Phot

ogra

phy

by K

atie

McC

urdy

; Sty

led

by M

ayte

Alle

nde;

Hai

r & M

akeu

p by

Jen

ny K

anav

aros

for M

AC

at H

oney

Art

ists

; Hai

r & M

akeu

p A

ssis

tant

: Dee

pti S

adhw

ani; M

odel

: Alic

e G

. at T

rum

p M

odel

s; M

arke

t Edi

tor:

And

rew

Sha

ng; M

arke

t Ass

ista

nt: E

mily

Mer

cer

DAILY EDITION 28 JULY 2016 1

Fashion. Beauty. Business.

For resort, bows were designers’ embellishment of choice — shown on everything from summery shorts to crisp shirts. For more on the trend, see page 5.

FASHION

Tie The KnotMaison Rabih Kayrouz’s top;

Leivankash earrings

Buying BeccaCastanea and Main Post Partners are acquiring the cosmetics brand in a deal expected to close in mid-August. PAGE 3

Thanks, Ri-RiRihanna and the Euro Cup helped boost Puma’s results in the first half. PAGE 4

A Different LensTiffany becomes the first luxury brand to sponsor a lens on Snapchat. PAGE 4

An Open Letter to the Fashion Community With seismic shifts occurring in our industry, we felt it appropriate to

state clearly our mission at UBM Fashion Group: to help your business

thrive. We know there are a lot of changes happening in our industry—

retailer shifts, digital developments, and evolving seasonal trends.

But we also know that fashion is as important to our lives and the

economy as ever before. That’s why we at UBM Fashion Group want

to work with the industry to respond to these changes and create

opportunities for everyone moving forward.

For those of you unfamiliar with UBM Fashion Group, our company,

UBM plc, is recognized as one of the world’s leading show producers

and we have chosen to focus our entire strategy on events. We’ve taken

our passion for events into fashion, uniting the industry’s best talent

and most dynamic shows to create UBM Fashion Group, encompassing

MAGIC, ENK, and the BJI portfolio of shows.

The unification of these established events will translate into stronger

shows for both buyers and brands. To begin, this August, we’ve

consolidated MAGIC and BJI’s Las Vegas shows from three venues to

two so retailers can spend less time traveling and more time connecting

with brands; and all attendees will now be able to access all MAGIC and

BJI shows in Las Vegas with just one badge.

As the leading organizer of fashion tradeshows, it’s our responsibility

to help the industry grow and prosper. Our collective goal remains as

crucial as ever: to bring together great brands and retailers in superbly

merchandised shows, provide superior customer service, and ultimately

present end consumers with the best apparel, footwear, accessories,

and fashion products.

Please stay tuned as we continue to make improvements that will

enhance your show experience and help move your business forward.

In the meantime, we encourage you to join us in our mission—to help

your business, and this industry that we love, thrive.

Please feel free to reach out to your personal contacts or

info@ubmfashion.com. We look forward to collaborating with you.

Sincerely,

UBM Fashion Group

28 JULY 2016 3

● The brand is expected to post $80 million in net sales this year, according to industry sources.

BY ALLISON COLLINS

Castanea Partners and Main Post Partners are teaming up to buy makeup business Becca Cosmetics, according to sources familiar with the deal.

The private equity companies will take 100 percent ownership, sources said. The firms will pay nearly $200 million for the business, sources estimated. Right now, the brand is majority owned by Luxury Brand Partners, which also owns Oribe, R+Co and a handful of other beauty companies. The transaction is expected to close in mid August.

Both Castanea and Main Post have beauty investment histories. Castanea is invested in both Drybar and First Aid Beauty, and backed Urban Decay before the business’ 2013 sale to L’Oréal. Main Post backed Too Faced Cosmetics before it was taken over by General Atlantic LLC in 2015.

Becca is on track to do $80 million in net sales this year, up from $40 million in 2015, according to industry sources. But the brand wasn’t always so successful. When chief executive officer Robert DeBaker came on board five years ago, Becca was struggling, as he previously told WWD. DeBaker, who declined to comment for this story,

is expected to remain in place under new owner-ship, sources said.

After reconciling the brand’s number of stockkeeping units, DeBaker turned Becca’s focus towards the complexion category. The goal became to make a foundation that uses light technology to generate complexion flexibility, in part, to keep the sku count low. Earlier this year, Becca launched Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foun-dation, which aims to cover all skin tones with nine shade options.“We ended up launching a foundation range that has nine shades that covers the exact same full spectrum that our 20-shade range does,” DeBaker said previously.

In 2015, the company collaborated with beauty vlogger Jaclyn Hill on what was supposed to be a limited-edition product — a highlighter called Champagne Pop — that sold out quickly and is now the brand’s number-one seller, making up about 15 percent of total sales. Becca and Hill teamed up again for the Becca x Jaclyn Hill Cham-pagne Collection, an expansion of the original collaboration, which did roughly $3.5 million in sales during its first day online at sephora.com, industry sources said.

“What’s happened over five years is we’ve done the right product with the right consumer mix,” DeBaker said, following the Champagne Collection launch. “We’re matching what’s happening to the demographics of the country with messaging that’s spot on, and Jaclyn fits that whole bucket because inclusion is her whole story.”

Social media is a significant part of the Becca

equation. The brand’s earned media value grew 226 percent year-over-year, and was up 21 percent for the previous quarter, according to data from Tribe Dynamics. Tribe noted that the brand did well on social media despite pulling the eyeshadow palette from its latest collabora-tion with Hill, which happened after reports of inconsistent quality from customers.

“Becca had an interesting quarter with the complaints and ensuing controversy surrounding inconsistencies with the much-anticipated Jaclyn Hill Champagne Glow eye shadow palette,” said Tribe’s Brit McCorquodale. “Despite these com-plications, Becca posted a remarkably successful Q2, delivering the highest year-over-year growth and quarter-over-quarter growth of its com-petitive set. This speaks to the strength of their influencer family and goodwill from consumers, both stemming in part from the brand’s effective influencer strategy. Thanks in part to Becca’s genuine, emotive response, the Champagne Glow collection continued to do well following its in-store launch. The hashtag #champagne-glow accrued $5 million [in] EMV in Q2, while #beccaxjaclynhill followed close behind with a significant total of $3.5 million.”

Laura Mercier founder Janet Gurwitch will be Becca’s operating partner on behalf of Castanea, and Michael McNamara, formerly of Too Faced, will be the operating partner for Main Post, according to a source. Piper Jaffray is handling the deal process on behalf of Becca.

Becca is one of many beauty companies on the sale track lately. Earlier in July, L’Oréal unveiled a $1.2 billion deal for IT Cosmetics. Before that, L’Oréal made an offer to buy Société des Ther-mes de Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and the license to use the Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc beauty brand, as well as a deal for Atelier Cologne. Shiseido has also been inking deals lately, scooping up the Dolce & Gabbana fragrance license, and buying Laura Mercier and ReVive.

BEAUTY

Castanea, Main Post SaidTo Buy Becca Cosmetics

● A spike across all markets and distribution channels helped the brand report net profits that were broadly in line with the same period last year, on the back of a 17 percent rise in revenues.

BY LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Growth across all markets and distri-bution channels helped Moncler SpA report net profits in the first half that were broadly in line with the same period last year, on the back of a 17 percent rise in revenues.

In the six months ended June 30, net profit inched down 1.1 percent to 33.6 million euros, or $37.6 million, from 34 million euros, or $39.8 million in the same period last year.

Revenues totaled 346.5 million euros or $388 million, compared with 295.8 million euros, or $346 million, in the first half of 2015.

During a conference call with analysts, chair-man and chief executive officer Remo Ruffini said he was “very proud of these outstanding results, above market average” in a “generally complex” scenario for the luxury goods sector. “These results flow from our clear strategy, increasingly strong brand perception and the valuable con-tribution of all the exceptional people working in our group. We still have six important months ahead, as we continue to pursue our strategy of high-quality, selective and controlled growth,” said Ruffini.

In particular, he highlighted the slashing of the group’s net debt and “the capacity to generate strong cash flow, the most important number to look at, the one I value more.”

