WWD

Heating UpJason Wu put the incoming blizzard aside on Friday for a collection he dubbed “Extreme Femininity.” After making a significant statement in power daywear, Wu softened slightly with a series of elegant gowns and bustier dresses with filmy skirts, such as this one-shouldered style in sexy layers. For more, see pages 6 to 10.

NEMO’S WRATH

Blizzard Hits RetailAs Shows Must Go On

SEE PAGE 4

WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 9, 2013 $3.00 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE

FALLNEW YORK 2013

COLLECTIONS

LACOSTE AT 80 FASHION WEEK GOT INTO FULL SNOW-COVERED STRIDE HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND WITH

COLLECTIONS INCLUDING KENNETH COLE, KATE SPADE, NAUTICA AND LYN DEVON. PAGE 4

WWDMILESTONESSECTION II

By WWD STAFF

AH, AS SUZY MENKES recalls, for the New York shows of yore “in the crispness of October and the lovely beginning of spring.”

Instead, there’s a blizzard.Scores of stores closed early Friday in the Tristate

area due to Winter Storm Nemo even as designers and the fashion pack soldiered on through New York Fashion Week — although many European buyers and journalists, including Menkes herself, could not get to New York because of canceled flights. The clothes on the runway suddenly looked perfectly timely for the weather outside even as many fashion folk refused to give in and stuck to their vertiginous heels, short skirts and flowy dresses, snow and slush be damned.

None of the fashion shows were canceled or post-poned as of press time Friday, with most design-ers due to show today saying they were sticking to the schedule. A spokeswoman for IMG, which owns Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, said Friday, “We have been in constant contact throughout the night and into this morning with city officials, including the Mayor’s office, the NYPD, Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Department of Sanitation and the Department of Buildings. As we stated yes-terday, we have a proactive plan in place to deal with Nemo. That plan includes additional crews to help with snow, ice and salt maintenance, increased inte-rior heating, among other precautions. We also have our tent architect and extra crews on site to help manage our structure during the storm.

“Based on the most current weather models avail-able, it is becoming clear that most of the snow accu-mulation and high winds will occur late tonight and end by early tomorrow morning. Mass transit continues to operate normally in New York, and there have been no service changes announced as of yet. In consultation with the city and CFDA, as well as our other partners, we have decided not to close Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week early this evening. All planned shows will go on as scheduled. We will continue to monitor the storm, and make changes to the schedule if they are needed.”

A bigger problem occurred with the airlines, which canceled hundreds of flights to the New York area, disrupting travel plans. As of Friday after-noon, 1,059 flights arriving to New York area airports (Newark Liberty International, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia) were canceled, and 219 flights that were to arrive at New York area airports today were can-celed, according to Flightaware.com.

Kerry Youmans, senior vice president of KCD, which is handling about 25 shows and presentations during New York Fashion Week, said there were a group of editors who arrived before the storm, and about an equal number of international editors who have had delayed flights. “Most appear to be making it here by [this] afternoon or evening. We’re aware that could change further. A lot of them have re-booked for Saturday flights, so we’ll see. We have only a handful of people who have flat-out canceled.”

Youmans said KCD would move ahead with a nor-mal schedule for today and is monitoring the weather.

Winter Storm Nemo hit New York on Friday.

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NEW YORK — Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the The Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology, was on her third pair of shoes before Thursday’s fete for the new “Shoe Obsession” exhibition and correspond-ing book was even halfway over.

After slipping out of the black ver-tiginous Noritaka Tatehana wedges — made famous by Lady Gaga and stand-ing at eight inches — Steele changed into a pair of more modest 5-inch black platform Nicholas Kirkwood sandals to welcome guests to the show, which will run through April 18.

The 150-shoe exhibit, hosted in partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, contains footwear from designers like Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin, Chanel, Roger Vivier, Pierre Hardy, Nicholas Kirkwood, Charlotte Olympia, Tabitha Simmons, Alexandre Birman, Aperlai, Brian Atwood, Edmundo Castillo, Gucci, Andreia Chaves, Lanvin, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Charline DeLuca, Masaya Kushino and Gianluca Tamburini. Birman, Castillo, DeLuca, Kushino, Aperlai’s Alessandra Lanvin and Tamburini were all in attendance.

