Daily EDition November 21, 2016 1

Fashion. Beauty. Business.

A Fashion ForceDisney and Target launch a fund-raising initiative with “Star Wars.”

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More, More DiorThe fashion house hosts back-to-back events at the Guggenheim.

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California to New YorkRobert Talbott opens on Madison Avenue.Page 11

● The designer will receive the Legion of Honor, and will show her collection via film at the start of Paris Fashion Week.

by Bridget Foley

Next season, one major name will be absent from New York Fashion Week: Vera Wang. Wang plans to forego a runway show and will instead introduce her fall collection with a short film, to be released online on Feb. 28.

That the date coincides with the opening of the shows in Paris is no coincidence. That afternoon, Wang will be honored as a Chevalier of France’s National Order of the Legion of Honor. Gérard Araud, France’s ambassador to the United States and a longtime friend, will present the award at a luncheon, the place and time to be determined.

Wang’s decision not to have a show was twofold. Gratified by the French honor, she saw in the timing an opportunity to celebrate France in some reciprocal way. At the same time, she has long questioned the current show system, particularly in New York, where, in the midst of 300-plus

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Vera WangTo Not ShowAt NYFW

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LimitedLiquidationSeen asPossibility

CoNtiNued oN page 8

CoNtiNued oN page 6

Beauty supplements, including powders and pills, have been popular in Europe and Asia — and now they’re gaining traction in the U.S.

For more, see page 4.

Getting Granular● A buyer has yet

to emerge in the retailer’s sale process, sources said, adding the chain may liquidate after the holidays.

by Allison Collins with CoNtributioNs from evAn ClArk aNd viCki M. young

The Limited might be eying a different kind of sale this holiday season.

The women’s specialty apparel retailer has been struggling amid declining mall traffic. Guggenheim Securities was hired to find a buyer, but so far the process has been unsuccessful and that could mean a liquidation of the business is a real possibility. Sources close to the situation said it was still too early in the process to determine an exact outcome.

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November 21, 2016 3

Official Trailer Released for Natalie Portman’s Jackie Kennedy Portrayal in Biopic ‘Jackie’ ● The actress stars in the film in the titular role.

● Kendall and Kylie Jenner Launch Eyewear Line

● Ivanka Trump Jewelry Brand in Hide-Out Mode After Promotional Scandal

● Mexican Fashion Industry Vows to Fight Trump’s NAFTA Plans

● Saint James Sets U.K. Expansion Plans

TOP 5TReNdiNgON WWD.COM

NEWSMAKERSThis Week’s Most Talked About Names In Our Industry

Vera Wang

Maria Grazia Chiuri

Marc Jacobs

Jenna Dewan Tatum

● New York City officials said the barricades and road closures will continue at least until the inauguration.

by JeAn e. PAlMieri

NEW YORK — Get used to it — and avoid upper Fifth Avenue.

That was the message to Fifth Avenue retailers Friday from Mayor Bill de Blasio as he and New York City Police Com-missioner James O’Neill discussed the security situation in and around Trump Tower, residence of President-elect Don-ald J. Trump that also is near to some of the street’s leading retailers.

O’Neill said the heavy security in front of Trump Tower will remain in place until Trump takes the oath of office on Jan. 20. After that, it will be reevaluated and may be loosened a bit once he is living in Washington.

And at a press conference with O’Neill at One Police Plaza Friday afternoon, de Bla-sio more or less recommended that “to the maximum extent possible,” people should “avoid the immediate area around Trump Tower,” saying it would “make life easier.”

He singled out 53rd to 57th Streets between Madison and Sixth Avenues as potential problem areas. That area is home to stores from Gucci to Tiffany, Bergdorf Goodman to Prada.

De Blasio’s statement Friday came after the mayor had already dismissed concerns over the impact on retailers of the security cordon around Trump Tower. A few days before, he had said that, “I will not tell you that Gucci and Tiffany are my central concerns in life,” while last week he said that the disruption wouldn’t be a problem since Midtown Manhattan would be a mess

anyway because of the holiday season.On Friday, O’Neill said Trump Tower is

now seen as a terrorist target and the city and the Secret Service are determined to protect it from potential attacks. That means the metal and concrete barricades, the lane closures and the permanent shut-down of 56th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues are now the new reality.

“We have to strike that balance between security and making sure all New Yorkers are able to get around that very busy area of the city,” he said, stressing, “We are not closing Fifth Ave-nue on any permanent basis.”

Workers and shoppers will be allowed access to the retail stores in the area, but those attempting to get into Trump Tower will be subjected to screening, including bag searches, the commissioner said.

Additionally, the truck ban on Fifth Avenue will be enforced. No trucks will be allowed on Fifth Avenue from 55th to 60th Streets, or on 56th between Sixth and Madison.

Bob Louttit, executive vice president of the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, said there has “always been a ban on trucks on Fifth Avenue, but it hasn’t always been enforced. So the retailers have the [delivery] guys come in on the side streets and walk the stuff in.”

At the press conference, the speakers were standing against a backdrop of four enormous video surveillance screens of Trump Tower and the surrounding streets. A map of the area, complete with the names of businesses and a red teardrop designating Trump Tower, filled another screen.

De Blasio called it an “unprecedented challenge” to have a president-elect living in New York City, and “entering the holi-day season adds a layer of complication.”

He added that “in the modern world, we’ve never had a situation where the President of the United States would be here on a regular basis” and his “focal point” would be Midtown Manhattan.

But he said the city’s number-one priority is the safety and security of both Trump and his family as well as New York’s residents and visitors. “We believe we can balance that, and keep pedestrian and vehicular traffic moving,” he said.

NYPD Chief of Department Carlos Gomez detailed the security measures that have been implemented since the election. These include uniformed officers on duty 24-hours a day, screening checkpoints on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower, blocker vehicles and “Delta” barricades on 56th Street between Fifth and Madison, explosive-sniffing dogs, radiation detectors and officers stationed on observation posts on rooftops and other positions.

The BID executive said his group has already met with the NYPD and the Secret Service and expects to have another meeting in the next week or so, one that will include some of the retailers in the area “so everyone is fully informed.”

The press conference also addressed security concerns about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The city said security will remain the same as in the past with some adjustments including additional vehicular closures of 42nd and 57th Streets, extra sand trucks and blocker cars, and more officers on roof-tops and on the route.

Reports surfaced earlier this week that ISIS is encouraging its followers to stage attacks at the parade.

De Blasio said that there were similar threats last year that caused the city to be “especially vigilant,” but the event turned out to draw the largest crowd in its history.

● Survey says an estimated 137.4 million people are planning or considering shopping during Thanksgiving weekend.

by dAvid Moin

Shopping during Thanksgiving weekend this year will be a bit busier than in 2015.

That’s according to a just-released survey of consumers by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics which found that 59 percent of Americans — an estimated 137.4 million people — are planning or considering shop-ping during Thanksgiving weekend. Most retailers are expecting the holiday 2016 season to be better than last year’s holiday season. The NRF has forecast holiday retail sales to rise 3.4 percent this year.

Last year, 135.8 million, or 58.7 percent, of the population came out to shop over Thanksgiving weekend.

NRF’s numbers cover Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Small Business Sat-urday and Sunday and take into account

in-store and online shopping.“Black Friday remains one of the

busiest shopping days of the year, with Americans planning to take advantage of aggressive in-store and digital promo-tions over the entire holiday weekend,” NRF president and chief executive officer Matthew Shay said. “Retailers know con-sumers are spreading out their holiday budgets to shop throughout the season. While there’s no doubt of the incredible promotions offered during the weekend, the holiday shopping season is long and consumers will look for and expect great deals down to the very last minute.”

The survey found that 21 percent of weekend shoppers plan to shop on Thanksgiving Day, nearly the same as last year’s 22 percent. Black Friday will remain the busiest day of the holiday weekend with 74 percent planning to shop that day, the same as in 2015. A substantial 47 percent are expected to shop on Saturday; of those shoppers, 24 percent say they will be doing so specifi-cally to support Small Business Saturday, up from 22 percent last year. On Sunday, 24 percent expect to shop.

According to the survey, 77 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds and 76 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds plan to shop over the week-end. Also, 86 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds and 78 percent of 25 to 34-year-olds are expected to shop Black Friday.

“Millennials continue to drive the trend of hitting the stores — both on their feet and online — as soon as the turkey is finished,” Prosper’s principal analyst Pam Goodfellow said, “Whether they’re hoping to find gifts for themselves or for the folks on their lists, they will do their research to find the best deals of the weekend and have allotted a large part of their holiday budget for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday spending.”

“For many Millennials, every Thanks-giving weekend they can remember has involved hopping online to find the best deals,” Goodfellow said. “For this group, it’s more than just a weekend of good deals — it’s a holiday tradition.”

While not included in the 137.4 million total for the Thanksgiving weekend, 36 percent of consumers say they plan to shop online on Cyber Monday, up from the 34 percent in 2015.

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Fifth Avenue Security Disruptions Will Be Permanent

business

NRF Sees Shopping Thanksgiving Weekend Busier Than Last Year

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● Young consumers are gravitating away from traditional anitaging skin-care creams in favor of ingestible products that tout overall wellness qualities.

by ellen thoMAs

For skin-care woes, consumers are turning to nutritional pills over traditional antiaging creams. It is the marriage of wellness and beauty that has been a long time coming.

Already established in Europe and Asia, ingestible products in the form of pills, powders, drinks and teas touting beau-ty-enhancing claims are the latest category to pique the interest of U.S. consumers, particularly Millennials, who are taking a proactive approach to skin care.

“It’s kind of exploding right now,” said Karen Grant, global beauty industry ana-lyst at the NPD Group. “It’s the smallest but fastest-growing category we track.”