Ruffini said Moncler’s “flagship program remains on track.” After a London opening,

units in Seoul and New York will bow before the end of the year. “At least” nine stores will open in the second half of the year, he added. He also pointed to very good results with the spring 2017 collections and a “strong double-digit growth” of products that complement the brand’s core outerwear category.

“Although the macroeconomic and political environment remains uncertain and volatile, I believe the strategic projects that we are carrying out in the collections, the development of product categories that complement our core business, and our activities in the retail network and with our consumers, will all continue to strengthen our brand. I am therefore confident that our results will again increase in 2016,” concluded Ruffini.

In Asia and the Rest of the World area, reve-nues increased 30 percent to 134 million euros, or $150 million, showing a positive trend in line with the first quarter. In particular, mainland China and Japan recorded above-average growth, driven by the brand’s retail network. Chief operating officer Roberto Eggs noted that Japan is a “more mature market” for Moncler, but that the country now also relies on Chinese tourists and that the opening of a flagship in Ginza in October also helped boost business. Eggs pointed to Taiwan, Macao, Singapore and Hong Kong as all showing a good performance, as well as Korea, where Moncler opened a store in Seoul Incheon airport at the end of June, confirming the importance of the travel retail channel for the future development of the brand.

In the Americas, sales rose 23 percent to 52.5 million euros, or $58.8 million, representing 15.2 percent of the total due to solid growth in both the retail and wholesale channels. Andrea Tieghi, head of retail, said the company is working “on quality and good locations,” not the number of stores, citing the opening on Madison Avenue in New York; San Francisco; Washington, and the relocation of the store in Miami. “We look at the

mix of wholesale and retail and we are quite satis-fied, we are getting close to our [ideal] network in the U.S.,” said Tieghi.

Eggs said wholesale expansion in the U.S. is also strong with six shops-in-shops opening this year with the likes of Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, among others.

In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, sales rose 7 percent to 105.8 million euros, or $118.5 million, accounting for 30.5 percent of the total, lifted in particular by the U.K. and Ger-many. Eggs said that France was improving at the end of the second quarter and before the attacks in Nice, with “a very positive reaction from locals — in the first half the weight of locals increased.”

Eggs said the U.K. showed a “strong second quarter prior to Brexit and an acceleration after Brexit because of the currency devaluation, con-solidating locals and seeing a strong double-digit growth of tourists, with an increase after Brexit.”

Tieghi said the company in 2017 plans to open new retail markets in Scandinavia, the Middle East and Australia.

Retail sales climbed 22 percent to 245.9 million euros, or $275.4 million, lifted by organic growth and the development of directly operated stores. Wholesale revenues rose 7 percent to 100.6 mil-lion euros, or $112.6 million, supported by a good performance in the North American market.

At the end of June, Moncler had 179 directly operated stores, an increase of six units com-pared with the end of December, and 36 whole-sale shops-in-shops, an increase of two units.

Capital expenditure totaled 28.9 million euros, or $32.3 million, compared with 21.6 million euros, or $25.2 million, in the first half of 2015, mainly due to investments made in the retail channel, such as the opening of flagships in London, New York and Seoul. Free cash flow in the first half was positive and equal to 13.2 million euros, or $14.7 million, compared with a cash absorption of 15.1 million euros, or $17.6 million, in the same period of 2015. “This is the first time we have a positive free cash flow,” said Santel.

As of June 30, net debt stood at 84.9 million euros, or $95 million, compared with 175.3 mil-lion euros, or $196.3 million, at the end of June last year.

BUSINESS

Moncler Sales Grow in First Half

They Are Wearing: Tel Aviv Summer 2016 ● Over the course of a few hot summer days in Tel Aviv, the city’s most stylish residents stayed cool in looks that emphasized comfort and ease.

● Jennifer Lopez, Giuseppe Zanotti to Team on Shoe Collection

● They Are Wearing: Paris Couture Week

● H&M Previews Kenzo Collaboration

● Resort 2016 Trend: Shirt Tales

Global Stock TrackerAs of close July 27, 2016

ADVANCERS

DECLINERS

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton +7.48%

Hugo Boss AG +4.49%

Salvatore Ferragamo Italia SpA +4.18%

Debenhams Plc +4.06%

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. +3.75%

Shanghai Metersbonwe -5.65%

Luen Thai Holdings Ltd. 4.72%

Under Armour Inc. -3.97%

Macy’s Inc. -3.04%

Nordstrom Inc. -2.62%

TOP 5TRENDINGON WWD.COM

They

Are

Wea

ring

phot

ogra

ph b

y M

iri D

avid

ovitz

4 28 JULY 2016

● Revenues were driven by apparel, which also was helped by the Euro soccer tournament.

BY JOELLE DIDERICH

Soccer and women helped propel a sales accel-eration at Puma in the second quarter.

The Herzogenaurach, Germany-based firm, which is controlled by French group Kering, said total sales rose 7 percent to 826.5 million euros, or $933.3 million, in the three months ended June 30, boosted by the Euro 2016 tourna-ment and strong demand for its women’s lines, fronted by Rihanna and Kylie Jenner.

On currency-adjusted terms, the gain stood at 13 percent. This compared with a rise of 3.7 percent in reported terms and 7.3 percent on an organic basis in the first quarter of 2016.

Net earnings totaled 1.6 million euros, or $1.8 million, in the second quarter, compared with a loss of 3.3 million euros, or $3.6 million, during the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, Puma’s operating profit rose 75.1 percent to 11.9 million euros, or $13.4 million.

The gross margin — a key indicator of profit-ability — declined in the quarter to 45.6 percent from 46.7 percent in the prior-year period due to the negative impact of the stronger U.S. dollar. The decrease was reflected in all product segments.

All dollar rates are calculated at average exchange rates for the period concerned.

The firm reiterated its 2016 guidance for a high-single-digit increase in net currency-ad-justed sales; a gross profit margin in line with

last year’s level of 45.5 percent, and an operating result between 115 million euros and 125 million euros, or $126.4 million to $137.4 million at cur-rent exchange rates.

Bjørn Gulden, chief executive officer of Puma, said sales were on track with double-digit organic growth. He noted a continued improve-ment in sell-out as the brand gradually regains popularity after a prolonged slump.

“For us, it is important that what we sell in is selling out, because we need to build trust with the retailers and the consumers,” he said. “Yes, you could probably grow more and yes, there are people growing faster, but we are building stone by stone, therefore, we are happy with the development within the structure that we have.”

The second-quarter performance was driven by strong sales in the EMEA, or Europe, Middle East and Africa, region, up 23.5 percent in

currency-adjusted terms. Revenues in the Amer-icas rose 5 percent, while the Asia-Pacific region posted a 10.3 percent increase, mainly driven by China.

Apparel sales jumped 19.5 percent, helped by the success of the team sport category, which was fueled by the Euro championship in which five national teams wore Puma jerseys. This suggested the high-profile incident in which four Swiss national players had their jerseys ripped on the pitch had a limited impact.

Footwear sales were up 7.3 percent in currency-adjusted terms, with sport style, fun-damentals and team sport posting major gains. Puma will reissue the best-selling furry slide from Rihanna’s Fenty for Puma collection in a new gray color on Aug. 5, together with a third shipment of previous iterations.

Sales of accessories rose 14.1 percent in the quarter, driven by higher demand for backpacks and headwear, among others.

“The Rihanna product has been tremen-dously successful,” Gulden said. He pointed to strong demand for the singer’s Creeper and Fenty Trainer shoe styles, but said women were also buying more functional fitness products including tights, sports bras and sports tops.

“We see that most retailers are growing over-proportionally in women’s. We see that in the lifestyle area, but we also see that in the sporting goods area, and that there is more focus on women’s in almost all our customers, and that is across the board,” he explained.

“It’s more difficult on the men’s side because, you know, the product is more similar and it’s probably where we haven’t had the unique-ness for a long time. But in women’s there is a demand for our product almost everywhere and the success of it, relative to where we’ve been, is

very big,” Gulden added.In sporting events, Puma said it had an

on-field presence of almost 40 percent across all matches in the Euro 2016, held in France from June 10 to July 10. Antoine Griezmann, the top scorer in the tournament, was among the players wearing Puma’s Tricks boots in neon yellow and pink.

It enjoyed an unexpected win in the English Premier league when Leicester City in May became the first Puma-sponsored team to take the title, while Arsenal FC — also a Puma team — came in second.