For Steele, who cocurated the show with associ-ate curator of accessories Colleen Hill, the obses-sion with shoes has “ratcheted up to a new level.”

Hill found that the average American woman has two times the amount of shoes she did a decade ago.

“During ‘Sex and the City,’ there were a handful of fanatics who knew about Manolo [Blahnik], but there’s been expo-nential democratization [here.] They now know Nicholas Kirkwood and Charlotte Olympia — and people are buying them,” Steele said. “Accessories are no longer ac-cessories. They are the central picture.”

Castillo, who had two pairs of shoes featured, agreed. He called shoes “the” object of desire, noting that styles la-beled “sky-high” 20 years ago are now thought of as average heel height.

“What was considered unwearable and impractical by many people is now a typical part of the selection of shoes at most retailers,” Castillo said, citing tech-nology as allowing for the evolution of unique and artistic footwear that is still often wearable.

Birman, who had three pairs of shoes on exhibit, said the past four years have brought a tremendous change to the footwear industry.

“We’re seeing emerging designers making a huge difference,” Birman said of the category, once dominated solely by big designer houses and Louboutin,

Blahnik and Choo. “Brian Atwood, Nicholas Kirkwood, Charlotte Olympia, Tabitha Simmons and Pierre Hardy are a lot of important designers that have huge space in shoe departments now.”

WWD.COMWWD WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 9, 20132

A Healthy Obsession: FIT Shows Shoes

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 ©2013 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 205, NO. 28. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2013. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in March, May, June, August, October and December, and two additional issues in February, April, 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. For New York Hand Delivery Service address changes or inquiries, please contact Mitchell’s NY at 1-800-662-2275, option 7. 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

THE BRIEFING BOXIN TODAY’S WWD

A blizzard walloping the Northeast put a damper on some fashion events and took a toll on retail. PAGE ONE. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the The Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology, was on hand Thursday to fete the new “Shoe Obsession” exhibition and corresponding book. PAGE 2 Aéropostale in Times Square was the spot of a dual celebration Thursday night: Chloë Grace Moretz’s Sweet 16 birthday bash and Teen Vogue’s 10th- anniversary party. PAGE 2 As the snow began to take Manhattan, the fashion shows powered through including Jason Wu, Kate Spade and others. PAGES 6 THROUGH 10.

Outside the New York shows. For more, see WWD.com.

The scene at the party for Commes des Carres. For more, see WWD.com.

EYE: Editors and Rei Kawakubo diehards gathered to toast Commes des Carres, an unlikely partnership between Comme des Garçons and Hermès. For more, see WWD.com.

THEY ARE WEARING: WWD photographers go off-runway, capturing the best street style of the season. For more, see WWD.com

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IMPENDING WINTER STORM Nemo did not deter the tweens who descended upon Aéropostale’s Times Square outpost for a dual celebration on Thursday night: Chloë Grace Moretz’s Sweet 16 birthday bash and Teen Vogue’s 10th-anniversary party (the actress is on the maga-zine’s March cover and an Aéropostale brand ambassa-dor). The store’s upper level had been transformed into a teenybopper paradise filled with helium balloons, a photo booth, lol-lipops, cakes, virgin cocktails and Venetian masquerade masks.

Julianne Moore, Victoria Justice, Jake T. Austin, Harley Viera-Newton, Atlanta de Cadenet and Irish pop duo John and Edward Grimes, also known as Jedward, turned out for the party, which featured musical perfor-mances by Swedish synth-pop artists Icona Pop and “America’s Most Talented Kids” winner and

singer Tori Kelly. The crowd, com-prised mostly of teenage girls and fans of Moretz, could be found tak-ing self-portraits on their iPhones at any given moment.

The actress, clad in Chanel and an Aéropostale leather

jacket, revealed that her real birthday falls on Feb. 10.

