PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00

WWDHighlandFlingWith a younger man in mind, Ralph Lauren showed a dynamic new take on eveningwear, mashing old-world sensibility with a modern aesthetic. Formfitting tartan-plaid jackets provide an alternative to the standard black-tuxedo code and give global consumers a taste of the “Downton Abbey” flair. For more, see pages 4 and 5.

THE RED- CARPET GUESSING GAME. PAGE 6

BY HUANG HUNG

ChinaFileTRENDY IN

TOKYOTHEY ARE WEARING: PRINTS

OF ALL KINDS ARE THE LATEST LOOK ON THE STREETS OF THE

JAPANESE CAPITAL. PAGE 9

SEEKING PRIVACY

Benetton Family EyesDelisting of Shares

SEE PAGE 6

Avon’s Woes Mount

SEE PAGE 6

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Benetton Group may be going private.The storied Italian firm’s majority shareholder,

Edizione Srl, is mulling a delisting of the company’s shares. Benetton shares were suspended on the Milan Stock Exchange on Tuesday after they rose 9.3 per-cent to 4.05 euros, or $5.32 at current exchange, in midday trading. Benetton, which went public in 1986, denied speculation that its shares had gained fol-lowing rumors of a merger with Spain’s giant Inditex Group, owner of the Zara brand.

Edizione, controlled by the Benetton family, owns about 67 percent of the Benetton clothing and textile business, and is considering a tender offer to buy the remaining 33 percent. A statement is expected today.

Benetton has a market capitalization of about 680 million euros, or $891.5 million at current exchange, making the 33 percent stake outstanding worth about 224.4 million euros, or $294.2 million. Benetton rep-resents a small part of Edizione’s overall holdings, which include highway catering, infrastructure, com-munications, real estate and agriculture.

Benetton has been battling changing consumer tastes, rising raw material costs and the weak econo-mies of Europe, especially Italy, its largest market. The company’s shares fell to as low as 3 euros late

By MOLLY PRIOR

NEW YORK — The pressure keeps building at Avon Products Inc.

Following the firing Sunday of Charles Cramb, a top-ranking executive and the right-hand man to its chair-man and outgoing chief executive officer Andrea Jung, analysts are beginning to raise even more questions about the overall management of the company, as well as how closely its board was monitoring the firm’s business.

Shares of Avon continued to slide Tuesday, falling 1.2 percent to $17.77 on the New York Stock Exchange versus a 52-week high of $31.60.

Now talk has turned to whether Jung — who is poised to take on the role of executive chairman once a new ceo is in place — or its newly installed chief financial officer, Kimberly Ross, will lead the compa-ny’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. Either way it will be awkward, as Cramb’s departure raises more questions about the ongoing investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which is proving to be a huge distraction.

Costs tied to the investigation continue to mount. In the company’s latest annual report the firm stated the costs associated with the Fair Corrupt Practices Act in-vestigation and compliance reviews were $95 million in 2010, up from $59 million in 2009.

Avon revealed news of Cramb’s exit from the com-pany as vice chairman, developed markets, in a brief, four-sentence regulatory filing Monday evening, which stated the action was taken in connection with the company’s internal investigation and the Regulation FD matter, or fair disclosure. It stated, “The financial terms of his separation are subject to future determi-nations in connection with such matters.”

An Avon spokeswoman said the departure is linked to the ongoing internal investigation, which includes allegations that executives bribed officials in China, and perhaps elsewhere, and improperly disclosed in-formation to Wall Street analysts. She added that at the moment, there are no plans to fill Cramb’s post, as the company is in the midst of an operating review.

Cramb’s abrupt departure prompted some analysts to point the finger at Avon’s board, which one observer described as a tight-knit group. Another source said, “This is a very long tenured board, which has become

WWD.COM2

By DAVID MOIN

NEW YORK — Alberta Ferretti is next up in Macy’s designer series for the store’s Impulse contemporary department.

The Italian designer has created about 30 pieces inspired by the Amalfi Coast to be sold exclusively at Macy’s for 10 weeks starting April 17. Feminine dresses, peas-ant blouses, garden-party looks, oversize and abstract floral prints, knitwear and delicate fabrications like chiffon and voile are in the mix.

“The collection I created is fresh and bright, featuring light summer clothing that evokes the spirit of my beautiful country and is at the same time true to my style,” Ferretti said.

“Alberta Ferretti’s thriving busi-ness, international appeal and modern aesthetic enticed us to collaborate with her,” explained Jeff Gennette, Macy’s Inc.’s chief merchandising officer.

“She’s very top of mind today,” added Martine Reardon, Macy’s executive vice president of marketing. “She just had two very successful shows. She appeals to an international consumer as well as an American consumer, and her fabri-cations are very soft, very feminine, chiffonlike,

drapy, comfortable and really pretty, yet they look very elegant.”

Ferretti is the sixth designer in the Macy’s pro-gram that brings guest designers to the Impulse department. It began with Kinder Aggugini last February, and continued with Matthew Williamson, Giambattista Valli, Karl Lagerfeld and Doo.Ri.,

which launches this month.The Ferretti collection will be

in 185 Macy’s locations, compared to 220 with previous capsule col-lections. “With the omni-channel business really rising, we may not always have to have every single item in every store,” Reardon said. “We are trying to understand where these collaborations work very well, and where it’s not work-ing so well, but in each case we always want to make sure that we are giving solutions to customers” that satisfy their wardrobe needs. Macy’s continues to tweak its de-signer strategy for Impulse, and is currently in talks with several designers on future capsule collec-tions for this year and next, con-tinuing at a rate of about five a year, Reardon said.

Ferretti’s collection will be priced from $49 to $119 and will target Millennials, specifically women 26 to 29, though Reardon said someone who is 18 will be able to find a dress for a

prom or wedding, and several styles are appropriate for women in their 40s.

WWD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

CIT to Stop Approvals to Sears Again

TO E-MAIL REPORTERS AND EDITORS AT WWD, THE ADDRESS IS FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME@FAIRCHILDFASHION.COM, USING THE INDIVIDUAL’S NAME. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2012 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 203, NO. 21. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, October and December, and two additional issues in February, March, April, August, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For all request for reprints of articles please contact The YGS Group at condenast@theygsgroup.com, or call 800-501-9571. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

ON WWD.COM

Model Call: Martyna Frankow is preparing herself for the worst. The 19-year-old from Poland signed with IMG New York in October so the New York collections will be a first for her. For more, see WWD.com/eye.

THE BRIEFING BOXIN TODAY’S WWD

Martyna Frankow

Things keep going from bad to worse for Avon Products as more and more questions are being raised by analysts about the company’s management and its board. PAGE 1

Benetton is mulling a delisting of its shares on the Milan Stock Exchange. PAGE 1

Alberta Ferretti is the next designer creating a collection for Macy’s Impulse department. PAGE 2

Ralph Lauren went tweedy with his men’s suits for fall, while formalwear had the definite air of “Downton Abbey.” PAGE 4

The Consumer Confidence Index fell in January to 61.1, down from 64.8 in December. PAGE 6

President Obama sent a proposed legislative agenda to Congress aimed at accelerating small business growth through a series of tax cuts. PAGE 7

Jockey International is getting into shapewear via a licensing deal with Times Three, owner of Yummie Tummie. PAGE 7

Jeans marketers continued to branch out beyond the basics at the Bread & Butter and Premium trade shows. PAGE 8 ▼

Harper’s Bazaar is set to unveil its first redesign in a decade — and the look is cleaner. PAGE 9

Food titles soared in the recession — but now are coming back to Earth hard. PAGE 10

Condé Nast handed out its annual publishing awards. PAGE 11

Vogue’s Anna Wintour was ranked in the top tier of fund-raising “bundlers” for Obama’s reelection campaign. PAGE 12

By VICKI M. YOUNG

NEW YORK — It’s déjà vu for CIT Group Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp. as the commercial financing firm plans to stop approvals for vendors shipping to Sears starting today.

Several sources on Tuesday confirmed the conver-sations CIT has had with its vendors. A spokesman for Sears declined comment, while a spokesman for CIT said, “We do not comment on specific customers.”

According to sources, CIT could decide to check orders again if it is able to get the updated financial information it was seeking on Tuesday.