Sales gains in the prestige facial skin care supplement market have increased fivefold since 2013, reaching $4.1 million in 2015, according to the NPD. The firm proj-ects sales to reach $6 million by the end of 2016. Mintel research last year found that 80 percent of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 34 either have taken or are interested in taking an ingestible address-ing concerns like dry skin or acne.

“Looking at what’s going on in grocery with natural and organic, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of retail heads in that direction,” said David Olsen, chief executive officer of Cos Bar, the upscale beauty specialty retailer. In October, Cos Bar began stocking 8G, a $12 vial of water-dissolving tablets said to promote collagen growth. “I don’t even want to call it a trend — a trend means it’s going away.”

Grant added the growth of the supple-ments market is especially significant given lackluster sales in prestige skin care. Last year, sales were sluggish and growth flat-lined, and Grant projects similar momen-tum for the category as 2016 closes.

The number of players in the market is certainly expanding, with products like Hum Nutrition beauty supplements, Dirty Lemon collagen water, detox teas by Edi-ble Beauty, Moon Juice beauty dusts and The Beauty Chef powders adding to the buzz this year.

For the 2016 holiday season, WelleCo, Elle MacPherson’s line of supplements and protein powders, teamed with Aerin to design a $250 gold caddy containing its Super Elixir, an alkalizing greens powder that touts skin-clearing, brightening and plumping benefits. “When your body is functioning well, it shows on the outside,” said MacPherson.

“Health is very important to me,” said Aerin founder Aerin Lauder of the col-laboration. “It’s more relevant than ever before, with changes in the environment, people traveling more and multitasking. There is more opportunity [for business growth] in wellness — it’s a key part of everyone’s lifestyle.”

The growing influence of supplements can even be found in the marketing of new topical skin-care items. Glossier founder and ceo Emily Weiss just launched The Supers, a line of serums touting vitamin, mineral and antioxidant ingredients, priced at $28 each. Weiss stated the line is like “supplements for your skin.” The con-cept is similar to Japanese serum line V 10, sold in Asia and in Paris at Le Bon Marché, which is marketed as a “supplement

concept for skin” and offers vitamins like A and C in dropper bottles, to be applied topically with other skin care.

Other retailers agree with Cos Bar’s Olsen, noting that consumers are increas-ingly blaming skin woes on the state of their nutritional health, and are inter-ested in looking inward to fix the problem or prevent a problem from happening, rather than relying on corrective antiwrin-kle creams.

“It’s the whole idea of a holistic approach,” said Jessica Richards, owner of Shen Beauty in Brooklyn and the head of beauty at Free People. “If you have cystic acne, you can’t fix it with lotions and potions. You have to fix what’s going on inside.” Richards says ingestibles at Free People, which caters to a Millennial clien-tele, are booming — they currently make up about half the retailer’s beauty business.

Ingestibles are gaining traction at mass as well.

“We’re going to keep a close eye on it,” said John Butcher, senior vice president of beauty merchandising at Target. “There’s something there.” Target last year exclu-sively launched Olly Nutrition, a Millenni-al-minded supplement and vitamin line.

Other mass retailers are also jumping on board.

Last month, Walgreens Boots Alliance launched Beauty Beneath in the U.S., a preventative antiaging supplement line formulated with marine collagen and vita-mins. Priced at $39.99 for 60 capsules and merchandised in the skin-care aisle next to antiaging items, the brand is in 8,000 Walgreens doors.

One criticism of ingestibles is that con-sumers don’t understand them. “I don’t think we’re at the point where consumers have caught up to the various technol-ogies,” said Martin L. Okner, managing director and cofounder of SHM Corpo-rate Navigators. He added that ingestible brands should prioritize marketing of nutritional value. If there’s an overall vitamin story that’s overarching, that’s more viable,” said Okner, “If it’s just ‘take a certain pill to get a desired beauty look,’ that becomes a less compelling story.”

To combat that, educating the consumer is a critical part of Hum Nutrition’s strat-egy. “We built a platform where consumers

could connect with nutritionists and get advice on what to eat and which supple-ments were right for them,” said Walter Faulstroh, ceo and cofounder of Hum Nutrition. Faulstroh noted that Hum, sold at retailers like Sephora and Nordstrom for $25 a bottle, is growing rapidly at 30 to 40 percent sales gains per quarter.

At Free People, Richards launched ingestibles with a content-heavy web site highlighting how to use the powders and pills. “We really focus on giving content and education — things like recipes. You understand what you’re buying and how to use it,” said Richards.

Susie Rogers, founder of U.K.-based Beauty Works West, has found that a streamlined product approach works best. Her supplement line, formulated with vitamins and plant extracts, is available in just three varieties that address a clear issue — Energy, Sex and Youth — for $110 each. Beauty Works West launched during the summer at Net-a-porter.

Despite the onslaught of brands hitting the market, some industry sources are skeptical as to whether the trend has stay-ing power. The early Aughts saw the rise of nutriceuticals and nutricosmetics, but that growth never sustained. One source in banking cited strict Food and Drug Admin-istration regulations as a barrier for big companies wanting to enter the ingestibles market. “Most people are worried the feds are going to jump in.” The FDA enforces strict guidelines for companies producing supplements, such as “clean” — germ-free — rooms that are more expensive to maintain, especially at a large level.

Aveda and Intelligent Nutrients founder Horst Rechelbacher was an early propo-nent of ingestibles. He founded Intelligent Nutrients as a supplements business separate from Aveda, but now the line, run by his wife Kiran Stordalen and daughter Nicole Thomas-Rechelbacher, focuses on topical skin care, though it does sell separately the proprietary edible oil the products are formulated with. Thomas-Re-chelbacher noted that the early Nineties, when Aveda was sold to the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. — the Rechelbachers held onto Intelligent Nutrients — was a bit early for the supplements game. “He’d be so excited to see what is going on today,” said

Thomas-Rechelbacher of her father, who died in 2014. “Consumers are getting more educated, there’s just so much [informa-tion] out there.” She added that Intelligent Nutrients is planning to start adding ingest-ibles back into its assortment for 2018.

But calling credibility into question is the traditional medicine set, who call foul on the efficacy of ingestibles. “Antioxidants are good for you, but that doesn’t mean an anti-oxidant is going to give you healthy-looking skin if you eat it,” said Dr. Neal Schultz, a dermatologist who formulates his Beau-tyRX line with glycolic acid. Though he did note there is an upside to ingestibles, even though he dispels their beautifying proper-ties. “There can be a placebo effect — and when you feel good, you look better.”

Looking better is what inspired Moon Juice founder Amanda Chantal Bacon to start concocting and selling herbal Moon Dust Powders — Beauty Dust claims to make skin radiant and hair shiny — through retail partners such as Net-a-porter and Urban Outfitters, as well as her own brick-and-mortar store and e-commerce site. For Bacon, who formulated her line after a slew of health issues pushed her toward a holistic lifestyle, the popularity of her products is due to their beauty-centric marketing, a departure from Nineties-era health-and-wellness marketing that focused on fear.

“It was like radical health Nazis telling you you were going to die if you didn’t do it their way,” said Bacon. “This new on-ramp for people to get on is the beauty angle. Beauty is a sign that the rest of your body is working well. For some, this is the first place they’re going to jump on.”

Consumer openness to wellness has a posed a prime opportunity for established doctor brands that have been touting skin-care supplements for years to remarket their products to a more engaged audience.

Dr. Nicholas Perricone launched his sup-plement line 20 years ago, but next year is introducing a new line of “boosters,” to attract a customer who isn’t a hardcore follower of his anti-inflammatory diet plan, which involves taking multiple supple-ments per day. The boosters each address a different issue — Metabolism Booster, Sleep Booster, Skin Booster and so on. “Peo-ple were using our skin care and wanted to follow our three-tier system, but the supplements were a catch for them — they weren’t necessarily interested in an intense regimen,” said Tara O’Flaherty, vice presi-dent of brand marketing at Dr. Perricone.

Dr. Howard Murad has always incorpo-rated supplements into his now Unile-ver-owned skin-care line.

He noted that when he launched his line, he saw customer interest in supple-ments but customers then weren’t really connecting the link between nutrition and skin. “People were coming in looking for something but they didn’t know what they were looking for,” said Murad.

Consumer interest in wellness, Murad noted, has been accelerated because of the cultural stress of today’s digital world.

“We’re more isolated, more hostile, more upset and feeling less well,” said Murad. “This is a time when people need it more than they did 10 years ago.”

Murad and his team see 2017 as a prime time to shift marketing focus to his supple-ments. “We’re trying to educate people on what I call connected beauty,” said Murad. He noted that plans for next year involve more retail and consumer events, social media content and digital advertising to push his supplements. “We’re telling peo-ple the story of how they need to take care of their whole body.”

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Beauty Supplements Scooping Up a Movement

The Supers, a new line of serums by Glossier.

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November 21, 2016 6

● The plan is to capitalize on the brand’s natural-ingredients positioning in order to grow the company.

by Allison Collins

Pacifica has a new investor.

Private equity firm Alliance Consumer Growth has made a minority equity invest-ment in the better-for-you, mass-market beauty company, with plans to deepen the brand’s existing retail relationships with places like Ulta Beauty, Target and Whole Foods, as well as heighten focus on the brand’s natural positioning.

“We think that there’s a lot of really interesting innovation happening in beauty in general, with a big focus on bet-ter-for-you beauty,” said Julian Steinberg, managing partner at ACG. “What we’ve been seeing…is that better-for-you beauty is really coming to mass in a big way.”