Finally, Puma is gearing up for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics where its star athlete, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, is set to compete for what may be the last time. Gulden said Puma expects to continue working with Bolt even if he decides to retire after the competition.

“If he doesn’t run, then we have a Plan B with him and we will continue to work with him, maybe even closer, because he will have more time,” he said. “He will work with us on product development, he will work with us on sports marketing, he will help us with the other athletes and maybe also in a commercial role. You know, the guy knows the Caribbean very well; we have a strong position in the Caribbean and I can see him do a lot for us.”

He said Bolt was also helping Puma identify his successors from among the rising generation of track and field sprinters in the Caribbean. Puma recently added Barbados to the list of ath-letics teams it sponsors in the region, alongside Jamaica, Cuba, Grenada, Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

“All of us, unfortunately, have to admit that there won’t be a second Usain, but there will probably be something else,” Gulden predicted.

BUSINESS

Rihanna, Kylie Drive Puma’s Growth

● For 24 hours, users will be able to interact with and share images and videos.

BY MAGHAN MCDOWELL

Diamonds might be a girl’s best friend — unless you count her Snapchat followers.

Today, Tiffany & Co. becomes the first luxury retailer to sponsor a Snapchat lens. For 24 hours, Snapchat users in the U.S. and Australia (and on Friday in Italy) will be able to interact with and share images and videos using a custom, Tiffany-created filter that features Tiffany’s blue and white hearts.

It’s clearly a forward-thinking move for the 179-year-old company.

The lens is part of Tiffany’s #LoveNotLike campaign, a marketing effort that will largely play out on social media, said Diana Hong, digital marketing vice president. The campaign promotes new designs from the Return to Tif-fany Love collection, which was introduced this May and features the Tiffany heart tag.

In addition to the Snapchat lens, Tiffany will have a sponsored geofilter in all 93 of its U.S. doors through Aug. 31 that allows shoppers at the stores to access a special filter. The brand will also have its ads featured on the app.

Given that the #LoveNotLike campaign tag line is a social media-friendly hashtag, the cam-paign also appears globally on Tiffany’s social media channels, including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, in addition to its web site and in digital and print advertising.

“We live in a social culture of ‘like,’ but for Tiffany & Co., ‘like’ is not enough,” Hong said.

The brand tapped Cass Bird to photograph three models to speak to the younger Millennials and Gen Z fans who the collection is designed to attract: 19-year-old Imaan Hammam, who is from Holland but is of Moroccan and Egyptian descent; 20-year-old, pink-haired Australian Fernanda Ly, who is of Chinese decent, and 18-year-old Pyper America Smith, a Utah native who plays in a family band with her model siblings, including her brother Lucky Blue Smith. Combined, the three have more than one million Instagram followers.

Hong conceded that the models and approach might be somewhat unorthodox for Tiffany, but that it would be more likely to resonate, for example, with a 16-year-old girl. “We wanted to make sure the tone felt authentic,” she said. “What’s interesting about the world today is that we have moved on from the information age to the experience age and that has a lot to do with Snapchat.”

Research firm L2 estimates that 37 percent of Snapchat’s audience is between 18 and 24, making the platform a logical place for brands to target new customers. L2 estimates that 47 percent of specialty retail brands have an official account.

Tiffany introduced its Snapchat account, “Tiffanyofficial,” in April with celebratory “take-overs” by Bono’s daughter, actress Eve Hewson, and Reese Witherspoon.

“It’s interesting to inject another dimension, and a balance between something polished and very raw,” said Hong, who noted Tiffany also

had a presence on most other major global plat-forms, including Pinterest, Google+ and Chinese platforms. “It allows us to open a door to our world that our audience has never seen — for an audience who wants to see a bit more beyond just in front of the curtain.”

Although Tiffany & Co. is the first luxury retailer to sponsor a lens on Snapchat, earlier this month, both Urban Decay and Benefit Cosmetics bought sponsored overlays. Hollister, Michael Kors and Nike have also bought the use of Snapchat lenses in the past.

Snapchat introduced its advertising business last year, and reports that its users interact with a sponsored lens for 20 seconds on average. It has not shared publicly how much advertising costs, but research firm L2 estimates that a 24-hour lens can cost up to $700,000. Other advertising options include Snap Ads in a Live Story from an event (estimated to cost up to $500,000); and appearing in a Discovery channel ad or sponsoring a geofilter, which can target a specific location (such as a retail store), a major event (the Olympics) or a type of place (like every mall in America).

Snapchat doesn’t provide the type of in-depth metrics familiar to Instagram and Facebook users, but since introducing its advertiser

business, the platform has added 10 new mea-surement partnerships with companies such as Moal, Oracle Data Cloud and Nielson mobile Digital Ad Ratings, as well as targeting capabili-ties that zero in on age, gender, location, type of operating system, carrier and content affinity.

Tiffany & Co.’s been working to update its business and has been renovating stores, work-ing on in-store training and introducing new designs with multiple price points. To that end, Mark Aaron, vice president of investor relations, said in May that while Tiffany had seen lower overall unit volumes in fashion silver jewelry in some regions, “We are pleased with the initial reaction to new silver jewelry pieces that have been added to the Return to Tiffany and Infinity collections to address softness at price points under $500.”

A pair of sterling silver Return to Tiffany Love earrings sell for $300, while a rose gold heart pendant with diamonds are priced at $2,600. An 18-karat rose gold hinged cuff sells at $12,500.

Tiffany chief executive officer Frederic Cumenal in May discussed the balance between history and modernization.

“We pine for what is lasting and finding mean-ing not in what changes, but in what doesn’t,” he said. The ceo added that the relationship between luxury and technology was a “symbio-sis.” “We cannot rest on the pillar of our heritage — Tiffany is always reaching around the next corner.”

Indeed, L2 gave Tiffany’s digital efforts high marks in a recent report on specialty retail, commending it for “competencies” in search engine optimization, email marketing and social campaigns. Tiffany has an app that lets users dig-itally “try on” engagement rings, and an online concierge service that helps browsers schedule appointments with diamond experts.

As Hong puts it, although this might be a first for Tiffany and for Snapchat, “the brand has been around since 1837, so it has been relevant for quite some time.”

RETAIL

Tiffany: First Luxury BrandTo Buy a Snapchat Filter

The Fenty Puma Camo Creeper.

Tiffany & Co.’s sponsored

Snapchat geofilter.

28 JULY 2016 5

● Bows add charm and look-at-me pizzazz to otherwise simple silhouettes. Designers used them in varying flourishes, from bold waist ties to neatly aligned bunches.

BY ANDREW SHANG

FASHION

Tie the Knot

Sea

M Missoni

Maison Rabih Kayrouz

Fendi

Cyclas

Emporio Armani

Aquilano Rimondi

Delpozo

6 28 JULY 2016

Tommy Hilfiger Resort 2017

Met

pho

togr

aph

by A

nna-

Mar

ie K

elle

n

Sporty chic summed up Tommy Hilfiger’s resort collection, which featured bright colors drawn from the works of artist David Hockney. Preppy polo tops — including a cool, short-sleeve rugby style in color-blocked leather — featured athletic ribbed trim and stripes. Paired with silk wide-leg chinos or cropped jacquard flares and an assortment of printed sneakers, the looks captured a fresh tomboy attitude. Other knits and dresses featured more feminine touches: lace collars, mother-of-

pearl buttons and allover daisy prints.On the more casual side, Hilfiger riffed on

Seventies nostalgia and American track and field ath-leisure with cheerleader sweaters and silk basketball shorts. If a bit teenage, the total pack-age captured the peppy, optimistic side of adoles-cence — not an ounce of angst or cynicism. Hilfiger spelled it out on jackets bearing “All you need is love” patches and a souvenir jacket embroidered with the phrase “Free Spirit.” — KRISTI GARCED

● The Costume Institute will feature an exhibition highlighting acquisitions from the past 10 years.

BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

As the name suggests, “Masterworks: Unpack-ing Fashion,” The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s fall exhibition, will aim to demystify fashion and its collecting process, making it more understandable to all.