One source familiar with Sears’ business said the outstanding transactions involving vendors who get their financing from CIT has a value of less than $200 million. Sears car-ries an overall inventory value of between $8 billion and $10 billion, the source said.

Retail and financial sources said CIT is the only factor that has officially stopped approvals. A few others have let factored lines expire since they weren’t being used, said some factoring executives. These ex-ecutives declined to identify the factoring firms involved.

Shares of Sears fell 4.3 percent, or $1.89, to $42.14 in over-the-counter trading Tuesday as word of CIT’s plan leaked out on the same day the commercial lender posted fourth-quarter results.

CIT said fourth-quarter income for the three months ended Dec. 31 fell 59.3 percent to $33.9 mil-lion, or 17 cents a diluted share, from $83.2 million, or 41 cents, a year ago.

John A. Thain, chairman and chief executive officer, said in the conference call that the firm’s “credit metrics improved across the board.” He added that the factoring volume, which is referred to as CIT’s trade finance division, was up slightly for the quarter at $6.9 billion.

Scott T. Parker, chief financial officer, said dur-ing the call that CIT’s annual growth in factoring is 2 percent. “Overall, [trade finance] portfolio quality is solid, and we remain very disciplined and proac-tive with respect to managing our exposures,” he told Wall Street analysts.

The trade finance division posted $8.6 million in pretax income for the quarter, compared with $4.3 million in the year-ago quarter. That $8.6 million was down from the pretax income of $11 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. CIT said, “The se-quential decline is primarily due to lower factoring commissions and recoveries.”

Factors in general always want as much infor-mation as they can get to cut down on the risk to

their client accounts and consequently their own overall portfolios.

One factoring executive said recently he advised his client, who was about to cut an order for Sears, to wait to see if better terms could be had to cut the risk of late or even nonpayment should the situa-tion deteriorate. That’s even though Sears is cur-rently liquid. One factoring executive whose firm is still approving on a case-by-case basis said factors are pushing for specificity as much as they are for timely disclosure of financial information.

That drill-down in the financials isn’t without risk for Sears. Credit professionals can take the

information and do their own extrapolations to de-termine when a retailer’s luck could run out. With that information, trade financiers could target in advance when they might have to pull the plug on future orders, without necessarily giving the retail-er any advance notice even as the retailer is negoti-ating terms with its own lenders.

Retailers, even under a confidentiality agree-ment, prefer to control the information flow so they don’t get caught off guard and end up spiraling to-ward a bankruptcy filing.

So long as factors are approving orders and the time Sears has to pay vendors isn’t tightened, li-quidity shouldn’t be a problem as working capital cash flow isn’t likely to become impaired.

Grant Jordan, senior analyst for Wells Fargo Securities on the High Yield Research team, said in a research note earlier this month that if vendors tightened terms to 20 days, it would cost Sears $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion of increased cash for working capital (including domestic and Canada payables). “We believe the company has adequate liquidity to fund this need in the near term, but caution that a year of poor earnings and negative free cash flow could result in a cash crunch going into the holiday season in 2012,” he concluded.

EXCLUSIVE

Alberta Ferretti’s chiffon dress, jersey and lace top and lace pants for Macy’s.

Ferretti Designs Impulse Line for Macy’s

CORRECTION

Ted Grossman was the partner at Jones Day representing Macy’s Inc. in the lawsuit against Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. His quotes were incorrectly attributed to partner Robert Micheletto in a story on page 1, Tuesday.

Shares of Sears Holdings Corp. fell 4.3 percent on Tuesday.

the leadership series

Fairchild SummitS

2012

To aTTend: marne_friedman@fairchildfashion.com, 212.630.4379

To sponsor: kristin_mcfadden@fairchildfashion.com, 212.630.4425 For an updated list of speakers, visit WWD.com/Summits

WWD Digital Forum January 25, New York

men’s Wear summitMarch 29, New York

WWD Denim summitApril 18, Los Angeles

WWD Beauty Ceo summitMay 14-16, Palm Beach

FootWear neWs summitJune 4, New York

WWD Digital ForumSeptember 19, New York

WWD gloBal sourCing ForumOctober 2, New York

WWD apparel & retail Ceo summitOctober 29-30, New York

4 WWD wednesday, february 1, 2012

’’

’’

This was exciting 20 years ago and it’s

exciting today.—RALPH LAUREN

By JEAN E. PALMIERI

NEW YORK — The world of Ralph Lauren keeps getting bigger.From patchwork sweater jackets and muted paisley ties

to ribbed duffel bags and authentic small-scale replicas of the designer’s vaunted car collection, the fall offering has something for everyone.

“If there was a Hollywood of clothes, this would be it,” Lauren said during a walk-through of the latest collections at his Madison Avenue offices on Tuesday. The company’s myriad labels allow the man to “play any role you want. If you want to be a preppie, if you want to be a businessman on Wall Street, if you want to be a renegade in Utah. This is really about movies to me — and stories and details.”

The first story was Purple Label, the premium collection that took a leap forward this season with an updated silhouette with strong-shouldered jackets, slimmer pants and narrower lapels and a focus on what Lauren called the “country suit.”

“How do you stimulate the clothing business?” he asked. “All of men’s wear is about light suits and flat fabrics,” but Lauren took a different tack this time by focusing on beefier options such as tweeds. “The younger guy is tuning into that.”

“The bold pattern is new,” he said, and could be more subtle by using the patterns more sparingly. Jewel-toned dress shirts with semispread collars and slim ties also helped provide an updated look, with ties in more muted colors. His choice of fabric wasn’t as heavy as Harris Tweed, he said, but was softer and more malleable.

Purple Label formalwear also stepped out of the box with its plaid jackets and pants. “The tuxedo is very boring,” Lauren said. Celebrities believe that by opting for a shawl collar jacket and long black tie on top of the traditional white shirt, “they think that’s modern. But if you live in New York or internationally, this is an alternative to the tuxedo or dinner jacket. You look dressed up and it’s cool.”

Lauren said he expects this nontraditional formal option to appeal to young guys who “want a statement that is not ordinary but is very sophisticated and very classic.” He expects the look to take hold more easily outside the U.S. and appeal to the company’s customers in Europe, China and Russia. “America is slower to change,” he said, “and this has Old World charm.”

Even so, he said the popularity in the U.S. of PBS’ “Downton Abbey” may have an effect. “A lot of young girls are watching, so something is in the air,” Lauren said.

The Purple Label collection also featured a “sophisticated sportswear” component, which Lauren said was classically based and is targeted to the “Wall Street guy to wear on the weekends.” Here, the look centered on boldly colored cashmeres, knit jackets, dusty Fair Isle sweaters and supple leather jackets. The color palette focused on olive, worn with gray flannel trousers.

The Black Label collection continues to be a growth business for the company, Lauren said. The clothing here was “slim, shaped and simple

Polo By RalPh lauRen

Black laBel Denim

Black laBel Denim

For more rALPH LAUreN LooKS, See

WWD.com/men’s.

classic Ralph

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WWD.COM5WWD wednesday, february 1, 2012

— and racy,” he said. “Black Label is a sexy look. If Purple Label is an Aston Martin, this is a Ferrari.

It’s for the guy who wants body fit.”The color black continues to be the backbone

of the collection but pops of color such as flaming orange, electric blue and taxicab yellow livened up the subdued palette.

Black Label sportswear, while still heavy on jeans, also offered textured sweaters, distressed leathers and a splash of olive with

details that referenced motor sports and military influences.

“We’ve moved it more rugged,” he said. “It’s for his weekend and it’s sexier and cooler — very

fit.” Key pieces included a sweater jacket and a canvas trenchcoat with a leather belt, as

well as a distressed motorcycle jacket. Military influences and touches

of fur, both of which were also found on the runways at the recent men’s shows in Europe, were also part of the mix.

Turning to the flagship Polo collection, the extensive offering was cleaner and more elegant this season, and ranged from boldly patterned après-ski sweaters to natural shoulder clothing. The shapes of the suits were “very clear,” Lauren said, as was the audience — the preppie customer. Again, tweeds were prevalent, often with flat front trousers with cuffs.

Polo sportswear options were vast, everything from hunting jackets and patchwork patterned sweaters to cargo pants, plaid sport shirts and a distressed leather jacket with a shearling lining. “Polo roughwear is a big business for us,” he said.