Pacifica, founded in 1997 by husband and wife Billy Taylor and Brook Har-vey-Taylor, makes natural skin-care, cosmetics, bath and body, fragrance, hair-care and nail-care products. The brand is also vegan and cruelty-free. The business’ product lineup includes everything from $11 eyeliner to $14 nail polish, $18 Ultra CC Cream Radiant Foundation to $22 perfume and $16 soy candles.

With ACG on board, the plan is to “make natural ingredients a huge part of mass in a way that no other brand has done before at this point,” said Brook Harvey-Taylor. She added that with beauty subscription business Ipsy, Pacifica has a “higher-than-average customer repurchase intent and higher-than-average reviews.”

“We are the first natural-based brand that has been able to play in the main-stream beauty space with this kind of suc-cess,” she continued. “The beauty space is changing so fast and adopting brands like Pacifica in a new way.”

With ACG, Pacifica is bringing on an investor that also backs natural skin-care darling Tata Harper and in Millenni-al-focused Nudestix. “We’ve focused on our product, not on marketing, and we haven’t focused on really building out our

story and that’s something that’s going to be an important part of having extra capital…widening our consumer base and making sure we’re telling the right story,” Harvey-Taylor said. “Right now we put something on the shelf and it sells and that’s been our strategy, and now we have an opportunity to branch beyond that.”

“We’ve been a brand for 20 years, and we’ve always been independent — one of the original indie brands, and we decided over the last couple of years that it would be interesting to partner with somebody who has more knowledge than we have, and who could help us take the brand to the next level.”

“For us, it’s really about product and making sure you’re creating an experience and making sure you’re creating a brand that has longevity,” Harvey-Taylor said. “ACG’s point of view is really about brand experience and building a brand that has more depth and breadth than a one-hit wonder. We are aligned in the fact that our goal really is to create the brand that is a lifestyle brand that really addresses people’s needs.”

Pacifica is growing at triple digits in its current retail partners, according to Harvey-Taylor, and those partners will continue to be the brand’s focus. “Our big growth right now is in cosmetics and skin care,” Harvey-Taylor said. “We have really been focused on working with Target and Ulta [Beauty] and being the best we can be in those retailers. For us, we have a lot of room to grow, but we’ve been really careful and really thoughtful about our growth.” The brand is also sold through Whole Foods. Terms of the ACG invest-ment were not disclosed.

ACG expects Pacifica to continue growing at a considerable rate. “It’s a company that has the ability to be five to 10 times larger in the next few years,” Steinberg said.

Pacifica is the latest of a flurry of M&A deals in the beauty space, with activity coming from both private equity firms and strategic players. On the private equity side, TA Associates recently invested in mass-market hair-care brand Marc Anthony, and Tengram Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in skin-care brand Algenist for $20 million.

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Alliance Consumer Growth Invests In Pacifica Beauty Firm

● While at Piper Jaffray, the banker handled deals including selling NYX, Urban Decay and It Cosmetics to L’Oréal.

by Allison Collins

Shaun Westfall, one of beauty’s busiest investment bankers, is moving to Jefferies, according to several financial sources.

Westfall has been working at Min-neapolis, Minn.-based Piper Jaffray for about a decade, orchestrating a slew of beauty deals. In 2016 alone he’s worked on a handful of high-profile transac-tions, including L’Oréal’s acquisition of It

Cosmetics for $1.2 billion (a 6.1 times multi-ple) and Estée Lauder’s purchase of Becca Cosmetics, which sources said was for

about $230 million. Westfall also worked on E.l.f. Beauty’s September initial public offering, as well as TA Associates’ invest-ment in Paula’s Choice (sources estimate that was a $275 million deal). He worked on General Atlantic’s 2015 acquisition of Too Faced for a source-estimated $500 mil-lion. That brand is now being sold to Estée Lauder for $1.45 billion. Westfall also sold NYX and Urban Decay to L’Oréal.

For New York-based Jefferies, which is owned by Leucadia National Corp., the move could build up the bank’s beauty M&A practice. In 2007, when the firm hired James Walsh as a managing director, Jefferies put out a statement that he would be in charge of the “continued build-out of the consumer and retail team.” Walsh is now chairman of consumer and retail

investment banking at the firm. When asked about Westfall, a spokesman for Jef-feries declined to comment. Sources said Westfall starts at Jefferies in January.

Jefferies’ consumer and retail practice includes about 25 professionals and has advised on more than 50 deals valued at more than $52 billion since 2012, according to its web site.

M&A is booming in the beauty world. Recently, Coty closed its $11.4 billion purchase of the Procter & Gamble spe-cialty beauty portfolio, which included 41 different beauty brands. Coty also agreed to buy GHD, a hair tools company, for about $510 million. Shiseido has also been active in the space, picking up Laura Mercier and ReVive in one transaction, and the license for Dolce & Gabbana fragrances in another. In the private equity world, Tengram Capital Partners bought skin-care brand Algenist, and Roark Capital Partners invested in Drybar.

business

Shaun Westfall Said to Be Heading to Jefferies

Shaun Westfall

A spokesman for The Limited said, “Limited Stores is exploring a number of options that would provide the company with greater financial flexibility.” Gug-genheim executives declined comment, as did executives from Sun Capital Partners, the private equity firm that has owned The Limited since 2007.

Other sources familiar with the financials said a bankruptcy filing was a possibility as well. These individuals said that in addition to pitching to potential buyers to sell the company as a going concern, several brand management firms were also contacted about the idea of buying just the intellectual property assets of the retailer.

Bluestar Alliance and Authentic Brands Group are believed to be among the IP firms who were contacted. That’s because both have experience working with operating companies to keep the store operations intact. Bluestar is part owner of the IP of specialty chain Bebe Stores Inc. through a joint venture with the publicly held firm, leaving the operations under the public company umbrella. ABG recently acquired the IP of bankrupt Aéropostale Inc., and is working with mall owners General Growth Properties and Simon Property Group to keep about 400 store locations in operation.

Executives at Bluestar and ABG did not respond to requests for comment. One source familiar with ABG’s thinking said the company was likely eying other opportunities, such as the upcoming bankruptcy auction for the IP assets of

American Apparel in its second tour of bankruptcy proceedings.

As of July, The Limited operated 186 stores. The brand sells women’s clothing and accessories. Average price points range around $60 for tops, $70 for pants and $90 for dresses. The retailer’s web site is running a 60 percent off early Black Friday promotion.

The Limited has been under the direction of chief executive officer Diane Ellis for more than three years. She’s split the company’s store count into different categories, those for high-end malls and those at lower-tier locations and rolled out value concept Backroom at The Limited, which carries its own specifically designed products and out-let products, in some of the lower-tier malls. The company also operates The Limited Outlet and has been experi-menting with adding more technology into some stores. The business also recently launched a perfume line. “We’re rounding off that full lifestyle offering — petites, lounge, accessories,” said Ellis, when the three fragrances launched in September. “Perfume is the most personal accessory there is.”

The Limited has faced issues similar to those of other mall-based retailers, although declines in foot traffic — which in turn have impacted sales — might not be its only problem. The chain also may be struggling because of a lack of differentia-tion, said Jane Hali, chief executive officer of Jane Hali & Associates, a retail research business. “This store is not known for anything,” she said. “There are stores that aren’t doing well that can [still exist] because they’re known for something. They have an edge, like Timberland, North Face — they’re known for some-thing so you can build a story around it. But [The Limited is] not telling a story.”

Limited LiquidationSeen as Possibility conTinued from paGe 1

The Limited’s new high-tech store has distinct areas where customers can interact with merchandise and digital applications.

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CELEBRATING 75 YEARS

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November 21, 2016 8

● Sophie Theallet has tried to rally designers not to dress or associate with the next first lady.

by roseMAry FeitelBerg

New York-based designers unhesitatingly and publicly vociferous in their support for Hillary Clinton were virtually mum when asked whether they would join Sophie Theallet in her call to boycott dressing incoming First Lady Melania Trump. And those who would talk would do so only off the record.

Even Theallet did not respond to requests for comment on Friday, nor did a spokes-woman for Melania Trump. Spokespeople for Diane von Furstenberg, Michael Kors and Dennis Basso declined to comment, as did one for Ivanka Trump, a designer in her own right. Representatives for Carolina Her-rera, Rosie Assoulin and Thakoon Panichgul said they were unavailable.

Clinton had a small army of fashion sup-porters during the presidential campaign — Diane von Furstenberg, Anna Wintour, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Prabal Gurung, Thakoon Panichgul, Elie Tahari, Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman and Tanya Taylor among them. The Council of Fashion Designers of America had no comment Friday. Most of the 25 American designers asked to comment about Theal-let’s open letter and their views did not even respond.

French-born Theallet triggered a firestorm Thursday afternoon by sending an open letter vowing not to dress the incoming First Lady and asking other designers to follow suit. In a widely circu-lated e-mail, Theallet wrote, “As one who celebrates and strives for diversity, individ-ual freedom and respect for all lifestyles,

I will not participate in dressing or associating in any way with the next First Lady. The rhetoric of racism, sexism and xenophobia unleashed by her husband’s presidential campaign are incompatible with the shared values we live by,” she wrote. “I encourage my fellow designers to do the same.”

They might do so; they just won’t pub-licly admit it. One designer, who requested anonymity, said Friday, “It’s going to be hard-pressed for all these people to align themselves with her, including Anna [Win-tour.] All these people were so pro-Hillary. You can’t turn on a dime.

“This is going to be a whole different thing. Melania knows fashion and she’s going to buy her own clothes. She could have hooked on to one person to dress her for all these events,” he said then, not resisting the chance to take a swipe, added, “She wore a one-shoulder jumpsuit on Election Night. That wasn’t so business attire. Don’t you think she should have been in a tailored dress?”

