting sales growth of low double-digits.” That’s despite the ongoing macroeco-nomic volatility and uncertainty in emerging markets such as Latin Amer-ica, the Middle East and Russia, which are key for the company, he pointed out.

To continue bolstering sales growth, so it gains the targeted 33 percent between 2015 and 2017, the company will invest more in its own brands again this year. That means lower profitability until the end of the three-year period.

The organization’s priority is to extract the maximum potential from its brands, which still have large growth opportunities, according to Puig. How-ever, he is not adverse to considering acquisitions, depending on the added value they represent and the fit in the company’s existing portfolio.

Puig has a combination of owned brands, such as Carolina Herrera and Nina Ricci, and licensed fragrance labels like Prada, Valentino and Comme des Garçons.

In early 2015, Puig purchased L’Arti-san Parfumeur and Penhaligon’s.

“The experience of retail is different that what we normally do, and it has really helped us understand a different dimension of this [fragrance] process,” said Puig.

BUSINESS

Puig Sees 2015 Profits Decline 28%

Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah

15 APRIL 2016 5

● The luxury titan holds the audience rapt at annual shareholders meeting in Paris.

BY MILES SOCHA

PARIS — Meet Bernard Arnault, the world’s most overqualified watch salesman.

Addressing shareholders at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s annual general meeting here Thursday, the luxury giant’s chairman and chief executive officer flashed his Tag Heuer Connected model, developed in conjunction with Intel Corp. and Google and released last November.

Holding out his wrist, he boasted how it is outselling other, more hyped smartwatches — hint: the Apple iWatch, although he didn’t name names.

“What’s more, it actually looks like a watch,” he said, eliciting a round of chuckles from the hundreds gathered at the Carrousel du Louvre.

His pitch for Tag’s $1,500 timepiece — cited as an example of the group’s com-mitment to innovation — prompted addi-tional queries about its functions, which France’s richest man gamely fielded, explaining how it is essentially an exten-sion of his mobile phone, allowing him to discreetly glance at incoming messages, stock prices and other information. The importance of the product was exhibited by Arnault’s turning out for its worldwide launch in New York last November, where he beamed at the news that customers were already lining up at the Tag store down the street to buy it.

“You can also load your music on to it, and if you jog, you can run without carrying your telephone and listen to your music using Bluetooth-enabled head-phones,” said Arnault in his sales spiel for the watch on Thursday, adding that the device also monitors vital functions like heart rate. “And the new version will be even stronger.”

In a lively, upbeat address, Arnault trumpeted the resilience of the family-con-trolled luxury group, characterizing its solid performance in 2015 as a logical con-sequence of its commitment to creating desirable, high-quality products loaded with “practical creativity.”

To wit: He divulged that Louis Vuitton would this summer introduce a new and “very innovative” suitcase “made with all the savoir faire of this maison.”

According to market sources, Marc Newson collaborated with Vuitton on the new travel item. The celebrated industrial designer created a backpack for the brand in 2014 as it marked its 160th anniver-sary with a series of pricey one-offs in its monogrammed canvas.

During the meeting, Arnault also broke his silence about a controversial and popular “Roger & Me”-style French documentary currently in theaters. Titled “Merci Patron,” or “Thanks, Boss,” in English, the film chronicles the struggles of a couple who lose their jobs at a Kenzo suit factory when production is moved to Eastern Europe. The filmmaker and journalist François Ruffin takes Arnault to task for their plight — despite the fact that the French group hired 27,000 people last year.

“Listen, it’s hard to give my opinion on the film, as I haven’t seen it,” Arnault

mused before a rapt room. “But we’ve been the target of criticism from far-left parties for more than 20 years. It’s quite surprising; I’ve often wondered why. I think the answer is quite simple: The LVMH Group is the incarnation of — at least for these far-left observers — the worst that a liberal economy has produced.

“We have all the flaws. First, we are a big CAC 40 company — that’s very detri-mental. On top of it, we have good results and that makes it worse. Thirdly, we hire staff — in France even, and long-term — and that’s appalling. When I first arrived at the head of this group, we had 20,000 employees and today we are at 120,000. That’s very bad, according to them. And, lastly, we illustrate globalization’s benefits for France, that’s the absolute catastro-phe…and so that is the reason why, in my opinion, we have been the subject of this kind of criticism,” Arnault concluded dryly, rewarded with a burst of applause.

Flanked by giant images of Hollywood stars Johnny Depp and Alicia Vikander — the faces of Dior’s Sauvage fragrance and Louis Vuitton’s fashions, respectively — Arnault trumpeted how his group’s “unique and diversified” portfolio of brands — spanning liquors, beauty prod-ucts, leather goods and even hotels — has proven a “considerable advantage” over rival luxury firms and given it stability against a volatile economic and geopoliti-cal backdrop.

He touted Fendi’s revamped Rome flagship, set in a five-story palazzo with a boutique hotel and rooftop Zuma restau-rant, as the most-visited store in the Eter-nal City; lauded the talent of 30-year-old Jonathan Anderson, creative director of

Loewe and “a revelation among the new wave of designers,” and waxed poetic about the raw materials employed by Loro Piana, acquired by the group in 2013 for 1.99 billion euros.

“Quality is at the center of our preoc-cupations. It explains the success of our products,” he said, reprising a common theme of his annual address: “We are not a marketing-driven company.”

At the meeting, chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony reviewed LVMH’s 2015 results, touting record revenue, cash flow and operating profits.

There was no mention — and no questions from the floor — about LVMH’s ho-hum results for the first quarter of 2016, when sales growth in the cash-cow fashion and leather goods division stalled due to discontinued collections at Donna Karan and Marc Jacobs, plus a steep decline in tourist flows to Paris in the wake of the terror attacks last November. Earlier in the week, Guiony said sales at Vuitton stores in the French capital had declined double-digits in the first three months of the year.

Yet Arnault was bullish on Vuitton’s legacy of leather goods savoir faire, and its reputation for made-in-France handbags. “Fashion at Louis Vuitton is an accessory,” he said.

He also let slip a few numbers, even though the group never breaks out the financial performance of individual brands.

Discussing Sephora, he boasted that the beauty chain would soon be the largest distributor of cosmetics in the U.S., whereas a decade ago, some luxury analysts and shareholders were calling for LVMH to dispose of the retailer.

“It develops, including online, with great success and the turnover is very important, between 500 million and one billion [euros], with excellent profitability, which is rare on the Internet,” he said.

Discussing Dior’s Sauvage, which he hailed as the number-one men’s scent in many markets, he asserted that Dior is “the most famous French name in the world” and that its fashion and fragrance businesses are now in the range of five billion euros, or $5.63 billion at current exchange.

The executive also highlighted the importance of digital innovation going forward, telegraphed this week when LVMH revealed it is a principle sponsor of Viva Technology Paris, a new trade event this summer that will spotlight 5,000 start-ups.

“We have high hopes — and in any case a strong will — for the digital orientation of the group,” Arnault said, trumpeting the recruitment last year of Ian Rogers from Apple to become LVMH’s first chief digital officer. “Digital is integral to the innova-tion that is increasingly driving companies around the world.”

He stopped short of saying sales associates would be replaced by robots, something a shareholder suggested during the question-and-answer period.

“I think that would disappoint our clientele. Human contact is absolutely fundamental to explain the quality, cre-ativity and reliability of our products,” he said, characterizing digital technology as a service enhancement. “So the digital development potential for a group like ours is very important — and this without affecting the attractiveness of the product.”

BUSINESS

Arnault Talks Smartwatches And Why the Left Dislikes LVMH

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Bernard Arnault Tag Heuer’s Connected watch.

6 15 APRIL 2016

● The line will be carried in around 60 stores and online.

BY JEAN E. PALMIERI

NEW YORK — Diane Gilman has built a successful career championing the mature woman, building a $150 million denim collection for HSN that has earned her the nickname “The Queen of Jeans.”

And now, the vivacious 70-year-old is jumping into brick-and-mortar with an exclusive collection for Christopher & Banks.

The Diane Gilman Ultralux Denim Col-lection of jeans and related tops, which is being manufactured by Gilman’s long-time partner, Sunrise Brands, is being introduced for spring in the company’s stores and online. The collaboration will be celebrated with a launch party in New York on Monday night.

“In fashion, women over 40 often feel like an old girl in a young girl’s world,” Gilman told WWD in an interview at the Sunrise Brands offices here. “They’ve seen their body parts go south, east and west, but never north.”

Her DG2 line for HSN addressed their

unique needs by offering jeans that are comfortable and fashionable. “When she needs the most help, she gets the least,” Gilman said. “The fashion industry turns its back on her.”

So Gilman created a line targeted to Christopher & Banks’ sweet spot: “the middle-aged Middle American woman.”

The Ultralux collection will consist of 45 pieces in misses and plus sizes. There are different washes and weights in jeans, and silhouettes include boot cut, classic cuts, capris and jeggings.

Tops range from classic T-shirts and button-downs to three-quarter sleeve mandarins and asymmetric hem tops. “You’ll never see a binding top in my line,” she said, noting that most older women acquire belly fat that is often difficult to lose. “So it’s all about under-standing what’s not fixable and working with it.”

Prices range from $49.95 to $74.95.“Christopher & Banks came to us when

they heard we wanted to do a retail line,” Gilman said. “And the fit between my line and their customer was in perfect lockstep.”

She said the primary determinant for the collection is that it needed to be

comfortable, or “caressing to the body,” she said. “They won’t sacrifice comfort for style.”