“But I got my presents today,” she said, motioning

toward her wrist. “It’s a sil-ver diamond bracelet with my

letter, ‘C.’ And I got this ring, it’s Victorian and it’s opal.”

The biggest perk of the mile-stone birthday, however, will be the ability to drive.

“I have literally just applied for my permit,” she said. “My mom is teaching me. I know how to drive stick. My mom is like, ‘I don’t wanna buy you a new car. I’m gonna give you my car and I’m gonna get a new car.’ And I’m like, ‘Ugh! Teri! Why are you doing this to me?’”

“Modern Family” actress

Sarah Hyland, now 22, reflected on her own sweet 16 party.

“I was doing ‘Grey Gardens’ on Broadway,” she said. “My 16th birthday was on a Saturday — which you’d think would be awe-some — but we had a five-show weekend, so I had two shows that day. And I went to Olive Garden. I went…to Olive Garden. Unlimited breadsticks on my birthday.”

— KRISTI GARCED

Chloe’s Super Sweet 16

eyeChloe Grace Moretz in Chanel.

Aperlai

Charlotte Olympia

Edmundo Castillo

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Wallsé, in the West

Village

Four-week digital subscription to the Times, and her first issue

A copy of her

first issue

Kurt Andersen, Katie Roiphe

Derek Blasberg, Stephen Gan

Chris Hughes

Wendi Murdoch

Sofia Coppola

Terry Richardson

jumbo-sized crab cakes,

bacon-wrapped scallops

dainty canapes, marinated scallops

Mark Thompson, Dean Baquet, in a salmon-colored shirt

Robert Thomson, Gerard Baker, in open collar, blue pinstripe

Media intelligentsia and publicists

Fashion’s pretty young things and designers

MINI MOGULS CELEBRITY THE BOSSES

FOOD FORIN THE HOUSE

BENEFICIARIES SLUMMING IT THOUGHT OF NEPOTISM WITH THE STAFF

FACE OFF: Deborah Needleman and Kristina O’Neill both feted their debuts, at the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, respectively, with parties on Thursday night. Presumably it was all a coincidence, but the two already both proclaimed “Elegance” on their magazine headlines, so maybe not. Still, it put many in the harrowing “Sophie’s Choice” position of having to choose whom they’d rather air-kiss. It was not unlike the choice many advertisers will have to make with their ad budgets. Some nightlife all-stars — the Proenza boys, Hannah Bronfman, Emanuele Della Valle — made it to both. Drew Barrymore went to just one: “I got to know Deborah years ago, when she was doing Domino. We just stayed in touch and always write handwritten notes to each other.” Says Della Valle of the difference between the two editors: “One’s a blonde, the other’s a brunette.” Here, the two parties compared: — Erik Maza

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DEBORAH NEEDLEMAN

DEBORAH NEEDLEMAN

KRISTINA O’NEILL

KRISTINA O’NEILL

Makeup artistry by Charlotte Willer.©2013 Maybelline LLC.

4 WWD WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 9, 2013

Stores Close Early, While Fashion Soldiers On

Men’s wear shows, such as Nautica, General Idea, Billy Reid and Tommy Hilfiger, all went off without a hitch on Friday. In women’s, shows such as Rebeccca Minkoff, Yigal Azrouël, Monika Chiang and Tocca, all scheduled for Friday afternoon, went on as planned, as did Nicole Miller. Designers that are showing today, such as Lacoste, Jill Stuart and Sun Jung Wan are all going ahead with their shows.

Paul Wilmot, whose p.r. firm is handling shows such as Ruffian, Christian Siriano and Nautica, said all the shows were going ahead as planned. “Christian welcomes the opportunity to show in the face of the storm,” said Wilmot. Siriano shows on today at 4 p.m.

Deborah Hughes, whose p.r. firm was working on several shows over the weekend such as Monika Chiang, Son Jung Wan and Catherine Malandrino, said, “We’ve had a few people say they aren’t coming, but all the shows are going forward. Everything’s moving along. People are arriving in high heels and have scarves over their heads,” said Hughes, who was stationed at the tents.