Regardless of his blue-state leaning view, the designer said he would consider dressing Trump for the inaugural given the chance. The free publicity that comes with dressing the First Lady may sway design-ers to overlook their personal preferences. Love him or hate him, voters tune into Trump, considering 84 million watched his final debate with Clinton, compared to the nearly 21 million who tuned in to Barack Obama’s 2013 inaugural. One designer also predicted a Beltway-shaking shift with state dinners, suggesting all those pro-Hillary designers and Hollywood types won’t make the cut. “People can’t have been so strong with their convictions and then say, ‘Oh, yeah I’m going to go to dinner there,” he said.

Wherever they stand, New York designers live in a city with 900 fashion

companies accounting for a $98 billion industry that makes up 5 percent of the city’s workforce. And while Donald Trump has pledged repeatedly to revive Amer-ican manufacturing across all sectors, fashion designers aren’t exactly lined up waiting. All too familiar with Trump’s Brioni-suit wearing ways, one New York-based designer said, “He talks so much about manufacturing in the U.S. I say, ‘Put your money where your mouth is.’ We’re based here in New York but I don’t want to dress Melania. That’s not going to happen. Through association Melania is the poster board for him and his beliefs and value systems. I do think that flies in the face of many, many designers.”

But expecting Trump’s European her-itage to pay off, Oleg Cassini Inc.’s Peggy Nestor said, “She will be the new Jackie Kennedy, memorable and able to converse with international heads of state.”

Democratic with her designer choices,

Trump has worn Ralph Lauren, Balmain, Michael Kors, Gucci, Fendi, Roland Mouret and Dolce & Gabbana for her more recent photo-ops. Apparently beholden to no specific designer, the future First Lady shopped in New York City boutiques and online in recent months.

Vocal in her personal life, one designer didn’t want to go public with her anti-Trump views for fear of jeopardizing her company in any way but said she was embarrassed about not doing so. “The emotions are so raw and tensions are so high,” she said. “Many of us are feeling right now, ‘What can we do?’ Where do we have a voice?’ Many people, not just design-ers, feel that our country has just made a choice that is wrong. I’m going to be trying to figure out ways to stand up and fight for what I believe is right. This is Sophie’s way of feeling like she has voice. Frankly, I applaud her for standing up and saying it. I think she’s going to get a ton of flack.”

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Designers Mum About Dressing Melania Trump

melania Trump

shows, it’s easy to get lost. Yet while Paris has “been a dream all my life,” Wang said, practicality won out, as she determined that her company lacks the infrastructure to support such a trans-Atlantic event. So she settled on a film.

“It will be a bit of an ode to Paris,” Wang noted. Apart from that premise, plans, both the practical and the creative, remain nascent. She has yet to enlist a director, but is considering Gordon von Steiner, with whom she has worked on several bridal projects. What is clear is that she will design the collection with the film’s concept in mind. “The biggest issue: Do I let the geography be the focus of the col-lection, do I base it on Paris, the history, or do I let it be my own imagination — my next collection but with a French accent?” she mused. “Those things are influencing me on that choice of director and art direc-tor.” She corrected herself on the latter role. “Probably, I would call myself the art director. Because it is really my story.”

While her decision to present fall 2017 in a film resulted directly from news of her Legion of Honor citation and might there-fore be a one-off situation, Wang would not commit definitely to returning to the New York schedule for spring 2018. “Probably we will, but maybe in a very different

format,” she said. “Part of the frustrating thing for me in New York, the calendar is so full now that it’s insane to try to get models and hair and makeup. It’s a battle royale for everybody — stylists, model agencies — everybody is just crammed in. The other part that has troubled me — not anything against the CFDA, because I have supported it — but there aren’t that many locations available. That’s a limitation when you’re trying to express a point of view, or [you have] a certain kind of girl in your brain, or guy in your brain. That is the biggest lim-itation for me, for the moment, until Diane [von Furstenberg] is finished with the High Line and all of that. I can’t say that hasn’t

been challenging for me. Not all of us can take the Armory in order to create a world.”

As for her Legion of Honor distinc-tion, Wang is clearly emotional at being honored by a country for which she holds deep reverence. While one might deem the statement that French is “perhaps also my mother tongue” conversational hyperbole (though she is fluent), her passion for the country runs deep, rooted in a long per-sonal history.

Wang credits France with inspiring “a little girl’s love affair with clothes.” As a child she would accompany her mother on buying trips that began aboard a Cunard liner. She recalls her mother’s

particular affinity for the work of the young Yves Saint Laurent. Later, as a competitive figure skater, she spent time training with the French national team in Paris and other locales around the coun-try. When her skating career ended, she went to college at Sarah Lawrence, only to drop out for a while and return to Paris where she lived for two years, eventually studying at the Sorbonne. Along the way, she met Nathalie Delannoy, an editor at French Vogue. Though she “hadn’t a clue what a fashion editor did,” Wang became fascinated with the possibility of a life in fashion. As an adult, she kept an apart-ment in Paris for more than 25 years. “I like to think I almost became Parisian,” she said.

More recently, Wang and Araud have discussed the French American Cultural Exchange, a broad-platform program to foster creative collaboration, in which Wang will become involved. “I want to contribute to both American students and French students in having an open dia-logue, and not only to be educated, but to be inspired by both cultures,” she said.

Her recognition as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, she reasoned, is due partly to her work in fostering such dia-logue and partly for a fashion career that was in its own idiosyncratic way, shaped by an obsession with French culture. “This is definitely one of the major high-lights of my life, my fashion life,” Wang said. “This, and the lifetime achievement award from the CFDA.”

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November 21, 2016 9

● Paolo Marai feels that it is now up to fashion, design and status to keep watches afloat.

by Misty White sidell

NEW YORK — The “timekeeping func-tionality of watches is over,” according to Timex chief executive officer and president Paolo Marai.

The Lugano, Switzerland-based execu-tive was here last week to mark the release of a new Salvatore Ferragamo watch collec-tion, which is produced and manufactured by his company.

He feels that such licenses will keep the watch market turning. For if watches are not meant to keep time anymore, their basic purpose becomes fashion.

“The fact now is that having a very pre-cise watch or a watch that keeps working no matter how hard you try to destroy it, it’s over,” said Marai, apparently refer-encing Timex’s famed advertising line of “keeps a licking and keeps on ticking.” “So more and more in a certain price range I believe watches have become more of an accessory than a timekeeper.”

A brand such as Ferragamo’s market exposure far surpasses that of a simple watchmaker. This, according to Marai, poises the fashion label, and others, for continued growth in the category. Timex also holds the watch licenses for Nautica,

Versus and Versace, amongst others.“Fashion brands are more likely to

follow up with trends; they have a different mentality than traditional watchmakers who are looking to develop new move-ments. For fashion brands, it’s about trying to design a new watch, and I believe that is an advantage for them,” he said.

“The younger generation has been wear-ing watches less and less but still realize that as an accessory they have a com-pletely different meaning. It’s something you put on your wrist, because for women it fits the way you dress and for men it’s a status symbol or one of the few toys we have. For ladies, you have bags, jewels, shoes to express your personality and for men it’s much less. You can apply this to design — it’s become more and more relevant and I believe in this respect the fashion brands take a certain advantage in this midprice category.”

The Ferragamo watch collection is carried by just less than 1,000 points of sale, and Timex is on track to sell about 100,000 of the brand’s watches this year. Marai said that Timex aims to increase the brand’s stockist roster by another 2,000 distribution points in the next few years.

Timex first signed its licensing agreement with Ferragamo in 2007, a 13-year deal.

Ferragamo’s new Cuore range of watches — feminine styles with abstract hearts on their face — is part of the compa-ny’s plan for growth. The watches retail for about $2,500.

Given his perspective on fashion watches, Marai said that Timex is inter-ested in expanding its licenses, but that such arrangements are not a fix-all.

“Licenses are still one of our import-ant assets, as well as developing our own brand. We will look to add brands in different price segments also. The main reason is because when you have a license, they are always exposed to a termination date of 15, 20, 25 years. One day it comes to an end and then you enter negotia-tions, which are not always so easy to get through, for many reasons including the fact that a license at the end of the day is a partnership and a partnership at the very end is made by people. It’s people working together and after 10, 15, 20 years, people in companies change and it’s not a given that after 20 years they will be getting together in the same way. So when you have your own brand, it’s different.”

accessories

Timex CEO: ‘The Timekeeping Functionality of Watches Is Over’

paolo marai

● Nathalie Marrec has joined the firm after a career at Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, industry sources said.

by Miles soChA

Céline, which is hunting for a new chief executive officer and recently saw its number two leave to take up the man-agement helm of sister fashion house Loewe, has tapped a senior product executive, WWD has learned.

Word has it Nathalie Marrec has joined Céline to head up accessories, the linchpin category for the French brand, owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and powered by creative direc-tor Phoebe Philo.

Marrec had spent the last five years at Saint Laurent, working alongside Hedi Slimane in Los Angeles as director of women’s ready-to-wear.

Before that, she was deputy general manager at Balenciaga which, like Saint Laurent, is part of French luxury con-glomerate Kering.

Marrec could not immediately be reached for comment.

It is understood she takes up some of the responsibilities previously handled by Pascale Lepoivre, who managed the entire product operation at Céline before becoming ceo of Loewe last September.

Céline’s current ceo, Marco Gobbetti, is to exit Céline and join Burberry as ceo sometime in 2017. His successor has yet to be named.

business

Céline Adds Senior Executive for Accessories ● Regenerist Micro-Sculpting

Cream grew 7 percent in P&G’s last fiscal year, executives said.

by Allison Collins

Olay’s about-face seems to be work-ing, according to Procter & Gamble executives.

