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Lacquer UpChristian Louboutin adds the lip lacquer Loubilaque to his growing beauty category. PAGE 11

Bigger BenMarquee Brands outlines growth plans for Ben Sherman. PAGE 12

Fashion. Beauty. Business.

● The retailer’s geographic diversity is an advantage over competitors.

BY DAVID MOIN

Hudson’s Bay Co. is feeling the costs of transformation.

The retailer, pulled down primarily by rent associated with new real estate joint ventures and restructuring charges, dou-bled its net loss for the quarter ended April 30 to 97 million Canadian dollars, or $76.3 million, from 49 million Canadian dollars, or $38.5 million, in the year-ago period.

However, the Toronto-based retailer maintained its sales and earnings guidance for the year and said the impact of rents would be less in the second half of the year due to the seasonality of the busi-ness. Compared to the first two quarters of the year, the third and fourth quarters generate far greater revenues, which will help offset the rent impact. Several other

RETAIL

Hudson’s Bay Co. Net Hurt By Rent, Performance Guidance Upheld

CONTINUED ON PG.13

Edgy versus elegant, romantic versus street-smart, hard versus soft. Riccardo Tisci’s resort collection for Givenchy was a study in contrasts — and how well they play together, as in this pairing of a cream tulle-overlaid coat with black leather overalls. For more resort, see pages 7 through 10.

FASHION

Opposites Attract

● The designer business is relaunching and building a team of employees in Hong Kong.

BY AMANDA KAISER

HONG KONG — Vivian Chou, who bought a controlling stake in Thakoon Corp. last year, is preparing to relaunch the business as a see-now-buy-now proposition with a SoHo flagship and a New York runway show slated for September.

Chou is planning to position the label, designed and founded by Thai-born Tha-koon Panichgul, as a high-end sportswear brand sold exclusively through the New York flagship and its directly operated e-commerce site, said a person familiar with the company’s strategic plan, who requested anonymity. Accessories and limited-edition products are expected to figure in the merchandising mix.

Spokesmen for the Chou-backed venture with Thakoon did not respond to requests for comment.

Chou is the daughter of Hong Kong mogul Silas Chou, chief executive officer of the fam-ily business Novel Holdings, and former investor in Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors. It is understood that Vivian Chou is looking to replicate her father’s

FASHION

Thakoon Plans September Runway Show, SoHo Flagship

CONTINUED ON PG.13

London TimeDespite some designer absences, organizers of London Collections: Men stay positive. PAGE 4

ISSUE: July 13CLOSE: June 29

MATERIALS: July 4

NYFW: Men’s PreviewISSUE: June 15CLOSE: June 1

MATERIALS: June 6

Milan Preview

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

Men’s Fashion WeeksAn Advertising Opportunity

10 JUNE 2016 3

● The Italian eyewear giant said brand has been using its classic mark without permission.

BY EVAN CLARK

Luxottica Group is taking BCBG Max Azria Group to court to defend its Wayfarer business.

The trademark infringement suit, filed this week in Los Angeles federal court, alleges that BCBG has been, without permission, “reproducing, copying, or colorably imitating the [Wayfarer trade-mark] and applying such reproductions, copies or colorable imitations to merchan-dise, labels, signs, packages, receptacles or advertisements intended to be used in commerce.”

Luxottica acquired Ray-Ban and the Wayfarer trademark in 1999 and has sought to bring out more of its rock ‘n’ roll vibe and also allowed customers to personalize the look.

The sunglasses line, which Bausch & Lomb Optical Company secured a trade-mark for in 1954, has appealed to succes-sive generations, worn by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in “The Blues Brothers” and

Tom Cruise in “Risky Business.”BCBG representatives were not avail-

able to comment Thursday, but a search of Amazon.com found styles such as “BCBGMaxazria Women’s B853 Wayfarer Sunglasses” for $79 and “BCBGMaxazria Women’s Date Night Wayfarer Sunglasses” for $132.

“Over the years Luxottica has invested a considerable amount of time and money in establishing the [Wayfarer trademark] in the minds of consumers as a source of high-quality eyewear,” the suit said. “As a result of Luxottica’s substantial use and promotion of the [Wayfarer] in connection with the eyewear and other products, the mark has acquired great value as a specific identifier of Luxottica’s products.”

The Italian eyewear giant, which prod-ucts Ray-Bans and scores of other branded glasses, said BCBG was “using its infringing mark in an attempt to associate its eyewear products with Luxottica and the [Wayfarer trademark], to cause mistake or deception as to the source of defendant’s eyewear products and/or to otherwise trade upon Luxottica’s valuable reputation and cus-tomer goodwill in its mark.”

Luxottica said the trademark is being diluted and asked for an injunction against BCBG barring the company and its employ-ees from Wayfarer. The company also asked the court to determine what profits BCBG has made from the “infringement, unfair competition, dilution and false des-ignation of origin” and that it be awarded monetary damages.

BUSINESS

Luxottica Sues BCBG Over Wayfarer

● David Dombrow will rejoin the company on Aug. 1.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

Under Armour has edged out Nike once again.

The Baltimore, Md.-based activewear brand on Thursday named Dave Dombrow chief creative officer — a new and much bigger role for him at a company he left in February, reportedly to join Nike. But a stiff non-compete contract would have meant Dombrow couldn’t have started design work at Nike until 2017, so in the end Under Armour won out.

Dombrow, who returns to the company on Aug. 1, was previously Under Armour’s senior vice president, creative footwear and accessories. In the newly created role as chief design officer, he will guide the design of the brand’s entire collection of footwear, apparel and accessories, the company said.

Kip Fulks, the company’s founding partner, said, “In his time at Under Armour, Dave played an instrumental role in creat-ing innovative and cutting-edge footwear with international acclaim.” He said that as the company evolves innovation and design as it expands its global growth, Dombrow’s “unique abilities to challenge the status quo and to anticipate the needs of the future athlete are exactly what we need to further

our success.”The company said that when Dombrow

was at the company in 2010, one of his achievements was his co-creation of the UA SpeedForm Apollo, a shoe that utilizes a full-length 4D foam sock liner to conform to the exact shape of an individual’s foot. He

was also the visionary for Curry One, Stephen Cur-ry’s first signature shoe.

Dombrow began his design career at Nike, from 2000 to 2003. His Linke-dIn profile said after Nike he joined GBMI and then went on to Puma, before joining Under Armour in

2010.Dombrow said, “I continue to be hum-

bled and amazed by what we have built together, fueled by the core commitment to innovation and design, as well as the entre-preneurial drive to make all athletes better.”

BUSINESS

Under Armour Lures Back Dombrow As Chief Creative Officer

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They Are Wearing: Primavera Sound, Barcelona 2016 ● Held from June 1 to 6 in Barcelona, the Primavera Sound music festival drew revelers and musicians including Radiohead and LCD Soundsystem.

● Lilly Pulitzer Resort 2017

● Givenchy Resort 2017

● Thom Browne Resort 2017

● See by Chloé Resort 2017

Global Stock TrackerAs of close June 9, 2016

TOP 5TRENDINGON WWD.COM

ADVANCERS

DECLINERS

Ralph Lauren Corp. +2.60%

Coty Inc. +1.56%

Nike Inc. +1.52%

Ross Stores Inc. +1.44%

Lululemon Athletica Inc. +1.18%

Tailored Brands Inc. -20.54%

Vince Holding Corp. -9.05%

Sears Holdings Corp. -4.96%

Oxford Industires Inc. -4.25%

Ascena Retail Group Inc. -4.24%

● The company hired three individuals for its senior leadership; all of them report to ceo Stefan Larsson.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

Ralph Lauren Corp. on Thursday made additional senior appointments to its manage-ment team.

Jeffrey Kuster has been named group president for the Americas and Bill Campbell will join as corporate senior vice president of global supply chain.

Kuster, who begins July 11, will oversee all commercial activities for the Americas region, including wholesale, retail, e-commerce, fac-tory, travel retail and Latin America. He was most recently president of HSN Inc.’s corner-stone portfolio, where he oversaw a number of home, apparel and lifestyle brands. Those brands include Grandin Road, Garnet Hill, Chasing Fireflies and Travel Smith. Before joining HSN, Kuster was chief marketing and strategy officer at Berkshire Hathaway’s Fruit of the Loom, and before that he was at VF Corp.