Tricia Perket, vice president and divi-sional general merchandise manager for Christopher & Banks, agrees. “Diane Gil-man is a branded collection that further supports the comfort and design needs of our customer. The product is ageless, yet meets the needs of women’s chang-ing bodies as they move through life. Fabric and fit are an integral part of this collection and the product is designed to complement our body shapes and layer effortlessly. Diane is a well-known jean expert and an advocate for looking and feeling great at any age. This philosophy is a great extension and complement to our brand.”

LuAnn Via, president and chief exec-utive officer of the Minneapolis-based retailer, said the Diane Gilman line will be carried in approximately 60 stores and online. She said that while the retailer has had other joint ventures in the past, this is its first celebrity partner-ship — one she hopes will be ongoing.

“We have collaborated to provide the Diane Gilman collection through 2016 and we anticipate to have a long-term

partnership,” Via said.Gerard Guez, chairman and founder

of Sunrise Brands, said Gilman’s “ability to create products with universal appeal, specifically in terms of fit, has contrib-uted to her overall success as a designer. We are excited to see Diane’s designs live in the brick-and-mortar space for the first time.”

Gilman believes her collection will complement Christopher & Banks’ other denim product, which is “more classic — like an old, familiar best friend. Well, here’s your next best friend: it loves you and it holds you in.”

THE MARKETS

Diane Gilman Partners Up With Christopher & Banks

● The California-born designer started her own label at the age of 43 but doctored her birth year as time went by.

BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

Bonnie Cashin’s lasting influence on American sportswear is evident from one season to the next, and Stephanie Lake’s new book will only give further definition to that legacy.

In New York for a signing for “Bon-nie Cashin: Chic is Where You Find It” (Rizzoli), Lake — who designs her own accessories collection — spoke with WWD about some of the unknown personal

history of Cashin, whom she first met in the Nineties as a graduate student. A Hollywood High School grad, Cashin started her own label at age 43 after designing for the Roxy Theater’s in-house dancers and doing costumes for 20th Century Fox films. Shrewd about the power of youth, she fudged her age, claiming to have been born in 1915, even though Census data indicates circa 1908 is closer to the fact. “It was kind of a rolling situation. As it went on, the date kept creeping up until 1915,” Lake said. “I didn’t know until she died. It was a shock. She was a youthful beauty so she could get away with it and she did.”

Cashin, who died in 2000, was an Art Students League graduate in the Thirties and always saw herself as an artist, so

much so that at the time of her retire-ment she said she planned to return to painting as a career. Cashin hand-mixed paints to create — and name — her own colors, which she then gave to dyers and weavers to recreate with textiles and fabrics. To keep herself removed from Seventh Avenue, Cashin lived and worked at U.N. Plaza, where her mother, the company’s only other stakeholder with 1 percent, lived in an adjoining apartment and sewed samples until her death in 1963. “She didn’t play by any fashion rules,” Lake said.

Cashin’s firsts as an American designer included creating flight attendants’ uniforms for American Airlines, selling select designs from her own line in the Hermès Paris store for years and opening an in-store shop at Liberty of London. In the Sixties, she passed up the chance to be in-house designer at Liberty of Lon-don. Involved at that time with a British civil servant and mystery author, the designer was more interested in spend-ing her time in London “boating on the Thames or something” with him.

“She always kept her sense of wonder. Even in the very last years of her life, she was such a force intellectually and personally,” Lake said.

Not interested in hosting potted-palm fashion shows in hotels like other designers, Cashin showed a number of collections at the Herman Miller show-room, as well as unexpected spots like the Museum of Contemporary Craft and Serendipity, the Upper East Side ice cream shop. To debut a fur collection that was coined “Money in the Bank,” Cashin staged the show in a bank. “Taste not price” was a motto. Ahead of the

high-low trend that so many design-ers are now so immersed in, Cashin offered items ranging in price from $12 to $12,000 and liked to say, “Prices fall where they may.”

Despite being IMG’s first fashion client, Cashin turned away 60 deals, Lake said. Her influence — hardware clasps instead of buttons, formalizing a system of lay-ering and the use of leather in an array of sportswear styles — “filters through so many collections,” according to Lake. “I see her everywhere.” In addition to creating the items, Cashin’s élan for wittily describing them helped shoppers to understand what were then new con-cepts. By calling a two-piece coat with a shell and an outer piece as “a striptease in reverse,” Cashin explained things in a way that no one else had ever done.

Very proud of her influence on her century, Cashin took it upon herself to start donating items from her collection to the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in the Thirties. After entrusting Lake with her legacy, the designer gave the author “informed” biographies about such creative forces as Ray and Charles Eames, whom Cashin knew personally and admired. But those books were as much about the subjects’ lives, ideolo-gies and influences as they were about their respective crafts, Lake said.

“Enormously proud” at the end of her life, Cashin felt gratified about the influence her career had on 20th century fashion, Lake said. “That was not something she ever boasted about. It was just a fact for her. The only thing she lamented was that she didn’t have another 20 years.”

EYE

Bonnie Cashin as Revealed by Stephanie Lake

Diane Gilman

Bonnie Cashin

15 APRIL 2016 7

● The multilabel designer specialty store in Winnetka, Ill., is expanding into a significantly bigger new space in August.

BY SHARON EDELSON

Kelly Golden, owner of Neapolitan Col-lection in Winnetka, Ill., is an influential multidesigner retailer in the Midwest. Nei-ther flashy nor showy, she’s been content to fly somewhat under the fashion radar. Until now.

Golden in October will nearly dou-ble Neapolitan’s size to 8,000 square feet when she moves the store to a new location at 560 Chestnut Street, around the corner from the original unit on Elm Street.

Neapolitan sells Gucci, Valentino, Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Marni, The Row, Altuzarra and Roksanda, among other designers. There’s a Dior shop-in-shop and Golden is considering having more.

“We’re partnering with some brands,” she said. “Where we carry shoes and handbags as well as ready-to-wear, we’ll display it together.”

The store’s expanded size will allow Neapolitan to offer swimwear and more denim. “It’s allowing us to add more cat-egories and lines so we’ll be able to dress our ladies from morning to night,” Golden said. “We’re one of the few specialty stores carrying The Row shoes.”

There will be a salon for fine jewelry, a category that’s been growing for years, with Sidney Garber, Fernando George, Irene Neuwirth, Monique Peán, Federica Rettore and four or five other brands,

priced from $600 to $100,000.Golden will offer contemporary labels

and she’s talking to Urban Zen about creat-ing an area that communicates calm and well-being.

Neapolitan now does about $1,000 a square foot in sales, and Golden expects the new store to do at least as much, if not more.

With its 30-foot ceilings, the new store is giving Golden a big blank canvas to play with. “There are no structural walls or columns. It’s a bit overwhelming to design the space,” she said. “We’re bringing back the beautiful trusses and natural skylights that the previous owners covered up. Architecturally, the space is very inter-esting. The product will show better. We still want to keep a bit more of an intimate feeling.”

When Neapolitan originally opened

13 years ago, the store had 1,400 square feet of space. Over the years, she added square footage as adjacent shops became available, eventually growing to 4,400 square feet. “It was putting it together piecemeal,” she said. “For the past couple of years, I’ve been looking for another space.”

Neapolitan holds numerous trunk shows. There are five scheduled for April alone, including Marni furs and Adam Lippes. “My clients love the personal inter-action with designers,” Golden said. “It’s very old-school in that way. That’s why we’ve been able to keep expanding and growing.”

Golden was working at Motorola when she decided she needed a change and enrolled in the MBA program at the Kellogg School of Management at North-western University. “I was in an entrepre-neurial class. I wanted to start my own business. The question I asked myself was, ‘what would get me out of bed every morning and not feel like work?’”

She answered her own question with fashion. “I always loved the experience of shopping and traveled a lot for previ-ous jobs. I thought there was an oppor-tunity in Chicago on the North Shore. I approached it as a business opportunity,” she said.

RETAIL

Neapolitan Collection Aims to Double in Size

● He spoke during a trunk show hosted by Marigay McKee, ceo of MM Luxe Consulting.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

NEW YORK — For Adam Lippes, life as a fashion designer is much better the second time around.

Lippes spoke earlier this week at a trunk show for his collection on the Upper East Side at the home of his men-tor, Marigay McKee, the former chief executive officer of Saks Fifth Avenue. He met McKee when she bought his col-lection when she was chief merchant at Harrods. Today McKee is ceo of her own firm, MM Luxe Consulting.

“I admire her enthusiasm and her smarts,” Lippes said of McKee. “She has been mentoring me and helping to guide me. She likes my collection a lot. All young brands need a cheerleader.”

About 50 guests were invited, friends of Lippes’ and McKee’s. Mingling among the guests, and enjoying much attention, were the “girls in residence” — Sutter, a border terrier, and Coco, a shih tzu. Their presence led to a conversation at

one point during which Lippes disclosed that he is thinking of adding another dog — a Goldendoodle — to his canine brood. He already has three Labradoodles.

Lippes’ line is at the designer level, with corresponding price points. Open-ing prices start at $450, although many items were far higher, such as a blush colored suede skirt for $1,600. Some of the dresses were in the $2,100 range.

According to Lippes, half of his business is in the U.S. and the other half overseas. His designer collection is in 125 doors in 22 nations. He started his namesake collection in February 2013 and after 2.5 years is at break-even. Lippes, who was creative director for Oscar de la Renta from 1996 to 2003, said the designer level was really where he always wanted to position his line.