“We are making meaningful progress on [Olay],” said Alexandra Keith, presi-dent global skin and personal care at P&G at the company’s investor meeting Friday. “Olay stretched too far…the shelf became complex. As sales slowed, cost reductions were made…the relevance of our brand declined,” she said.

But P&G has taken steps to fix the skin-care brand, including reducing stockkeeping units by 20 percent in 2015, which Keith described as a move that was necessary, despite creating several headwinds. Then, the brand refocused on Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream, “which remains, more than 10 years after its launch, the numer-one selling facial moisturizer in North America,” Keith said. “This hero item grew 7 percent last fiscal year and the total Micro-Sculpting line grew 27 percent,” she said. “We’re bringing prestige quality packaging back to the brand,” Keith added. In the U.S., the new packaging rolls out next month.

P&G is also switching up its counter strategy in China, closing about 30 per-cent of counters, remodeling others and investing in training employees and diag-nostic devices. The company is working

to ‘return Olay’s innovation program to points of competitive advantage — anti-aging products grounded in meaningful science,” Keith said, calling out Olay Eyes as a good example. “Launched in July, in its first few months we are seeing positive results,” Keith said. The launch gained Olay nine points in segment share, she added, saying that following a 3 percent decline in the eye category before the launch, now the line is growing the eye segment by double digits.

“Our shelf simplification, counter reinvention and Olay Eyes are just the beginning — we have bigger and more exciting things coming in the next 12 to 18 months,” Keith said.

While Olay has struggled, premium skin-care brand SK-II continues to soar.

“Sales of SK-II in China finished last year up 25 percent and are accelerating this fiscal [year],” Keith said.

Stifel analyst Mark Astrachan wrote in a note following the meeting: “P&G dis-closed super-premium skin care, mainly SK-II, accounts for about 2 percent of company sales. Given previous disclosure of approximate low-to-midteens organic sales growth for the brand in [fiscal] 2016, we estimate SK-II accounted for as much as 25 percent to 30 percent of total com-pany organic sales growth of 1 percent in [fiscal] 2016. As we believe the large majority of sales are in Asia, especially China, the brand accounts for outsized growth in China, P&G’s second-largest market and which has meaningfully underperformed in recent years.”

business

Olay Turnaround Continues, SK-II Sales Soar in China

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November 21, 2016 10

● Ten influential names across film, music, fashion and sports have created a line of “Force 4 Fashion” T-shirts exclusively for Target.

by lisA loCkWood

Joining forces with the premiere of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Disney and Target are launching a fashion and fund-raising initiative inspired by the themes of rebellion from the new movie that opens Dec. 16.

Ten influential names across film, music, fashion and sports have come together to support UNICEF Kid Power by creating a line of “Force 4 Fashion” T-shirts avail-able exclusively at Target and target.com, beginning Nov. 27.

The influencers, Riz Ahmed, June Ambrose, Steve Aoki, Camilla Belle, Gareth Edwards, Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Olivia Munn, Kelly Slater and Brittany Snow, have all created T-shirts. Each of the T-shirt designs represent the theme of the movie, which is a group of rebels who choose to do extraordinary things and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves. The T-shirts, which retail for $12.99, each have a powerful slogan to represent the importance of standing up for what one believes in. Sayings include “I Rebel,” “Go Rogue,” “I Am a Force for

Change,” and “Join the Rebellion.”Five dollars from the sale of each shirt

will be donated to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in support of UNICEF Kid Power. Through this initiative, kids can complete physical activities and interactive chal-lenges to earn points — which ultimately are used to provide life-saving packets of therapeutic food for severely malnour-ished children around the world. The more kids move, the more points they earn and the more lives they save.

Paul Southern, senior vice president of licensing for Lucasfilm at Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, said “We’ve been really focused on expand-ing our fashion business and saw great

success with last year’s “Force for Fashion” program which raised millions of dollars for charity with the auction of one-of-a-kind outfits that paid homage to characters from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and were designed by leading fashion designers.

“This year we wanted to continue the fashion-meets-fund-raising theme with a more accessible line and tying into the ‘slo-gan’ tee trend that’s popular right now,” he added.

Asked what he hopes to accomplish, Southern said, “We’re hoping that this campaign will help us spread the word to current and new Star Wars fans about the importance of standing up for what you believe in, and being a force for change in your community.”

Michelle Wlazlo, senior vice president, merchandising, apparel and accessories of Target, said, “We’ve established Target as the ultimate ‘Star Wars’ destination. Collaborating with Disney and the design-ers on these shirts allows us to reinforce our commitment to fans, while offering a great holiday gift that benefits an import-ant cause.”

UNICEF Kid Power allows kids to learn about new cultures, go on virtual missions and support their peers. Since its launch in 2014, more than 190,000 UNICEF Kid Power Team Members have gotten active, earning more than 12.5 million Kid Power Points and providing more than 5.1 million packs of lifesaving therapeutic food for

severely malnourished children.Star Wars: Force for Change began

collaborating with UNICEF Kid Power in May 2015.

In addition to purchasing the special T-shirts, fans can participate by sharing their own stories and posting on social channels how they are a #ForceForChange on “Giving Tuesday,” which is Nov. 29.

Gareth Edwards, director, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” who is also one of the participating influencers, added, “This pro-gram is a great way to embrace the themes of ‘Rogue One,’ — rebellion and standing up for what you believe in — whilst giving back to those less fortunate, especially during the holiday season. Being a Force for Change isn’t just about making dona-tions. We can all be a Force for Change by being more considerate of others in our daily lives. Whether it’s helping a complete stranger or reaching out to a loved one.”

Caryl M. Stern, president and chief exec-utive officer of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, said she was happy that Star Wars: Force for Change and “Force 4 Fashion” are supporting UNICEF Kid Power. “UNICEF Kid Power helps us to stand and give every child hope. With every step, kids get active and save lives, moving the world closer towards ending global malnutrition.”

“Rogue One” features Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Alan Tudyk, Diego Luna and James Earl Jones.

business

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Spurs Fund-raising

a “force 4 fashion” T-shirt.

business

A&F Execs: Turnaround Will Take Some Time● While Hollister seems to have

stabilized, Abercrombie needs more work.

by viCki M. young

Patience.That is what Abercrombie & Fitch Co.’s

management is asking for as it attempts to turn around the struggling A&F brand by appealing to an older demographic even as profits and sales continue to slide.

Many — including analysts and, most importantly, consumers — still consider Abercrombie a teen retailer even as the company aims to move up the age ladder. The two executives disputed criticism of that strategy.

“We know where the brand should be in its positioning…. There are plenty of them [the targeted consumer] out there,” said executive chairman Arthur Marti-nez. The new target sector is the elusive Millennial as opposed to their younger teenage siblings, Gen Z. “We are telling a new story, an evolved story on where the brand sits and to whom we are talking. It takes time to get in their minds,” he said.

Martinez said the brand transforma-tion has been on a “journey for the last year and a half, a journey that is incom-plete. Consumer research shows there is tremendous equity for the brand. We are reigniting something that’s there. It will take time to completely embed that [in the minds of consumers].”

Fran Horowitz, president and chief merchandising officer, pointed out that the majority of Abercrombie shoppers are “over the age of 20.” She added that the new imagery and marketing for the brand — one that favors inclusive diversity — that was teased last month has just now entered

the reveal stage. Continued marketing supported by a social media presence is planned for holiday, beginning with Thanksgiving weekend and Black Friday.

In the meantime, though, A&F continues to struggle. For the third quarter, the com-pany posted net income of $7.9 million, or 12 cents a diluted share, a steep drop from net income of $41.9 million, or 60 cents, a year ago. Excluding one-time gains, adjusted earnings per share were 2 cents.

Net sales fell 6.5 percent to $821.7 mil-lion from $878.6 million, with total com-parable-store sales down 6 percent. While comps in the quarter were flat at Hollister, they dropped 14 percent at Abercrom-bie. Those results missed Wall Street’s adjusted EPS consensus estimate of 21 cents and revenues of $830.6 million.

While Martinez and Horowitz were asking for patience, Wall Street appears unconvinced about their strategy, sending A&F’s shares down 13.8 percent on Friday to $14.60.

In the interview, Horowitz said the company knows what went wrong at its Abercrombie business and has been mak-ing the appropriate changes for what it has control over.

She noted the obvious regarding lacklus-ter traffic patterns at flagship and tourist locations and how that’s out of the com-pany’s control, but what seems new this quarter was the decline in tourism, even at its overseas stores.

Another major problem was the mer-chandising — she noted the company did move quickly to discount and clear out what wasn’t selling. She said there were too many heavier weight items that didn’t match the buy-now-wear-now warmer fall weather, which added to margin pressures for the brand. One spot of good news was the reaction to the brand’s new “cozy” fabrication — a polyester blend — for women’s loungewear, which the company is now chasing for the holiday selling season.

She said the company is on track to open its new Abercrombie concept store early next year.

Analyst Adrienne Yih at Wolfe Research said the retailer has a “daunting task to reposition the core Abercrombie & Fitch” brand. She added: “We have noted our fears about repositioning the Abercrombie & Fitch brand with new target demo- and psychographic, which we have yet to [see] done successfully across any apparel retail-ers in the past decade.”

Jefferies’ Randal J. Konik said that the core Abercrombie brand initiatives are still in the early innings, and “we see potential over the long term as these efforts build, although we believe it may take longer than expected to bear fruit.”