Campbell, who begins Oct. 1, also has responsibility for inventory management. He has been at Amazon Inc. for the past 11 years

in key distribution and logistics leadership roles, the company said. While at Amazon, he was most recently director, European supply chain and transportation operations. Prior to joining Amazon, he was at Intel Corp. from 1997 to 2005.

In addition, Jane Nielsen has been tapped as executive vice president and chief finan-cial officer. She joins from Coach and begins Sept. 6. The company’s current chief financial officer, Robert L. Madore, will remain with Ralph Lauren through Sept. 30 to assist in the transition.

All three report to Stefan Larsson, presi-dent and chief executive officer, who on Tues-day outlined details for the firm’s turnaround strategy.

Larsson praised “Bill’s supply chain expe-rience at Amazon and Jeff’s track record of building high-quality omnichannel sales for leading consumer brands.”

Shares of Ralph Lauren rose 2.6 percent to close at $96.18 in Big Board trading. The appointments were disclosed after the equity markets closed their trading sessions.

BUSINESS

Ralph Lauren Adds to Management Team

David Dombrow

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (in a RM Williams ruffle blouse with Zara jeans Sebago shoes and Ray-ban Wayfarers).

4 10 JUNE 2016

● It’s a season of uncertainty — and some would say opportunity — in London.

BY SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — It’s a season of uncertainty — and some would say opportunity — here, with London’s men’s wear showcase set to unfold Friday minus many of the names that helped to cement the week’s status on the interna-tional fashion calendar.

Four years after Prince Charles inaugurated London Collections: Men with a design-er-packed cocktail party at St. James’s Palace, the schedule has undergone radical change due to the trend for see-now-buy-now or coed shows, and new strategic directions for many of the brands.

Burberry, Alexander McQueen, Pringle of Scotland, Gieves & Hawkes, 1205, Kilgour and Moschino have all left the spring 2017 sched-ule for a variety of reasons, while Tom Ford cancelled his separate men’s presentations beginning in January as the designer shifts to a see-now-buy-now model.

The four-day London schedule, which wraps on June 13, remains packed, however, with some brands, such as Sibling, deciding to show men’s and women’s wear on one catwalk. Organizers are naturally optimistic.

According to the British Fashion Council, there are more runway shows this season than last — 32 versus 29 — while attendance figures are up. “We are fully behind the changes,” said Caroline Rush, chief executive officer of the BFC. “This is about businesses continuing to do well, and doing what they need to do” in order to achieve their goals.

Rush added that London continues to appeal, in part because of the breadth of its businesses.

“We know we have a really strong offering in terms of young businesses, but there are also some of the more established ones — like Private White and Oliver Spencer — that people really look forward to seeing. The new schedule maybe gives them their moment in the sun,” she said.

Buyers from 43 countries will be at the men’s London collections, and Rush said attendance numbers overall are up this season.

“I have been attending London Collections: Men since its inaugural season and despite the smaller show calendar, I am still excited to attend,” said Eric Jennings, vice president and fashion director, men’s wear, home and beauty at Saks Fifth Avenue. “London has always been, and will continue to be, about discovery.”

Jennings’ sister teams from Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor will also be traveling to London.

The British men’s clothing market contin-ues to thrive, said Rush. According to the BFC and Mintel, sales grew by 4.1 percent in 2015 to reach 14.1 billion pounds, or $20.48 billion, with men’s wear accounting for 25 percent of the total clothing market here.

Between 2015 and 2020, men’s wear in Britain is projected to grow by 22.5 percent to reach 17.3 billion pounds, or $25.13 billion.

Although many of the marquee names have dropped off — Moschino is doing a coed show in L.A.; Kilgour isn’t wholesaling this season; McQueen and Gieves & Hawkes are taking a break from presenting, but plan to be back in January, and 1205 will be showing men’s and women’s together in September — some of the smaller brands are supersizing

their catwalk offer.Sibling plans to combine its women’s and

men’s spring 2017 collections for the first time, as do Bobby Abley and Astrid Ander-sen. Belstaff, meanwhile, is staging its men’s collection alongside the women’s resort one.

They’ve all taken a cue from Burberry, which plans to stage its first coed show in Sep-tember in a new see-now-buy-now format.

Sibling will also wholesale its men’s and women’s collections side-by-side in Paris in January and June; put its pre-collections on ice and cancel “all activity” during the September fashion week season. The brand said the changes reflect “a pragmatic rethinking” of how to manage the demands of the “disjointed men’s wear and women’s wear calendars” for emerging brands that are active in both markets.

Pringle is another London brand that’s reevaluating the way it shows and sells. Although the brand is keeping its men’s and women’s presentations separate, it has cho-sen to forgo the London men’s catwalk this year and show at Pitti Uomo only.

A spokeswoman for the company said with all the change afoot, “we felt it was an ideal time to review what we are doing. We are currently looking into the bigger picture of how we structure our collections, therefore we are approaching this season with a stron-ger focus on sales across our target markets whilst we work on putting a wider press and

commercial strategy in place.”Next week, Pringle will be hosting a break-

fast during Pitti where men’s wear design director Massimo Nicosia will do one-on-one appointments with buyers and editors.

London has also been facing other challenges in addition to a shape-shifting schedule: With a relatively new — and early-in-the-season — men’s week, it is still not the city where most buyers sit down to write their orders.

Most wait to do that in Paris, a full two weeks or more after London ends, giving some British brands reason to show at Pitti Uomo or abandon a runway presentation altogether and take a showroom in Paris, where the money is.

Rush said some buyers do organize them-selves early enough to place orders in London “but others, equally, want to wait until they’ve seen the shows in Milan and in Paris and then commit their budgets.”

She added that the BFC “would encourage everyone to write their orders earlier. It’s really important and something that we work with the younger businesses on, because this isn’t just about the shows; it’s about building businesses.”

Despite the changes and challenges, London Collections: Men is still attracting new brands and projects. For example, MCM has collaborated for the first time with Christopher Raeburn on a unisex spring 2017 collection. Raeburn has deconstructed MCM signatures, such as its canvas, and reworked them into new patterns and designs.

The Bulgarian designer Kiko Kostadinov, who studied men’s design at Central Saint Martins, is making his debut at LC:M after creating a capsule range for the London shop Machine A and collaborating with Stüssy and Dover Street Market on two collections. The 26-year-old has been making a name with an aesthetic based around a “modern uniform with an antidecorative approach” and was recently awarded the Topman-sponsored NewGen Men support for London Collec-tions: Men. His presentation will take place on Monday at 180 Strand.

Barbour is working with Selfridges on a capsule collection of classics from its archive, and will be showing some of those pieces at London Collections: Men during its larger spring 2017 presentation at Royal Institute of British Architects, near Oxford Circus.

London retailer Simon Burstein, for-merly of Browns, will be present at London Collections: Men for the first time, showing his newly acquired brand Leathersmith of London. Last year, Burstein bought the Char-fleet Book bindery, on Canvey Island in Essex, where the Leathersmith leather goods and stationery are made. The Leathersmith offer includes leather-bound journals, small leather goods, belts and a briefcase. The palette takes in green, navy, black and pink — as well as graphic prints — with contrasting suede linings. The collection will be sold at his new store, The Place London, beginning in July.

Although it remains unclear how much more change is in store, there are those who argue that the London men’s showcase is here to stay.

“What’s happening in the men’s wear industry is fascinating, and it’s manifesting itself in the fashion weeks,” said Dylan Jones, the editor of British GQ and chairman of London Collections: Men. “So much is up in the air and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more women’s wear brands showing during the men’s wear months of January and June. We might even end up with [just] two fashion weeks during those months.”

He said the most important thing for Lon-don is that it remains “a platform for design talent and creativity.”

The BFC’s Rush added: “We know that the men’s wear market overall continues to go from strength to strength and for us British men’s wear is incredibly important and cer-tainly something the British Fashion Council will continue to support.”

MEN’S

All Change: A New Men’s Calendar Takes Shape in London

Sibling

Belstaff

10 JUNE 2016 5

● Behind the scenes before the spring 2017 shows.

MEN’S

British Designers Prep for London Collections: Men

High shine at Bobby Abley.

Belstaff’s motorcycle haven.

Puffer power at Christopher Raeburn.

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British Designers Prep for London Collections: Men CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Katie Eary throws a pajama party with color and

patterns galore.

Getting cozy at Sibling.It’s all in the details for Patrick Grant at E. Tautz.