The move upmarket to the designer category follows the shuttering of the designer’s first line, Adam Adam Lippes, a contemporary brand that was acquired by Kellwood Co. in 2010. Kellwood is owned by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners. In 2011, Kellwood decided to shutter Adam Adam Lippes to focus on the larger “core brands” in its portfolio. Looking back, Lippes said

the pressures in the contemporary space were tough.

“It was all about more, more, more. Grow, grow, grow. Faster, faster, faster,” he said, adding that his current collec-tion is all about the line and “making beautiful pieces that women will like and put in her wardrobe.”

The closing of his first company was a learning experience that helped shape some of the decisions in his current business. “We were trying to grow very fast. When I launched [Adam Lippes], I turned down more stores than we took,” he said. The designer also spoke about competition in the contemporary space. “All lines have an immense amount of competition. A lot of the brands follow the same trend, and then you end up competing just on the price point.”

Lippes isn’t a fan of the see now-buy now-wear now trend, noting that the idea is a risky one. “It’s very hard to know what a customer wants and you are now producing even before she has seen it. That’s a risk,” he said, suggest-ing that a better option is trying to ship pieces from a line to the store that is weather appropriate at the time of delivery.

THE MARKETS

Adam Lippes on His Namesake Collection

A look from the Adam Lippes pre-fall 2016 collection.

Neapolitan Collection rendering.

8 15 APRIL 2016

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● Under the terms of the MOU with the U.S., China agreed to stop subsidizing exports of textiles, footwear and apparel.

BY KRISTI ELLIS

WASHINGTON — U.S. Trade Represen-tative Michael Froman said Wednesday that China has agreed to terminate a program that provided export subsidies in several industries, including textiles, apparel and footwear.

The two countries signed a memoran-dum of understanding Wednesday after the Asian nation agreed to terminate the export subsidy program, stemming from a World Trade Organization case the U.S. brought against China last year, Froman said.

The U.S. filed the case in February 2015, alleging that China provided illegal export subsidies to enterprises across seven economic sectors and scores of subsectors in more than 179 industrial clusters.

The program that China has agreed to terminate was known as the Demonstra-tion Bases-Common Service Platform export subsidy program, which Ameri-can officials claimed provided $1 billion to suppliers over a three-year period. These suppliers in turn gave discounted or free services to Chinese manufactur-ers that export in the sectors identified.

The value of subsidies provided var-ied, but officials said at the time of the

WTO filing that there was evidence that certain “base enterprises” had received at least $635,000 worth of annual benefits.

“Last year the U.S. launched a trade dispute against China at the WTO after USTR found significant evidence that China breached WTO rules by using a complex, large-scale program…to sub-sidize [several of ] its sectors,” Froman said at the press conference.

“Demonstration bases are clusters of enterprises in a number of key Chinese industries that qualify for special assis-tance from the government’s common service platform,” Froman said.

“The WTO expressly prohibits gov-ernments and member companies from providing subsidies like this to private industry if those subsidies are contin-gent on exports,” he added. “These Chi-nese subsidies do exactly that, thereby distorting the global market and disad-vantaging American exporters, includ-ing manufacturers in Texas, farmers and medical device-makers in California and the textile industry in North Carolina.”

He noted that China has agreed to dismantle the massive program and has now issued and provided more than 130 directives, instructions and notices to address U.S. concerns outlined in the WTO case.

“The transparency provisions of the agreement give us a solid basis to mon-itor closely and confirm whether the terms of the agreement are being met,”

Froman said.One of the Chinese “demonstration

bases” receiving the export subsi-dies comprised textile-, apparel- and footwear-makers, according to trade officials.

In 2012, 16 of the estimated 40 “demonstration bases,” or clusters of companies in the combined textile, apparel and footwear sector, allegedly received subsidies and exported more than $33 billion of products, said a U.S. trade official speaking on back-ground with reporters. That accounted for nearly 15 percent of China’s global exports in those three categories.

“So it’s huge,” the trade official said. “In the same year, 2012, almost 20 per-cent of all of China’s total textile exports were destined for the United States — a big chunk of that affecting our market. Our textile and apparel industry had 368,000 worker at the beginning of this year.”

The other six sectors identified by the U.S. as being subsidized by China’s pro-gram include advanced materials and metals, light industry, specialty chem-icals, medical products, hardware and building materials, and agriculture.

“[The American Apparel & Footwear Association] is pleased to see that the United States and China were able to resolve the long-standing dispute over China’s export subsidies that are not consistent with international trade obligations and a balanced business

model.,” said Rick Helfenbein, presi-dent and ceo of the trade and lobbying organization.

“AAFA members depend on global adherence to these international trade commitments to compete and create U.S. trade-based jobs,” Helfenbein added.

“We are pleased that the U.S. and China have reached a settlement that resolves the threat of a dispute set-tlement case based on these export subsidies,” said Julia Hughes, president and ceo of the U.S. Fashion Industry Association. “This shows that the U.S. and China have a positive working rela-tionship to solve trade disputes and live up to our WTO commitments.”

“We thank the Obama administration for working diligently to construct an arrangement to eliminate these subsi-dies which directly damage U.S. manu-facturing jobs, output and investment,” said Augustine Tantillo, president and ceo of the National Council of Textile Organizations.

“There is no doubt that China’s rise to become the world’s largest exporter of textile and apparel products has been aided by a pervasive series of illegal state-sponsored subsidies,” Tantillo said. “These subsidies are clearly incon-sistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization, and they are unfair to domestic textile manufacturers and the hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers they employ,” Tantillo added.

BUSINESS

China to Terminate Export Subsidies On Textiles, Apparel and Footwear

● The line was released in stores Thursday.

BY NATALIE THEODOSI

Topshop hosted a private shopping event Wednesday evening to celebrate the launch of Ivy Park, the new active-wear brand created by Beyoncé and Sir Philip Green, which dropped in stores worldwide Thursday.

British models Sam Rollinson and Charlotte Wiggins were among the guests, shopping the new Ivy Park range and snapping photos of each other next to posters of Beyoncé.

The dance group Syncopated Ladies, clad in Ivy Park sports bras and leg-gings, gave a performance of Beyoncé’s hit song, “Formation.” The L.A.-based tap dance troupe will also be perform-ing in the windows of the Oxford Circus store throughout the day, dressed in Ivy Park.

The group gained fame after Beyoncé shared a video of their choreographed performance to “Formation,” which went on to become viral, gaining more than six million views on YouTube.

As the singer is on her “Formation World” Tour, the performance by the Syncopated Ladies aims to represent her spirit and energy in store.

“There is no greater feeling than to know that the artist that inspires you

supports your work. I felt the ultimate sense of sisterhood and empowerment and I’m truly grateful,” said the group’s founder, Chloe Arnold.

“Beyoncé came up with the idea, so we flew them straight to London over-night,” added Green.

The high-street retailer’s Oxford Circus flagship has been covered in a giant-size campaign image of Beyoncé to anticipate Thursday’s big reveal. Inside, Ivy Park takes over the central area of the women’s wear floor, with two screens installed alongside the merchandise and mannequins, showing scenes from “Where Is Your Park?”, the

motivational video the global superstar revealed earlier this month to introduce her label.

“We worked with our design team to create something that felt fresh and new,” Green told WWD. “It will stay like this for about two weeks for the launch and then we will create a shop-in-shop.”

While Green said it’s too early to pre-dict which pieces will perform best, he expects Ivy Park to have similar results to Topshop’s denim business.

“We have one of the best denim busi-nesses and I say if we can sell that, then we can sell Ivy Park.”

Not a fan of one-off collaborations,

Green also highlighted that this is a long-term partnership and he is “just getting started.” Plans include widening the distribution channels, as well as the product offer. The brand is stocked in more than 12 retailers including Zalando, Selfridges, Net-a-porter.com and Hudson’s Bay, as well as Topshop and topshop.com

“We have already had more than ten distributors call us today, wanting to work together,” said Green. “In terms of the product, we will see what’s selling best and expand the width accordingly. There has to be a balance, you need to have both the staples and the fashion.”

The 200-piece collection consists of staple activewear pieces such as leggings, shorts, tank tops with built-in sports bras, logo sweaters and accesso-ries such as caps and sweatbands. More fashion-forward pieces include over-sized perforated T-shirts, bodysuits and honeycomb-mesh bomber jackets.

Prices range from 16 pounds, or $22, for a pair of short or logo T-shirt to 100 pounds, or $140, for reflective leggings.

The launch resulted in very high traffic on the high street retailer’s web-site, leading to technical failures which delayed customers at checkout. “Fol-lowing the much anticipated launch of Ivy Park topshop.com has experienced unprecedented demand. As a result we have encouraged some congestion at checkout, however the majority of orders are being processed as normal and we are encouraging consumers to continue shopping,” said a spokes-woman at Topshop.

FASHION

Topshop Hosts Launch of Ivy Park

Beyoncé wearing Ivy Park

merchants decide to engage the consumer is still within their own control,” Patrick Gauthier, vice president of Amazon Pay-ments, told WWD, clarifying that this is not an Amazon Fashion play but a partnership that falls within the realm of Amazon Seller Services. “What we’re doing is making it easy for merchants to recognize that customer — online, on mobile and in-store — and then that enables personalization and a more friction-less journey.”

He stressed that the Moda deal is much larger than just a payments implementation and the “checkout process.” It’s the notion of “checking in” that Gauthier sees as alleviat-ing consumer pain points in the shopping experience — that is where the relationship with the merchant begins. If a first-time Moda shopper is asked to input all of their shipping and billing information, for instance, it might deter them from completing the purchase. But if they are an Amazon member — which is likely — they can access all of their informa-tion with the click of a button. Also, once they are signed in, Amazon is able to follow the Moda shopping journey from its Web site to a mobile device and, soon, the physical world.