RRL, as usual sectioned off into its own room where strains of Johnny Cash and Guy Clark filled the

air, mined vintage Western wear for its collection this

season. “It’s a mining town,” the designer said, pointing to the retro corduroys, jeans and accessories.

The RLX collection continues to have its roots in activewear and technology but “it’s an extension of fashion,” he said. Brightly colored puffer jackets, accessories, sweaters and hats can be worn on the slopes, but also with jeans around town on the weekends. “This is not being sold at ski shops,” he said. “I’ve always liked sportswear with function and the electric colors look great.”

Accessories is also a growing business for the company and Lauren showed off small leather goods that ranged from tote bags and duffels to briefcases and wallets. Much of the line was inspired by cars and some sport a visible RL logo in the center for the first time this season. And speaking of cars, the company has now branched out into a separate category offering 1:8 replicas of some of the models in the designer’s private auto collection — complete with all the dents and materials in the originals. This includes a fire-engine red Ferrari 250 GTO model with a retail price of $9,500.

“We’re building a whole world for the man,” Lauren said.

But it’s not a whole new world — at least not for the Ralph Lauren man.

“Young kids grow up and go to work and the old guy is happy with what he’s got,” he said. “This was exciting 20 years ago and it’s exciting today. It’s not about what they’re showing in magazines, it’s

about what they’re not showing. It’s not about what they can

wear down the runway, it’s about how to make a cool statement.”

Polo By RalPh lauRen

PuRPle laBel

Black laBel Denim

photos by george chinsee

classic Ralph

w01a004(5)a;5.indd 2 1/31/12 7:50 PM01312012195123

part of the organization as opposed to independent overseers of the company.”

On Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Dara Mohsenian wrote in a research note on Cramb’s firing: “We view this announcement as a negative, as it sug-gests that [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]/Regulation FD matters stretch to the upper levels of management at Avon — Cramb was cfo when the al-legations emerged, which clearly in-creases the level of risk at a company where there is already a lack of vis-ibility. However, this does further clear the decks of the prior management team…and is a potential indication that there could soon be a resolution to some of these matters.”

An Avon internal investigation into the bribery allegations began in June 2008, and the company has stated it voluntarily contacted the SEC and the U.S. Department of Justice, and con-tinues to cooperate with both agencies. In October, Avon received a subpoena from the SEC requesting documents and information in connection with an FD regulation investigation of the com-pany’s contacts and communications with certain financial analysts and other representatives of the financial community during 2010 and 2011.

A person familiar with the situation said Cramb’s connection to the investi-gation stems from comments he made about the bribery probe during a dinner in May hosted by Citi and attended by investors. Industry sources said Cramb also reportedly acknowledged he was not part of the hiring process to select Ross as his successor, which sparked speculation among some analysts that his six-year run at Avon may soon come to an end. Cramb was transferred from

the cfo post to his current role in March, when Avon reorganized its six com-mercial business units into two major business groups: the Developed Market Group and the Developing Market Group. The changes followed a disap-pointing fourth-quarter performance.

Avon has been shuffling its ranks for the better part of a year. Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. analyst Mark Astrachan noted that the beauty firm appointed four group heads in the last 12 months, re-ferring to the reoganization last March. The management realignment included the departure of Bennett Gallina, who was senior vice president, Western Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and China before being placed on administrative leave in connection with the bribery probe in China.

In May, Avon fired four employees in connection with the bribery probe: S.K. Kao, the former general manager for China; C.Q. Sun, the former head of corporate affairs for China; Jimmy Beh, the former head of finance for China, and Ian Rossetter, the former head of global internal audit and se-curity, who was previously head of fi-nance for Asia-Pacific.

Despite the wave of departures, some sources said Jung should ul-timately shoulder the blame for not keeping a tighter handle on the op-erations in China. In fact, in 2005, as part of a major management overhaul intended to “flatten the organization,” the head of China — then Gallina — re-ported directly to Jung and the chief operating officer, as did each of the commercial business units. The move was intended to give “management a clearer line of sight to day-to-day busi-ness operations and get closer to its representatives and customers.”

BEAUTY BEAT

Questions Surrounding Avon Increase

last year, compared with a high of 15 euros in 2006. Benetton warned Tuesday that its profits for 2011 would be more than 30 percent below the 2010 level, with forecast net profits of 70 million euros, or $91.8 million at current ex-change last year, compared with 102 million euros in 2010. Profits were hit by “significant increases” in raw mate-rial prices, the company said, predict-ing that profits in 2012 would remain under pressure.

“A delisting would mark a strong focus on business and the family’s en-gagement in expanding and developing the brand,” said Armando Branchini, deputy chairman of Milan luxury con-sultancy InterCorporate. “Shares never reflected the value of the company.

“It’s one more example of how list-ed companies such as Bulgari or Aeffe have been underestimated by the Italian Bourse, a financial market that is at times too provincial. It would be very convenient for the company to launch an offer now,” said Branchini, praising the financial experience, international vi-

sion and “no-frills and practical manage-ment skills” of executive deputy chair-man Alessandro Benetton. He is the son of Benetton’s founder, Luciano Benetton.

Stefano Corneliani, senior analyst at Intermonte SIM, said he was not surprised by Edizione’s decision. “It

was only a question of when, given the limited attention shares were getting on the market. They can bring back a major real estate asset, valued at about 1 billion euros [$1.31 billion], and its core business at a convenient price. The choices were either to spin off its real

estate or buy off the minority share-holders. They are opting for the latter,” said Corneliani.

Another Milan-based luxury goods analyst, who requested anonymity, dis-missed the consequences of Benetton’s delisting on the Milan Bourse for the Italian Stock Exchange, describing it as “a drop in the ocean. Although with dif-ferent volumes, Brunello Cucinelli plans to list in the spring and will replace Benetton. We shouldn’t read anything particular into this. Given the cosmic pessimism and Italy being under exam because of its debt, M&As become attrac-tive for anyone with liquidity.”

6 WWD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1 , 2012

Benetton Considers Delisting Shares{Continued from page one}

FOR CHINESE TELEVISION, there is an unwritten rule on celebrity fashion; namely, the make of the dress cannot be broadcast on air.

So during the award season in China, reports on the red carpet usually go, “So-and-so is wearing a red dress by a fa-mous international brand.”

What ensues is a guess-ing game by fashionistas and fans on the Internet as to who is wearing what. These guessing games are inevitably followed by the nastiest critique of celebrity on-air style. If the celebrity survives the aftermath,

some brands might issue a press release to claim the dress. Otherwise, everyone is simply silent.

The biggest TV show in China is the Chinese New Year’s Eve Gala by CCTV (Central China Television) with an aver-age audience level of 300 million each year. The Gala has been running now for almost 30 years, it’s a five-hour special, broadcast live from CCTV studios on New Year’s Eve. The biggest stars are invited to perform on the show, and it has a repu-

tation of making and break-ing careers due to massive viewership.

In recent years, celeb-rity fashion has become a major feature of the New Year’s Eve Gala. In 2010, Niu Li, an actress, wore a pink Prada coat during her performance. This created a run on the coat in Prada stores across China. Such positive influence on sales

by celebrity is very rare. This year’s Gala, which took place on January 22, is a more typical year in which neither brands nor celebrities came out as winners. Three international brands were spotted on the Gala stage:

Hu Ke, a TV anchorwoman, was seen wearing a little red dress from Valentino’s SS 2012 cruise collection.

Feng Shaofeng, a young upcoming actor, was seen wearing a sequined tuxedo identified on the Internet as a piece from Dolce & Gabbana’s 2011 FW collection.

Finally, Niu Li, the actress with the pink Prada coat, turned up again in pink, this time in a pink dress by Marc Jacobs 2012 cruise collection. Unfortunately, it did not make a big positive stir.

Unfortunately, fashionistas were not impressed with celebrity fashion for the 2012 Gala evening. Most dis-appointing was Fay Wang, a longtime fashion icon and pop singer. Not only did she sing out of tune but was also most unfashionably dressed.

Needless to say, no one could identify the make of her nondescript red dress and certainly no brand stepped forward to claim the booby prize for the evening.

BY HUANG HUNG

ChinaFile

Who Made That Dress?

PHOT

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IBER

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IMAG

ES

Benetton has a market capitalization of roughly $891.5 million.

{Continued from page one}

The biggest TV show in China is the Chinese New Year’s Eve Gala by CCTV with an average

audience level of 300 million each year.