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Resort Now

GivenchyNaples: An Italian city of contrasts, known for grit and danger juxtaposed with beauty and elegance. Riccardo Tisci also knows its techno underbelly, having frequented rave parties like as a teenager in the Nineties.

He recently returned to the coastal metropolis to shoot the look book for Givenchy’s spring pre-collection and found the underground music scene more alive than ever. Only now, many of the fashion-obsessed kids are dressed head-to-toe in his designs for the French label.

It’s a source of pride for Tisci — whose have-not upbringing in Taranto and Como didn’t douse deep affection for his home country — and an indicator of his influence, which has infiltrated the coolest corners of many cities. His energetic collection contains plenty for the clubbers: Logo knee socks and rave masks, platform boots, mesh minidresses and jogging pants striped in red.

But this was a diverse offering as Tisci seeks to entice elegant ladies, urban youths and fashion fanatics with his mélange of couture refinement and streetwise daring. The mix echoes Naples, where fashion tastes skew “towards the dark, but with the romanticism as well,” the designer said. Case in point: A cream coat with a long tulle overlay sheltering Mapplethorpe-esque black leather overalls.

Flipping through the look book — where elegant, more mature types posed in a former convent, clubbers in a dodgy neighborhood where laundry hangs between apartments, and punk-tinged types in the shadow of Aldo Rossi’s brutalist port skyscraper — Tisci pointed to a new “money print.” Essentially a greenback transformed with Givenchy iconography, the camouflagelike pattern came in a sleek blouson for uptown types, and in a zippered jacket and leggings for those below Avenue A. Other details repeated across archetypes: Cascading ruffles came trimmed in pearls for lunchtime blouses and skirts, and stiffened on mini skirts teamed with a raw-edged logo sweater.

While there was plenty of news in the collection — looser jeans for him and her, crimped tulle overskirts and leath-er-shouldered worker jackets, Tisci’s post-bomber obsession — the designer also revisited themes of yore, including graphic bands, star motifs and Egyptian prints from the fall runway, the latter worked in camp shirts and leggings for men, or as a taut, zippered jacket for her.

Tisci recognizes it is a challenging moment for luxury and fashion, and his answer is to exalt and hammer home the codes he has been building. “Even young generations of women, in a moment of crisis, want to buy something that they recognize,” he said. “So identity is the key.” — MILES SOCHA

AltuzarraAs Joseph Altuzarra talked through his resort collection in front of a small audience, he shared several enlightening points of view on the current fashion reality. First things first: “We have a Snapchat filter,” Altuzarra said to open the presentation of a collection that was smartly strate-gized and packed with strong fashion. Then: “In the pre-collections, but more and more for show collections also, I think it’s really important to think about pieces that might not be ‘Fashion’ with a capital F, but are pieces you really want to wear everyday that are supereasy that feel really good.” He made that point over and over with a clingy pink ribbed knit dress with a slightly kicked hem and deliberate revisions of some of his bestsellers from seasons past, such as the ginghams of spring 2015, updated here as a glen-plaid-meets-gingham check on a taut jacket and pants. The tie dyes of last spring were reimagined on a bleached plaid print shirtdress.

But Altuzarra tapped into the power of the familiar without settling for it. One of the best exam-ples of this were knits done with the graphic faux leather braiding that’s become signature to his handbag line. He also introduced entirely fresh ideas, influenced by Roman Polanski’s 1988 film “Frantic”: colorful lace and shorter hemlines, such as a blue lace top with a red underlay over a short micro black-and-white houndstooth skirt. The shapes were easy to wear — and still qualified as Fashion with a capital F. — JESSICA IREDALE

Givenchy

Altuzarra Altuzarra

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Resort Now

Yigal AzrouëlCiting a North African influence — reflective, perhaps, of his French-Moroccan heritage — Yigal Az-rouël showcased easy, holiday-ready silhouettes with a romantic flourish.

He worked ivy, floral and mosaic prints on flared knit dresses and silk caftans with lace-up neck-lines. For day, there were cotton eyelet-embroidered dresses, sophisticated high-neck blouses and his signature leather motorcycle jacket, updated for the season with colorful embroidery and prints. Azrouël’s knack for fabric manipulation gave the looks a textural, multi-dimensional appeal, evidenced in a floral-printed silk halter dress featuring a black-and-white guipure lace bodice. The femininity was in the finishing touches: the delicate pom-poms or Chantilly lace that trimmed several of the looks. — KRISTI GARCED

Piazza SempioneFunctionality, meet elegance. For Piazza Sempione resort, creative director Laura Poretti delivered a lineup focused on daytime staples infused with both practicality and chic.

Lightweight wool coats and jackets, cut in comfortable fits, were embellished with piping and combined with pants that ranged in sil-houette from wide-legged pleated trousers to leg-hugging cigarette styles, both matched with double-breasted blazers. Shirtdresses worked in square graphic patterns offered an arty take on traditional checkered motifs. The collection also included striped shirts with rounded edges and flared skirts combined with fitted ribbed sweaters. — ALESSANDRA TURRA

MillyWanderlust was the watchword at Milly, with Mi-chelle Smith considering journeys both physical and psychological — for a client who “is expand-ing her horizons on all levels,” Smith said.

Prints were especially colorful and loud. Broad strokes in red and blue on a beautifully structured reversible coat were inspired by the hard-edge paintings of Ellsworth Kelly. That same pattern was fashioned as piecework on a bi-as-cut dress, giving the illusion of an engineered print. Stripes recurred throughout the collection, graphic ones covering a knit tube-top-and wide-pants combo, and traditional men’s wear ones on luxe cotton-silk blend shirting with sheen. There were also florals grounded in black, and a crazy eclectic print pulling together the color story of blues, hot pinks and nudes (“inspired by the craziness in my head,” laughed Smith).

Smith’s quirky layering highlighted the collec-tion’s nonchalant attitude. Bralettes, introduced in the fall, were rendered this season in floral prints and styled with street-style cool over tops. Dramatic ruffles cascaded along a chic cropped top and dramatic bell-bottom trousers, a new silhouette for the brand. It all had a modern sen-sibility fit for a girl on the move. — ANDREW SHANG

Dennis BassoDennis Basso filtered his ethereal resort collection through a youthful lens. The color palette was a dream sequence of ash rose, ivory, dove gray and other pastel hues; the silhouettes skewed toward slinky cuts and daring transpar-ency.

The lineup also had a sense of ease and movement, inspired by rolling seas. Sequined netting gave one clear gown a nautical take; on other looks, glass beading with a shell-like effect also played to the seaside theme. Fur jackets and stoles were made with a surprisingly soft, fluid touch. One standout featured strips of chiffon, organza and lace mended with strips of fox fur; shown over a slinky slipdress, it looked featherlight.

Basso didn’t compromise on the high glamour and evening for which he’s known; rather, he offered soft, sensual pieces that could transi-tion from day into night. “This is for that modern woman who wants to look dressed up, but also unstudied,” he said. — A.S.

Dennis Basso

Piazza SempioneYigal Azrouël

Milly

10 JUNE 2016 9

Jill Stuart“I’ve taken Americana sportswear, and put a feminine edge to it,” declared Jill Stuart in describing her resort collection. The Americana appeared as seersucker stripes on light airy fabrics, in everything from wide-leg pants to tiered dresses; also in sailor-inspired navy cropped tops and pants combos and chambray/denimlike fabrics used for flirtatious dresses and shirts.

The feminine was, more specifically, a “cool girl in the countryside, a rocker amongst the wisteria,” Stuart said. The designer did wallpaper florals in cloqué, most memorably on voluminous peasant dress. Knits were also present in playful multicolor stripes, typical of the Seventies patterns that always inform the designer in some way. To wrap things up, she showed a great red strapless cotton gown.

It all made for a hit — and it was practical, too. “You can go on a trip and take five or six pieces from this collection and wear them in many different ways, and nothing wrinkles,” said Stuart. — MAYTE ALLENDE

TibiKeeping with fall’s earthy palette — browns updated with pops of pale pink, bright yellow and burnt orange — Amy Smilovic’s resort lineup at Tibi emphasized ease and layering. She updated her clean, sporty separates and suits this sea-son by homing in on arms and waists. “We made this black knit corset specifically for the photo shoot, but then realized it was way too functional [not to produce],” Smilovic said. Styled over loose cashmere knits and paired with oversize cargo trousers, it created a feminine but unfussy look.