Libby Haan, whose firm Haan Projects is working on shows, such as Monique Lhuillier at 7 p.m., said, “All tent shows are moving forward.” She said a couple of editors from the U.K. had to can-cel out of the Thakoon show on Sunday, but most of the European editors were already here.

Menkes, fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, was slated to fly to New York Friday from London, but her

flight was canceled. She is now slated to depart today, and “let’s just hope it takes off. It’s absolutely maddening in every way,” she said, adding, “I think they’re very lucky in New York this hasn’t happened” before since the shows leapfrogged to the front of the international calendar, putting the February shows in the path of potentially inclement weather.

“I’m still hoping to get to New York, although feeling in-creasingly worried about how to cross the Atlantic, with so many canceled flights,” said Justine Picardie, editor of British Harper’s Bazaar. “I’m just about to rush out to Uniqlo to buy a bundle of thermal vests and socks; but I’m wondering, should I be packing Wellington boots, rather than Manolos?”

Editors from Vogue and Tatler also were delayed Friday, but hope to arrive today.

Italian buyers and retailers are expected to leave today and are waiting to hear from the airline companies whether the flights are confirmed. U.K. buy-ers are also hoping to cover the New York shows as usual: “Yes we are still planning to attend, and after the snow in Paris dur-ing pre-collections, we are pre-pared for the weather,” said Laura Larbalestier, buying di-rector at Browns in London. “We are just sorry we can’t wear all our spring clothes and we have to re-create our winter ward-robe once again.”

To make sure key guests made it to Charlotte Ronson’s Friday night presentation, her p.r. team offered 30 of them a $40 dis-

count for Uber car service. Yohji Yamamoto’s Y-3 show downtown Sunday afternoon was still on track. An Adidas spokeswoman said Friday, “The show has a total of 540 seats and we are ex-pecting to fill them all. We are confident everything will be fine by Sunday. The weather forecast shows a big sun for Sunday.”

Marc Jacobs has decided to show his Marc by Marc Jacobs collection on Monday at 8 p.m. at The Theater at Lincoln Center, following the designer’s decision to move his Marc Jacobs collec-tion show to Thursday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m., due to customs and deliv-ery delays.

Meanwhile, stores and shop-ping centers closed in large numbers as Nemo began pum-melling the Northeast Friday. With up to two feet of snow feared in parts of New England, retailers urged employees to close early and stock up on food, water, shovels and other snow

survival supplies. Simon Property Group, the

nation’s largest shopping cen-ter developer, closed a total of 20 malls and outlet centers through New England, most around 2 p.m. and a handful at 3 p.m. Simon’s Chestnut Hill mall in Massachusetts closed at 11:30 a.m. Woodbury Common was set to close early at 6 instead of 9 p.m. The Roosevelt Field and Walt Whitman malls on Long Island were still open as of about 4:30 Friday.

The Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, owned by Taubman, closed at 4 p.m.

“This is not something we fool around with,” said Frank Castagna, principal of Castagna Realty and owner of the Americana Manhasset luxury center. The Americana closed at 5 p.m. on Friday, two hours ear-lier than normal, and is set to reopen at noon today, two hours later than normal, Castagna said. That will provide ample time for the Americana crew to operate its melters and clear the ice. “One of the reasons we want employees out of here is to start the cleanup,” Castagna said. “We want our shoppers to know that if they can get out on the road, they don’t have to worry about ice here.”

Late Friday afternoon, J.C. Penney reported that about 50 stores were either closed or closing early due to the storm. At Macy’s Inc., which operates Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, six Macy’s stores closed early in Massachusetts and Connecticut on Friday, between noon and 2 p.m. “Obviously we are watch-ing the storm closely and mak-ing decisions about stores individually based on local con-ditions,” said corporate spokes-man Jim Sluzewski.

At Bergdorf Goodman, “We do not have plans to close early, but we are watching the weath-er very closely. We will have phone-charging stations in the women’s store on 5F and in the men’s store on three, and we will have hot cocoa on 5F and hot cider in the men’s shoe li-brary, all starting at 2 p.m. today [Friday],” said a spokeswoman.