Despite the ongoing challenges and investment required for the core Aber-crombie brand, the company’s balance sheet is stable. Moody’s analyst Mike Zuccaro said, “Abercrombie continues to face significant challenges in reposi-tioning its namesake brand in a more challenging apparel retail environment…. [I]t continues to maintain a conservative financial policy, with moderate debt and leverage levels and very good liquidity. Balance-sheet cash continues to amply exceed funded debt levels. We expect this to remain the case as the company further implements its turnaround strategy.”

The bright spot for the company seemed to be that at Hollister seems well positioned for the holidays. Horowitz said there’s been strong reaction to its outerwear assort-ment, and the company has seen favorable reaction from teen girls to the off-the-shoul-der and cold-shoulder styles. “That’s been working for us,” she said, adding that for guys there’s been good traction in its epic flex stretch denim offerings.

a visual from abercrombie’s new

marketing campaign.

November 21, 2016 11

● The 1,800-square-foot shop is located at 501 Madison Avenue.

by JeAn e. PAlMieri

NEW YORK — Robert Talbott has brought a slice of Monterey to Madison Avenue.

The Northern California-based men’s wear brand has opened an 1,800-square-foot shop at 501 Madison Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets, its first store in New York in many years.

“There are so many eyeballs here,” said Robert Corliss, who has been the com-pany’s chief executive officer for the past five years. “Many years ago, we had a tiny shop here that sold only shirts and ties. But we do a lot of business in New York, people here know the brand and we have a fairly loyal contingent, and you really can’t buy it here.”

Talbott, a 66-year-old label that is known mainly for its high-end shirts and neck-wear, focuses most of its wholesale efforts on independent retailers.

“We took the deliberate path to work closely with specialty stores,” Corliss said. “That industry is beleaguered, but I think it’s reached its low point. So we’re hoping we can help reinvigorate a good path in front of them.”

Instead of wooing large retailers, Cor-liss, whose extensive retail background includes ceo of Herman’s Sporting Goods and The Athlete’s Foot, has been focused on opening shops-in-shops at specialty stores around the country. There currently are about 10, including the most recent that opened at Hubert White in Minneap-olis this week. Others are at Carroll & Co. in Beverly Hills, the Ascot Shop in La Jolla, Calif., and M. Dumas in Charleston, S.C.

“That’s going pretty well and is slated to grow,” he said. “They range from a

couple hundred feet to 800 square feet. This is our first taste to see how our brand extension is working.”

Since taking the helm in 2011, Corliss has worked to expand beyond furnish-ings. The brand now offers a full men’s wear collection, including suits, sport coats, knitwear, dress and casual pants and accessories. Made-to-measure cloth-ing and suits are also offered.

“We wanted to test the elasticity of the brand and create a collection,” he said.

He said shirts now represent around 25 percent of sales, with the other categories making up the remainder. He declined to provide a volume figure for the privately held company but said, “It’s not big enough.”

The apparel and furnishings are all

manufactured by Talbott in the U.S. and Europe, Corliss said, but there are licenses for categories such as socks. “And we’re looking for more.”

Corliss is now the sole owner of Robert Talbott, which was founded by Robert and Audrey Talbott, who left the East Coast in 1950 and moved to Carmel, Calif., where they started a business based on Audrey’s skill making handcrafted silk neckwear. Robert died in 1986 and his wife ran the business until her death in 2004, when it was passed on to their son Robb Talbott.

Robb Talbott was primarily a winemaker and focused on that business, which was sold to E&J Gallo Winery last year. He is now retired, according to Corliss.

Although the bulk of the business comes from specialty stores, Robert Talbott does

operate five of its own stores in the U.S., in Dallas, Atlanta, Pebble Beach and Car-mel — and now New York. Corliss said the company will add a unit in Newport Beach, Calif., at the Fashion Show Mall in April.

“We see adding some more, but not a whole contingent,” he said. “But we would like to go international.” He cited Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, Lon-don and other “major metro markets” as tops on his list.

“We’re also trying to figure out our next generation of customers,” Corliss added, saying that most of the current base centers around older men who are accustomed to dressing up for work and are struggling with the new order of casualization. “That’s a huge opportunity for specialty stores.” And then there’s the younger guy “who never had to dress up. Those are our two big buckets of opportunity.”

The New York store seeks to appeal to both types. The two-level location offers the ready-to-wear and furnishings on the lower level and made-to-measure on the second floor. The design is modern but with hints to the brand’s heritage including redwood cabinetry and fixtures as well as a large assortment of photos on the brand’s history that cover the walls on the stairway.

But the line is not inexpensive. Neck-wear starts at $95 and goes up to $295 for the brand’s limited-edition and numbered seven-fold ties. Shirts are $200 to $500, sport coats are $695 to $1,200, and suits are $1,295 to $1,995.

Even so, Corliss believes Robert Talbott will find its place in the competitive New York market. “There’s really no bad product at this level of the market,” he said. “This is a small business in a tough industry, but there’s a high quotient of satisfaction and a really deep emotional connection to this brand.”

men’s

Robert Talbott Opens New York Store

The robert Talbott store in new York.

● The Canadian retailer is getting to know Los Angeles in advance of a permanent store opening.

by shAron edelson

Aritzia is taking Los Angeles out on a date.

The Canadian retailer Friday opened a pop-up showroom at The Center at 1800 Melrose Avenue. Aritzia hopes to glean information about the likes and dislikes of Angelenos in advance of the permanent 10,000-square-foot flagship it plans to unveil in the spring at Westfield Century City.

The 400-square-foot pop-up showroom is located in the iconic, ivy-covered former Fred Segal space on Melrose Avenue and the corner of Crescent Heights, which was sold in March to Vancouver-based Cormack-Hill. Sandow, the majority owner of the Fred Segal brand, has brought a trademark infringement lawsuit against CormackHill for refusing to take the Fred Segal sign off the building. A hearing on the defendant’s motion to dismiss is set for Nov. 28.

In the meantime, Aritzia is making the most of the light-filled location.

The pop-up features custom-designed floor fixtures, sculptures, plants and art. A centerpiece is a still-life painting

by California artist Anna Valdez, whose vibrant works are collages of household items such as plants, quilts and books.

“Each Aritzia destination, both physical and digital, is considered individually with the goal of creating beautiful and immersive shopping experiences,” the company said.

The pop-up offers a selection of exclu-sive brands and recent capsule collections, including The Group by Babaton, relaxed,

polished pieces in Japanese wool jersey and lightweight Italian yarn; 1-01 Baba-ton, corded lace blouses and open-back dresses; Le Fou by Wilfred, romantic gauzy clipped jacquard blouses and pin-tucked Victorian blouses, and the Wilfred/Citizens of Humanity denim collaboration, skin-nies, $198, and cropped jeans, $235.

Blouses and knits on offer are suit-able for Los Angeles weather, while

colder-month items include the Golden by Tna Bancroft parka, a goose-down filled jacket with faux fur-trimmed hood, $395, and Wilfred Cocoon coat, a streamlined style made from an Italian alpaca-wool blend, $425.

A selection of leather handbags from Aritzia’s Auxiliary collection, silk scarves by Babaton and Diamond Mosaic blanket scarves are also available.

As part of the pop-up showroom’s multi-channel experience, Aritzia.com is offering free expedited shipping in Los Angeles through Dec. 4. Aritzia style advisors are on hand to guide customers.

The $800 million redevelopment of Westfield Century City, which is being done in phases, is due to be completed next year. When finished, the shopping center will boast 1.2 million square feet of retail space.

While few details about Aritzia’s Century City store have been released, the decor and ambience are said to be similar to Aritzia’s new boutique concept, which is modeled after a young woman’s loft. In September 2015, Aritzia unveiled the new concept in the U.S., an 8,000-square-foot flagship in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.

Since its initial public offering in August, Aritzia has launched international shipping to 221 countries and introduced an interna-tional e-commerce site, possibly as a first step toward opening stores overseas.

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Aritzia’s L.A. Pop-up Showroom Gives Retailer Lay of the Land

aritzia’s Los angeles pop-up showroom.

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November 21, 2016 12

● Former textile, jewelry and steel executives are said to be in the running for the president-elect’s top trade cabinet slots.

by kristi ellis

WASHINGTON — Former textile, jewelry and steel industry executives are said to be in the running for President-elect Donald Trump’s top trade cabinet slots.

Trump espoused trade skepticism and pro-U.S. manufacturing views throughout his campaign so it follows that he will likely fill his top trade cabinet positions with officials aligned with that stance.

One front-runner for the U.S. Trade Representative’s cabinet position is said to be Dan DiMicco, former chief executive officer of Nucor Steel, who many said mir-rors Trump’s trade philosophy.

DiMicco, who was tapped as a trade adviser by Trump during the campaign, is the author of a book titled “American Made: Why Making Things Will Return Us to Greatness,” in which he made the case for the revival of U.S. manufacturing and competitiveness.

DiMicco has also been a critic of the free-trade policies in the U.S. for the past two decades.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “Squawk Box” last year, DiMicco said Trump is “100 per-cent right on trade.”

During the campaign, Trump said he would immediately withdraw the U.S. from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, label China a currency manipulator and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump said he believes in trade, but not necessarily many of the trade deals the U.S. has negotiated.

DiMicco said it took someone like Trump

to stand up and show people “we’ve been had by the trade policies this country has been putting forth for the past 20 years.”

He said U.S. trade policies have been a “complete failure” because they have allowed mercantilism, particularly in China, to “commandeer” free trade. On the same segment, he also noted that trade has “decimated” the U.S. manufacturing sector because the trade deals that were negotiated were not properly enforced.

David Spooner, a partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP and a former chief textile and apparel negotiator at the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, said DiMicco would be a “good fit for Trump.”

“He is someone whom I’ve known fairly well and his trade rhetoric jives extremely well with Trump’s trade rhetoric,” Spooner said. “He long has said trade agreements are not tough enough and folks should buy American.”