Silk twill trench coats and cotton shirts were finished with voluminous, rounded sleeves with snap-button closures or ties that could go around the sleeve or the waistline. “The ties look great when they dangle because it’s an eased-out moment,” Smilovic noted, “but they become functional when you can wrap them around the body for a slimming effect.” The collection also offered new takes on pajama dressing — includ-ing a few mix-and-match pieces in black-and-white pinstriped silk — and cool, boxy suiting silhouettes with contrast top stitching. — KRISTI GARCED

BossNo question, Jason Wu’s Boss resort collection was a straightforward, commercial distillation of the ideas he presented on his fall runway — namely, a feminized attitude and the gentler side of tailoring. “Last season was all about curvature and I really wanted to continue that message,” said Wu. So he softened jackets and skirts with long fringe details, and eased the house’s history of strict Germanic geometry by bonding chev-ron-patterned blush and pistachio leather to a silk chiffon dress and camisole. Even the classic tuxedo got a sporty, eased-up twist: It came as a jumpsuit. — JESSICA IREDALE

Anna SuiFashion is cyclical, but Anna Sui has always done Anna Sui. That doesn’t mean, however, she isn’t open to new influences. “We just did the collabo-ration with Opening Ceremony, and were looking at their grunge collection — so we decided to put some touches of that into resort,” she explained.

As a result, Sui featured vintage floral prints, kimonos, plaids mixed in with feminine details, lingerie touches, burnt-out velvet dresses and the occasional Victorian touches to bring about an eclectic mix of looks. One standout: a long-sleeve, green floral chiffon dress featuring multiple slits. “It’s our Naomi [Campbell] redo,” Sui said. It felt like the Nineties all over again, choker ribbons included. But in a good way. — M.A.

Resort Now

Jill Stuart

Anna Sui

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Marchesa“We were thinking about uberglamorous women. It’s unapologetically feminine,” said Georgina Chap-man of her and Keren Craig’s latest collection for Marchesa. The lady it’s intended for is a busy one: “Either she’s off to the casinos to play roulette or she’s entertaining at home by the pool in a feath-ered caftan,” added Craig, describing a leisurely, Slim Aarons-inspired lifestyle that probably isn’t too farfetched for the label’s chic, tony clientele. And in fact, the collection did include a white silk caftan decorated with gold metallic embroidery — and ostrich feathers.

As for those casino nights, the lineup was full of frothy, decadently embellished evening wear. A plunging V-neck gown in pearl-embellished fringe conveyed a flirty flapper vibe. Colorful floral appli-qués and iridescent embroidery cascaded down the duo’s floor-sweeping gowns or across off-the-shoulder necklines, adding romance and dimension to the looks, in shades of lavender, blush and mint green. Elsewhere, a black chiffon gown with sheer blouson sleeves featured white floral embroidery and a rainbow of silk and tulle flower petals for a touch of dark glamour. — KRISTI GARCED

Marchesa NotteGeorgina Chapman and Keren Craig like to keep a synergy between Marchesa and Marchesa Notte. So for Notte this season they channeled the same glamorous lady of the sister label, but transported her to Palm Springs in the Sixties. “I think we were inspired because we rented a house out there for my birthday. We had thoughts of a woman sipping martinis by the pool,” Chap-man said.

They expressed those thoughts with a bright, punchy color palette — hot pink, deep purple, chartreuse — on cocktail dresses, gowns and separates, rendered with floral embroidery and butterfly appliqués. Ranging from cutaway and tea-length gowns to flirty cocktail dresses with pockets or peplums, the silhouettes conveyed a flirty, youthful attitude. A few looks also had sheer tulle skirts, giving them a soft, angelic feel. — K.G.

MonseIn the span of two seasons, Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim have made Monse one of the most talked-about startups in New York. Key to that buzz has been their youthful, modern way of feminizing classic men’s wear items, starting with the button-down shirt for their first collec-tion, the suit for their second, and now for their first resort lineup, the trench. They worked it as a dress, and as a short navy jacket cinched with a wide belt and a green asymmetrical skirt that fell in structured folds for relaxed volume. The looks, including a red handkerchief shirt and great exaggerated wide-leg khaki cargo pants, were cut to capture a sense of the undone — nothing too perfect — which gave the lineup a fresh sensuality. There were also printed scarf dress-es, tuxedo-inspired eveningwear and some nice lace-up knits that balanced the statement pieces with something for everyday.

The trench might have been the conceptual focus, but the big picture was business. “We wanted [the clothes] to be something you can wear all year round,” said Kim. “We’re more price-conscious than the runway collections, and we’re building our basics program.” — J.I.

Erika CavalliniFor resort, Erika Cavallini aimed for a balance between the masculine and the feminine, the romantic and the utilitarian. Designs leaning toward the boyish, like an asymmetric vest in denim shot with metallic threads and a nylon bomber stitched with a denim jacket, were juxtaposed against ladylike draped lace skirts and tops embellished with plissé inserts. One maxi cadi dress, adorned with stripes inspired by parasols, conveyed an especially summery attitude. Off-the-shoulder tops and dress intro-duced a feminine, sensual touch to the lineup — which contrasted with the workwear mood of Cavallini’s signature overalls, presented this season in pale pink — ALESSANDRA TURRA

Nicole MillerFor resort, Nicole Miller imparted her impression of 1940s Italian Riviera style — “without being too retro,” as she said. After winter, she wanted bright colors, so she brightened up black- and gray-and-white striped separates with bold corals and yellows, and Art Nouveau prints. Striped cropped pants and a cold-shoulder top with grosgrain ties had a breezy cabana feel, while the curlicued blossom patterns on skirts and tops offered a nice alternative to typical resort florals. — JESSICA IREDALE

Marchesa

Nicole Miller

Monse

Marchesa Notte

Erika Cavallini

Resort Now

10 JUNE 2016 11

● An experiential pop-up store features everything from fragrance to home decor.

BY RACHEL STRUGATZ

Diptyque is celebrating its 34 Bazar Collection in the U.S. with an experiential pop-up shop in Brooklyn.

On Thursday evening, a seven-vignette space made its debut at The Invisible Dog on Bergen Street in Cobble Hill. It encour-ages guests to interact with product in a fresh way for the 55-year-old company. The pop-up has a dedicated retail space that will sell the French brand’s 34 Collection of candles, fragrances, decorative objects, stationery, room sprays and fabrics.

But the main attraction is in the décor.A dramatic candlelit wall showcases Dip-

tyque’s hand-blown glass candle holders (and pillared candles), and an “Olfactory Factory” installation has seven “rooms” that feature a scent and corresponding sensory component. Each station is adorned with specific patterned wallpaper that corresponds to the packaging of the fragrance. This includes the latest addition to the Essences Insensees range, the $180 Rose de Mai inspired by a field of May Roses in Grasse, as well as Osmanthus, a $200 eau de parfum derived from incense and the white Asian flower its named after. Both will launch at the Bazar.

“We wanted to find a space to present [this]; it’s a way to pay tribute to what Diptyque was in the Sixties, this idea of ‘bazar chic,’” said Myriam Badault, creative

director of Diptyque, adding that the name of the collection comes from the address of the brand’s first boutique on Boulevard Saint Germain in Paris that opened in 1961.

Collection 34 began as a project for Dip-tyque’s 50th anniversary in 2011, Badault explained, and has since evolved into a full, multicategory collection.

She added: “The idea [behind Collection 34] was to create a fragrance that captured the scent of the store on Saint Germain. It was very a funny process because usually people don’t want to capture the scent of a space.”

From there, the brand decided to make

the collection into a creative laboratory to test out different projects — such as the Bazar, which will be open through Sunday night (the retail component will remain in the space through the end of December).

In addition to the new fragrances, a selection of pouches, totes and pillow cov-ers fashioned from three, exclusive printed fabrics are for sale — and woven throughout the pop-up. A Fabric Selfie Wall projects these colorful patterns onto a lit wall and encourages guests to take their pictures in front of it, and a Coloring Wall features the prints in black-and-white and has markers on-site so people can decorate the wall.

This is the latest effort in building U.S. Awareness for Diptyque, according to Fabienne Mauny, global brand president, who said the brand went from operating three freestanding doors here in 2011 to 18 by year’s end.

“The decision we made a while ago to open our own stores was the beginning of the development of this market in a com-pletely new way.