A delisting would mark a strong focus on business and the family’s engagement in expanding and developing the brand.

— ARMANDO BRANCHINI, INTERCORPORATE

ChinaFile

AFTER TWO MONTHS of solid gains, the Consumer Confidence Index fell in January and is back to where it was in November 2011.

The index now stands at 61.1, down from 64.8 in December. Both compo-nents of the index saw declines. The Present Situations Index fell to 38.4 from 46.5, while the Expectations Index inched down to 76.2 from 77 last month.

Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said, “Consumer confidence re-treated in January, after large back-to-back gains in the final two months of 2011. Consumers’ assessment of current busi-ness and labor market conditions turned more downbeat and is back to November 2011 levels.…Recent increases in gasoline prices may have consumers feeling a little less confident this month.”

Respondents who said jobs in the current labor market were “plentiful” declined to 6.1 percent from 6.6 percent. Looking ahead, the outlook on the jobs front was slightly better. Those expect-ing more jobs over the next six months rose to 16.2 percent from 14 percent. According to IHS Global Insight’s senior principal economist Chris G. Christopher Jr., the increase to 16.2 percent repre-sents the highest reading since July.

The economist said, “Consumer con-fidence is still at recessionary levels.” He noted that payrolls were strong in December as additional couriers and mes-sengers were hired to help parcel firms for the growing online retail sales industry.

On the business front, both the cur-rent conditions segment and outlook ahead component showed declines. Those who said business conditions are “bad” increased to 38.7 percent from 33.5 percent, while those who expect business conditions to worsen rose to 15.1 percent from 13.4 percent. — VICKI M. YOUNG

Consumer Confidence Waivers in January

WWD.COM7WWD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Obama Puts Focus on Growth With Business Tax ProposalsWASHINGTON — President Obama sent a proposed legislative agenda to Congress on Tuesday aimed at acceler-ating start-up and small business growth through a series of tax cuts, making it easier for companies to go public and expanding access to new capital.

“One year ago today, I called for an all-hands-on-deck effort to ensure that America remains the best place on Earth to turn a great idea into a successful business,” Obama said. “The private sec-tor responded, with the Startup America Partnership launching new entrepre-neurial networks all across the country. Today, we’re taking new steps that build on that progress, and I urge Congress to send me a common-sense bipartisan bill that does even more to expand access to capital and cut taxes for America’s entre-preneurs and small businesses.”

The “Startup America Legislative Agenda” contains four tax breaks for small businesses and four proposals that will help expand access to capital, as well as a provision to address immigrant visa backlogs.

Congress will be tasked with crafting legislation and passing it. Republicans have been loathe to support many of Obama’s proposals and a highly polar-ized Congress could make the path dif-ficult for the package’s advancement.

Among the president’s top priorities in helping small companies and start-ups is a provision that would perma-nently eliminate the capital gains tax on key investments by small businesses.

The Obama administration is also seeking to create a 10 percent income tax

credit on new payroll for small businesses through either hiring or increased wages, and to permanently double the amount of start-up expenses that entrepreneurs can deduct from their taxes to $10,000 from $5,000. Another provision would extend for one year a 100 percent first-year de-preciation for qualified property that is operational before Jan. 1.

Obama’s proposed package in-cludes several provisions to make it easier for small companies and start-ups to make an initial public offering, as well as an expansion of a govern-ment small business investment pro-gram to $4 billion from $3 billion.

“It is a symbol of how important it is for us to spur entrepreneurship, to help start-ups, to move aggressively so that we can assure more companies that create the most jobs in our economy are getting a leg up from the various pro-grams that we have in our government,” Obama said Tuesday before a Cabinet meeting. “I mentioned at the State of the Union that there have been discus-sions, bipartisan discussions between Republicans and Democrats, about a whole set of measures that can accel-erate financing to start-up companies, can provide tax breaks to start-ups and small businesses that are interested in either hiring more workers or increas-ing their wages, that looks at innovative ways for them to raise capital. And my expectation and hope is that they will get a bill together quickly, that they will pass it and get it on my desk. I will sign it right away and I would like to see that bill signed this year.” — KRISTI ELLIS

JOCKEY INTERNATIONAL Inc. is getting into the shapewear business.

The company has signed a licensing agreement with Times Three Clothier LLC to develop a collection of shapewear bear-ing the Jockey name. The shapewear will be designed by Heather Thomson, founder and president of Times Three, which produces the contemporary Yummie Tummie shape-wear brand.

A multimillion-dollar national ad cam-paign will break Oct. 1 as shipments of Jockey shapers hit stores. The cam-paign will feature celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe endorsing the new Jockey launch, said Byron Norfleet, president of Jockey’s wholesale and do-mestic licensing businesses.

The licensing pact is de-scribed by Jockey and Times Three officials as a “true col-laboration” that will be un-derscored by a creative twist: Thomson will design and merchandise Jockey shapers, while Jockey will be the first and only company licensed to distribute Yummie Tummie’s patented three-panel control tops and shapers under the Jockey name.

Norfleet said the partnership will en-able Jockey to provide Yummie Tummie’s designs and innovation at affordable prices.

“The minute we reviewed the possibility of a partnership with Yummie Tummie it was clear that it was a course we wanted to pursue.…We’re going out with product that we know is already a success at retail,” ex-plained Norfleet. “We licensed the product from Yummie Tummie so we’ll be entering the shapewear market with products that

are superior to options available today, and we think it will be a significant business from the first delivery in late September for holiday selling, which is a very strong season for shapewear.”

Suggested retail will be $38 to $57 for Jockey shapers. Styles will include a ward-robe of shaping essentials such as tanks, shorts, briefs and slips available in black, nude, white, dark cherry and navy.

Kenosha, Wis.-based Jockey, a 136-year-old specialist of men’s and women’s under-

wear, sells its branded product to major department stores and national chains. Yummie Tummie, founded in 2008, sells its branded shapers and ready-to-wear to major specialty stores and high-end boutiques. Suggested retail prices aver-age $48 to $78.

Thomson called Jockey an American icon.

“We all grew up with Jockey so it is a thrill for me as a de-signer to collaborate with them to bring our shapewear industry knowledge and de-signs to their customers,” she said. “Jockey was really hun-gry to launch into shapewear. They’re a major player in un-

derwear and they’ve been looking to mod-ernize Jockey.…It’s kind of like kismet that we were meant to be together…this licens-ing deal is unique and is a collaboration through and through. Their involvement is key and my involvement is key.”

Regarding the ad campaign, Thomson said, “This is a trifecta with Rachel Zoe.”

Norfleet added that details are being planned for promotional in-store events for the launch. — KARYN MONGET

Jockey in Deal to Enter Shapewear

By ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

ON THE WAY OUT of Carolina Herrera’s runway show last season, Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo stopped Lorry Newhouse to find out whose dress she was wearing. “Mine,” Newhouse replied with a laugh.

That burnt taffeta navy dress is now one of the statement pieces in her debut signa-ture ready-to-wear collection. Classically trained as a painter at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Newhouse studied filmmaking at Yale University. While she has continued to paint over the years, the pursuit has been shelved for the time being since this new venture consumes all her time. Meant to evoke a sense of luxury that has been languishing, the elongated silhouettes were inspired in part by Norman Norell’s creations and

Thirties films, especially ones by director Ernst Lubitsch starring Jean Harlow.

“The fabrics are what I am really about — so they are glamorous, beautiful, tex-tured fabrics such as French brocades and Italian brocades,” said Newhouse, noting that most of the fabrics are sourced from New York-based resources and all of the items are made in Garment Center factories. “I want to support local manu-facturing and I want to keep the district alive. That was my inspiration after all. That is what started me in this business.”

Initially, Newhouse designed translu-cent tops meant to be layered under or over eveningwear by women who shied away from bare arms. That concept evolved into day-into-evening pieces, cocktail dresses and other types of eve-ningwear. “All of a sudden the shirt be-came a dress,” she said.

In addition to sequined evening gowns, the 35-style line includes pencil skirts, short jackets and the day-into-evening dresses. Newhouse is already at work on outerwear for next season. Tops (which can also be worn under dresses) retail from $295 to $495, and dresses and separates range in price from $595 to $1,000.