Culling 60 masterworks from the early 18th century to the present was no simple assignment for assistant curator Jessica Regan. Focusing on acquisitions from the past 10 years for the show, Regan had 1,000-plus objects to choose from in curating the show with guidance from curator-in- charge Andrew Bolton. In search of pieces of “the highest artistic merit, that demonstrate the evolution of dress and iconic works by designers who have changed the way we feel about fashion,” Regan said. “What a masterwork means is something different in different periods.”

To that end, one of the selections is a 1730 Robe Volante, “a loose gown inspired by negli-gee dress, which at the time was a bit of a shock for the Old Guard as it seemed somewhat inde-cent as streetwear. But it’s a gown that served as the basis for development for the Robe Volante Francaise, which was ubiquitous throughout the 18th century,” she said.

Always with an eye out for landmark pieces that can stand on their own, objects that relate to the existing collection and pieces that will inspire future designers, the Costume Institute will share that ideology with patrons. To demonstrate how designers have reinterpreted fashions of the past in ways that have contem-porary relevance, some recently acquired pieces will be paired with pieces collected years ago. A spring 1994 Azzedine Alaïa gown, for example, will be juxtaposed with a Charles James Siren dress. More contemporary looks

will be on view from Philip Treacy, Versace, Tom Ford, Comme des Garçons, Jean Paul Gaultier, Iris Van Herpen and John Galliano for Martin Margiela.

Just as the current exhibition “Manus x machina: Fashion in An Age of Technology” demystifies the process of making clothes, the upcoming one will have features meant to make them more relatable. The main Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery will display ensem-bles in packing crates and on palettes, to give the effect they have just arrived at the museum. Visitors will find in the Carl and Iris Barrel Apfel Gallery some of the ensembles designers donated to The Met in honor of Harold Koda to commemorate his retirement as curator in charge. One such gift is a Karl Lagerfeld-de-signed black dress embroidered with trompe l’oeil jewelry from his first Chanel collection. Koda had “desired” the dress for the Costume Institute’s collection for years, and the designer remade one upon Koda’s retirement.

Koda was unavailable to comment Wednes-day. But the outpouring by many of the design-ers he had worked with over the years left him “really overwhelmed and just so honored to be the beneficiary of such generosity,” Regan said. “I think Harold’s exhibitions had served as inspiration for many designers and he had an incredible ability to relate contemporary fashion to historic fashion and to show the links that continue to inspire living designers.”

The Costume Institute, which has a 35,000-piece collection (and counting), had an acquisitions show in 2007, “blog.mode: addressing fashion.” The upcoming “Master-works: Unpacking Fashion” will be on view in the Anna Wintour Costume Center from Nov. 8 through Feb. 5. The show’s name plays upon the prominence of “unpacking” in the public vernacular. Regan said, “We wanted it to have an immediate resonance with people. Fashion, generally, is a subject that people find more accessible at times than other forms of art. It is so immediately expressive of its period so we did want a title that would express that.”

EYE

The Met’s Costume Institute Plans ‘Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion’ for This Fall

This 1730 Robe Volante will be

featured in “Masterworks:

Unpacking Fashion.”

28 JULY 2016 7

● The company undertook a study of consumers in eight global markets to confirm what it thought it already knew and glean new insights.

BY SHARON EDELSON

It’s no accident that The Outnet’s first consumer study is called “Visualizing Thrill and Joy on Social Media.” The company aims to provide pleasure to its consumers via fashion shopping, but wanted deeper insights into what motivates their behavior. So it mined Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for clues.

The study utilized the key words “thrill” and “joy,” which tie into The Outnet’s recently launched social media campaign, #TheThrillOfTheFind. The fact that the fashion is discounted on the site adds to the excitement and emphasizes the company’s brand message, “Everything Reduced but the Thrill.”

Working with Pulsar, an audience intelligence platform that uses data science methods such as image analysis and recog-nition and text mining, The Outnet study analyzed more than 33 million social media

posts in its top eight markets: the U.K., U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition to gaining a better under-standing of its customers and potential consumers, The Outnet is working with its key social media partners to try to come up with a “buy” option that wouldn’t detract from its branding or compromise its service ethos.

“We’re always trying to find a way to monetize the social media platforms and find a way to get a return on our invest-ment,” said Andres Sosa, executive vice president, adding that despite the fact that purchasing products isn’t facilitated by social media sites, Instagram, Twitter, Face-book and Pinterest are what’s motivating The Outnet’s customer.

“We have a successful social media strat-egy and have great levels of engagement,” Sosa said. “We already know a lot about how our customer approaches style. Trends are important to her, but she’s always happy to go against the grain.”

The insights from the report will allow The Outnet to generate content “that’s really relevant to her in each of the plat-forms,” Sosa said.

While The Outnet has hard numbers for the traffic and revenue generated through

each social media channel, Sosa declined to disclose them.

“Facebook generates most engagement and revenue,” he said. “The customer is open to Instagram. It works for inspiration, but to monetize that is difficult because Instagram is not there yet.

“Pinterest is where customers are looking to get inspiration and do mood boards,” Sosa added. “Our customer shops by occa-sion, so Pinterest is interesting, but she’s not ready to purchase [when she’s on Pin-terest]. Twitter plays a role, but it’s more on the promotional side. We might tweet that we have two days left in a particular sale.”

One of the report’s key findings was the state of harmonious contradiction as the biggest trend in terms of how consumers share moments across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Other themes that emerged from the study of posts, which were analyzed during the month of May, include the fact that customers are seeking a sense of belonging and discovery; striving for personal growth; are elated by individuality, and striving to achieve “every day beauty.”

There were discrepancies between points of view in the different markets. For exam-ple, in six of the eight markets – the U.K., France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong and

Singapore – people talked most about joy on a lazy, quiet Sunday. Only in the U.S. did Monday conversations begin with a post about the joy of “Monday Motivation” and excitement about the week ahead.

“We’re living in an era of global connec-tivity but we’re proving that we’re more contradictory than ever before,” said Rachel Arthur, digital innovation strategist. “We celebrate uniqueness, but still want to be part of a tribe. We’re balancing the idea of individuality and feeling emotionally connected to others. How we display [our style] is more important than ever before, but we’re not materialistic. We’re discon-necting, but we still want to watch and share.”

Women over the age of 25 led the conver-sation. Personal growth appeared to be the new status symbol, according to the report. Strength, success and health were the cur-rency in the U.K. and Australia.

“The younger demographic was lower than you’d expect, there was less open-ness,” said Arthur. “A lot of that had to do with the way they use social media. If you’re 18, Facebook is the channel your par-ents use, so you’re not going to be as open. We’re seeing a lot of consumers shifting to Snapchat. But Snapchat doesn’t provide any consumer insight.”

MEDIA

The Outnet Studies Consumers’ Style and Substance

● Findings show smartphone users want more than just the ability to pay with their device.

BY MAGHAN MCDOWELL

The wild frontier of mobile wallets is far more than just paying at the register with a phone. But while the technology is ready, it’s the retailers — perhaps more so than the customers — who need to get on board.

That’s the advice from Judy Chan, who is senior product marketing manager at Urban Airship, a mobile engagement plat-form. In a survey of 1,000 U.S. and 1,000 U.K. smartphone owners, Urban Airship found that while many consumers have used mobile wallets, they want more out of them.

Mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay allow users to use a smartphone or smartwatch to pay for in-store purchases with a credit card or debit card. In addition, users can receive and store content such as event tickets, boarding passes, coupons and loyalty cards — which translates into an opportunity for merchants.

The survey found that more than half of consumers had used mobile wallets in the past three months; among Millennials, that number reached 67 percent. Those with household incomes greater than $60,000 were more likely to have used one.

That said, 84 percent of Millennials and 79 percent of those with above-median

incomes were more likely to use mobile payments if loyalty rewards and discounts were automatically applied. The top mobile wallet items that consumers used the most were loyalty cards, coupons and order delivery updates.

“When paying with your phone means never forgetting a coupon, missing out on rewards or fumbling at the register, it provides consumers with a compelling reason to go all-in on mobile payments,” Chan said.

She said the paying with a phone was similar to paying with a card, but the potential for points or coupons makes the prospect more enticing. “The larger issue is more customer-centric than transaction-fo-cused,” Chan said. “How we pay for things is an ingrained consumer behavior, and pulling out your phone rather than your credit or debit card to pay isn’t easier or faster. So it needs to be more rewarding.”