We wanted to explain who we are in our own spaces, in our own decor and with our own stuff,” Mauny added. “It made the brand more recognized, more understood.”

The brand is experiencing significant growth. Mauny contended that freestand-ing retail doors — of which there will be 40 by yearend — will see 25 percent growth this year. Sales with wholesale partners (there are 1,000 points of distribution globally) will see a 20 percent increase this year.

Diptyque’s revenues last year were said to be more than $40 million and industry sources project sales of more than $50 million.

BEAUTY

Diptyque Goes Back to Roots With Expansive Collection

● An intensely pigmented and high-shine gloss is the third product to launch under the Christian Louboutin Beauté brand.

BY RACHEL STRUGATZ

NEW YORK — Patent leather shoes sparked the idea for Christian Loubou-tin’s Loubilaque, the latest addition to the designer’s growing beauty category.

The intensely pigmented and high-shine lip lacquer — not to be confused with lip gloss — is the third product to launch under Christian Louboutin Beauté, a joint venture between Chris-tian Louboutin SA and Batallure Beauty. The brand launched in 2014 with nail color and a year later introduced lipstick.

“I really wanted to have a lacquer for the lips, but [one that] looked like a patent [leather] more than a vinyl,”

Louboutin told WWD during an inter-view Tuesday afternoon at the Mari-time Hotel here. He explained that he was working on a collection of patent leather footwear in a range of muted, nude hues and thought that he should create something similar for the lips.

“Lips need to be fuller. [But] I didn’t

want it to look plasticy. You don’t want to Botox your lips. We like a shiny pat-ent,” he said of the non-sticky formula that is designed to reflect light. “It’s highlighting your lips; it’s not coloring them. It’s putting a projector on it.”

On July 1, the brand will unveil eight shades of the $85 lip lacquer

at christianlouboutin.com, Bergdorf Goodman and select Sephora, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Holt Renfrew doors. Loubilaque is comprised of nudes and reds, including the brand’s signature Rouge Louboutin.

He added that getting the formula right — the pigment, texture and finish included — was complex and took a lot of time. But once perfected, he turned his eye to packaging.

“I’m happy that it looks like an object of desire,” he said of the lacquer, which comes with a silk ribbon so the vial can double as a pendant. Noting that while certain elements are a nod to his exist-ing lipstick collection (the “crown” cap is the same), a clear bottle with a mer-maid tail pattern was done to purpose-fully showcase the color of each bottle.

“My number-one goal — apart from the quality of the product — is also [to make sure] that there is beauty in every aspect; not only when it goes on your lips, but when you have it in your hand, close it and take it with you. It should be beautiful all the way, Louboutin said.

BEAUTY

Christian Louboutin to Launch Loubilaque Lip Lacquer

Christian Louboutin’s Loubilaque lip lacquer.

Diptyque’s 34 Bazar Collection, The

Invisible Dog.

Donna DiDonato, Diptyque U.S.

managing director; Fabienne Mauny,

Diptyque president, and Myriam Badault,

Diptyque creative director.

12 10 JUNE 2016

● Sales are projected to quadruple within the next five years.

BY JEAN E. PALMIERI

“It wasn’t mismanaged, it was not managed.”

So said Cory Baker, chief operating officer of Marquee Brands LLC, about the company’s Ben Sherman division.

Marquee, an acquisition, licensing and development company that was formed in 2014, purchased the British men’s wear brand from Oxford Industries last July for $63.7 million. The London-based brand had suffered under Oxford primarily because the group put more emphasis on its other brands and Ben Sherman fell by the wayside, Baker believes.

“Oxford has very successful Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer businesses and wasn’t putting any focus on Ben Sherman,” he said.

That’s changing now.Since acquiring the brand, Marquee has

transformed the label into a licensed model, signed up partners in the U.S. and overseas to expand product categories and add retail stores, and kicked up its marketing message. The company is projecting that global sales will quadruple within the next five years.

“The key for us is to answer the question: If this brand disappeared, would anyone care,” said Michael DeVirgilio, president of Marquee Brands, who joined the company after 17 years at Kenneth Cole. “We put Ben Sherman through that test and found that there was recognition, and consumer demand is higher than the distribution. So we’re bringing prod-uct to the people who want it.”

Ben Sherman, which began in Brighton, England, in 1963, has its roots as a young men’s, “Mod”-inspired shirt line. It has since evolved into a lifestyle brand targeting men between 25 and 40 years old. Oxford acquired the company in June 2004 for $146 million.

Baker, a lawyer who helped Iconix Brands double the size of its portfolio during his tenure there, said that “starting brands and building brands is a tough business. We would rather build from assets, legacy and heritage. It’s easier to curate than create.”

The executive stressed that there is “noth-ing wrong with Ben Sherman as a brand.” Its originator was a leader in bringing color to a drab dress-shirt market by introducing vivid

colors and patterns, a strategy that he soon extended into other products as well.

“Ben Sherman was a visionary,” Baker said. “The brand always had a reason to exist and it’s now our job to telegraph that.”

Under the Marquee operating model, there is a creative director based in London — Mark Williams — who is on the Marquee payroll and works closely with the licensees to ensure a consistent fashion message. Williams comes up with the seasonal trends and analysis, colors and fabrics and “then the licensees execute it,” Baker explained.

The brand is in several categories includ-ing tailored clothing, footwear, children’s wear, optical and sunglasses, sportswear, outerwear, neckwear, cold-weather acces-sories and luggage. Women’s is expected to be launched in the future. Baker said that historically, women’s accounted for as much as 30 percent of the business internationally, “so demand is there.”

Ben Sherman’s largest market is the U.K., followed by the U.S., which DeVirgilio said represents the brand’s “single biggest market opportunity.” The brand also has a presence in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Canada, Austra-lia, Mexico, South Africa, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Right now, there is no distribution in Korea, Japan, China, India, the Middle East and Latin America, DeVirgilio said, where there is a potential of $1 billion in retail sales. But Marquee will reveal today that it has signed a deal with MRH SpaRotica Groupe to distribute the brand within Greater China. The deal will include a retail rollout that includes at least five freestanding Ben Sher-man stores this year, with at least another 30 in the plans for coming years. The first store will open by August in Shanghai, followed by Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan and Sichan.

A deal for the Middle East is also close to being finalized and will result in the opening of 18 stores in that region.

Today, Ben Sherman has 52 stores around the world, “but there will be over 150 to 200 in three to five years,” DeVirgilio predicted.

In the U.S., Marquee closed Ben Sher-man’s three stores because the locations were not “optimal,” Baker said, saying the 5,000-square-foot SoHo store was just too large and the units in the Beverly Center in L.A. and in San Francisco were mired in problems. But the company expects to open 10 to 15 units here within the next three to five years, he said, and will return to SoHo.

Turning to merchandise, since the

company put more emphasis on its licensed products, the tailored clothing business has increased by 50 percent and footwear sales are up 30 percent this year, the company said. The company also plans on doubling the U.S. sportswear business and “at least double or possibly triple the sportswear business in the U.K.,” Baker said.

Baker said that overall, Ben Sherman’s business “can easily quadruple” in the next five years. The executives believe there is “brand fatigue” at retail, especially in the U.S., so there’s a hole that Ben Sherman can fill. “Walk onto any men’s floor and it’s Calvin, Ralph and Tommy, repeat,” DeVirgilio said. “There’s no excitement from a brand and experience standpoint.”

Marquee is ready to invest to make that vision a reality.

The company is not the typical private equity player. Instead, it’s bankrolled by a global asset management firm named Neuberger Berman that manages $240 billion in assets and has $500 million of committed capital for acquisitions.

DeVirgilio said that unlike Authentic Brands Group, Iconix Group or Sequential Brands — which own trademarks and act as pure licensing companies — Marquee sees itself more of a brand steward. “We’re not buying royalty streams,” he said. “We buy brands because we want to make them better.”

Baker added: “Just because we have private equity money behind us, we don’t run like a private equity firm. We’re not in this to sell in three to five years. We have a long-term view.”

DeVirgilio stressed that because of the money it has behind it, Marquee has no need to leverage the businesses it buys either.

Marquee’s first acquisition was Bruno Magli, a luxury shoe brand that was founded in 1936, that Marquee acquired in early 2015. The company stabilized the business, relaunched its women’s collection and named actress Lucy Liu as its ambassador, signed a license with Marcraft Apparel Group to produce the first men’s tailored clothing collection and mapped out plans for a retail rollout in the U.S. and Europe.