During an interview in her expan-sive, well-appointed Upper East Side apartment, Newhouse said becoming a fashion designer was not part of her grand plan, and it was certainly not something she envisioned as a Yale undergrad. But with two children that flew the coop years ago — her daughter Charlotte is a comedic ac-tress at The Groundlings Theatre & School in Los Angeles and son Jesse works at Condé Nast — Newhouse is focused on launching her collection with 15 better specialty stores this fall. Her Web site is getting an over-haul and will be relaunched in two weeks, with e-commerce expected to be added in a month or so.

Well entrenched in the fashion industry, such as the Newhouse family is given its publishing interests (which include WWD), the self-de-scribed “fledgling designer” is not trading on that. “I don’t have any expectations from my relationship to the business. Most people think I just get invited to shows just because my last name is Newhouse. I am not re-ally connected to the.…My husband [Mark], he’s on the newspaper side of the business. It’s his brother [Jonathan] who is involved with the fash-ion magazines,” she said.

As for her favorites on the fashion front, Newhouse cited Norell, vintage Balenciaga, Balmain and “people like Adrian, who de-signed for films and really changed the fash-ion industry. All of a sudden you weren’t just seeing fashion in a magazine, but you were seeing it in film. It was lit so beautifully and it was part of a story,” she said. “I would love to see more of that happening — not just fashion on the red carpet.”

But as far as her talents go, she knows where to draw the line. “After studying pat-ternmaking, I know I could never do it. To

be able to go down to 38th Street and get a pattern made, that’s wonderful,” she said.

In fact, it is the development of a collec-tion that intrigues Newhouse more so than the commercial potential. “I approach it as an artist approaches a painting or a film.…Am I going into this because I think it’s a great business model and I’m going to make a lot of money? No. If I can at least do this and break even, I will feel fine,” she said. “I would help support the Garment District and the garment industry, and be a part of it. I love being a part of it. I’m really into manufacturing and not so much the business side of it.”

Lorry Newhouse Launches Fashion Line

Lorry Newhouse

Two looks from Lorry Newhouse’s debut collection.

An item from the Jockey shapewear collection.

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Y KY

LE E

RICK

SEN

A day-into-evening dress.

A day-into-evening dress.

WWD.COMWWD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 20128

By NORMA QUINTO

BERLIN — Jeans brands continue to branch out from basics, hoping color will still drive the market while testing the waters with patterned and darker styles, trouser silhouettes and a concerted ef-fort to expand beyond bottoms with items like dresses and outerwear.

At the Bread & Butter and Premium trade shows held from Jan. 18 to 20, and at various freestanding exhibi-tions throughout the city, manufacturers dabbled with more stretch, even for nonskinny silhou-ettes, and lower-rise mod-els. A number promoted new items built around the theme of environmental sustainability. While euro zone and other continental European economic concerns created caution, both retailers and vendors agreed Berlin’s energy started the season on a good note.

Describing herself as ex-cited about fall trends, Sophie Bocquet, managing director for Citadium department stores in Paris, said, “Rust was the color this season. I found it in shoes, in dresses and in denim. I found great accessories and chambray shirts. Some trends, especially in men’s wear, were the same as last season but there were a lot of colors out there for fall, even for outerwear.” Her stores’ assortment includes Superdry, Fred Perry, Levi’s, Diesel and G-Star.

Andreas Feldenkirchen, the owner of the Feldenkirchen shops in Hamburg, said, “Denim for the next season will all be about authentic brands, treat-ments and washes. A clear trend for me is raw-unwashed as this is the origin [of denim].…If we buy heavy washes, they need to look just as if you had worn them in yourself with no artificial bleaching.”

Even at higher price points, value re-mains important to his customers. “Prices in our store are 149 to 700 euros [$194 to $912 at current exchange] with the core price bracket at 200 to 300 euros [$260 to $391]. Brands we are looking at are Edwin, Nudie, Big John, Double RL, Jean Shop, Rising Sun, 3x1, Levis Vintage.”

At Premium, Norihiro Hakamata, in-ternational sales director of Kuro Denim, commented, “We started with denim but we have a lot of requests for chi-

nos, which we are introducing this sea-son.” Gregor Jaspers, buyer for Maison de Bonneterie in Amsterdam, praised Kuro’s “amazing fit and lots of washes that our customers want.”

A spokesman for California’s Current/Elliott, also at Premium, said that the company’s printed jeans sold well, as did jeans in neon colors.

James Holder, brand and designer director for British brand Superdry, explained that its customer “wants constant newness, plus amazing quality and accessible prices.” To ad-dress that demand, Superdry offered “Powdered Denim Slims,” which, according to Holder, “start with a pair of dark blue jeans that are then bleached and painted over in different colors.”

Superdry plans to open its largest store to date, in-cluding a spa and beauty salon, in London in May. The Wind Cheat Jacket, which has performed well despite a lack of cold weather, is being ex-tended for 2012 with new colors and more tapered women’s models.

Alternatives to jeans and denim continued to play an important role for many of the denim brands repre-sented. Amsterdam’s Denham hosted a

private gala outside Bread & Butter to launch its new women’s collec-tion, replete with a number of standout jacket models, such as one of cavalry cot-ton twill.

Italy’s woes were on the minds of many at the shows, given its prevalence in the denim and streetwear markets, although Bread & Butter organizers con-sidered the dip in buyers from Italy and two other troubled European markets, Spain and Greece, within the range of their expectations.

“Business is pretty much the same as last season,” said Christiano Sturniolo, marketing and communications director for Liu Jo, an Italian resource special-izing in skinny jeans. “From ‘bunga-bun-ga’ [the parties associated with former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi] to Costa Concordia, this has been the worst year for Italy, and I’m very sad to see Italy portrayed in such a way.”

Though Liu Jo’s overall sales have been growing, Sturniolo believes the situ-

ation is difficult, especially in the brand’s home — and largest — market. “Our fig-ures are good: 250 million euros [$330.3 million] in sales, 10 million more than last year, but we think that Italy will affect the consumer’s approach to the market and we are a little scared about this. Still, China looks very good for us. We plan to open five more stores there this year.”

The technicians at denim fabric specialist ISKO used the latest in tech-nology to collaborate with Haikure, a brand focused on sustainability. There were also denim collaborations with Dondup and Aeronautica Militare fo-cusing on treatments geared for low environmental impact.

Guess Inc. fielded large numbers of retailers at both trade shows, and Paul Marciano, vice chairman and chief ex-ecutive officer, said he was pleased to be showing at both Premium and Bread & Butter. “We continue to expand our busi-ness for the simple reason that we have our own retail operation, being in a total of 90 countries around the globe. We have always been in the business of jeans but denim is only 40 percent of our business,” he pointed out. “We started with Guess Jeans, but now we are a lifestyle brand.”

Nonetheless, Marciano said that the business of denim is not retracting but expanding. From a price standpoint, “We have been sitting in the middle [of the market] for 30 years and we are comfort-able here. Unfortunately, in the U.S. we saw massive markdowns [during holiday] that we have never seen before. This af-

fects the brand and affects the business and we see Europe as a challenge, especially Italy, which is more affected than any other country. They are facing the real-ity of the credit crisis and buyers are uncertain.”

Still, Rino Castiglione, vice president of the jeanswear di-vision at Guess, added, “Even with the euro crisis, we have grown 15 percent this season.”

“This was a tough winter,” said Petri Herpio, chairman of Helsinki’s MPH Retail, which carries brands such as Guess, Calvin Klein, Liu Jo and Nike. “We were stuck with product. It was dark and wet, and people stayed home; they did not want to go out.”

However, this provided op-portunity online: “In the end our e-commerce almost doubled from last year,” he reported.

Hauke Petersen, buyer for Germany’s ID Sievers, faced similar challenges: “Last sea-son was difficult because we had no winter as we hoped for. We were stuck with knits that were too thick and some down jack-ets, but denim and chinos were OK. This season we are looking for new trends, but they’ve been difficult to find because many brands are showing the same as last season.”

Ahmed Dahbour of Salam — a chain of luxury department stores with locations in Qatar; Dubai; Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, and Muscat, Oman — shopped Bread & Butter “looking for strong denim brands for our new Salam Denim concept shop. We are a 60-year-old retail business and we want to satisfy our younger, third generation. We already have brands such as Hugo Boss, Seven For All Mankind, Citizen

and Diesel, and we are trying to keep a balance of EU and U.S. brands.”