The survey found that respondents often forget to bring paper coupons or let cou-pons expire. Mobile wallets can, for exam-ple, send expiration reminders or automat-ically display a coupon when a shopper is near a store. And while mobile apps also provide this functionality, Chan said the big difference is that mobile wallets expand a retailer’s potential reach to all customers with a smartphone, as these come pre-in-stalled with Apple Pay or Android Pay. “The barriers to get someone to install a loyalty or coupon are much, much lower than getting them to install your app,” she said. “Loyalty cards and coupons are the

items consumers want most in their mobile wallets.”

To add a perk to a digital wallet, a shopper can click a link or an “Add to Wallet” button, which might be shared, for example, in a retailer’s digital channel. A customer can also scan a QR code to add a wallet pass from printed materials like in-store signage, said an Urban Airship spokeswoman.

This week, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook said “tens of millions” of people had used Apple Pay at stores and in apps. He said there are more than 11 million contactless-ready locations in the countries in which Apple Pay is available, including

three million in the U.S.Samsung Pay works with most credit

card terminals, including magnetic stripe, NFCs and EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa). MasterCard’s Masterpass is avail-able in 33 markets globally, with plans to expand to three more by the end of the year.

“Loyalty programs are something most businesses are already doing, and they can be made much more effective and excit-ing through mobile wallets,” Chan said. “Business can now easily gain a natural and desired mobile connection to every customer with a smartphone — which is most of them.”

RETAIL

Survey: Consumers Want Savings in Mobile Wallets

Phot

ogra

ph b

y G

etty

Imag

es/W

este

nd61

MasterCard’s Masterpass

8 28 JULY 2016

Vui

tton

pho

togr

aph

cour

tesy

of L

ouis

Vui

tton

Mal

letie

r; Te

xtile

by

Shu

tter

stoc

k; Z

ileri

by G

iova

nni G

iann

oni

● The increase was its biggest one-day gain since 2015, pulling other luxury stocks higher with it.

BY DEBRA BORCHARDT

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE helped lead European stocks higher as the Stoxx Europe 600 got a lift of 0.7 percent.

The French luxury brand rose 7.5 percent to 154 euros or $170 and was on track for its biggest one-day gain since February 2015. LVMH reported second-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations with revenues rising 4 percent versus the forecast of 2.9 percent. The improvement in sales came as a surprise following the string of terrorist attacks in France.

The market was cheered by the strong performance of the group’s core Louis Vuitton brand as well as the wine and spirits division — plus LVMH’s decision to sell the long-struggling Donna Karan International to G-III for $650 million. Champagne and wine revenue rose by 6 percent in the first half of the year, while cognacs and spirits increased by 11 percent. Consumer demand in China experienced a rebound and LVMH is planning to expand product facilities at both Hennessy and in Champagne.

Perfume and cosmetics revenues rose a healthy 8 percent, while watches and jewelry grew by 4 percent. Fashion and leather was flat. Excluding Japan, LVMH said it was seeing improving trends out of Asia.

Separately, Puma, which is owned by Kering said its total sales rose by 7 percent in the most recent quarter to 826.5 million euros or $933.3 million. Bjørn Gulden, chief

executive officer of Puma, said sales were on track with double-digit organic growth. He noted a continued improvement in sell-out as the brand gradually regains popularity after a prolonged slump.

The good news caused other luxury, fashion and retail stocks to rise in sympa-thy. Hugo Boss AG rose by 4.49 percent, Salvatore Ferragamo Italia climbed by 4.18 percent and Debenhams jumped by 4.06 percent.

The luxury brands seemed pleased that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to introduce a new economic stimulus plan next week and it could be valued at more than 28 million yen. The decision should come on Friday as to whether it will actually happen.

The European stock market was also

helped by Apple’s better than expected earn-ings. Two European Apple suppliers Dialog Semiconductor and AMS each climbed more than 3 percent on that news.

All the positive stock momentum man-aged to overcome the collapse in profits at Deutsche Bank.

The exuberance of the European markets did not carry over to U.S. markets. The S&P 500 closed down 2 points to 2,166 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1 point to 18,472. Only the Nasdaq market moved higher by 29 points to 5,139 based on the results from Apple. And while LVMH got a good bounce from the sale of DKI, the stock market continued to question the deal when it came to G-III: the company’s shares were essentially flat at $39.66 in trading Wednes-day after two days of sharp declines.

BUSINESS

LVMH Stock Climbs 7.5 Percent

● The 49 new standards cover classification, terminology, dyeing and testing for materials including cottons, mixed linens, synthetics and microfibers.

BY FRANK HERSEY

BEIJING — A range of new regulations affecting the manufacturing of clothing and textiles will come into effect in China on Sept. 1. The 49 new standards cover classifi-cation, terminology, dyeing and testing for many different materials including cottons, mixed linens, synthetics and microfibers across several product categories, ranging from wedding dresses to dog clothes.

The new standards, announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, will come into effect just three months after the last set, which focused on children’s clothing.

“The trend for the standards is to be stricter and more unifying,” said He Xiaosi, manager of CCFGroup consultants based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. “Previously, standards used to be quite loose, whereas now to fol-low the standards that affect people’s lives, air quality, textile manufacturing, [manufac-turers] really have to raise the quality.”

“After the announcement, manufacturers will have to renew equipment and provide more training, requiring capital investment,” said He. “The new standards for different aspects such as dyeing will require further investment. This could result in gradual price increases. So the impact on the cloth-ing industry will be increased prices and costs of procurement.”

But ultimately He said the development is a positive one. “Where the new stan-dards will have an impact is in the testing — they will unify the overall industry’s

development. Without a standard, there’s nothing for manufacturers to compare against,” he said.

Demand for certain kinds of fabrics, like brushed cotton and blended polyester, is on the rise in China, according to Xiao Ding, laboratory head at Jinjiangzhong Fabric Standard Inspection Company. Xiao said companies are making increasingly complex fabrics, incorporating different materials and dyeing methods. Xiao was quoted in a report published by state news agency Xinhua.

The new regulations affect a whole range of products and fabrics. The new rules deal with issues such as:

- The evaluation of oil absorption proper-ties of non-woven fabrics

- These determination of seam strength and elongation in knitted fabrics and elastic woven fabrics

- Brushed cotton and polyester blended fabric-dyeing

- Clothing markings, packaging, transpor-tation and storage

Meanwhile, the textile manufacturing sector’s value-added growth — the difference between gross output and intermediate inputs such as energy and materials — stood at 7.3% in the first half of the year, according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Informa-tion Technology.

That represents a slowdown in year-on-year terms — hardly surprising given China’s overall economic slowdown. The figure for large-scale textile manufacturers registered in the first six months of 2015 came in at 8.1%. It grew 7 percent in full-year 2015.

The overall textile industry saw increased profits of 5.8% in the first six months of the year, due to an increased pace of change in the “upgrading of traditional industry,” the ministry said.

THE MARKETS

China to Alter Clothing, Textile Manufacturing Rules

● Chief executive officer Paolo Roviera is exiting the company.

BY LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Mayhoola Group has taken full con-trol of Pal Zileri through the acquisition of 100 percent of parent company Forall Confezioni SpA, representing the fund’s commitment to expand the brand in the long-term.

As a result of the purchase, chief executive officer Paolo Roviera and general merchandis-ing manager Stefano Gaudioso Tramonte are exiting the men’s wear company. Mayhoola said it would announce the appointment of a new ceo in September.

The investment vehicle backed by a private investor group from Qatar first took a 65 per-cent stake in Forall in 2014. Arafa Holding held the remaining 35 percent of the firm. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Qatari investors are on a buying spree, following the acquisition of Balmain last month as they continue to actively build their fashion, retail and real estate portfolios in Europe. Mayhoola also controls the Valentino brand and has a stake in Anya Hindmarch.

Founded in 1970, the Quinto Vicentino, Italy-based Pal Zileri was previously owned by a group of Italian entrepreneurs, including the Barizza, Bellet, Miola and Ghiringhelli fam-ilies, along with the Egyptian Arafa Holding. Mayhoola bought its 65 percent stake in the company from the Italian investors.