Now Ben Sherman is the focus. Step one was the brand’s return to the fashion world — it held its first presentation in London on Wednesday on the eve of London Collections: Men, which starts today.

Other marketing initiatives include tweaking its branding and logo to focus on its British heritage and the Union Jack. That logo was front and center on the fleet of Ben Sherman taxicabs that drove editors around New York City earlier this year and VIPs and influencers to the MTV Awards and Coachella in California. The brand is also sponsoring the New York City Football Club, has flooded outdoor spaces with advertising in New York, London, Berlin and Cologne, Germany, and the brand also instituted a print ad campaign.

In terms of merchandising, Ben Sherman collaborated with Alpha Industries and Pend-leton Woolen Mills last fall on co-branded product.

“These are things the former ownership just didn’t do,” DeVirgilio said. “The year before we acquired the brand, they spent $35,000 on marketing. We spent that much an hour after we bought it.”

Now that the Ben Sherman strategy is being implemented, what other brands might Marquee be interested in adding to its stable?

Baker said the goal is to “acquire brands that people want, not dead brands.”

DeVirgilio added: “We’ve probably looked at 250 deals in the last 12 months in the con-sumer brands sector.” The goal is to diversify, the company said, so some additions may be in the mass sector, athletic arena, food and beverage — a strategy that allows Marquee to mitigate risk if one industry goes south.

The company is looking at brands outside the U.S. as well. “We’re not U.S.-centric,” Baker said. “There are very significant brands that are hugely impactful in Europe and Asia and we don’t want to have a myopic view.”

MEN’S

Marquee Brands’ Game Plan for Ben Sherman

Looks from Ben Sherman. Ben Sherman

Resort 2017

Ben Sherman staged a one-off men’s presen-tation in London this week using a trio of refer-ences — California cool, Sixties jazz and British Ska — for its Modern Rhythm range for spring/summer 2017.

The brand hosted a presentation at 9 Adams Street on Wednesday night, where models marched to upbeat tunes or posed on podiums. Sherman showed its collection before the start of London Collections: Men, which runs from today through Monday.

Creative director Mark Williams said he looked to Liam Bridges and Mark Ronson as muses for the collection. “We’ve got a little bit of an English guy on the West Coast kind of feeling going on,” Williams told WWD.

For spring, the brand also re-issued shirts from its archive: One from the Sixties, one from the Seventies and one from the Eighties. “We’ve gone back into an archive that we actually didn’t even realize that we had,” said Williams.

“Designers have handed in shirts, we’ve have fans of the brand handing in shirts to us from the Sixties and the Seventies. We’ve actually branded the shirts in the original Ben Sherman signature. They’re really special.”

The collection consisted of outerwear such as Crombie coats or lightweight nylon jackets styled with chinos. Blue linen shorts suits were paired with white shirts and shiny tassel loafers. The brand also worked laminated wools, cotton sateens and textured fabrics into tailored polo shirts and printed shorts.

There were also bespoke British florals on shorts and button-down shirts.

Footwear came in various forms, including espadrille hybrids, sneakers, loafers and leather slides. Williams experimented with footwear as in a derby shoe done in denim. Espadrilles came in nubuck leather while sneakers were done with brogue elements such as decorative perfora-tions. — LORELEI MARFIL

retailers have adjusted their guidance for the year downward due to the traffic malaise hitting malls and shifting con-sumer spending patterns.

“This was a transformational period for us as we entered Canada with both Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5th. Gilt came on board this quarter as well and we are seeing the start of the first year with our new real estate structure, so there’s been a lot of change,” Jerry Storch, HBC’s chief executive officer, told WWD.

HBC now considers adjusted EBITDAR [earnings before interest, taxes, depre-ciation, amortization and real estate] as the best measure of its operations. On that basis, earnings increased 44.1 percent to 251 million Canadian dol-lars, or $197.3 million, from 174 million Canadian dollars, or $136.8 million, the year before, mainly as a result of the addition of HBC Europe, which includes Galeria Kaufhof in Germany and Inno in Belgium, purchased last year. In the first quarter, which is typically the compa-ny’s slowest quarter of the year, the real estate joint ventures had a 61 million Canadian dollar, or $48 million, impact on adjusted EBITDA and a similarly large impact on normalized net income.

Last year, HBC formed HBS Global Properties, a real estate joint venture with the Simon Property Group, to reduce borrowings. Madison Interna-tional also has an equity investment in HBS Global Properties.

Last quarter, retail sales increased 59.4 percent to 3.3 billion Canadian dollars, or $2.59 billion, from 2.1 billion Cana-dian dollars, or $1.65 billion, largely due to the acquisitions of Galeria Kaufhof and Gilt last year. Comparable sales rose 4.4 percent. On a constant currency base, sales dropped 1 percent. Total digital sales increased 86.2 percent, with comparable digital sales up 7.4 percent

on a constant currency basis.Gross profit rate increased 70 basis

points to 41.9 percent, driven by the addition of HBC Europe.

HBC is projecting sales for this year to range between 14.9 billion to 15.9 billion Canadian dollars, or $11.71 billion to $12.5 billion. The company is also projecting adjusted EBITDAR between 1.56 billion to 1.71 billion Canadian dollars, or $1.22 billion to $1.34 billion, and adjusted EBITDA of between 800 million to 950 million Canadian dollars, or $629 million to $747 million.

The first Saks Fifth Avenue in Canada opened at the Toronto Eaton Centre on Feb. 18, followed by the second store at the Sherway Gardens Mall in Etobi-coke, Ontario, on Feb. 25. Also opened were the first four Saks Off 5th units in Canada, at Vaughan Mills, in Vaughan, Ontario; Toronto Premium Outlets in Halton Hills, Ontario; Outlet Collec-tions at Niagara in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario; and Tanger Outlets in Ottawa, Ontario.

Storch said that the company’s diverse portfolio, in terms of both geography and targeted consumer segments, gives HBC an advantage over other retailers. “We are more diversified than our com-petitors. There is strength from Canada, strength in Europe. We are getting good profits out of Saks Off 5th, and luxury continues to be a challenge in the U.S.”

Rents will continue to impact HBC’s results, though Storch noted that rents are flat across the year and that the com-pany remains “confident” in its guidance

for the year. “We know that our higher rents will have less of an effect for the back half of the year.”

HBC’s profits were also impacted by 12 million Canadian dollars, or $9.43 million, in charges in the quarter from voluntary restructurings at its Germany headquarters in Cologne and outsourc-ing of IT maintenance in the U.S. HBC has not disclosed how many people will be affected by the restructuring.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2015, HBC unveiled an initiative to reduce SG&A expenses by 75 million Canadian dollars, or $59 million, through its North American operations realignment. The company realized about 28 million Canadian dollars, or $22 million, in savings during the first quarter this year, and one-time charges of about 6 million Canadian dollars, or $4.7 million, were incurred during the quarter as a result of the initiative.

HBC is renegotiating its Saks Fifth Ave-nue lease in Honolulu. The store there opens in August. HBC is closing the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Short Hills, N.J.

Like other retailers, HBC has been impacted in the U.S., by international tourists spending less at stores due to the strong dollar and the overall softness in the luxury market. With luxury sales, Storch said “if anything, it might be getting a little better” and that retailers can look forward to easier comparisons in the second half. With tourism, Storch said, “I don’t see much change,” though he added that as retailers cycle through a year of depressed tourist spending, “it becomes less and less of an impact.”

While HBC’s U.S. stores, which include Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, are impacted by tourism, HBC’s Hudson’s Bay chain in Canada is benefiting from Canadians spending more domestically than south of the border.

On another positive note, Storch said the company was pleased with results for Saks Off 5th for the quarter. “Sales were negative but the new pricing strategy led to better gross margins and better profitability.” Pricing has become more item-specific rather than running broad sales across entire departments.

He also said the integration of Gilt and the European business is “proceed-ing well. ...We feel very good about our diversification strategy, both in terms of geography and consumer segments.”

“With banners across multiple geog-raphies and consumer segments, we believe HBC’s diversified retail platform positions us well for future sales and earnings growth in all of our businesses. In the first quarter we continued to generate sales growth as a result of the Galeria Kaufhof and Gilt acquisitions and experienced continued strength at our Canadian operations,” Richard Baker, HBC’s governor and executive chairman said.