Deborah Nicodemus, chief executive officer of Moda Operandi, pointed out that just two days after launching the Pay With Amazon function a woman in Hong Kong purchased a $12,000 ring from Moda.

“It hits all the points. It’s a new customer: She was from Hong Kong and she purchased a very expensive piece of fine jewelry,” Nico-demus said.

In the ceo’s view, this is just the beginning. Mirroring Gauthier’s sentiments, Nicodemus explained that the next stage of the relation-ship must address the barriers to new custom-ers, such as asking them to set up an account with Moda. “This barrier can be removed when this potential client is an existing client to Amazon. This intersection is defined by this piece of fine jewelry we sold,” Nicodemus said.

Many brands and retailers have been

reluctant to work with Amazon, viewing it as the two-ton gorilla that aims to befriend them — and then eventually crush them. Moda views nothing but opportunity, however.

“Instead of being scared, why not take advantage of what they are strong at?” said Evelyn Kim, chief marketing officer of Moda Operandi, adding that “there is an overlap between the Amazon customer and our potential and existing customers.”

While that last statement sounds peculiar at first — because Moda Operandi’s average order value is well into the multiple thou-sands of dollars and Amazon’s is generally not — it’s a safe bet that most of Moda’s customers purchase from Amazon on a semiregular basis.

It’s not about the price points, though, Kim insisted. When it comes to the level of service Amazon provides — from ease of payment to customer service and logistics — the Seat-tle-based e-tailer is indeed a luxury company in its own right.

“What is a truly luxury service? It’s making sure that the whole experience is easy and smooth and saves time. It just has to work beautifully — that is ultimately what a luxury experience should be, and this is one of the reasons why many people like myself shop at Amazon,” Kim said.

While she’s clear that product-wise Ama-zon is not a competitor to Moda, the two share fundamental objectives: they’re both customer-centric, they’re both tech compa-nies and they both obsess over innovation in their respective markets. And that is where the synergy lies.

Plus, the relationship benefits both parties. Amazon can align itself with a luxury site and Moda can leverage the $107 billion dollar e-commerce behemoth’s technology. Amazon historically buys its own inventory, but with this partnership the company edges into designer fashion while all the inventory risk goes to Moda, which results in a low finan-cial commitment for Amazon. For Moda, Amazon’s soon to launch Full Circle ads will drive more traffic to Modaoperandi.com than ever before.

“We’re going to talk to Amazon’s clients online and through more specific data mining. The way I see it is that they [Ama-zon] can make the discovering experience personalized because they are good at guiding customers through massive amounts of prod-uct on site — because they have data. They know what they want to buy and what they’re

interested in,” Kim said.She’s hopeful that customers will take

advantage of the “Pay With Amazon” option, and confirmed the team is already “working behind the scenes” with Amazon to see if Moda can create an operations system that incorporates the shipping services that are available to Amazon Prime members.

Keiron McCammon, chief technology officer of Moda Operandi, called it a “first” in the sector, explaining that the e-tailer is partnering with Amazon to really “tap into their network.”

“Think of all the touchpoints they have with clients, from their site to Kindle devices to watching as you travel to other sites. They have an awful lot of information,” McCam-mon said. “On our behalf, they can advertise Moda and bring their customers to shop [on Moda], and then those customers can have access to luxury product that they won’t find on the Amazon network.”

In the past, Amazon executives have said their main focus was on the contemporary sector. Luxury was not believed to be on the list of priorities for the Seattle-based company.

Jeff Yurcisin, vice president of clothing at Amazon Fashion and general manager and ceo of Shopbop, acknowledged last October at the WWD CEO Summit that Amazon was still not ready to penetrate the luxury sector.

“Luxury brands are being thoughtful in the way they build their presences online,”

Yurcisin said, adding that if and when Amazon can deliver an experience that is appropriate for them, he would urge them to consider the site.

Amazon has invested heavily in its Amazon Fashion business the past few years, including the opening of a designer shop-in-shop with Derek Lam 10 Crosby on Amazon.com in 2013 and later that year opening a 40,000-square-foot photo studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. An immersive Amazon Fashion advertis-ing campaign — including digital, print and TV spots — began in March 2013.

And while not a luxury fashion play, public job listings posted in February revealed that Amazon plans to further develop its private label brands, which quietly launched this year. At least seven private label brands — Franklin & Freeman, Franklin Tailored, James & Erin, Lark & Ro, North Eleven, Scout + Ro and Society New York — are live on Amazon.com.

Asked if Moda’s partnership is exclusive to Amazon, Gauthier replied: “We always start from the customer, and customers certainly have brands and retailers they prefer. Rarely do they shop exclusively with one, right? It’s obvious that we have to be able to enable as many retailers as possible.”

So even if Moda Operandi happens to be one of many designer e-tailers that Amazon teams up with in the near future, at least the commerce giant has hundreds of millions of customers to go around.

15 APRIL 2016 9

Amazon PartnersWith Luxury SiteModa Operandi CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

● The Macy’s ceo kicked off the Global Retailing Conference with updates on Idea Lab, Backstage and Bluemercury.

BY KARI HAMANAKA

Terry J. Lundgren didn’t gloss over the reality facing most retailers, choosing to focus on innovation in his keynote address this morning at the Global Retailing Conference.

“If you’re in the fashion/retail business, more than likely it’s been a challenging period for us and for you and that’s OK. We’re used to coming up against these challenges and addressing them,” the Macy’s Inc. chief executive officer and chairman said. “What I’ve found in these places where you have headwinds in your face, the only way to move forward, to get past them, is you have to do things differently than you

did in the past.”The talk was the kickoff keynote for the

University of Arizona’s Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing’s annual conference, with a speaker roster over the next two days that also includes Nike Inc. president of direct-to-consumer Christiana Shi, Lucky Brand ceo Carlos Alberini and Blanco ceo Stephen Craig.

Left off the talking points for Lundgren’s speech though are the pressures facing the retailer from activist investors that have been pushing the company to re-evaluate its real estate holdings and reverse a sales slump. Instead, Lundgren, for his part, focused his talk on three Macy’s programs he said speaks to its innovation: Idea Lab, the outlet Backstage concepts and the Bluemercury beauty stores.

Idea Lab, for which the company com-pleted the group’s San Francisco head-quarters last year, is focused on technology innovations. That includes a program

being piloted with thredUp that encourages consumers to bring recyclable clothes into Macy’s stores in exchange for Macy’s money, or rewards-based programs centered around gamification.

“There’s clearly an interest in consum-ers — I think all consumers but particularly young consumers — who want to make a game of the buying process,” Lundgren said. “So there’s a number of things that we’re doing on this subject. There’s been 30 tactics executed thus far.”

The retailer has generated more than $100 million of business through gamification, Lundgren added.

Idea Lab has processed and assessed 31 ideas, with nine in production and three of those expected to go live this year, Lundgren reported.

The company’s foray into the off-price segment, which began last year with its Macy’s Backstage concept, is something “we’re happy” with Lundgren said adding

it’s helped the retailer access the Millennial consumer and also see stronger sales in categories Macy’s has not traditionally been strong in, such as home decor and pack-aged foods. The company’s now testing the shop-in-shop concept with Backstage, having placed the concept in two Macy’s stores.

“We’ve only been in business in two stores for 10 days, but we are really thrilled with our results so far and it’s clearly incremental business,” Lundgren said. “It’s making the total store more productive. There is likely to be some cannibalization…but net-net if the total store grows, it’s a winner.”

Meanwhile, the company will continue growing beauty specialty retailer Bluemer-cury, via free-standing store openings that will grow the chain to 115 doors by the end of 2017. The beauty concept has also been brought to four Macy’s stores with another 18 expected to be rolled out. “It’s just a mat-ter of time, space and planning,” Lundgren said of the shop-in-shop concept.

RETAIL

Lundgren Focuses on Innovation

Modaoperandi.com

10 15 APRIL 2016

● The film is her third cinematic effort with French director Fabienne Berthaud.

BY KRISTEN TAUER

The West is a familiar metaphor. And while the central themes in “Sky” aren’t exactly original — a newly single woman finding herself on the road with open space as a backdrop — the story is certainly one that has potential to resonate outside of the film’s target demographic.

“I think as we get older, people tend to take less risks,” explains Diane Kruger, the movie’s leading lady. “There’s so much to lose and it’s so hard to move on from a situation that is not good for you anymore. I’m certainly guilty of that.”

It’s her third cinematic effort with French director Fabienne Berthaud, who Kruger met when she was 16. “Her husband was my old modeling agent,” Kruger says. “We didn’t meet again until I was in drama school and she was getting ready to direct her first feature.” Their last movie, “Lily Sometimes,” won the Art Cinema Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. It was there, at an after party, that they began plotting the concept for “Sky.”

“We were sort of dreaming and imagining what our next feature should be about — and where,” Kruger reminisces. “The idea of a road movie was born, a love story.”

In “Sky,” Kruger portrays Romy, a French-woman on vacation with her husband in America. After a dramatic fight in — where

else? — Las Vegas, she sets out on her own and ultimately finds love with Diego, played by a cowboy-hat-wearing Norman Ree-dus. The movie originally screened at the Toronto Film Festival last year and opens in New York Friday.