In the Eighties, Forall collaborated with Luciano Soprani, Verri, Antonio Fusco, Krizia, Trussardi and Moschino to produce and distribute their men’s lines. The company went on to expand in the Nineties and developed Pal Zileri into a classic, highly crafted brand that employs top fabrics ranging from cashmere and guanaco to vicuna and is available in more than 70 countries.

Creative director Mauro Ravizza Krieger, who has worked with Caruso, Loro Piana, Herno and Luciano Barbera and whose first collection for Pal Zileri bowed in January 2015, was tapped to revamp the label.

Roviera, a former Ermenegildo Zegna Group executive, was hired to provide a man-agement structure to a firm that was essentially modeled as a family company. His goal was to double Pal Zileri’s market share in five years and redefine its distribution network. Devel-oping the U.S. market was also a top priority for the firm. Global revenues in 2015 totaled 80 million euros, or $88 million at current exchange.

Pal Zileri collections are made in Italy. The company leverages one production unit in Quinto Vicentino, Italy.

MEN’S

Mayhoola Takes Full Control of Pal Zileri

Pal Zileri Men’s Spring 2017

Louis Vuitton Portefeuille

Emilie

Inside a loom knitting factory.

M COLLECTION S

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

Moments that matter at Men’s Fashion Week

ISSUE: AUGUST 17 / CLOSE: AUGUST 3 / MATERIALS: AUGUST 8

An Advertising Opportunity

10 28 JULY 2016

● J. Crew Group sees brand as a key part of its turnaround efforts.

BY DAVID MOIN

J. Crew Group, while working hard to turn-around its namesake label, is doing just fine with its Madewell brand.

That was underscored Wednesday when Nordstrom Inc. announced plans to expand its partnership with Madewell by adding the brand to an additional 20 stores this fall.

This is the third distribution expansion since the initial launch of the partnership in March 2015 and will result in Nordstrom carrying Madewell in a total of 76 locations in the U.S. and Canada, as well as on nord-strom.com.

Outside of Madewell stores, Nordstrom

is the only brick-and-mortar retailer to sell Madewell merchandise. Madewell does have a distribution partnership with Net-a-porter, and is also sold on madewell.com

At Madewell, sales increased 17 percent to $72.5 million and comparable sales increased 6 percent on top of an increase of 12 percent in the first quarter last year. At the end of the first quarter, Madewell had 106 stores and was expected to end the year with about 115.

For 2015, Madewell sales increased 23 percent to $301 million. Comparable sales increased 8 percent.

J. Crew Group launched Madewell in 2006 and sees the brand as a major part of its turnaround efforts.

Before Nordstrom started selling the line, the retailer surveyed customers and found that many liked the brand. When the deal to sell Madewell products was sealed, Pete

Nordstrom, copresident of Nordstrom Inc., told WWD, “Madewell has really great styling at good prices.” He also predicted that Madewell could be brought to more doors provided Madewell, a former workwear company in New Bedford, Mass., dating back to 1937, could handle the increased volume demand.

Millard “Mickey” Drexler, chairman and chief executive officer of the J. Crew Group, started reinventing the Madewell label in 2007 after he purchased the trademark and sold it to J. Crew. Denim, chambray shirts, dresses and leather boots are among the key items in the Madewell collection.

The Madewell deal with Nordstrom recalls Topshop’s agreement with the Seattle-based department store retailer. Bringing Madewell and Topshop to its doors reflects Nord-strom’s efforts to broaden its base of custom-ers and its image.

RETAIL

Nordstrom Brings Madewell to More Doors

● The company said unauthorized use of its logo and name could dilute and tarnish the brand.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SAMANTHA CONTI

Burberry Ltd. likes the company it keeps, and finds rapper Perry Moise’s alter ego damaging to the luxury brand’s trademarks.

The British company on Monday filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in Man-hattan federal court against Moise, who calls himself Burberry Perry. He is also alleged to be using Burberry’s registered check pattern and equestrian trademark in connection with his album and social media pages. The company specifically alleged that Moise is using the “fame and renown of the Burberry trademark for his own per-sonal gain, to promote his albums, garner media attention and grow a fan base, all to the detriment of Burberry.”

Monday’s lawsuit charged Moise with engaging in “willful trademark infringe-ment and dilution” of the famous Burberry trademarks. The complaint also said that the British firm has tried on multiple occa-sions to get Moise to stop. The court papers also said that Moise adopted the “Burberry Perry” stage name without the company’s consent.

Perhaps what’s most bothersome to the British fashion brand is how the musician’s use of the name, and his music and lyrics, are alleged to bring a “bad light” on the company. Burberry said it has a number of music-related ventures with musicians such as John Epstein, George Craig, Sir Elton John and George Ezra, to name a few, including its use of their images and music in ad campaigns. Their music is used via live performances at its fashion shows, and also on a digital platform that the company set up called Burberry Acoustic to allow music fans access to emerging artists through vid-eos available for streaming on the Burberry web site.

The court document said Moise’s lyrics contain an extensive use of profanity. And the British firm said in the complaint that Moise’s use of the Burberry trademark is causing consumers to “mistakenly believe” that he is affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by or is somehow connected to Burberry. Because he isn’t connected with the company, Burberry said his unabated use of the trademarks would dilute and tarnish their value.

Other claims include false designation of origin and trademark dilution. Burberry is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction and any other relief the court deems “just and proper.”

The company said, “As a global luxury brand, Burberry considers the protection of its intellectual property vital for the health of its business and to safeguard its custom-ers. As such, Burberry goes to great lengths to protect its creative designs and will take all the necessary action against the abuse of Burberry trademarks.”

Moise could not be reached for comment.

BUSINESS

Burberry Files Trademark Claims Against Perry Moise

Men at WorkHaider Ackermann, who counts Kanye West among devotees and who only started men’s wear for spring 2014, is about to land a major men’s post. Word has it Berluti is zeroing in on a contract to make the Paris-based designer its new creative director. He is to succeed Alessandro Sartori, who launched the storied footwear brand into fashion and leather goods in 2011 and recently joined Ermenegildo Zegna, where he worked prior to Berluti. Acclaimed for his soigné women’s wear and artful dishabille, Ackermann has plied a rock-tinged dandy aes-thetic for men’s wear, hinged on fancy dinner jackets, low-slung pants and, more recently, cool sweatshirts.

Haider Ackermann, who counts Kanye West among devotees and who only started men’s wear for spring 2014, is about to land a major men’s post. Word has it Berluti is zeroing in on a contract to make the Paris-based designer its new creative director. He is to succeed Alessandro Sartori, who launched the storied footwear brand into fashion and leather goods in 2011 and recently joined Ermenegildo Zegna, where he worked prior to Berluti. Acclaimed for his soigné women’s wear and artful dishabille, Ackermann has plied a rock-tinged dandy aes-thetic for men’s wear, hinged on fancy dinner jackets, low-slung pants and, more recently, cool sweatshirts. — MILES SOCHA

Ferraris to Cavalli?In yet another round of musical chairs, former Versace chief executive officer Gian Giacomo Ferraris is expected to join the Roberto Cavalli group, according to sources. Ferraris is due to succeed Renato Semerari shortly, they said.

A former Coty Inc. executive,

Semerari joined Cavalli in April 2015, when Italian private equity firm Clessidra SGR took control of the Italian brand, charged with modernizing and expanding it globally under the creative direc-tion of Peter Dundas. In an unex-pected turn of events, Versace in May tapped Jonathan Akeroyd to succeed Ferraris, who had led the brand’s turnaround since 2009. — LUISA ZARGANI

Joe Zee In The KitchenHe’s a fashion editor, stylist, talk show host, red-carpet analyst, author and now, efficient epicu-rean. On Tuesday night Joe Zee cohosted an event that, even by fashion standards, was off-beat: a cooking class at The Brooklyn Kitchen that involved two differ-ent appliances — a profession-al-grade gas oven by American Range, and the latest iteration of the childhood favorite, Easy-Bake.

Zee is a man of many profes-sional connections, Hasbro and Easy-Bake not among them. (At

least not yet.) So the invitation to a cooking class featuring the oven proved curious — one only social media could facilitate. As a child, Zee longed for the oven his parents were disinclined to oblige: “You’re an Asian kid. You should be a doctor or something.” While his friend Maria’s ethnicity went unnoted, her parents had no issue with youthful development of culi-nary skills, and Zee spent count-less afternoons at her house baking cookies. (One cookie at a time. Until 10 or so years ago, Zee informed, the oven’s source of heat generation was a slow-going incandescent light bulb.)