“Additionally, HBC’s real estate portfo-lio, which is less impacted by short-term trends in retail, continues to provide the company with opportunities to create value. In preparation for our planned flagship Saks Fifth Avenue store in New Jersey at American Dream [mall], we agreed to modify our Saks Fifth Ave-nue lease at the Short Hills mall in New Jersey. Additionally, we made modifi-cations to our Saks Fifth Avenue lease in Honolulu, Hawaii. These two lease modifications generated proceeds of $99 million.”

Earlier this year, HBC said up to 17 Hudson’s Bay department stores and three Saks Off 5th outlets will open across the Netherlands over the next two years, beginning in summer 2017. It’s possible more stores will be revealed in the future for the Nether-lands. Among the initial stores will be a 170,000-square-foot flagship for Hud-son’s Bay in Amsterdam where HBC is combining three buildings to create the new property. HBC also plans to expand to Luxembourg with a Galleria Inno store in 2018.

The Netherlands marks HBC’s second expansion maneuver in Europe. The first involved acquiring the Galeria Kaufhof chain in Germany and its Inno division in Belgium last September, marking the launch of a “global platform,” including expanding Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5th chains to Europe.

A separate organization is being formed to run Saks Off 5th stores in Europe. Wayne Drummond, formerly senior vice president and general merchandise manager of men’s and ladies’ wear at HBC’s North American department store group, will head up Off 5th in Europe. The Netherlands marks the first time that Hudson’s Bay depart-ment stores will be operating overseas, beyond its domestic market of Canada.

success with those two businesses and is gunning to make Thakoon a mega-brand with the potential for an eventual initial public offering.

The brand, headquartered in Hong Kong, has been building its team since last year and has made several hires in recent months. The company is drawing heavily from the locally based talent pool, poaching from companies like Ralph Lauren and Lane Crawford.

Lucy Yi stepped in as the brand’s president in September following the Chou acquisition, according to her LinkedIn profile. Most recently she was working at Ralph Lauren Asia Pacific as the region’s senior vice president and

managing director for digital and e-com-merce. Jisso Hong was tapped as cre-ative director last month after working past stints at Men’s Health and Saatchi & Saatchi, according to her LinkedIn pro-file. As reported, Panichgul’s longtime business partner Maria Borromeo has stayed on as ceo of Thakoon USA.

The brand is still rounding out its team. The company has job postings on LinkedIn for a public relations director, a performance marketing manager and a software manager.

Chou’s company Bright Fame Fashion bought a controlling interest in Thakoon Corp. in December for an undisclosed

sum. Panichgul took a break from the runway in February so the last Thakoon collection he showed was spring-sum-mer 2016 in September 2015.

Thakoon is the latest brand to jump on the controversial see-now-buy-now bandwagon, which is sparking industry debate over the relevance of the current fashion week system and seasonal cal-endar. He joins the ranks of a growing list of brands adopting the strategy, including Burberry, Tom Ford, Rebecca Minkoff and Vetements.

Panichgul presented his first ready-to-wear collection in New York in Septem-ber 2004. In 2006, he was one of three recipients of the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund and was nominated by the Council of Fashion Designers of America for the Swarovski Award for Best Emerg-ing Womenswear Designer. Panichgul has developed a cult following for his romantic, feminine designs. First Lady Michelle Obama wore a Thakoon floral dress on the evening President Obama accepted the 2008 Democratic nomina-tion. Panichgul has also designed lines for Target and Kohl’s as well as jewelry for Japanese pearl merchant Tasaki.

10 JUNE 2016 13

Hudson’s Bay Co. Net Hurt By Rent, Performance Guidance Upheld CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Thakoon Plans September Runway Show, SoHo Flagship CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Thakoon’s website.

Jerry Storch

“I think it’s really nice to be able to walk into a room in New York City and see Aussies, familiar faces in the industry, ya know?” Bridget Malcolm said in her Perth-bred twang on Wednesday night. The Victoria’s Secret model was stationed by the bar at Jimmy at the James Hotel, the rooftop abuzz with Aussies.

The Australian Fashion Founda-tion had taken over the hotel rooftop on Wednesday night for its annual summer party. Other familiar faces at the party included Dion Lee, Camilla Freeman Topper, Madison Stubbington, Charlee Fraser, models Georgia Fowler and Rose Smit, and Malcolm Carfrae, who founded the initiative eight years ago along with Julie Anne Quay.

“We wanted to create a fun social platform for all Australians who work in fashion in New York to be together and help each other, and just be in each other’s orbit,” Carfrae explained. “But we also thought, let’s take it one step further and turn it into something that actually gives back.”

Sponsored by The Woolmark Com-pany, the fund promotes Australia’s emerging fashion talent in America by awarding scholarships and coordinat-ing internships at top fashion compa-nies for Australian designers trying to gain experience.

“I think it’s a fantastic initiative and it helps Australian people get into the U.S. market,” remarked Topper, who was stateside showing her resort collection for Camilla & Marc. “Here I think people are a lot more casual,” she said of the difference between the two markets. “Particularly this trip more so than ever before. I really feel like in the streets ev-eryone’s just a lot more relaxed. I think because summer’s started and every-one’s, like, ripping their clothes off.”

While summer temps have inspired New Yorkers to display more skin, it’s shifting to winter in Australia — Topper designs concurrently for both markets. “Resort’s actually the only season that’s the same,” she commented. “One season less you have to double up on.”

Outside on the deck, designer Dion Lee was poolside basking in the late afternoon sun and taking in the down-town views. “There’s a lot of lifestyle parallels between New York and Sydney,” he said, before ticking off what he misses about his homeland: “The space, the amount of space, and the beach. It’s very spread out,” said Lee, before reiterating his main point: “Also the beach. I think it’s something you really appreciate when you’re away from Sydney.” — KRISTEN TAUER

LOS ANGELES — Sophia Amoruso mouthed “sorry” to an onlooker waiting for her as she obliged one more plea for a pose from a photographer.

The Nasty Gal founder, author and creator of the #Girlboss Radio podcast series was the guest of honor Wednesday evening at her company’s store on Melrose Avenue to toast Amoruso’s appearance on the cover of the Forbes June 21 edition, featuring the magazine’s list of America’s 60 richest self-made women.

Amoruso made her debut on the list at number 53 with a net worth of $280 million, ahead of Beyoncé Knowles and Taylor Swift.

“It feels really surreal,” Amoruso told WWD. “It’s really exciting for the team. I think that the coolest thing is that it’s a huge morale boost for the team. And for the girl who dropped out of community col-lege, it’s kind of like a, ‘Maybe I can do this, too,’ and that’s been the response on social media and that’s so cool to witness and so that’s why I’m excited about it. Otherwise, it’s just a weird, narcissistic — you know, my mom’s proud. It’s nothing I ever thought would happen and I feel really lucky

to be in the company of such incredible women.”

Another signpost that Amoruso has come a long way from Nasty Gal’s start as a one-person eBay operation is the upcoming Netflix comedy series based on her book “#Girlboss,” which begins at the start of the company when Amoruso was in her early 20s. Actress Britt Robertson, whose film credits last year included “Tomorrowland” and “The Longest Ride,” has been cast to play Amoruso.

The series, set to be re-leased next year, is written by Kay Cannon — of “30 Rock,” “New Girl” and “Pitch Perfect” fame — and counts Charl-ize Theron as an executive producer.

Amoruso explained that the idea morphed out of the success of her book when she worked with talent and literary agency William Morris Endeavor Entertainment LLC, which assisted her with finding a publisher and then later connected her with Theron, who was looking for projects to produce.

“It’s pretty cool — another terrifying, cool thing that just seems surreal,” Amoruso mused of the series.

She described her role

with the series as consulting executive producer, there to assist with wardrobe, music and other references. “Beyond that,” she said, “it’s just a bunch of really talented people doing this while I’m doing other stuff.”

That “other stuff” includes her podcast series #Girlboss Radio, which she’s found to be a gauge on what her followers are tapped into, as she thought aloud about how things have changed in the span of just a few years. “It’s so funny when the book came out, some [people] would say, ‘Oh, I like Nasty Gal. You do Nasty Gal? Oh, my God, I love your book.’ And now it’s like, ‘Oh, my God. I listen to your podcast’ and it’s funny just to hear through people’s feedback what they’re engaging with.”