Frank Belochi, senior vice president of Tommy Hilfiger, noted that fiscal uncer-tainty had made his firm’s presence at the show more important. “The economically challenging situation makes people cau-tious and they want to come in and talk in person to get [a sense of] security, to share their concerns and their ideas,” he said. “We are well perceived as a sports-wear brand in a denim environment and buyers are looking for safety.”

He also noticed a more open atti-tude among buyers about sustainabil-ity. “People are more receptive to buy a product that is helping the environment. We’re not really talking about this yet, but we are trying to get there by using less chemicals and less water,” he said.

Despite what he perceived as a lack of American buyers, Gordon Giers, co-man-aging director of Hamburg-based denim and sportswear brand Closed, felt Bread & Butter “was really, really good,” with his space at the show “under siege” on its first two days.

Although he characterized denim as “doing well,” with dark denim making a comeback and colored versions of the fabric performing, he sensed a shift away from chinos, which “have become a bit old, and the update is wool. One new de-velopment is garment-dyed wool, for both men and women.

“I think fall will be good, and winter fine,” he said, “but these days, you have to work for your money.”

Berlin Fairs Stress Newness In and Out of Denim denim

Denham moves beyond denim.

Guess

Superdry

A REDESIGN TO REENERGIZE

Harper’s Bazaar Unveils New Look

WWDSTYLE WWD

PHOTOS BY YUKIE KASUGA

Such was the recent sartorial call in Tokyo at an event hosted by

Japanese fashion house Mark-Styler. Guests

piled on the prints and accessories — with nary

a beret, bow, bag or bauble left behind.

See page 12

The More, The Merrier

THEY ARE WEARING®

By AMY WICKS

GLENDA BAILEY clutched the magazine close to her chest, like a Giants run-

ning back about to charge the Patriots’ defensive line. It was

the fi rst copy of the fi rst redesign of Harper’s Bazaar in a decade, and she was understandably possessive of it.

“Let’s wait a minute,” said Bazaar’s edi-tor in chief, taking a seat in an otherwise empty conference room on the 16th fl oor of Hearst Tower. “I just returned from the col-lections. How are you?”

The March issue fi nally lands on the table and it’s the cover that subscribers will re-ceive. It shows a leggy blonde, wearing a skin-baring, long black dress from relatively new designer Anthony Vaccarello. Her long, wavy hair is covering her face. Is that a model?

“It’s Gwyneth Paltrow,” Bailey pro-claimed. “It’s a very daring thing to do, where you don’t immediately see her face.” Bailey added, “As you know, I was the fi rst to develop this two-cover approach.”

Here’s how the new Harper’s Bazaar can be summed up: it’s like the party guest who you recognize when she enters the room, but you know she’s had work done — a lot of work.

The magazine is larger by one inch, the paper quality is noticeably thicker and there is new cover typography. Inside the issue, the pages look less cluttered and thrown togeth-er, with more white space, while sections are more tightly edited. So far, there’s less celebrity and the related popcorn stories that can come with that. But in some ways, it still feels like the old Harper’s Bazaar. The black logo is the same. The emphasis is still on high fashion.

“It’s going to take a while to get through it,” Bailey said with some pride, paging through all the advertisements in the front of the book. “It’s up 15.5 percent in ad pages, you know. We’re going to be here for a while.”

These are the results of new publisher Carol Smith, who has called March her fi rst issue even though she joined last May. The turnaround in March ad pages is signifi cant. The prior year, ad pages fell 12 percent, to 235. New advertisers include Tom Ford Fashion, Hervé Léger, David Webb, Alberta Ferretti, Alexis Bittar, RéVive, Nexxus and Lucky Brand.

MEDIAWWDST

YLE

The March cover of Harper’s Bazaar.

RED HEARTS: Rose McGowan will be among the leading ladies at the 10th The Heart Truth Red Dress fashion show. PAGE 10

{Continued on page 10}

But while the redesign gives Smith and Bailey a new tale to tell, Bazaar still has a lot of ground to make up — it remains the fourth fashion title in terms of ad pages, behind Vogue, InStyle and Elle.

Bailey landed on the first new section, “The List.” Almost every new section starts with the word “the.”

“This is the ultimate list of things to be aware of this month,” Bailey said. Paltrow has also produced a list of her own, “The A List.” Next up, the first of several “exclusives,” in the issue, beginning with a bracelet from Cartier that was originally designed by the brand in the Seventies. Editors at the magazine had been asking about it for years and it’s been reis-sued. “It really will be the must-have piece,” she said.

A few more tidbits from the issue: Derek Blasberg’s “Best-Dressed List,” an online feature, has become a monthly magazine column. Another story covers 24 hours with Tom Ford. He woke up at 4:30 a.m., took four baths and ate two doughnuts. The beauty section has been expanded, from four pages to 10 in every issue. Bailey has introduced a monthly travel section, “The Escape.” She plans to report on more news every month, to include the latest on art, film, books and trends. And she has kept the monthly feature “Fabulous at Every Age.” Bailey has even ex-panded upon it, in the beauty section.

Terry Richardson, a longtime contributor, photo-graphed Paltrow for the cover. Karl Lagerfeld, Dan Jackson and Karim Sadli also shot features in the issue. Artist Liu Bolin painted designers including Alber Elbaz and Angela Missoni. “I just saw Alber

and he told me there is still paint on his glasses,” Bailey added.

Mark Halperin and John Heilemann wrote a piece about Sarah Palin, pegged to the HBO movie of “Game Change,” based on their book. Lisa DePaulo has a piece about Stephanie Mack, the daughter-in-law of Bernie Madoff, while Vicky Ward wrote about Bernard-Henri Lévy.

When plans for the redesign were revealed in November, many observers were surprised to hear Robin Derrick, former creative director of British Vogue, was hired to consult. He ended up spend-ing about a month on the project, not just working on the magazine but also on all of Bazaar’s social media. Later this year, the magazine will launch e-commerce — the latest move in the ongoing trans-formation of magazines from merely editorial and advertising vehicles to brands that literally sell the products they cover. “We’ve started to redesign on-line and we will see that continue,” Bailey added.

She said the new design approach can be summed in one sentence: “It is Ditto Caps, Ditto Italics and also an introduction of Gotham,” she said, talking typogra-phy and taking the magazine back into her hands.

A reporter asked if she could take the issue with her. Bailey replied: “I wish you could but I’m afraid you can’t. These are extremely rare. The team hasn’t even got a copy yet.”

With that, Bailey took hold of the issue and headed to the elevator. The fashion world will have to wait until it hits newsstands on Feb. 14 to see the new look.

10 WWD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Food Advertisers Cinching Belts

Harper’s Bazaar Redesigns{Continued from page 9}

By JOHN KOBLIN

IN 2009, WHEN THE luxury market crashed and magazines were averaging 25 percent ad page declines, there was one part of the magazine world that looked rel-atively stable: food. That year, automotive ads dropped at a 41 percent clip, retail and accessories both fell 30 percent, but food and food product advertising declined a mere 5 percent. Food Network Magazine began publishing regularly — and quickly became one of the industry’s biggest suc-cess stories. It seemed that maybe food wasn’t such a bad business to be in.

Two years later, the story is different. Luxury advertising is holding together just fine, and the group of advertisers that have pulled out their ads faster than any-one else turned out to be — sure enough — the foodies. According to the Publishers Information Bureau, food and food prod-uct advertising in magazines dropped 17 percent in 2011, a larger decline than any other advertising group (for example: finan-cial, insurance and real estate went up 13 percent, accessories went up 6 percent and cosmetics was up 4 percent).

Almost every food magazine took a hit in 2011: Everyday Food and Every Day with Rachael Ray each dropped 21 per-cent; Cooking Light was down 14 percent; Saveur, 7 percent; Bon Appétit, 5 per-

cent, and Food and Wine, 3 percent. Food Network Magazine, one of the few bright spots, had a 12 percent gain.

So what happened in the food world? Bon Appétit publisher Pamela Drucker

Mann said the industry went through a “food bubble” a few years ago. “The reces-sion hit, and luxury buyers were like, ‘Oooh, I am going to start squirreling away,’” she said. “There was this fear of things falling apart and food was the safe haven.”

The commodities market was doing great, the country was getting increas-ingly foodie-obsessed, and “ad pages were thriving,” said Drucker Mann.