After Zee shared the memory on his now-canceled talk show, “FABLife,” an ABC executive gifted him with today’s Easy-Bake — a sleek, black-domed contraption with a discrete aqua swirl on the side; Zee’s stylistic take on the current model: “more gender-neu-tral.”

As he does with much of what goes on in his life, he Insta-grammed a picture of himself with the oven, a post seen by Taylor

Erkkinen, owner with her husband Harry Rosenblum of The Brooklyn Kitchen, purveyor of culinary delights and cooking classes where Zee and his fiancé Rob Younkers had taken instruction. Her immediate thought: “We have to do something.” And, voilà, an event was born.

Most of those who turned out were online fashion and food press of the Millennial persua-sion, though Elle’s Anne Slowey, a proud former Easy-Baker, and this one-time colleague of Zee’s from the W days, also showed up.

Guests sipped wine and par-took of savories from the Kitch-en’s bountiful offerings, many in the spicy ham variety. Then the program kicked in. Sydney Willcox, the store’s culinary manager, and Zee worked through three reci-pes, he, handling the Easy-Bake versions, and she, upgrades more suited to an editorial audience on an evening in Williamsburg. Willcox’s charm could not hide the fact that “easy” is not an ingredi-ent in making Valrhona chocolate tuilles. She lied.

Not so, Zee. It seems that what-ever heat source replaced the light bulb has done little to speed the cooking process — a fact Zee noted with gleeful sarcasm during every recipe. Maybe Hasbro won’t come knocking after all. — BRIDGET FOLEY

Fashion Scoops

Sydney Willcox and Joe Zee.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

ATTEND: PREIDY@WWD.COM, 646.356.4724 SPONSOR: ACOYLE@WWD.COM, 646.356.4719

summits.wwd.com

DIGITAL FORUM NEW YORKSEPTEMBER 21 - 22 • NEW YORK CITY

EVENT SPONSORS

PRESENTING SPONSOR AMERICAN EXPRESS

Carol KaneBOOHOO.COM

Lance MartelALDO GROUP

Jeff RaiderHARRY’S

Lindy RawlinsonNEIMAN MARCUS

12 28 JULY 2016

In a matter of eight months and without great fanfare, Noma cofounder Claus Meyer has opened the restaurant Agern and the Great Northern Food Hall in Grand Central Station, and built a 300-person company. Now through his Melting Pot Founda-tion, could-be chefs are enrolled in its new culinary school in Browns-ville, Brooklyn, where a cafe and restaurant will open this fall. And to do all of the above, he uprooted his family from Denmark.

Somehow Meyer still can’t pedal fast enough to get to work each morning. He said, “When I bike my way up Park Avenue and see Grand Central lying in front of my eyes, I have to pinch myself in the arm sometimes and ask, ‘Is this real?’”

The towering Dane earned inter-continental fame through Noma’s three-time world’s best restaurant status and leading the sustainable New Nordic Cuisine movement. But he isn’t about to hog any credit for the plethora of farm-friendly menus and blond wood tables in restaurants. Referring to the New Nordic Cuisine manifesto crafted with Noma cofounder Rene Redzepi and a battalion of Scandinavian chefs, Meyer said, “We did not invent farm to table. What we said was that top chefs and basically all sorts of people have to reconnect with the land. We have to cook in a way that makes sense here and now...If we don’t, then the farmers will be at the hands of Monsanto and big fast-food chains.”

Before New Nordic Cuisine took hold in 2004, “Spanish cuisine

had the hegemony in the world. It was very much about molecular gastronomy. There was the idea of using all sorts of chemicals, compounds, techniques and ingredients from the advanced food industry to create textures, foams, gels and substances on a plate in a restaurant that should exceed the will of God. We said, ‘No, no, no — this is wrong. We are moving in the wrong direction. The time has come for chefs to stand up for nature and celebrate what grows here rather than trying to improve it,” Meyer said.

Restaurateur, culinary entre-preneur, food activist, cookbook author, professor, TV host — all apply to Meyer but he is not inclined to describe his job. “Oh my God — I don’t actually know what I’m doing. So that is a very difficult question.” he said. “I tend to trust my gut feeling. If I have an approach, it is to always keep my mind open for new opportunities so I don’t see my com-pany as some sort of encapsulated structure where I have to navigate

myself according to plans. I basically have no plans for tomorrow.”

That’s not entirely true. With a 10-year lease at Grand Central, he has promised his family that New York will remain their home base, at least until next summer. His wife Christina Meyer Bengtsson pretty much oversees all design and decor for his enterprises, and her sister relocated to work at Grand Central. Meyer’s eldest daughter has taken a second gap year to ensure the “kanelsnurrer” cinnamon rolls, “tebirkes” poppy-seed danish and other Scandinavian indulgenc-es are just right. The family’s two newly turned-vegan youngest girls created a few smoothie recipes, and they offer unsolicited pointers to their father and Agern chef Gunnar Gíslason.

In the midst of a family vacation in Ibiza earlier this month, Meyer said in a phone interview, “I know where I come from and I never forget where I come from, but I never know what I’m heading for. Because you learn things everyday, you meet new people and I try to bridge a certain consideration for the health of whatever I have initiated in the past with a deep, deep interest in impacting the world in a positive way,” he said. “Of course I know what I stand for. I have a key idea of what I want to do and how I want to do things, and which values are guiding me. But I haven’t come here to teach or to preach anybody anything. I will do my best to do something wonderful but I’ve also

come here to learn. And I’m learning a lot every single day. That was also one of my dreams — to come here to learn by exposing myself and my family to another culture, another community, another way of living, another set of values, a different way of doing things.”

Blue Hill’s Dan and David Barber, Mario Batali, Arcade Bakery’s Roger Gural, Mads Refslund, Ducks Eatery’s Will Horowitz and Gramer-cy Tavern’s Michael Anthony have offered a hand where they can. Within a quarter-mile of his Chelsea apartment, there are 10 restaurants

where he wants to pull up a chair. “It’s fair to say the New York food scene is the most vibrant, exciting, delicious and dynamic one in the world. Nothing compares to that,” he said. “Also, the level of competence you find in New York is very inspiring. You find so many people who have invested so much of themselves in some well-defined, narrow niche or field. [You wonder], ‘How do I get the best out of it? How do I connect with these people? What can we do together? What is the partnership that I didn’t see coming that I have to execute?’”

Adverse to the New York schmooze, Meyer said, “I’m not a talker. I’m a doer. I want to use relations. I hate random networking. What I love is to turn serendipity into something that changes my world and the other person’s world. When I see so many wonderful people that I basically would love another five hours to connect with at a deeper level, but I have to run away to the next whatever — that is a little bit stressful for somebody like me. I’m not a very superficial person. I’m a person who prefers fewer encoun-ters with more meaning, and New York is not always like that.”

Gourmands might not picture him as the tennis and badminton instructor he once was, but his interest in teaching just manifested in different ways. “The reason New

Nordic Cuisine works so well is that you didn’t have the option to be against it. Nobody in the whole world could be against it, because we were taking nothing from no one. Everything benefits — agricul-tural exports, the cleanliness of the ground water, tourism, health costs,” he said. “You can formulate similar paradigms in different contexts and they will be equally compelling if done correctly. This can be used in a lot of different industries whenever there is an unrealized potential, a higher level of consciousness, higher level of ethical and aesthetic truth that is not being reached.”

As for whether he told President Barak Obama just that when they met at the White House’s Nordic State Dinner in May, Meyer laughed. “I would have loved to, but I think it would have taken more than the 30

seconds I got.”Seriously though, he said, “I’m

sure a fashion company could do what I’ve been doing in food. A fashion company like Ralph Lauren could decide instead of buying raw material in the poor world and creating a lot of profit in the rich world, they could make the decision to curb itself and give away its key competence to a poor country.”