Spooner said DiMicco, however, would be a “little inconsistent as a USTR pick for the obvious reason he is not a creature of

Washington, D.C.”“We think he would be an excellent

choice,” said Augustine Tantillo, president and ceo at the National Council of Textile Organizations. “Dan has been a strong advocate for strengthening our trade posture, especially in relation to currency manipulation, which has been an issue of importance to NCTO since our inception.”

As a former ceo of a U.S. steel manu-facturing company, Tantillo said DiMicco is “fully aware of the challenges that U.S. manufacturers face both abroad and com-peting here in the U.S. market.”

Another potential USTR candidate is reportedly Bill Hagerty, founder and managing director of Hagerty Peterson & Co. LLC, an equity investment firm. Hagerty, who worked on the White House staff during President George H.W. Bush’s administration overseeing international trade, commerce and treasury policies and also served as chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Ultra Stores, the fifth-largest U.S. jewelry retailer, according to a bio posted on his company’s web site.

Other USTR candidates said to be under consideration include Silicon Valley billion-aire investor Peter Thiel; Peter Navarro, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of California Irvine, and a few lawmakers on the House Ways and Means committee, including Reps. Dave Reichert (R., Wash.) and Devin Nunes (R., Calif.)

Spooner said Thiel would be a smart political choice for Trump.

“He is a Silicon Valley guy,” Spooner said. “Insofar as trade agreements needing to be improved [per Trump], it might send a positive message to have a high-tech guy in charge of trade policy, considering the growing importance of the sector to the economy.”

The Commerce Secretary slot is also up for grabs.

Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who vetted potential cabinet picks with their team at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. over the weekend, met Sunday with financier Wilbur Ross, former majority owner of International Textile Group, which owns Cone Denim and Burlington Worldwide.

The president-elect and his team also met with another potential contender for Commerce Secretary on Saturday: Lew Eisenberg, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

In the meeting with Eisenberg, a financier and veteran bundler, the Trump team “discussed plans for ‘America First’ initiatives, bringing Made in America man-ufacturing to the forefront and improving infrastructure,” according to a readout.

Some industry officials said Ross would be a good choice for the post. ITG was recently acquired by Los Angeles-based private equity group Platinum Equity.

Ross has direct ties to the textile indus-try and at one time supported the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

“He certainly will have an intimate understanding of the textile business,” said Tantillo. “We would view that as a positive. As [a former] owner of a major textile manufacturer, he understands the industry and the challenges we face and has a pretty good feel for policy positions that we have taken over the years. He probably would be the first commerce secretary in decades who would come in with that level of understanding of the U.S. textile industry.”

Spooner said he dealt with Ross during the CAFTA negotiations and he “struck me as very pragmatic.” But he also raised a question on how Ross’ views on trade have evolved. Some have also questioned whether the 78-year-old Ross would want the position at this point in his career.

“He built a denim mill in Nicaragua after CAFTA that eventually went under and you have to wonder to what degree it shaped his view of how well trade agreements are negotiated,” Spooner added.

Other contenders for the job are said to include DiMicco and Dallas financier Ray Washburne, who was vice chairman of the Trump’s Victory Committee.

business

Industry Ponders Trump’s Potential USTR, Commerce Picks

donald Trump said to be considering industry executives for top trade cabinet posts.

● HRC Advisory report reveals influence of Generation Z on household spending and on each other.

by Arthur ZACZkieWiCZ

Forget those predictions over the demise of the U.S. shopping mall.

A new report from HRC Retail Advi-sory on Generation Z reveals a consumer demographic that shops online, but also considers malls an important destination.

Farla Efros, president of HRC Retail Advisory and lead author of the report, which was based on a survey of more than 3,000 consumers in the U.S. and Canada, told WWD the research also revealed a consumer demographic that influences household purchases across categories — apparel, home goods and electronics.

“Generation Z have been born with a tab-let in their hands,” Efros said. “And parents and other family members are using them for information and research on products.”

As the parent of a 14-year-old, Efros knows their role and influence in the household firsthand. “When I have a problem — any problem — I go to her first,”

Efros said. “So, parents are empowering the influence of this generation.”

And their influence is great, as Efros and other researchers estimate the spending power of Generation Z to be $43 billion. “Generation Z will represent 20 percent of the population by 2020,” she added.

The context of the study is a retail market that is “experiencing a generational shift in consumers, and these new younger shoppers have vastly different expectations of how they want to interact with retail-ers,” Efros said in the report, adding that Generation Z “has become an increasingly important influencer of consumer spend-ing with new shopping behaviors that focus on both malls and online shopping, and are heavily influenced by friends, bloggers and social media.”

Efros said retailers “must appreciate the different expectations and habits of this group, as well as of Millennial parents with children, and develop and execute strategies that address their needs in order to stay competitive with this increasingly important consumer segment.”

The HRC study noted that malls are “not dead, but are being shopped differently.”

“Malls are still very popular, especially with Generation Z shoppers,” the report

stated. “While more than 60 percent of all survey respondents said they visit a mall or shopping center at least once a month, 72 percent of Generation Z respondents (chil-dren aged 10 to 17) and Millennial parents with children say they do so.”

“These shoppers go to the mall with a specific mission and in search of specific items,” Efros said in the report. “Genera-tion Z shoppers also spend more time at the mall and they visit more stores.”

Twenty-two percent of respondents who are “frequent” Generation Z visitors “say their typical trip to a mall is more than 90 minutes and they visit, on average, four to five stores.”

When it comes to social influencers, Efros said Generation Z influence their friends and vice versa. The report noted that Generation Z shoppers “tend not to be strongly influenced by celebrity endorse-ments from athletes, actors and singers.” Respondents said 61 percent of their buy-ing decisions “are most strongly influenced by friends, with 13 percent being influ-enced by bloggers.”

Moreover, social media platforms play a critical role in influencing purchasing decisions. “Approximately 50 percent of Millennial and Generation Z shoppers

surveyed use social media while they shop,” the report noted. “Of their social media time, most is on Facebook (61 per-cent), followed by YouTube (38 percent) and Instagram (24 percent).”

Regarding gifting, HRC found that 62 per-cent of all respondents had a preference for receiving gift cards over an actual gift while 69 percent of Generation Z felt the same. “The majority of respondents, particularly parents, plan to include gift cards among their holiday purchases,” the report stated. “Among Millennials that have children and earn more than $150,000 per year, 96 percent plan to include gift cards in their holiday shopping.”

The report also found that Amazon.com is a prime destination, with 79 percent of respondents stating they shopped on the site in the last year. And 66 percent of Millennials said they bought items online at least once per month.

Efros said as Generation Z “begins to gain a foothold in the consumer spending environment, and Millennials mature, their expectations are transforming the retail landscape.”

“In order for retailers to remain com-petitive, they must begin to develop a bal-anced approach to serving Baby Boomers and Generation X — who still have the great majority of the spending budget — while positioning themselves to best serve the emerging and future consumer segments for longer term success,” Efros said.

business

Gen Z: Great Influence Over Spending

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Year in FashionA flashback look at a sensational year

Issue: December 14 | Close: December 2 | Materials: December 7

An Advertising Opportunity

D O U B L E I S S U E

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT PAMELA FIRESTONE, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER AT 212 256 8103 OR PFIRESTONE@WWD.COM

November 21, 2016 14

Ladies’ Night at the Dior Guggenheim 2016 GalaThe evening celebrated the luxury brand’s first female artistic director and the works of Agnes Martin, which served as inspiration for those still reeling from election night.

Tina Fey Supports American Natural History Museum“Everything in New York City is expensive,” said NYC mayor Bill de Blasio.

"the Hall of Gems is kind of like a hidden gem," said Tina Fey, speak-ing from the foyer atop the stairs leading into the American Natural History Museum. "Everyone's like, 'Oh I want to see dinosaurs,' and I like the hall of gems."

Fey, along with husband Jeff Richmond and Lorne Michaels, were on chairmen duty for the museum's annual gala, and had brought with them a procession of SNL alum — Kate McKinnon, Alec Baldwin, Kenan Thompson, Leslie Jones, Colin Jost — as well as Steve Martin and even Bill de Blasio and a baseball player for the Mets, all there to support the museum's public educational initiatives. "Especially at this time, it feels like a very apolitical muse-um," said Jost. "It's just dinosaur bones and a survey of culture."

McKinnon, who recently finished election season, during which she portrayed Hillary Clinton, was prime selfie bait for the night. Bill de Blasio, an actual politician, was a less popular

photo opp as the crowd wove their way through the Hall of Bio-diversity and into the whale room for dinner. Unfortunately for Fey, the gem room was not open.

"Everything in New York City is expensive," said De Blasio, stat-ing the obvious from onstage as guests set into the first course of their Mario Batali-created meal. "To make this place greater all the time," — a riff on the current ver-nacular of making things great? —"one thing that is so clear is that there are so many people in this city who have done well, and who have done well for others," he continued. "In good times and bad, that's one of the eternal real-ities of this city: people who love it so much that they give back to it constantly, and deeply."

After dinner, Seth Meyers warmed the crowd up before the auction. "I don't have a fresh take on Pangea. I'm out of whale jokes. I need them to rotate the mammal that they hang from the ceiling," said Meyers, a frequent speaker

at past AMNH gala. "Lorne asked me to do this and I couldn't say no. In his defense, it's not like he knows a lot of comedians."