“And then fast forward to now and the food bubble has — well, I was going to say popped, but things have shifted since then,” she said. “Now, commodities are really stretched and the first thing to go for food companies is advertising.”

Patrick Taylor, a spokesman for Meredith, the publisher that bought Every Day with Rachael Ray and EatingWell in 2011, and recently bought allrecipes.com for $175 million, agreed that food market-ing has dwindled thanks to “a steep rise in commodity pricing that curtailed market-ers and consumer spending in general.”

Also, food can just be sort of inconsistent.“Food can sometimes be like the auto

world — it’s about launches and new products,” said Jay Meyer, the associate publisher of Food and Wine, which makes for unpredictable business. Meyer said that Food and Wine has a diverse ad base, which includes travel, automotive and wine and spirits, and hasn’t been hit that hard by the drop in food page ads.

But there’s a consumer piece to it as well — and with a jittery consumer spirit still out there, it’s not entirely clear how food magazines will fare in 2012.

“The middle class has been squeezed 100 percent during this version of the recession,” added Drucker Mann. “So now it’s the other way around. Luxury con-sumers are spending and they are driving the marketplace on the high level and the middle class is being squeezed, and that’s heavily affecting the level of spending that’s happening.”

Since Bon Appétit got a fancy redesign in May 2011, Drucker Mann has been hard at work at diversifying her ad base. As food products continue to be an unreliable place to turn, she and editor in chief Adam Rapoport have been quickly re-positioning the magazine as a lifestyle and culture food maga-zine. She said that 80 percent of new advertisers in 2011 came from luxury or lifestyle and only 20 percent came from food.

Rapoport’s newsstand results have seen good early returns: Since the redesign in May, newsstand for the book is up 12 per-cent through January, an accomplishment that not a lot of magazines can claim these days. While Bon Appétit’s ad pages fell 5 percent in 2011 and dropped 3 percent post-redesign — a noticeable missed op-portunity since it was a redesign year, which should translate into a solid ad page bump — Drucker Mann is bullish on the title and guaranteed it would have a first-quarter ad-page gain year-over-year.

“Bon Appétit is to Vanity Fair what Food Network Magazine is to People Magazine,” said Drucker Mann, making a familiar pitch that uses the words “Vanity Fair.” “They’re the People, we’re the Vanity Fair or the Vogue. We reach a very specific af-fluent consumer and our edit is specifi-cally about the sexiness of food and culture. Food Network, just like People, is reaching the masses and it’s reaching the everyday person. That’s why we’re both doing so well when everyone else is in this diluted state. Everyone is fighting for this same kind of business, and there’s just a much smaller pie of that food business to go around.”

Which leads us to Food Network Magazine. The magazine is less than four years old, but its success is a standout in the entire magazine industry. While food magazines suffered losses nearly across-the-board, the Hearst-Scripps joint project not only saw a 12 percent ad page gain but

publisher Vicki Wellington said it picked up 15 percent on the newsstand last year.

“We just had our second rate base an-nouncement, just for 2012, and it’s sev-enth since we started 26 issues ago,” said Wellington. “We announced 1.45 million but the truth is we’re delivering like 1.58 [million]. The story is just rock solid from the consumer perspective and we’re just rocking it out on newsstand. That’s not a food story, that’s just a consumer story.”

As for the belt-tightening among food companies, she wouldn’t bite.

“Honestly I’m not seeing that or expe-riencing that,” Wellington said. “With a brand like this that’s so strong and you’re a food advertiser, you’re going to be here — even if you’re not going to be at other places, you’re going to be here.”

And what did Wellington think about being compared to People Magazine? Did we just — dare we say it — step into a food fight?

“I think it would be great to be like People Magazine — they’re one of the most successful magazines ever,” she said. “If you look at the newsstand numbers, and I’m just looking here at the numbers for 2011 — take our December issue. Projected to sell 450,000 copies on the newsstand. And you’ve got Bon Ap selling 95,000. We’re talking David and Goliath. There is no com-parison. Food Network Magazine sells more newsstand than the combination of a lot of those magazines put together.”

MEDIA

WWDSTYLE

“The List” from Harper’s Bazaar.

With a brand like this that’s so strong and you’re a food advertiser, you’re going to be here.— VICKI WELLINGTON,

FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE

The cover of Bon Appétit’s February issue.

Food Network Magazine has avoided the food ad slump.

11WWD, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

For more career opportunities log on to WWDCareers.com.

(800) 423-3314, or email fpclassified@fairchildpub.com

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLEProfessional with 8-10 years experi-ence required. Excellent relationshipswith major department stores andluxury retailers. Must be experiencedwith chargeback analysis, collectioncalls and credit management.

Email: csmith@yigal-azrouel.com

ASSISTANT DESIGNERSeeking experienced and well organizedasst designer for leading manufacturerof social occasion dresses. Must be ex-perienced w/sample room, computerliterate, communicate with factories offshore, able to work in fast-paced designroom and have knowledge of garmentconstruction and consumption. Candi-date must be motivated, creative, ableto multi-task and work well within thedesign team to meet deadlines. Emailresume and salary history in confi-dence to: design.assistant@gmail.com

GRAPHIC T-SHIRT DESIGNERGraphic Designer for Tween Lic. andattitude T- shirts. Excellent skills andcreativity a must.Send resume to hrhired@yahoo.com

QUALITY CONTROLWell known Special Occasion DressMfr with locations in NY/NJ seekingexp Quality Control Person to imple-ment procedures and ensure thatstandards are met on all factory-shipped products. Tech expertise inwomen’s apparel garment specs;Bi-lingual (Chinese preferred); Min 5years experience required.

Fax Resume to 212-302-9325

SALES ASSISTANTLegwear company is currently seekinga dynamic Sales Assistant. Must becreative, organized and a self starter!!Fashion Sales and customer service re-quired. Great opportunity and growthpotential for the right candidate.

Please send resume toLegwearsales@gmail.com.We will reply to all resumes.

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Trendy estab’d women’s contemporaryshowroom seeks experienced salesperson with 2+ years exp in women’scontemporary market. A strong spe-cialty store following for east coast ter-ritory is req’d. Must be energetic, wellorganized and able to multitask & have apassion for sales. We seek a strongwork ethic and ability to travel for oc-casional road sales. Strong follow upskills are necessary to become a part ofthis expanding company and greatworking environment. Email resumeand CL to: rose@dmashowroom.com

SALESPERSONWomen’s Moderate Sweater, Knit andBlouse Company Seeking an Experi-enced/Pro Sales Person with currentconnections to major department andspecialty stores. Must be a team player,organized, highly motivated. Pleaseemail resume to: cthemax@verizon.net

FRAGRANCE SALESMadison Avenue

BRITISH luxury brand seeking FT/PTPERFUME and COSMETIC salesprofessional for MAD AVE retail store.Competitive salary and benefits. Highend retail exp on Mad Ave A+

Send CV to: recruit@acingltd.com

AND THE WINNERS ARE…: Condé Nast chief executive officer Charles Townsend handed out awards Tuesday night at the Michelle Bernstein restaurant in Palm Beach, Fla., at the company’s annual publishers’ meeting. Susan Plagemann was named publisher of the year, after Vogue saw a 9 percent uptick in ad pages in 2011. Plagemann has been earning good reviews from her bosses in her brief tenure at Condé (she left Marie Claire in 2009 to join Vogue) and won the peak performance award last year.

Fairchild Fashion Media’s Gina Sanders won executive of the year, and New Yorker publisher Lisa Hughes and editor David Remnick won the collaborative leadership award. Publisher Giulio Capua won the business turnaround award after Architectural Digest finished the year with a 9 percent ad-page gain, and its January AD 100 issue was up 116 percent, according to Media Industry Newsletter (January is the final month of the 2011 fiscal year at Condé Nast).

Plagemann’s team at Vogue took first place in the outstanding business performance award, while the business side at Vanity Fair took second place — 2011 was Vanity Fair’s most profitable year ever — and Howard Mittman’s team at Wired finished third a year after it took first place.