“I’m sort of a mirror of what is going on with her life, and what she wants to talk about,” Kruger says of her character. “This movie happened at a time in my life where I felt like I was really ready to do that. There were so many intimate scenes to shoot, so many difficult scenes to shoot that I’m not sure I would have been capable of five years ago.”

To glean material for the script, Berthaud came over to America for an old-fashioned

road trip, and many of the movie’s charac-ters are based on people she encountered between Las Vegas and Joshua Tree in California. Kruger, who lives in L.A., didn’t join her on the road.

“I think my eyes are a bit tainted,” Kruger says. “[Berthaud] has never been to that region of America and I think a big part of the movie is seeing that part of the world through the eyes of a tourist. I wanted her to go to places that as a French woman stood out, and that I probably wouldn’t even glance upon anymore. I’ve done the road trip from east to west, west to east. I really love the solitude — not to be lonely, but to be alone for a few days.”

The film features many familiar faces for Kruger — Joshua Jackson, Lena Dunham and Gilles Lellouche. “There’s not one person in this movie that’s not related or known to us as friends. This is one of those movies where nobody really gets paid,” Kruger explains. “I love Lena and when we were casting this I was like ‘let me send her the script and see if she wants to do a two-day part that’s not being paid.’ And there she was, putzing around with us, no trailer in the desert.” One actor was new — her costar Norman Reedus.

“It was a little nerve-wracking for me because I had a lot of intimate scenes with him and the schedule didn’t allow us to meet beforehand,” the actress says. “Our first day was literally that big love scene in Las Vegas….You never know what you’re going to get. I was very pleasantly surprised.”

Despite the low budget, Kruger is eager for audiences to see the film. “I think it’s a movie that stays with you for a while and has a lot of beautiful things to say about life and love,” she says. “I love the idea that you can find love in the most untraditional places.”

EYE

Diane Kruger Talks ‘Sky,’ Lena Dunham and Norman Reedus

RETAIL

Dressbarn Launches Roz & Ali Collection● It’s a move to present a

polished look with styles versatile enough to wear for different occasions.

BY DAVID MOIN

“We call it ‘dressing for life.’”

That’s how Dressbarn’s Stephanie Gar-barini, vice president of brand marketing, introduced Dressbarn’s new collection — called Roz & Ali — for fall 2016 at a fall preview in TriBeCa on Thursday.

Roz & Ali is an effort by the 840-unit specialty chain to present a polished line of dresses and sportswear versatile enough to wear day into night, or for different occa-sions, and to lift sales which have recently been soft.

For fall, Roz & Ali will offer six pieces including a peacoat, pencil skirt, a flared skirt, a dress, a pant and a blazer, as well as romantic chiffon paisley tops and dresses, feminine fabrics and shades of blue. The line debuts in late August.

“We’ve had some items under the Roz & Ali label before, but this is the first time we’ve pulled it together to create a very tight, focused collection,” Garbarini said.

Roz & Ali adheres to Dressbarn’s moderate prices, with items starting at $30. The line will be sold online and in shops-in-shop, which Garbarini said will complement the Dressbar in-store shops for dresses only.

Dressbarn over the past few seasons has been taking steps to raise its profile and cast a more stylish image. A year ago, the com-pany unveiled collaborations with designers including Carmen Marc Valvo and Heidi Wei-sel to create dresses for Dressbar. Dresses is the category where Dressbarn has its highest market penetration.

This spring, Beyond by Ashley Graham was launched, and for fall and holiday 2016, the collection features 11 dresses, all in sizes 4 to 24. Ashley Graham is a plus-size model who recently appeared in the Sports Illus-trated swimsuit issue and featured in Lane Bryant ads.

Roz & Ali is named after Dressbarn founder Roslyn S. Jaffe and her granddaugh-ter Alexandra. Roslyn’s son, David Jaffe, is president and chief executive officer of the Ascena Retail Group, parent company of Dressbarn, Lane Bryant, Maurices, Ann Taylor, Loft and Lou & Grey.

A look from the Roz & Ali collection.

● The event drew Kourtney Kardashian, Emily Ratajkowski and a slew of actresses to NeueHouse Los Angeles.

BY MARCY MEDINA

Leave it to Alice + Olivia’s Stacey Bendet to stage an of-the-moment event in the truest sense of the phrase. Her see-now-buy-now runway show, held Wednesday at NeueHouse Los Ange-les with Neiman Marcus, showcased her Coachella- and music-inspired spring 2016 collection and featured a slew of Hollywood personalities in the front row, namely social media phen-oms Kourtney Kardashian and Emily Ratajkowski.

Actresses Jennifer Morrison, Eliza Dushku, Holland Roden, Garcelle Beau-vais, Skyler Samuels, Mischa Barton, Anna Paquin, Lucy Punch and Harley Quinn Smith were in the mix, as were Whitney Port, Moby, ZZ Ward, Lindsey Vonn and Lydia Hearst, in addition to top-tier Neiman’s customers.

While many of the looks on the run-way were part of the current collection that is already in stores, Bendet also showed some pieces from her Grateful Dead-influenced capsule line — white minidresses adorned with the band’s signature colorful dancing bears — along

with 12 limited-edition items she debuted on the runway. Items such as white and black leather moto jackets and patched denim jackets, which were originally slated as a fall 2016 item, were signed and numbered — each style was limited to 50 pieces.

“In February we tinkered with the concept of doing a see-now-buy-now show, but we still have all our interna-tional partners and still need to show our fall line, so I said, ‘Let’s wait and do it in April when it’s the height of actual

spring,’” Bendet said. “It was important to do in L.A. because we wanted it to be celebrity and a little bit more of a spec-tacle, and when we looked at dates, we decided to do it before Coachella and kick off that season.”

The show was styled by Neiman’s fashion director and senior vice pres-ident of stores Ken Downing. “What I love more than going to market and finding clothes is styling clothes. I’m a frustrated designer and a frustrated stylist,” he said. “I’ve known Stacey since the beginning and we see the world through a similar lens, so we had fun working side by side, all ego to the wind.”

The show space featured a catwalk that meandered through a “backstage green room” setting and ended with a shower of flower petals. Afterward, guests were invited to stay and take self-ies, enjoy the DJ and cocktails, and flow backstage to greet Bendet.

“It’s a little bit of an experiment, but I really think it’s the direction things are going because the consumer wants that,” she said. “You throw a big event like this, you want people to be able to buy things. They don’t want to wait six months.” She added that she may do a fall version of the show in New York, and she’ll definitely stage another show in L.A. “This is our 14-year anniversary, so we’ll have to do something fun for 15,” Bendet said.

FASHION

Alice + Olivia, Neiman MarcusHold Hollywood Runway Show

Emily Ratajkowski and Kourtney Kardashian

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Naturally, what the fash-ion set notices first about rapper G-Eazy, whose given name is Gerald Earl Gillum, are his model-good looks and matching sartorial style (he’s partial to Comme des Garçons sneakers and Givenchy blazers to accessorize his mainstay black t-shirt and skinny jeans). At nearly 6’4”, with a slender frame that’s more graceful than lanky, he clearly made-for-print-and-digital material.

“Man, I feel sort of silly doing this,” he protested at his WWD shoot, when a photographer asks him to give his best catwalk and pivot. But by the third try, he’s flipping his jacket tails and cocking his head just so, and even cracking an amused smile.

It’s not as if he didn’t come prepared with multiple outfits and his ever-present personal camera crew, there to capture every moment for his carefully curated social media channels. But he’s also still a down-to-earth 26 year old from Oakland, Calif, who smiles shyly and extends his hand with “Hi, I’m Gerald,” once he’s done posing and ready to settle onto a couch for the interview.

Gillum has been on the road since the December 2015 release of his second album for RCA, “When It’s Dark Out.” He’s done Aus-tralia and Europe, and has

just landed Stateside for his first gig at Coachella, to be followed by the second leg of his North American tour, a month in Europe and summer tour Stateside. (It’s no surprise, that about 80 percent of the audience at his sold out shows is female, according to his handler.)

Anyone’s who’s heard his single “Me, Myself & I,” which is in heavy rotation on the hip-hop and R&B airwaves, knows his musical style is equally appealing, merging rap with R&B sounds, a shrewd move intended to increase his crossover appeal and position him for a broader audience.

But it’s also a very personal album. “I opened up more, it became a really

honest vulnerable record especially the second half of the album. I just felt like that’s the power of music; it can be an outlet for the artist and lets the audience into your world so they can identify with the stories you are telling, whether they’ve been there or not.” In one track, Gillum shared what it was like to find his mother’s partner Melissa Mills dead from a drug overdose related to a man-ic depressive disorder.

But he says there’s also a feel-good rush of adrenaline each time he performs. “The energy the crowd gives me gets me through any show no matter how tired I am. Like when I get on stage it’s like I black out, I blink and the show is over, it just zips by.

After the show is a differ-ent story, I’m like, collapsed backstage and barely able to move, but the feeling of being on stage and how long the journey has been…I’m wanting to appre-ciate every little moment right now.”

Gillum started making beats and recording songs at age 14, but he traveled a traditional path of earning a scholarship to Loyola University at New Orleans, where he studied the mu-sic business program. “I’m not a classically trained musician but I’ve always had a hustle, I’ve always had this independent en-trepreneurial spirit, so be-ing down there and meet-ing other kids my age with that same kind of mind-set was dope,” he said. Two of

his college friends would go on to found the music management firm that still reps him today, along with Guy Oseary’s Maverick, which has evolved from an entertainment company to a multidisciplinary man-agement group.