Barneys New York officials were “monitoring the situation” but because there’s “no accumu-lation” at this point, there were no plans to close any stores as of early Friday afternoon.

The Natick Mall, one of the largest in Massachusetts, re-mained closed Friday and said it would be watching the storm’s

progress to make a determina-tion Friday evening regarding Saturday’s operating hours. The Maine Mall in Portland said it would be closing at 3 p.m., though the department store hours could vary.

At Copley Place in Boston, by around 1 p.m. the vast majority of stores were closed, though the center itself did not yet have a definite closing time on Friday afternoon.

At around 1 p.m., Taubman Centers reported that its malls in West Farms and Stamford, Conn., would close by midday.

Tanger Outlets said its Riverhead center on Long Island would close at 5 p.m., instead of the normal 9 p.m. closing Friday. The outlet center in West Brook, Conn. and the Kittery outlet cen-ter in Maine both were closed by 2 p.m., and the Deer Park outlet center, also on Long Island, was open but would reevaluate at 3 p.m. “Everyone is reevaluating at 7 a.m. Saturday morning,” said a spokesman for Tanger, about all of the companies properties in the path of the storm.

Tiffany & Co. planned to close its Fifth Avenue flagship two hours early Friday, going dark at 5 p.m. And 13 of the luxe jewel-er’s other stores in Nemo’s path were either closed by midaft-ernoon or planning to shutter early. “Our corporate office is clearing out now,” said a Tiffany spokesman around 3 p.m.

A spokeswoman for Fifth & Pacific Cos. Inc. said early Friday afternoon: “Our offices are not closing early, rather we are asking people to use discre-tion. Some retail stores in the Northeast that are directly in the path of the storm are either closed now or closing early.”

Then there were the par-ties around fashion week. Kate Spade was going ahead with its 25th anniversary celebra-tion Friday night, while Bulgari planned to hold its party for 800 to celebrate The Serpenti Retrospective and The Year of The Snake tonight. After the weather turned, the luxu-ry company decided to hire a welcoming crew to help keep guests warm an dry en route to the boutique. Ten trenchcoat-wearing men will stand out front holding six-foot umbrellas and offering guests hand warmers.

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LISA LOCKWOOD,

DAVID MOIN, MILES SOCHA, JEAN PALMIERI, ROSEMARY

FEITELBERG, EVAN CLARK AND LORELEI MARFIL

{Continued from page one}

Some show attendees continued to put fashion first…. …while others gave in to the weather with more appropritate footwear.

Fun with a traffic sign.

Snow plows tried to stay ahead of the storm.

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Jason Wu: Jason Wu has been pretty vocal about his desire to mature his uptown, polished look and redefine it in a sexier, edgier context. Sex appeal was the overt guiding principle of his spring and pre-fall collections, and the same could be said for fall, though Wu preferred to call the lineup “Extreme Femininity.” A few days before the show he said he “wanted to loop back to what I started on, the very thing I do, which is beautiful, very feminine clothes.” He did that, eventually, closing the show with a series of elegant gowns in draped point d’esprit georgette. The finale was a highlight, with two of the best looks featuring draped peplum tops — one red, one black — that cut away to float over stovepipe tuxedo pants. It played into the pants-for-evening idea that’s been floating around and would be nice to see actually take root in red-carpet reality.

Wu’s softness came after a significant statement in power daywear, which, while sophisticated and confident, had a hardness to it. Part of that was due to the colors he chose: black, white, red and a caramel shade=, with the final dress in violet. Showing sharply tailored outerwear with military and fur details in strict black and white underscored the glamorous aggression, as did the use of exaggerated white shirt collars. Lindsey Wixson in a black polka-dot dress, belted with a flounce at the waist and a thick, white fold-over collar, looked like a secretary with a secret.

Most appealing were the pleated cocktail dresses with leather details, bustier tops and filmy skirts, and a day look that paired a black crewneck with sheer stripes with pants in a marbled bonded wool. These struck a chic middle ground between his pretty beginnings and this newfound sex factor.