In October, Amoruso’s second book “Nasty Galaxy,” which shares a name with the company’s blog, is due out.

“I really like making books,” Amoruso said. “It has a begin-ning and end. And, yes, it is one piece of media, but it feels like you can be really creative with it. It’s like a legacy piece that sits on shelves forever and it’s a little different than an archive of clothes.”

— KARI HAMANAKA

Sophia Amoruso on Her Forbes Cover, Netflix Series and Latest BookThe Nasty Gal founder’s juggling multiple projects and caught WWD up to speed on her latest — far cries from her days selling on eBay.

Australian Fashion Fund Hosts Annual Summer PartyThe organization hosted a party at Jimmy at the James Hotel on Wednesday.

14 10 JUNE 2016

Sophia Amoruso at the cocktail event celebrating her Forbes cover.

Camilla Freeman Topper

Bridget Malcolm, Rose Smith and Georgia Fowler.

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DIGITAL FORUM LOS ANGELES

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

• LOS ANGELES

CREATED BY WWD, BUILT FOR YOU

Time TalkerCould a superhero save the luxury watch sector from its current doldrums? Piaget, the Richemont-owned watchmaker and jeweler, certainly hopes so. The company today named “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds as its newest international male brand ambassador for Piaget watches.

According to Piaget chief executive officer Philippe Léopold-Metzger, the actor possesses “elegance and charisma” like any good movie star should. “[Ryan’s] daring on-screen performances paired with his magnetic good looks have earned him a place as one of Hollywood’s leading men. Like Piaget, he fearlessly brings creativity to his art,” said Metzger.

Said the Canadian-born Reyn-olds, “I’ve known of Piaget since I was just a little kid. You can’t find a more iconic brand, or one which better exemplifies craftsmanship,

elegance and creativity. This is something that means a lot to me.

“I work in a field in which things can be cast away quite quickly. So when you find something timeless, it’s important. And that’s one of the many things I love about Piaget,” he continued.

Reynolds will appear in the science fiction thriller “Life” next year, and the sequel to “Deadpool” in 2018. Before that, he and his wife Blake Lively will welcome their second child this year. As for Piaget, which already

counts Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain as its female international ambassador, it will solidify its foothold in Hollywood as the premiere sponsor of the Film Independent Spirit Awards for the 10th consecutive year come February. — MARCY MEDINA

On Tour Best friends Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas will be out in the outlets this summer, but not for bargains. They’ll be promoting their upcom-ing “Honda Civic Tour: Future Now” tour together, starting later this month and continuing through September at more than 40 ven-ues in the U.S. and Canada.

Simon Premium Outlets, part of the Simon Property Group, is the exclusive retail sponsor for the tour and will host “meet and greets” with Lovato and Jonas at many of its outlet centers, including the Woodbury Common, Desert Hills, Allen, Orlando Interna-tional, Las Vegas North, Phoenix, St. Louis, Edinburgh, Chicago and Leesburg Premium Outlets properties.

Simon hopes to lure new shop-pers to its outlets and build traffic. “This sponsorship was a natural as the tour’s North American stops align with the locations of our Premium Outlets,” said Ste-phen Yalof, chief executive officer of Simon Premium Outlets. “We look forward to hosting numerous tour-related events on property that will entertain and delight our loyal shoppers and introduce our centers to a whole new set of shoppers.”

Simon will have a contest for its “VIP” shoppers to win tickets to see Lovato and Jonas in concert and get access backstage and to sound-check parties, and there will be Simon VIP shopper lounges at each concert with photo booths, swag and discounts. — DAVID MOIN

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Do-OverThe company Tamara Mellon, after a quick bankruptcy restruc-turing, is full speed ahead with a new plan.

Tamara Mellon Brand Inc., which shares its name with its creative director and Jimmy Choo cofounder, is set to move its headquarters from New York to Los Angeles and go the di-rect-to-consumer route with the brand, promising on its landing page limited-edition capsule collections turned around every two weeks. The company ap-pears to be in step with the buy-now-wear-now movement, with a recent job posting describing the business as “old-school-Italian-artisanship-meets-new-school luxury (aka buy-now-wear-tomor-row at accessible prices).”

Mellon is expected to speak about the company’s September relaunch and new strategy next week at the Culver City, Calif., development Platform, accord-ing to a web site landing page for the upcoming event.

Several online job postings on search site Indeed show the company looking for a spectrum

of talent, from a head of e-com-merce to marketing coordina-tors, operations managers and directors of digital acquisitions and engineering and develop-ment.

Tamara Mellon, the company, filed for bankruptcy in December and emerged from it in January, backed by new funding from ven-ture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. — KARI HAMANAKA

Shine OnAfter a few thunder and lightning storms earlier in the week, the sun finally came out Wednesday evening to shine on New Bond Street for the official opening of the new House of Dior.

Surrounded by thousands of blue delphiniums (a nod to the 400,000 at Raf Simons’ last show for the house), a 19-piece orchestra played as guests made their way into the party, where Josh Ludlow and Jenny Bastet provided the soundtrack to the evening.

Pixie Lott and Oliver Cheshire arrived hand-in-hand, fresh from a trip to New York. “It was a little bit of business and a little bit of

pleasure; mostly pleasure,” said Cheshire. “We went for my birthday and I had quite a few friends in town so we had a bit of a party.”

“I gave him the flight to New York, that was his birthday present,” said Lott. “That and a quieter dinner with just the two of us when all of his mates had left.”

Guests included Daisy Lowe, Millie Mackintosh, Donna Air, Am-ber Le Bon, Henry Lloyd Hughes and Sai Bennett.

Television presenter Laura Whitmore had more low-key plans for the weekend. She planned to escape London for Brighton to see her friend’s band perform at the Wildlife Festival, one of many Whitmore has lined up for the summer.

“I’ll be staying in a teepee with seven other girls at Glaston-bury, where I am really looking forward to seeing Jack Garratt and Muse, who are headlining on Friday night. We’re going to see Adele; Cyndi Lauper is playing, too. I quite like wandering around and seeing bands that you don’t necessarily know that you see by accident.” — JULIA NEEL

Fashion Scoops

16 10 JUNE 2016

● She said she’s launching the digital platform to mark a decade in business, and cater to the shifting shopping habits of her clientele.

BY STEPHANIE HIRSCHMILLER

LONDON — A well-established industry figure in the Gulf region, Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz is swapping bricks for clicks with the launch this week of an interna-tional digital platform, DNACHIC.com.

Ten years ago, Abdulaziz launched the members-only boutique D’NA in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, followed by a second one in Doha, Qatar. She helped to introduce designers such as Prabal Gurung and Jason Wu to a Middle Eastern audience and nurtured British labels including Erdem, Roksanda and Mary Katrantzou.

She said she’s launching the digital platform to mark a decade in business, cater to the shifting shopping habits of her clientele, and respond to increas-ing international demand for exclusive pieces with a cultural slant.

“D’NA has always been a store with a unique point of view that attracts a community of like-minded individuals,” she said in an interview. “Today that community has grown into a diverse and international clientele, and DNACHIC.com reflects that reality and is there to meet their needs.”

The site will sell ready-to-wear and accessories from a roster of interna-tional designers. In some cases pieces have been lengthened or styled, she said, to offer fresh perspectives and ensure the items remain culturally appropriate.

The site will offer categories that include weather, destination, event, mood and color.

There will also be a series of exclu-sive looks from designers including Katrantzou, Nicopanda, Sophie Theal-let, Gurung, Alexander Lewis, Gianvito Rossi, Aquazzura, Eddie Borgo and Lisa Marie Fernandez.

A “new-vintage” section called The Vault affords access to custom pieces, created exclusively for D’NA over the last 10 years by labels ranging from Sophie Theallet to Rodarte.

The platform will also host a maga-zine section called The Chic, featuring editorials by a mix of international grande dames ranging from the Moroc-can socialite Aicha Benhima to the Japanese Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola and Ugandan Princess Elizabeth of Toro.

Following the digital launch, Abdulaziz plans to start rolling out DNACHIC pop-up stores in locations worldwide where her clients both live and vacation.

FASHION

Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz Launches Online Boutique DNACHIC.com

Princess Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz

Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas tour poster.

Ryan Reynolds as Piaget’s newest brand ambassador.

Tamara Mellon

Oliver Cheshire

and Pixie Lott