“I think even in music it’s helpful to have a great coach, a team of people with wisdom and experi-ence with the sort of art-ists I grew up listening to, like to T.I., Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake. My [artists and repertoire representative] who’s with me in studio every day was in that same seat with Biggie making ‘Ready to Die’ so I feel inspired and motivated being around them,” he says.

Today, Gillum lives in L.A. “in a big empty house.” Of the trappings of success including being able to buy the designer clothes he coveted as a teen, he says, “Now for the first time in my life I have money, so the stuff I always thought was cool I can afford, but it’ll never take a front seat to music.”

What might eventually compete for his attention is acting. He recently starred in the short film “Tunnel Vision,” which is currently on the festival circuit. “It was crazy, a whole new experience. I literally had zero experience acting. [The producers] reached

out to me because the film is about a hip-hop promot-er from the Bay Area.” He continues, “I just felt like it was the right opportunity knocking on the door. We’d always talked about acting as a potential possibility down the line, like ‘Acting, why not?’ But I wanted to establish myself in music first because this is what I truly love. But going there, I fell in love with it. I would definitely try it again.”

Because rap is sponta-

neous, Gillum tries to strike a balance between his art and his careful image and career management. “Whenever an idea for a song or lyrics hits me, I write it down, but I like be-ing in the studio when that moment of inspiration hits and you’re able to record that idea on the spot when it’s the best and the most raw. A lot of it is intuitive. It can’t be too thought out or it becomes forced.” — MARCY MEDINA

Heartthrob Rapper G-Eazy on Designer Duds, Getting Personal and ActingGerald Earl Gillum is poised for major crossover appeal, as scores of fans already know his style and music.

The Met Gala is such a draw that it can bring fashion and film patrons alike to reminisce about an event that took place almost a year ago — and that’s exactly how the TriBeCa Film Festival got under way on Wednesday night, as director Andrew Rossi’s film “The First Monday in May” opened the festival. The film follows the 2015 Met Gala and the museum’s Costume Institute exhibition, “China: Through the Looking Glass.”

Robert De Niro, the festi-val’s cofounder, was joined by Donna Karan, Zac Posen, Lauren Hutton, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jane Fonda, Rose McGowan, Francisco Costa, Thom Browne, Thakoon Panichgul, Karolina Kurková and more for the screening at the John Zuccotti Theater and after party at Spring Studios.

“My first time was when

I was 16, and it was for the Versace exhibition,” Posen said of his Met Gala experiences. “I bought my intern-price ticket to go to the party, not the Met. And so I watched the fabulous people arrive and leave the dinner, and I watched as they danced the night away.”

Hutton has quite a few galas under her belt. “It was very small, and it was in the basement of the Met,” she said of her first Costume Institute memory, which was long before Anna Wintour took it over. “For the clothes, it was an Yves Saint Laurent with these cone breasts. That was pretty extraordi-nary. And Yves Saint Laurent started a boutique right af-ter. I went in and I bought an almost $100 silk blouse, that I still have. It was bright kelly green. And then I went and bought a bunch more. I have a red one and the green one.

And I can still wear them.”The gala is marked for

its dramatic fashion. “It has to be a marriage between the body, the face and the gown,” Karan said of her ide-al gala gown. “I never like it when the gown overpowers the person — it has to just be one with the person.”

“The First Monday in May” gives audiences a glimpse into just how much work goes into planning what outwardly looks like an easy, polished evening — even for the guests. “In our house-hold, it’s kicking our son out of the bathroom,” Jason Biggs said of what goes on behind the scenes for him and his wife, Jenny Mollen, on a big night. “It both takes us about 15 minutes each to decide if we look fat in whatever we’re wearing. But we think it’s our mirror’s fault; we think we have the worst

bedroom mirror,” Mollen added.

With preparations for this year’s gala only weeks away, “we’re even further behind with this show than we were with the other one,” said Andrew Bolton, curator in charge of the Costume Institute. Bolton was a reluctant star of the film, but he seemed to be taking the step-and-repeat in stride. “I’m totally out of my comfort zone, but it’s amazing,” he said on the red carpet. “I’m really happy for Andrew Rossi. He spent a year of his life doing this and I’m really happy it’s come to this fruition.”

And while he may have had exclusive access to last year’s ball, Rossi told reporters he’s not sure if he’s attending this year. A tough invite to get indeed. — LEIGH NORDSTROM

‘The First Monday in May’ Opens TriBeCa Film FestivalRobert De Niro, Donna Karan, Zac Posen, Chloë Grace Moretz and more came out for the premiere night.

Robert De Niro and Grace HightowerChloë Grace

Moretz

Karolina Kurkova and

Thakoon Panichgul

Rachael Leigh Cook

Donna Karan

G-Eazy

The cover of G-Eazy’s second album, “When It’s Dark Out.”

12 15 APRIL 2016

● The Italian jeweler enlisted Peter Marino on the design concept, who took his cue from the Via Condotti flagship in Rome.

BY LORELEI MARFIL

LONDON — Bulgari reopened its London flag-ship on New Bond Street here Thursday.

The Italian jeweler enlisted Peter Marino on the design concept, who took a cue from the Via Condotti flagship in Rome. The 5,381-square-foot store spans two levels, allowing for a larger and more visually enhanced selling floor. The brand relocated temporarily in July to 153a New Bond Street and moved back to 168 New Bond Street in January. The New Bond Street location is the first U.K. boutique featuring the architectural store concept Marino developed for Bulgari in Rome.

“We just reinvented the store, taking as much advantage as possible of the shape of the store,” said chief executive officer Jean-Christophe Babin. “In London, we have a lot of clientele who really want to buy in a very intimate, private, discreet environment which requires obviously to have those very special rooms where you can feel good but also protected from the outside world.”

While the size of the store remained unchanged, the layout has been updated. The main promenade was designed for shoppers to view the rooms within the central area. From the main entrance, shoppers can navigate through various rooms that showcase women’s

jewelry and watches, the men’s area, a VIP room and the accessories area. The men’s area was designed to look like a Fifties gentleman’s club using dark colors while the accessories room is a nod to the Seventies and Italian designers including Scarpa and Mangiarotti.

An architectural staircase was created with geometrical hexagonal steps, inspired by one designed by architect Carlo Scarpa for Palazzo Abatelli in Italy. Bulgari’s first floor houses the high-end accessories area, two VIP lounges and the “Happening” Room, which the jewelry house utilizes for private events and exhibitions. The rooms of the upper-floor feature ceiling vaults that were influenced by John Soane’s house, with the original top skylight restored. Marino took black-and-white veined marble and travertine for the external facade, paying homage to Roman architecture.

“I have been personally working with Peter [Marino] over the last few years, ever since I joined Bulgari,” said Babin. “We started the project more or less three years ago with Peter and one of the first stores designed by him was via Condotti. So now we have done with Peter more than 25 stores that are directly designed all from his concept. Peter himself loves Rome. He has been really able to capture from the brand history, from Rome, a lot of sites, of colors, materials, which eventually were able to create a very unique universe, as he did in Condotti and he has done here in Bond Street.”

Babin declined to reveal the cost of renova-tion, or how much volume the U.K. boutique generates but noted that the New Bond Street flagship is a new global concept for the Italian jeweler.

“Anything from September onward will reflect that concept,” he added. “Obviously with different stages of sophistication because you don’t exactly build the same boutique in a department store or an airport with very high traffic than you would do in a high street. According to the size and the location you won’t exactly find the same. For example, this furniture is reserved for London. You won’t find it in Paris, you won’t find it in Rome. Generally speaking the atmosphere is very Roman, very magnificent, very warm, very sophisticated, amazing textiles and carpet.”

According to Marino, the original store was created with Elizabeth Taylor, one of the jewelers’ most famous customers, in mind. “She serves as the perfect ideal – a glamorous, feminine muse and inspiration for Bulgari’s new look.” he told WWD.

Marino placed an Antoine Poncet sculpture at a central location of the boutique, adjacent to the grand staircase comprised of pink Aurora marble from Portugal on a Porfido stone base.

“The tones of the crystal-ice pale pink marble are as subtle as many of the Bulgari gem stones,” said Marino. “The continuous flowing line of Poncet’s work appears to have no beginning and no end. The sculpture is feminine and eternal, easily reflecting the values of the Bulgari brand.”

In addition to the sculpture, Marino pointed to the marble columns as a standout for the store. “Particularly notable are the modern

marble columns that have a jewel-like bronze pin connecting to the structure above,” he said. “Classically this is how ancient columns were constructed; the head of the column would be placed on this three dimensional pin. I love the fraught modernity of revealing the connection point.”

In terms of challenges, Marin found that the exterior was one in itself. “The exterior was landmarked,” he said. “Or listed, as you call it — naturally as an architect, I’d like to think that I could improve an exterior, but to work within the limits and constraints of a landmarked building is its own architectural challenge and the process has its own associated qualities of respecting a city’s heritage.”

With four stores in the U.K., Babin noted that the U.K. is an important European market for the brand. “London is obviously a place for a luxury company,” said Babin, “alongside New York, Rome, Milan, Paris and Tokyo. It is a city where your presence must be extremely visible and extremely prestigious. It is a place where people buy high jewelry very naturally. And it is a place also which is a crossroads of differ-ent ethnic groups, cultures and civilizations. The British remain an important part of our clientele. They buy a lot of Bulgari and people who come in from all over the world, from the Middle East or China. London is quite a unique crossroads when it comes to the variety of clients.”

ACCESSORIES

Peter Marino Designs Bulgari London’s Flagship

The Bulgari flagship in London.