Kenneth Cole Collection: It has been 30 years since Kenneth Cole got started selling shoes from a truck, and seven since he last showed on a runway during New York Fashion Week.

Much has since changed, including the advent of social media, which Cole embraced wholeheartedly this season. An elaborate video intro featured catchy tag lines — “Yield to Social Netwalking,” “We don’t care if people love it, we just want them to ‘like’ it” — and, during the finale, Cole’s models aimed handheld devices at the audience. If it played as a little gimmicky, it had a certain charm, particularly since, as they clicked and tweeted, the models wore those most obscure of fashion accessories — big smiles.

Against an impressive backdrop projection of the New York skyline, Cole and creative director Kobi Halperin presented a lineup with a distinct downtown vibe. The clothes were rendered mostly in black and gray with some military green and burgundy, along with lots of leather details and metallics, like the shimmery yarn shot through a sweater and the big silver lapels on a black coat. The mood was at once urban and futuristic. Taken apart, there were many strong pieces, including an array of outerwear

and knitted skirts with an air of casual chic. But their appeal was sometimes shrouded by the aggressive styling: extreme layering, strange hologramlike lenticular panels of moving birds. Cole’s best exits were the least complicated, such as a color-blocked gray-and-burgundy wool coat over a ruched jersey dress.

Cole extended the futuristic touch to his men’s wear with some demonstrative looks, i.e., a wool bomber jacket worked with another lenticular trick.

The outerwear, including voluminous wool coats, sharply cut topcoats with contrasting leather sleeves, hooded parkas and cropped puffers were the standouts.

Nautica: Returning to the runway to celebrate Nautica’s 30th anniversary, creative director Chris Cox delivered a strong and well-edited effort. Form-fitting merino wool sweaters worn with softly constructed sport jackets over nylon leggings proved that, while the Nautica

man may not be the newest kid in town, he definitely has a confident, sexy attitude. Traditional brand staples such as parkas were reinvented in sleeker silhouettes, giving a more upscale feel with fur trim and wool paneling, while fisherman sweaters were statement pieces and offered in a subtle color palette.

Kate Spade New York: For a major portion of Kate’s Spade 20th anniversary collection, creative director Deborah Lloyd

celebrated all things New York, fashioning iconic symbols into various fun looks. A yellow-and-black checkerboard taxi motif inspired a tweed skirt and an oversize color-blocked jacket; a graphic black-and-white apple print was shown on a flounced bustier dress and skinny jeans, and a sprinkle donut image appeared on a sweatshirt. Studio 54 was another influence, worked into a short tuxedo suit, a feathered chubby jacket and leopard prints that harkened back to the famous

Jason Wu Kenneth Cole Collection Kenneth Cole Collection

Fall 2013

NEW YORK COLLECTIONS

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM: SEX APPEAL AT JASON WU,

A DOWNTOWN VIBE AT KENNETH COLE, A MILESTONE CELEBRATION AT NAUTICA

AND SO MUCH MORE.

WWD.COM

disco’s banquettes. Lloyd also collaborated with artist Craig Redman, best know for his Darcel Disappoints character. He recreated the cartoon prints in Lloyd’s likeness (along with her dog, Lulu), which showed up on sweaters and T-shirts.

The accessories picked up on the playful motifs via enamel charms on necklaces and pins and a black satin sandal with a tuxedo “collar” at the ankle. Even a pair of sunglasses formed an open pair of lips in homage to the disco era.

Lyn Devon: A New Yorker, born and raised, Lyn Devon is a bona fide city girl who daydreams about cashing it in for a farm upstate. She let this idea guide her fall collection, which hit all her hallmarks — exceptional fabrics built into sportswear with a classic sensibility — while drawing out a younger, more playful energy. The hearty, rustic quality of the colors and materials, such as navy velvet, orange corduroy and a great nubby boucle in

beige used on a peacoat, were a great fit for her look.