One thing's for sure, Michaels definitely knows how to bring out a deep-pocketed crowd — the gala raised a record-break-ing $4 million. — Kristen tauer

alec Baldwin and Hilaria Baldwin

Tina fey and Jeff richmond

Leslie Jones and Kenan Thompson

Double dose of Dior: it was back to the Guggenheim Thursday evening, for the more grown-up portion of the annual museum foundation benefit. On the heels of Wednesday’s late-night bash, the rotunda filled again for a seated dinner and a brief concert downstairs, for the likes of Anne Hathaway, Kate Beckinsale, Ha-ley Bennett and Karlie Kloss.

Walking in, Dior’s new artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri exchanged kisses with Mr. Val-entino away from cameras, in a sweet personal moment, before making her way over to pose with Christian Dior chief execu-tive Sidney Toledano.

“Every year the collaboration is more spectacular,” Toledano said before the performance, about the company’s Guggenheim partner-ship. “Yesterday we had the — how do you call it? — the party for the young, and I thought it was really a success. The people attending, the performer, Mrs. Banks — every

time I discover a new one. And this year I like very much the artist, Ag-nes Martin. You know, I came here in the afternoon to look. Frankly, it’s very impressive.”

This year’s benefit honored six female artists: Tauba Auerbach, Tacita Dean, Leslie Hewitt, Sarah Morris, Laurie Simmons and Taryn Simon, as well as Martin, in memoriam, whose collection is the current exhibit around the museum. The symbolism proved poignant not only for attendees, several of whom reflected on the healing quality of Martin’s work against the election results, but for Mr. Toledano as well.

“You have Agnes Martin, the woman, with Maria Grazia, the woman, and many other women, the other artists. It’s a moment of energy,” he said. “Mr. Dior would love to be here tonight.”

Hathaway and her husband Adam Shulman were ushered into the performance late, just as Richard Tuttle was speaking of

Martin’s work. “I cannot say how pleased I

am with this show. Agnes and this museum have been made for each other,” he told the audience. “A continuous ramp, a triumph of life and work. The Guggenheim of time and place would provide Agnes’ work pride and a place to change art, redefine and refresh each other.”

Upstairs, Giancarlo Giammet-ti sat and sipped as a flurry of flashes went off behind him for Hathaway and Banks, squished together in a photo opp. Beck-insale deflected to her publicist to eschew speaking with the press — game to don a Dior gown for the night, less game to talk about it.

Soaking it all in with splendor was Chiuri’s daughter, Rachele Regini, who’d spent the previous night posing for photos with Banks. “Oh my god I love her, she’s so nice. And she’s so talented, and very funny as well,” Regini

said before dinner. “I think I’m sit-ting next to her so I’m very happy.”

Regini is a second year art history student in London, and therefore a particularly educated fan of Martin’s work. “I love it and I haven't seen it yet,” she said of the exhibition. “I tried to see it last night but there were so many people.’

She was dressed in one of the fencing-inspired looks from Chi-uri’s collection. “My mom was like you should try the white one on, and I was like, ‘Oh, you’re right!’” she said, rather adorably, of her choice of dress.

While many college students might not delight in tagging along with mom for a day at the office, Chiuri’s gig has some definite perks. “We were in Paris, right after the fashion show, and my mom knew this was going to happen here,” she said, “and she was like, ‘Do you want to go?’ and I was like, ‘Sure! Who doesn’t want to go to New York?’” — Leigh nordstrom

Valentino with anne Hathaway in dior.

Kate Beckinsale in dior with maria Grazia chiuri.

Banks in dior. maria Grazia chiuri and rachele regini

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November 21, 2016 15

Fashion ScoopsBeckham’s New BlendsVictoria Beckham’s burgeoning beauty business is poised to grow next year because of a second cosmetics capsule collection with the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. and a skin-care line with another partner, according to market sources.

Beckham launched her Victoria Beck-ham Estée Lauder makeup in September, and watched it fly off the shelves. Accord-ing to sources familiar with both compa-nies, she is at work on a second, follow-up collection that will launch next year.

Separately, Beckham is working qui-etly on a high-end skin-care line, not with Lauder, but with a niche beauty partner.

A spokeswoman for Victoria Beckham declined to comment. Estée Lauder could not be reached for comment.

Lauder was also the beauty sponsor of Beckham’s spring runway show in New York, and in August both Beckham and Lauder suggested there could be other projects in the pipeline.

“I hope this collection does go on,” said Beckham, adding that she was fulfilling a long-held dream with the cre-ation of a very personal capsule makeup collection that can work on a variety of ages and skin tones.

At the time, Jane Hertzmark Hudis, group president, the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., said there were many options going forward.

“If something is enormously success-ful — in London or Paris or New York — we have the opportunity to bring it back — maybe have it sold exclusively online. We’ll see how it goes,” she said. — samantha Conti

More FentyRihanna’s Fenty line, critically ac-claimed by the fashion industry and a commercial boon with fans and shop-pers, continues to grind out new styles.

On Friday, the brand announced the introduction of velvet creepers coming to stores for the holiday season.

The velvet styles — a new fabrication for the label — will be available in cement gray, burgundy and black colorways.

The shoes will go on sale on Dec. 8, priced at $150. They will be offered at Puma retailers and on the sportswear brand’s e-commerce site.

The Fenty creeper style — introduced in 2015 — has become a commercial hallmark of the label. Drops of new color-ways and fabrications are known to sell out within minutes.

Footwear has become the kingpin category for the brand. This summer, the Fenty slide style — a furry shower sandal — was a mainstay of streetwear-con-scious shoppers. — misty White sideLL

Three’s Companythe BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund is spreading the wealth with plans to hand its prize money and mentoring award to a maximum of three designers rather than one in 2017.

Those in charge of the fund also want the winners to focus on human resourc-es, and put their prize money toward a “full-time or consultant team member” to advise on areas such as accountancy,

merchandising, business strategy, inter-national growth, retail and e-commerce.

The revised application process for next year will also encourage brands to think strategically about business growth, with the committee asking candidates “to embrace the impact that hiring experienced talent has had on previous winners.”

The British Fashion Council said in recognition of “the increasing pool of deserving talent,” the 200,000 pounds, or $250,000, grant would be shared between up to three recipients next year.

It said the move would enable the fund “to benefit multiple designers at a pivotal stage in the growth of their brand’s de-velopment.” All winners will continue to receive a full mentoring program through the BFC’s business support team, in-cluding access to investors and industry

experts, it added.Established in 2008, the fund aims to

discover new talent and accelerate the development of the next leading British brand. Winners receive mentoring over a 12-month period, and the prize money in the past has been earmarked for invest-ments in infrastructure.

Shortlisted designers will be inter-viewed by the fashion fund judging committee, which is chaired by British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman. Judges include Samantha Cameron, Britain’s former first lady and a BFC ambassador; Caroline Rush, the BFC’s chief executive; retailer Joan Burstein, and Topshop’s managing director Mary Homer.

The BFC said the 2017 format would serve as a test run, and the committee would evaluate whether to do the same next year, or return to a single-prize format. The overarching aim, it said, is to maximize the impact of the prize on building solid businesses.

Previous BFC/Vogue Designer Fash-ion Fund winners include Erdem, Christo-pher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Nicholas Kirkwood, Sophia Webster, Peter Pilotto and Mary Katrantzou.

The online retailer Label will support the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund for the first time this year. It joins existing donors Burberry, Harrods, Paul Smith, Topshop and Vogue. — samantha Conti

Being a Successful Woman Is Not a ‘Unique Thing’Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman attended Citymeals on Wheels’ 30th Annual Power Lunch for Women, where she gave shout-outs to all the flourishing ladies in the room.

Citymeals on Wheels threw its annual Power Lunch for Women on Friday at The Plaza Hotel. This year's event — the 30th one City-meals has thrown — honored the organization's cofounder, restau-rant critic and author Gael Greene.

"Every year, it’s a consuming passion, full-time obsession," Greene said of the lunch. "Will they come back? How can we get more exciting women so the press will cover? Now they’re coming and bringing their daughters. That’s exciting ‘cause we need another generation. The people we’re feeding now, 18,000 home-bound New Yorkers, the numbers are growing and the amount of money we need to raise is

growing, so that’s good to see new faces. Every year, we want to get as many men to join us ‘cause we charge them $10,000 to come. And a lot of men love that idea and they pay $10,000 to come, and a lot pay $10,000 so they don’t have to come and that’s good too."

As she's known to do, Greene sported a hat — a captain's hat that she said was 40 or 50 years old. "Big brim is more attractive, but it's in the way," she explained of the sartorial choice. "These are kind of easy to wear."

Bobbi Brown, a sponsor, was headed to the Bahamas "just for the weekend" immediately follow-ing the lunch. "I’m on the board and

I’ve supported this organization for years and years and years," she said of her Citymeals involvement. "Who doesn’t love their grandma and grandpa? It’s amazing that for people that have so much, there are so many people that have nothing and it’s just nice to be able to give back. That’s all."

Georgina Chapman had been invited by friend Patricia Wexler. She said she felt inspired to be surrounded by so many success-ful women. "Why wouldn’t I be in a room with a lot of successful women?" she asked. "There are a lot of successful women. I think we need to remember that. I don’t think it’s a unique thing to be a successful woman. Every-

one is successful in their own right, whether it be as a mother, whether it be your career. I think we have great tasks ahead of us as women and we have to juggle many different things. I’m constantly amazed at the stories that I hear. It doesn’t always have to be career-related. It can be success in personal life, too. I’m forever proud of women that I meet and am always inspired."

During her acceptance speech, Greene joked about the power of food. "Dinner is the most sensuous act two people can share with their clothes on," she said. Perhaps it was a good thing it was only lunch. — aLexa tietjen

Georgina chapman and Wendi deng murdoch

Victoria Beckham launches her makeup

collection at Selfridges.

fenty’s velvet creepers.

Sophia Webster

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