● The retailer reported that 78 percent of its electricity use came from renewable sources in 2015, up from 27 percent in the prior year.BY LAURE GUILBAULT AND NATALIE THEODOSI

Hennes & Mauritz AB keeps making advances on the sustainability front.

In its 14th annual conscious actions sustain-ability report published Thursday, the Swedish fast-fashion giant said 78 percent of its electric-ity used came from renewable sources in 2015, up from 27 percent in 2014. At the same time, its total emissions were reduced by 56 percent.

Last year, H&M collected 12,000 tons of tex-tiles for reuse through its in-store garment-col-lection program. That’s the equivalent of 65 million T-shirts.

“When it comes to engaging our customers, the garment-collecting initiative is actually the second most well-known sustainability initiative that we do, aside from our Conscious Collection,” Cecilia Bransten, H&M’s sustain-ability business expert, told WWD.

The retailer reported that sustainably sourced materials made up 20 percent of the total material it used, up from 14 percent in 2014. Organic cotton, recycled cotton and Bet-ter Cotton (certified by the Better Cotton Initia-tive) represented 31.4 percent of H&M’s cotton intake in 2015, versus 21.2 percent in the prior

year. The company’s goal is to only use cotton from sustainable sources by 2020 and set a timeline which will determine when they will reach a stage of using 100 percent recyclable and sustainable sources of materials.

Meanwhile, with its reprocessed polyester products, the brand recycled the equivalent of 90 million PET bottles.

In addition, H&M said it signed a global framework agreement with the Swiss Industri-ALL Global Union and Swedish union IF Metall that aims to promote dialogue about fair wages between employers and employees at the supplier factories working with H&M.

For transparency’s sake, the retailer included second-tier companies, which are responsible for about 50 percent of H&M prod-ucts, in its 2015 sustainability assessment.

H&M’s latest edition of Conscious Exclu-sive line of red-carpet looks made from more sustainable materials hit stores last week. It involves innovative materials, such as beads and rhinestones created with recycled glass and Denimite, made of recycled worn-out denim.

Anna Gedda, H&M’s head of sustainability, explained that the collection allows the com-pany to build demand for sustainable clothing, which will ensure that they maintain their accessible price points.

“The collection is quite small so it gives us the opportunity to really experiment. Items that might be too expensive or hard to create in a big scale, such as Denimite, can actually be

made as part of a small collection. Doing this will increase the demand for it in the future and consequently the supply and ultimately lower the prices. That is how we managed to increase our use of organic cotton,” she explained.

At an event held at H&M’s London show-room, the company revealed its long-term ambition of becoming 100 percent circular.

“We will need a holistic approach to circularity,” said Bransten. “It will include the whole life cycle from design, what chemicals we put into our products, material choice, pro-duction processes and new ways of enjoying fashion by reuse, rental and repair.”

In a panel discussion about the concept of circularity, Gedda was joined by world-class sailor Ellen MacArthur as well as the two win-ners of H&M’s Global Change Award, Michael Arnor and Akshay Sethi.

Sethi invented the “Polyester Digester,” a method of using microbes to recycle waste polyester, while Arnor is the cofounder of Sellpy, a start-up based in Sweden through which customers can sell unwanted clothing.

Gedda explained that innovation is key to achieving the company’s goals, which is why they invested in Arnor’s and Sethi’s start-ups.

McArthur, who familiarized herself with the concept of living on finite resources during her solo sailing trip across the world, founded the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2010 in order to work towards achieving a circular econ-omy. She stressed the need for a “systematic

change to the economy’s predominantly linear model.”

H&M recently embarked on a partnership with the foundation. “They are all about connecting different data in the industry. Ellen [MacArthur] is working with everyone from governments, to policymakers and universi-ties and I think to make this happen, all these institutions have to come together. So in that respect, they are a brilliant partner for H&M,” said Gedda.

According to Gedda, a fundamental change in the mindset of the consumer is essential to help the company achieving their goal. “The key is to make people feel like they can actu-ally act on the issue. Sometimes it can be frus-trating to know but not be able to do anything to change it. I think that is why we succeeded with the garment collection because it is not just about people being informed about the challenges but actually being part of the solu-tion,” said Gedda.

The campaign and video H&M shot with singer M.I.A. to launch World Recycle Week is another initiative by the company to push out its sustainable message. The British artist wrote a song, “Rewear It,” to support the cause and will be performing at a consumer event at H&M’s London flagship on Regent Street, Thursday evening.

“M.I.A. has a great personal style to begin with and great engagement when it comes to environmental issues. Her mother was a seam-stress and she understands the value of the products and of the clothes that she is wearing. She is such a great ambassador for H&M, as she really embodies our thinking,” added Gedda.

FASHION

H&M Aims to Become 100% ‘Circular’

to the Waldorf. In 1954, he went west to become the banquet manager at the Bev-erly Hilton, which hosted the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards dinner. Before long, he was also running other concessions at the hotel, including the hat check and the florist. He had three chil-dren — Charles, Robert and Nicole — from his second marriage, to former nursing student Barbara Sziraki. He was fired by the Hilton, then became general manager of The Ambassador Hotel. He launched three restaurants, all of which failed.

But Hayman still had his interest in Giorgio, the Beverly Hills store. He felt that the shop’s proximity to the Beverly Hilton could help make it a destination. When he and Gale took over the running of the boutique, they were retail neophytes but soon learned the ropes and invented a few new twists of their own. They installed a pool table and a bar that served drinks and cappuccino to men who were waiting for their shopping women. Packages were delivered in a 1955 Rolls Royce.

WWD wrote about the couple in 1986, “The Haymans were so unfamiliar with retailing that when they wrote their first orders they made Xs on the order sheets instead of writing in quantities. However, they learned quickly. Articulate and charm-ing, Fred made a superb salesman, and his flair and tasteful flamboyance carried over into promotion and advertising. His hotel and restaurant training was useful as the store built a reputation on service and unusual glamour dressing. He would write thank you notes to customers almost daily.”

Before long, the customer list included Nancy Reagan, Doris Duke, Natalie Wood, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace, Ali Mac-Graw, Ava Gardner, Norma Shearer, Gloria

Stewart and the Rat Pack. Patrons might bring an extra limousine to hold their purchases.

In 1976, a period of financial uncertainty, Hayman told WWD, “During difficult times, people switch to quality — they’re less frivolous — they’ll buy expensive clothes — that’s why a high-priced store like ours has benefited by the economy. We’re heavy with Chloé for spring and Balestra, plus John Anthony’s bugle beaded dresses

at $2,000. I’d never buy a $900 knit dress that looks like it could be knocked off in a bonded knit for $80. We have everything from Zandra Rhodes to Thea Porter to Halston. Our strength is in the $400 to $500 price range.”

He also believed that stores often misjudge their customers. “A woman in a nurse’s uniform and sneakers might buy a $2,500 dress,” he said. “You never know. We had the daughter of the Shah of Iran

come in here one winter, barefoot and in shorts.”

The store inspired Judith Krantz’s 1978 novel “Scruples” and the cast of the Eight-ies TV series “Dynasty” shopped there.

The Haymans began throwing parties for designers new to Giorgio Beverly Hills, too — something that Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus were doing at the time, but a gambit that was then unusual for a boutique. In 1977, Fred launched a group of Rodeo Drive retailers to promote their location. “Once Armani started, it was a given,” he once recalled. “Then Hermès, and I knew it was going to be the street.”

The Haymans separated in 1978, but they continued to work together for years. Their store had expanded and they began thinking about a fragrance. Gale sniffed samples for two years, until one eve-ning, when she was trying to take home a bottle of an entrant from Florasynth, it broke. The scent it exuded created such a reaction that it became clear that this was what they’d been looking for. Giorgio, the fragrance, was launched in 1981, first in the boutique, and later in Blooming-dale’s. In 1985, Giorgio the fragrance had sales of $100 million at wholesale. One of their most-copied marketing ideas was the scent strip, a perfume drenched card inserted into glossy magazines — a concept that became ubiquitous in the industry. Hayman added a premium men’s cologne, Giorgio V.I.P. Special Reserve, to the lineup in 1987.

David Horner worked side by side with Hayman and his then-wife Gale in creating Giorgio. “To me, the whole thing was a group of people who did something entre-preneurial that had never been done and yet to be equaled — we did $200 million in retail sales in one year, selling a $35 prod-uct. We did $100 million with department stores alone,” Horner said.

When asked Hayman’s contributions, Horner replied, “Fred understood the importance of taking care of the customer.”

He recalled taking a direct mail letter into Hayman for him to sign with a red marker. Hayman accidentally smudged the red ink, then he remarked, “People will think I sent it to them personally.”

Horner recalled, “It was amazing how many people thought he did.”

He attributed Hayman’s laser focus on personal service from his career training as an innkeeper. “As large as the company got,” Horner recalled, “he inspired us to keep in touch, one to one, with the [retail] customers.”

The Haymans’ divorce was finalized in 1983, giving each member of the couple a 49 percent interest in the store, with Fred also controlling a 2 percent trust in it, which gave him a controlling interest. In early 1985, Gale was ousted from the store and she responded by filing a $75 million lawsuit against the company the next year, amending it later to try to prevent her former husband from getting his $5 million salary. In 1987, under pressure from the lawsuits, Hayman sold the Giorgio fra-grances to Avon Products for $165 million and changed the name of the shop to Fred Hayman Beverly Hills. The store closed in 1998.

His involvement in Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive wasn’t over, however. In 2003, Hayman hatched the notion of the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style, an annual award recognizing a designer or figure in the fashion world. In 2011, he became the 15th person to receive the award. He also became the namesake for a street in Beverly Hills: Fred Hayman Place.