Devon shortened her hemlines, showing a gray, paperbag-waisted mini with a cropped turtleneck in a chunky melange knit, and worked in some novelty effects, covering an oversize “husband” coat in customized brooches. Her way with the girl-meets-boy tradition — i.e., pairing a nifty silicone-embroidered lace corset with bag-waisted velvet tuxedo trousers — felt extra-charming.

7WWD WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 9, 2013

FOR MORE REVIEWS AND PHOTOS, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

Nautica Kate Spade New York

Lyn Devon

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Yigal AzrouëlBand of Outsiders

Yigal Azrouël: Yigal Azrouël continued to play with fabrics and skins for his fall collection, often mixing them in one piece. Ponyskin sleeves could be zipped off a wool coat, and leather accents showed up on sleeves and pant legs. These combinations were rendered with mixed results. Azrouël, who cited “the energy of phantasm, danger and chilling allure” in his show notes, amped up his construction with shoulder treatments and sculpted silhouettes on several body-conscious dresses. These added a strong attitude to the looks, which he softened with several chunky knits that seemed perfect for the next blizzard.

Edun: Designer Sharon Wauchob said for fall, Edun was all about polishing up youth-culture classics, and with founders Ali Hewson and Bono in the audience, she hit the proverbial nail on the head. The space they chose for the show was all concrete and harsh lighting, which complemented a collection that’s best described as hard yet familiar. There were black leather biker jackets, iconic plaids printed on silk blouses and some acid-yellow tweed pieces that, with leather collars, felt more punk than ladylike. Speaking of punk, Wauchob created pseudo-piercings out of tiny grommets and chains that decorated draped tops and replaced buttons on cuffs — a fitting

accent to a concise lineup.For the first time, men’s

wear was incorporated into the women’s presentation. Men’s designer Ricky Hendry played out a similar biker stance with washed leather motorcycle jackets, skinny jeans in coated denim and cropped peacoats styled with plaid shirts and perforated knits. The result was downtown cool with touches of crafted depth and dimension.

Band of Outsiders: Band of Outsiders is to fashion as Wes Anderson is to films: geeky, twee and endearing. The same could be said of designer Scott Sternberg’s approach to fashion shows, and he enjoys a smart-aleck twist on them, as he did this year with his

men’s show: A Manhattan scavenger hunt had two models racing to places like Momofuku Milk Bar, the Lego store and the headquarters of Tumblr. After each found clues, contestants-models Matt and Miles returned to a Plexiglas room atop a roving truck and changed into the fall collection that included corduroy jackets, quilted sweatshirts and an oxford shirt and tie, the latter decorated with a subway map pattern. Little design flourishes like pockets turned on their sides, as if they’d passed out, were predictably precious — and of course the day’s proceedings were streamed over the brand’s Web site, Instagram feed and Tumblr page. Matt won.

Rebecca Minkoff: With her new store opening in New York this summer, Rebecca Minkoff was thinking about a well-rounded lifestyle. There were party frocks in pop colors, easy day pieces like ripped denim and quilted leather and some fun rounded-shoulder tops that winked at the space suits she had in mind when designing this collection.

But Minkoff knows her girl is a rock ’n’ roll tomboy at heart, so she made sure to include looks such as a bomber jacket-track pant combo in leather and burnout plaid, respectively, as well as hologram pumps and bags that will likely fly off the shelves.

FOR MORE REVIEWS AND PHOTOS, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

Edun

WWD.COM9WWD WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 9, 2013

Timo Weiland

Cushnie et OchsRebecca Minkoff

N.Hoolywood

Pierre Balmain

Pierre Balmain

Cushnie et Ochs: Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs sent out a polished look for fall. The show opened with a beautiful white sleeveless blouse and miniskirt, sans their signature cutouts, which proved the design duo are capable of much more. And while there was still plenty of that kind of detail, what followed was a nice balance of streamlined looks, namely the fox fur jackets, a crisp white shirt with white wide-leg trousers and a sleek top and skirt in black kangaroo calfskin. An abstract woods print on a blouse and matching pleated skirt added a nice pop, helping to break up the monochromatic lineup.