In other Condé Nast news, a source told WWD that publishing director Bill Wackermann will no longer oversee Bon Appétit, just two months after he dropped his oversight of Brides. It appears the publishing director job at Condé Nast just keeps shrinking now that Wackermann oversees only Glamour, where he is expected to spend the vast bulk of his time as it prepares a March redesign to make up for a 7 percent ad-page drop in 2011 (its March issue saw a 9 percent gain). — JOHN KOBLIN

FULL FORCE: Alexander Wang’s new spring campaigns reflect the speed and adrenaline that also defined the season for him. For his ready-to-

wear ads, he worked with director and visual effects pro James Lima on a collection video in CG animation. It features Liya Kebede in a dreamlike car race set to an exclusive version of Azealia Banks’ tune “212.” “We really just wanted to try something different this season, and be a little bit more experimental,” Wang said.

His T by Alexander Wang campaign was shot by Dan Jackson, and ubercool South African hip-hop band Die Antwoord was flown in to appear in the images and two videos; a behind-the-scenes clip and the official campaign with “Fatty Boom Boom” from Die Antwoord’s new album “Ten$ion” playing. Later this month, MTV will put both videos in rotation on “120 Minutes.” “I am part of a generation that grew up with MTV, and obviously with music, and having it all work together made it a really fun project,” Wang said. — MARC KARIMZADEH

KENNETH’S NEW CMO: Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. tapped Amy Choyne as chief marketing officer. Before, she was executive director of marketing at Anthropologie, and, prior to that, held senior marketing roles at Giorgio Armani, A|X Armani Exchange, Limited Brands and Barneys New York. At Kenneth Cole, she will oversee such areas as marketing, media, public relations, creative services and account management. She is succeeding Kristen Dykstra, who joined the Ann Taylor division of Ann Inc. as senior vice president of brand marketing last year. Choyne, who starts Wednesday, will report directly to chief executive officer Paul Blum. — M.K.

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The fall season has already arrived at Armani Collezioni,

where Giorgio Armani focused

on sophisticated, functional daywear.

Slim, elongated silhouettes were

balanced by more cozy shapes, such as a wool bouclé coat

and voluminous printed silk dresses.

ARMANI COLLEZIONI

MEMO PAD

The T by Alexander Wang campaign.

FOR MORE IMAGES, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

Fall 2012COLLECTIONS

ANNA’S BIG BUNDLE: Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour was ranked in the top tier of fund-raising “bundlers” for President Obama, raising more than $500,000 for his re-election campaign, according to the campaign’s list of top fund-raisers released Tuesday. Wintour, who has hosted fund-raising events for Obama at her private residence, was in good company. Hollywood media moguls Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Katzenberg were also top fund-raisers, as was Sally Susman, executive vice president for policy for external affairs and communications at Pfizer Inc. In all, 61 people raised at least $500,000 for the Obama for America and Obama Victory Fund 2012 political action committees to help Obama clinch a second term in the White House. More than 440 fund-raisers collected at least $75 million, according to reports. — KRISTI ELLIS

LAYOFFS AT UNGARO: French fashion brand Emanuel Ungaro has remained tight-lipped about its ongoing reorganization, but WWD has learned that at least 22 people will be laid off under the plan, which could also involve the sale of Ungaro’s flagship store on Avenue Montaigne. Members of the Chambre Syndicale, French fashion’s governing body, were informed by letter that 22 staff members, ranging from seamstresses to accountants, were looking for new positions. Ungaro is said to be considering offers for the flagship, although no final decision has been made.

Retailers were informed in January that the brand would not be able to deliver its spring collection and would not present a collection for fall, prompting speculation that it might be reduced to a licensing operation. Entrepreneur Asim Abdullah, who acquired the brand from Salvatore Ferragamo in 2005, confirmed the reorganization but declined to comment on specific measures. Officials at Ungaro have yet to comment on the reported departure of chief executive officer Jeffry Aronsson in December.

— JOELLE DIDERICH

RENTAL POP-UP: Los Angeles women can use Rent the Runway virtually, but for a short time they’ll be able to use the dress and accessory rental service in person as well. Rent the Runway is opening its first pop-up shop at the Andaz West Hollywood hotel from Feb. 11 to 13. The temporary shop will offer a limited selection of Rent the Runway’s more than 25,000 dresses from 150 designers, and among the brands participating are Nicole Miller, Badgley Mischka, Milly, Trina Turk and Robert Rodriguez. In Los Angeles, where Rent the Runway doesn’t yet provide same-day delivery, the shop will offer local customers instant gratification for their Valentine’s Day outfits. Rent the Runway is selling tickets to the pop-up through Gilt City for $10. For Rent the Runway, the goal is for the fleeting shop to build brand awareness in Los Angeles, where the company doesn’t currently have operations on the ground. — RACHEL BROWN

GAMES OF CHANCE: On Monday night, Coach turned the ballroom at The Jane Hotel in Manhattan into a makeshift gambling den to toast its recent collaboration on a line of men’s accessories with the London-born, Brooklyn-based artist Hugo Guinness. A host of editorial and fashion types showed up to partake in roulette or blackjack or, in true Vegas form, just a

drink or two on the house. In the center of the room a man sculpted a large tower of cards. Another hired specialist worked the party, jacket sleeves at his forearms, performing card tricks.

“Well, funny enough, I have lots of sort of addictions, but gambling is not one of them,” said the bespectacled Guinness, taking a break from a chat with the art historian John Richardson. “Weirdly. I enjoy it in small amounts, but it’s not a problem.”

Upon entry, party guests were handed a handful of Guinness-illustrated “Coach bucks” and encouraged to hit the tables. The fake currency featured the artist’s self portrait in the place of a president or head of state.

“I mean, it wasn’t really a problem for me,” Guinness said of his fashion collaboration. “I think all artists should put all their things everywhere. I mean why not?” — MATTHEW LYNCH

POM WONDERFUL: Monday night’s Rodeo Drive cocktail party was the latest in a string of events Italian jewelry house Pomellato has sponsored for actress Tilda Swinton, who said, “I’m the hands and neck [of the brand]. They make really rocking rocks. If I could afford them, I’d buy these things. I’m very lucky to be lent them.” Last week, the brand sponsored an art show for Swinton’s beau Sandro Kopp, as well as several screenings of her film “We Need To Talk About Kevin,” for which she received a SAG Award nomination. Joining Swinton was fellow SAG nominee Allison Janney, who said, “I’ve been a fan from afar. I like the beautiful stones and the simplicity of the setting. And Rodeo Drive is the mecca of shopping. This is the perfect place for them to land.” Jennifer Tilly was also excited about the store, calling it, “another place to leave my money.” Also in the mix were Kathleen Robertson, Jessica Lowndes, Rachael Harris, Daphne Zuniga and lone male Danny Huston, who said, “Anything to do with Tilda Swinton and beautiful jewelry that shines and twinkles in the night catches my owlish attention.”

— MARCY MEDINA

A NEW RED: The Heart Truth Red Dress fashion show’s 10th anniversary will feature the likes of “Dynasty” maven Linda Evans, Entertainment Tonight’s Nancy O’Dell, Chaka Khan and Christie Brinkley. “The Millionaire Matchmaker” Patti Stanger will also be on the runway when the lights go down on Feb. 8 at the Hammerstein Ballroom. As of Tuesday, organizers were talking up Rose McGowan, Rebecca Romijn and Jenna Elfman as a few of the leading ladies. McGowan will

wear a dress by Donna Karan, Romijn is going with one from Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig and Elfman will don a red number by Alberta Ferretti. This year’s New York-themed event will be held off-site for the first time.

— ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

BONOBOS NAMES CREATIVE HEAD: Online men’s retailer Bonobos has hired Sandra Hill as vice-president of creative design, reporting to chief executive officer and co-founder Andy Dunn. She was previously creative and design director for women’s wear at Paul Smith and will relocate to New York from London. Earlier in her career, Hill was a senior designer at Alberta Ferretti. At Bonobos, she will oversee all creative design and art direction in the development of Bonobos product, new brands and sub-brand concepts. — DAVID LIPKE

12 WWD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

THEY ARE WEARING

®

Totally TokyoWhen Japanese firm Mark-Styler unveiled the spring collections of its various labels (Mercury Duo, Emoda, Ungrid, Laguna Moon), Tokyo’s fashion lovers came out in droves. So did the fur coats, animal motifs and patterned stockings.

— Amanda Kaiser

PHOTOS BY YUKIE KASUGA

FASHION SCOOPS

FOR MORE PHOTOS, SEE

WWD.com/eye.

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Rose McGowan