Hayman is survived by his wife, Betty; sons Charles and Robert; daughter Nicole, and 10 grandchildren. A memorial is being planned. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Homes for Our Troops California.

Fred Hayman ofGiorgio BeverlyHills Dies at 90 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Vintage advertisement for Giorgio perfume.

Fred and Gale Hayman attending the Rodeo Drive

Committee annual gala honoring Diana Vreeland in

Los Angeles in 1983.Fred Hayman in front of Giorgio Beverly Hills, 2011

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Show and TellRaf Simons will unveil at Pitti Uomo the spring 2017 collection of his namesake men’s brand and present a special project.

Details about the event to take place at the international men’s wear trade show that runs from June 14 to 17 in Florence have yet to be disclosed.

“Florence has a special place in my heart,” said Simons, who left the post of creative director of Christian Dior last October. “Over the years, I continued returning [to Pitti] to present my work or to collaborate on projects reflecting my personal vision.”

In 2003, for instance, Simons curated with Francesco Bonami “The Fourth Sex” exhibition at Pitti Uomo. The designer also in 2005 celebrated in Florence the 10th anniversary of his men’s label with a show, video installation and book. And in June 2010, as Jil Sander’s creative director, he unveiled the brand’s spring 2011 collection.

“We are happy and proud of Raf Simons’ return to Florence,” said Pitti Immagine communication and events director Lapo Cianchi. “Simons has been protagonist of some of the greatest events realized [at] Pitti Immagine Uomo....We like to think that he sees Florence as the ideal set to explore his professional and personal path, to find energy and inspiration for his future projects.” — ALESSANDRA TURRA

Special GemsImportant pieces of art and jewelry that once belonged to the storied Bobst family — benefactors of health and educational institutions including New York University’s Bobst Library — are to be auctioned at So-theby’s this spring. The collection of Mam-douha and Elmer Holmes Bobst includes Impressionist works by Claude Monet and

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and gem designs signed by Van Cleef & Arpels, and Donald Claflin for Tiffany & Co., among others.

Many of the collection’s artworks have low estimates within the multimillion-dol-lar-range.

Mamdouha Bobst, who passed away last year, had a singular taste for feminine, modern jewelry that is presently on display at the public preview of Sotheby’s spring Magnificent Jewels sale. Among the lots from her collection are pieces by Marianne Ostier, including a platinum and diamond tiara originally designed for a Hungarian lady. Elmer Bobst — a close acolyte of Pres-ident Richard Nixon who advised the White House on health policy — gifted his wife the delicate crown to wear to a presidential dinner held in his honor.

Also included in the collection are rare pieces designed by Donald Claflin for Tiffany’s. These lots include the first use of tanzanite, which was discovered in 1968 by Masai tribesmen. Claflin, a young and gutsy designer, incorporated the stones into his designs. Their debut was covered by Women’s Wear Daily, which at the time wrote: “[Tiffany & Co. chairman] Harry Platt bought as many of the freak stones as he could find and had them cut and polished especially for Tiffany.” The Tiffany tanzanite collection was released in November 1968 with a limited run of 18 original designs.

Tanzanite, at the time revolutionary for its vivid blue color that resembles fine-grade sapphires but priced at a fraction of the cost, was incorporated into floral-in-spired pieces — such as the brooch from Mamdouha Bobst’s collection, expected to fetch a minimum of $25,000.

WWD praised a brooch design in its 1968 article, including an illustration of the piece, which closely resembles that of the Bobst collection. — MISTY WHITE SIDELL

Hello LondonRebecca Minkoff is expanding across the pond with the launch of her fall acces-sories collection at Selfridges, dropping in stores this June.

As the label’s audience becomes increasingly global, the designer said there is complete crossover between the brand’s U.K. and U.S. customers.

“As a longtime customer of theirs, I’m delighted that our product will be shared with the quintessential London girl who loves Selfridges and is simultaneously, very much the Rebecca Minkoff customer,” Minkoff told WWD. “She’s a Millennial, she wants to be noticed for her sense of style and not the logo she’s wearing, she wants something that is unique and identifiable at a great price point and that has great value.”

At the same time, the designer noted

the European consumer’s appetite for slightly higher-priced items which take a more novelty, fashion-forward approach.

A selection of handbags, footwear, small leather goods and jewelry will be stocked in the British department store’s handbag and accessories department on the lower ground floor.

Selfridges’ buyer Caroline Fielder said that Minkoff’s designs will compliment the store’s contemporary offer, with handbags being one of the key product categories, given their fresh design aesthetic and accessible price point.

“Rebecca Minkoff handbags have a wide appeal due to their playful yet edgy aesthetic. The brand’s DNA is fun and the price point is accessible. From the signa-ture Mini Mac to the M.A.B. tote, there is always a bag that works for any occasion,” said Fielder.

The launch at Selfridges is part of an aggressive expansion strategy across Europe, with further plans to build specialty stores and have a dedicated showroom for the European market.

The contemporary sportswear and accessories designer has also been increasing her global presence in a number of other key markets, as of late. She is planning to open freestanding stores in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as a store in Chicago.

During New York Fashion Week last Feb-ruary, Minkoff drew further attention to her label with her decision to invite consumers to her runway show, which showcased her spring line that was currently in stores, instead of the fall collection. The designer made this decision in a bid to turn the label into a show-now-buy-now-wear-now brand that is in tune with the needs of the Millennial consumer.

“We had incredible results, from this year to last year our sales grew over 211 percent and we can definitely see that our consumer liked it and embraced it. So we are very much planning to continue,” said Minkoff.

Despite fashion’s consumer shift how-ever, she still sees value in having presence

in big retail stores such as Selfridges.“I still think that the consumer shops in

them and it’s important to be part of the conversation by being in a Selfridges or a Neiman Marcus or a Saks Fifth Avenue. They are aspirational stores and it’s key to have presence in them if you want people from all over the world coming to see your collections,” said Minkoff.

In addition to the label’s global expan-sion, Minkoff said that she is also working on filming a TV show and a show on YouTube. She has also teamed up with Intel on a series of events aiming to create opportunities for women in technology. — NATALIE THEODOSI

Design FocusMartina Mondadori will be the next cura-tor of Design at Large, the section dedi-cated to large-scale artworks at Design Miami/Basel, which runs from June 14 to 19 in Basel, Switzerland.

This season, the program will focus on a landscape theme by exploring the relationship and exchange between built and natural environments.

“This collaboration was born from the tight friendship between myself and Rodman [Primack, Design Miami executive director], who showed appreciation for what we are doing with Cabana,” said Mondadori, referring to the biannual magazine Cabana focusing on interiors and design for which she serves as editor in chief. “The idea is to create a connection between the world of Design at Large and Cabana, since both of them explore the world of interiors and spaces.”

According to Mondadori, 15 projects have already been selected to be on display at Design Miami/Basel.

“Structures are considered not only in terms of form, but also in terms of function,” Mondadori explained, citing, for example, the “Tea Canopy” project devel-oped by Ron Arad, who designed a sort of “cabana with the shape of a snail-shell.”

Among the other projects to be featured at Design Miami/Basel, there will be artwork by Jean Prouvé, Giò Ponti, the Campana brothers and Kengo Kuma.

“The projects will be on display on the fair’s ground level in a covered space, so we will try to recreate the idea of natural environment through an installation with plants, like a sort of greenhouse, featuring Cabana’s signature style,” Mondadori said.

For her magazine’s latest issue, which hit newsstands last week, she teamed up with Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, who developed the patterns appearing on Cabana’s three different covers.

“The collaboration with Alessandro Michele developed quite naturally, since he shares with Cabana the same taste for a certain rich decorativism,” Mondadori said.

Previous curators of the Design at Large project have included Barneys New York creative director Dennis Freedman and celebrity hotelier André Balazs. — A.T.

Fashion Scoops

Art PushWME/IMG and Frieze, an arts, media and event company, have forged a strategic partnership.

The two organizations will work together to expand the resources and expertise available to Frieze’s clients through events, media and technology.

As part of the agreement, WME/IMG will support the Frieze Tate Fund, the first acquisition fund connected to an art fair. Since 2003, the fund has enabled Tate to purchase 100 works by 69 artists for the Tate Collection. The Frieze Tate Fund will provide $212,255 at the current exchange for Tate to acquire works of art at Frieze London this October.

Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota said, “The Frieze Tate Fund has played a fundamental role in helping Tate build a

strong collection of emerging art at an international level.”

The Frieze partnership follows SoftBank Group’s recent $250 million investment in WME/IMG, joining Silver Lake Partners in helping to accelerate the firm’s global growth strategy which includes new acquisitions, partner-ships and joint ventures.

Frieze was founded in 1991 by Amanda Sharp, Matthew Slotover and Tom Gidley with the launch of Frieze magazine. In 2003, Sharp and Slotover established Frieze London, a con-temporary art fair which takes place each October in The Regent’s Park in London. In 2012, Frieze launched Frieze New York that takes place in May, and Frieze Masters, which coincides with Frieze London in October and focuses on art from ancient to modern. — LISA LOCKWOOD

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On the grounds of Frieze London.

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Rebecca Minkoff on the runway at her Spring 2016 #SeeBuyWear consumer show Martina Mondadori

Platinum, 18 Karat Gold, Tanzanite, Emerald, Colored Diamond and Diamond Brooch, Donald Claflin for Tiffany & Co. Estimated at $25-35,000.

Raf Simons

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