Singling out Hawthorne Valley Farm, a 400-acre nonprofit in upstate New York, Meyer said biodynamic farming principles and organic agriculture aren’t just booming, people are using them to reinvent communities. “I saw at Hawthorne the old-school way of organizing farmland, but also educating and a big commitment from the people living outside the farmland. Basically, it looked like a new way of organizing our lives based on the principles of the past — belongingness and care.”

Committed to helping the down-and-out rebuild their lives, Meyer’s foundation has funded cooking schools in Danish prisons and opened one in La Paz, Bolivia, to run what has become a buzzy restaurant, Gusto. Such hybrid pursuits ring true with New Yorkers, Meyer said. “I get the feeling a lot of young American people want to combine the virtues of capital-ism with the ideas of fighting for something that means something to other people and benefits the world,” he said. “Of course you also see the opposite in America. You see greed and brutal capitalistic structures. I just happen to be inspired by the light and not the dark. I believe in helitropy — instead of spending your life criticizing other people or structures, you believe in spending your life, showing the light, searching for the light and connect-ing other people around that idea of moving towards the light even if you see people who come from a dark past or run evil empires.” — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

Noma’s Claus Meyer Takes Culinary Ideology to N.Y.Now that the Nordic restaurant Agern and the Great Northern Food Hall are welcoming diners, the chef is training students in Brownsville to run a café that will open this fall.

Phot

ogra

phs

by E

van

Sun

g

Claus Meyer

Oyster and Pine appetizer served at Agern.

The interior at Agern.

The Bitter Salad served

at Agern.

The interior at Agern.

“I sat and had coffee on Wall Street, and just watched the people, at 6 a.m.,” says Teresa Binder-Westby, the costume de-signer responsible for dressing the cast of the first female-driven Wall Street-centric drama, “Eq-uity.” The film, out Friday, follows “Breaking Bad” star Anna Gunn in the lead role of Naomi Bishop, an investment banker trying to climb her way up in an industry that, in real life, has yet to see a female lead a major bank. For Binder-Westby, the closet of the banking world’s elite was foreign territory — hence the necessity for the sunrise people watching.

In refining the narrative, real women from companies like Goldman Sachs and Barclays were

consulted, and the film’s other stars Alysia Reiner and Sarah Megan Thomas met with women on Wall Street for character research. Bind-er-Westby started there, too. “You see these women, and what they’re wearing is their uniform,” she says. “They’re not waking up and putting outfits together, they’re putting on their uniform and going to work. And so what are those pieces? And as you begin to climb the corporate ladder, what are those pieces?”

Her takeaway was that cloth-ing was highly reflective of one’s standing in the company. “I found that the assistants wore skirts and separates, and when it got into be-ing a banker — if you were the boss — maybe a pantsuit, a skirt suit,” she says. “But you wouldn’t wear that if

you were an assistant. You wouldn’t wear a highly printed blouse, and yet maybe as you become the banker you would. It seemed that in the corporate ladder, as you’re assisting someone your personali-ty isn’t with your clothing.”

Her challenge in creating this for the screen was the budget — the film was an independent project. Binder-Westby is from the Philadel-phia area, where the film was shot, and scoured local consignment stores for expensive-looking piec-es. “We had such a low budget,” she says of her sourcing, “so to provide high-end clothing for Wall Street women was definitely a challenge. I got a really great consignment shop on board, where I knew I could get some great pieces.”

In the end, several adjustments had to be made. “In my mind, I had to find a St. John dress for Naomi,” she says. “I needed the structure, I needed what that says. So it was a fun project in that way, because I had a lot of things that were defining what decisions I could and could not make.”

She used clothing to reflect Naomi’s navigation and ultimate ascension of the moneyed Wall Street ranks. “As she started to follow her heart, I folded in more color,” Binder-Westby explains. “Unfortunately it didn’t translate as well as the director or I had hoped, I think because they edited several of the scenes. But at the end you see her softer side, and she’s in this really cool modern, structured, col-or-blocked dress, that’s a little more ‘I can be who I am and it’s OK, these are the choices I’m making.’”

Binder-Westby was inspired by shows such as “House of Cards,” which — though not Wall Street — show women in positions of power in historically male-dominated realms. “I wanted it to be strong, and powerful and sophisticated,” she says. “When she’s going to work, the clothes are not what’s important. How she wears the clothes is important, the things that she chooses. It was more to really define the world around her, too, because it has been dominated by men. And to be able to be in that arena.”

Though Binder-Westby’s trips to Philly’s best vintage shops might not be the route for the many St. John-clad Wall Street women, Nao-mi’s trajectory up the corporate lad-der — and how that was indicated through her clothing — all comes back to what she took in on those early mornings watching com-muters.“It’s obviously associated with monetary gain but also other things,” she says of the difference in dress, based on job title. “You wouldn’t dare dress with your per-sonality. You can’t out-dress your boss.” — LEIGH NORDSTROM

Dressing a Wall Street WomanTeresa Binder-Westby discusses dressing the female-driven cast of “Equity.”

28 JULY 2016 13

Anna Gunn in “Equity.”

Alysia Reiner in ‘Equity.’

Taking OverGucci’s latest video project, called #24HourAce, was held Wednesday with a number of artists participating by taking over the brand’s Snapchat account for one hour. Throughout the day, artists from around the world posted content on Snapchat to illustrate and explain how they have collaborated with Gucci, inspired by the brand’s Ace sneaker.

The collaborations are visible on Instagram. Published a week before Wednesday’s Snap-chat celebration, the #24HourAce videos are part of a new Instagram-based project revolv-ing around Gucci’s staple tennis shoe. Creative director Alessandro Michele has been re-elab-orating the classic design and offering custom-ers special decorations and embellishments.

Each participating artist was asked to make a short film of up to 60 seconds in length, using the Ace sneaker as the theme and the result-ing videos were posted on Gucci’s Instagram account.

The #24HourAce initiative follows the two #GucciGram projects, also a collaboration with Instagram, where artworks featured the Gucci Blooms, Gucci Caleido and Gucci Tian motifs.

The #24HourAce project sees artists partic-ipating in a variety of ways, from stop-motion and animation to narrative-based filmmaking and the creation of animated artworks.

Among those involved are Korean longboard-

er Hyo Joo Ko; contemporary New York-based New Gothic artist Sue de Beer; Norwegian Snapchat star Geeoh Snap; Brazilian street artist Ananda Nahu, and Hong Kong director Frank Nitty, who mixes pop culture and vintage references in a surreal way.

Gucci has also created a microsite to house the work at www.gucci.com/24hourace. — LUISA ZARGANI

Hello HozierJohn Varvatos has tapped Andrew Hozier-By-rne, the Irish musician, singer and songwriter for fall, his first color campaign, WWD has learned. “I had a connection when I first heard his song ‘Take Me to Church,’” said John Var-vatos of the musician known as Hozier. “I call him a renaissance man. He’s a young man who looks at the world, at all the things that are

happening, and how people are treated. He’s a bit of a poet, and he’s a very handsome guy. All the boxes kind of checked. He was already a customer and was such a pleasure to work with.”

The musician describes his personal style as functional, and said he likes Varvatos’ work “from his shoes to his jackets.”

The campaign, photographed by Danny Clinch, features the Grammy-nominated musi-cian in the fall range, which includes a dégradé coat, a shearling motorcycle jacket, a leather peacoat and a hand-knit, merino and alpaca shawl cardigan. This is Varvatos’ first color campaign.

“We shot at this place called the Art Factory, which is in New Jersey,” Hozier said.

“There’s an old factory, and on top of that, a newer building. But it goes right down to these

tunnels that are kind of embedded, built right into the rocks, right inside the mountain,” he added. “We did a lot of the shooting down there, which was cool. We did the live session of the song ‘To Be Alone,’ which is on the debut album. So it was like an acoustic solo performance.”

Alongside the campaign, the brand will re-lease an original music video directed by Clinch and produced by Yard, a branding agency. The video will also feature Hozier performing “To Be Alone.” The campaign will break in the Septem-ber issues of GQ, Vanity Fair and Robb Report, which hit newsstands in August.

Next up for the brand is a new store opening in New York in August at the side of the World Trade Center in the new Oculus. — LORELEI MARFIL

Memo Pad

Sarah Megan Thomas in

‘Equity.’

A visual of the John Varvatos

campaign starring Hozier.A Gucci

Garden Ace.