Pierre Balmain: Balmain’s secondary line, Pierre Balmain, was presented as a digital runway show this season and, according to the show notes, was all about “style avengers.” Think Emma Peel wearing ultraskinny pants, bold giraffe prints and only a few touches of embellishment, like gold embroidery on a cool navy T-shirt or eyelet details on a leather jacket. The design team topped off many looks with some terrific outerwear including fringed biker jackets and an elegant gold buttoned cape.

The Parisian cool of the women’s clothes paired nicely with the men’s collection, which made a statement via

navy-and-black combinations and strong tailoring with short, form-fitted, double-breasted blazers, some great coats and a chic navy tuxedo with black lapels and buttons.

Timo Weiland: Timo Weiland showed his men’s and women’s collections separately this season — and the men’s wear was all the better for it. “We didn’t want to have to make them match,” Weiland noted. Jackets with hexagon quilting, wool coats adorned with neckwear patterns and a sweater decorated with an image of design partner Alan Eckstein’s dachshund, Coconut, were ready-made for the trendy Brit-pop scene that inspired the lineup. Add

the duo’s catchy windowpane trousers and the hat collaboration with Albertus Swanepoel, and the hits kept coming. While Weiland was nursing a broken arm from a holiday skiing accident, the mishap didn’t seem to slow down the momentum for this youthful label. (See the women’s review at WWD.com.)

N.Hoolywood: Amelia Earhart was inspiration for the charming men’s N.Hoolywood collection, but rather than channel the trailblazing pilot herself, designer Daisuke Obana looked to her supporting cast of training pilots and maintenance crews. In that vein, the lineup of vintage-looking flight suits

and grease monkey togs was modeled not by chiseled models but by ordinary guys cast off the street who were given a crash course in walking a runway.

The Twenties and Thirties vibe was highlighted by bomber jackets, Western denim shirts and slightly awkward bow tie looks, all updated for today’s hipsters with touches like a skull motif on a varsity jacket. Rich men’s wear fabrics and an expert feel for modern silhouettes kept the show from veering into costume territory. Set to a toe-tapping soundtrack of souped-up swing music, this fanciful and winning collection was a deft medley of past and present, classic and progressive.

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FALLNEW YORK 2013

COLLECTIONS

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Sachin + Babi

Carmen Marc Valvo

Tadashi Shoji

Tome Haus Alkire

Kelly Wearstler

Kelly Wearstler: “Raw and refined” is how Kelly Wearstler described this collection. It’s a mix she’s been honing for the past few seasons while finding her place in the competitive retail environment, and it’s a mix that works. Simple basics are not in Wearstler’s repertoire so a leather T-shirt had contrast insets, knits were quirky with sparkly epaulets and the denim was pure novelty. While most of her jeans, a category she’s pushing, leaned toward skinny with overdye treatments or a sprinkling of jet beads (perhaps a nod to her new black diamond fine jewelry collection?), the boyfriend styles felt particularly fresh with rips and tears, their openings filled with metallic gold thread.

Carmen Marc Valvo: Carmen Marc Valvo steered away from the glitz and focused on sensuality for fall. The designer mixed fabrics and textures in his beautifully cut and inventive evening looks, including an ivory silk gown with an alligator inset and a combination of leather and lace for both long and cocktail dresses. A short-sleeved floating Chantilly lace gown exemplified Valvo at his b est.

FOR MORE REVIEWS AND PHOTOS, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

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Tess Giberson: Drawing inspiration from the craft movement, Tess Giberson showed a strong, edited lineup with a great balance of texture, proportion, color and detail. Culling references from a quilt her mother, an artist, made in the Seventies, Giberson explored various ways of building details. Knits evolved from sleeves on one coat into a full dress woven in an abstract, colorful pattern. A black-and-white print added pop to an architecturally cut dress while serving as an added detail on the seams of another.

Layering is central to Giberson’s aesthetic and her combos were effortlessly styled. Leather, wool, fur and netting looked cool together, giving her girl an arty urban-warrior vibe. Standouts included a fur-sleeved coat over a leather skirt and a group of colorful knits.

Sachin + Babi: Sachin and Babi Ahluwalia presented a fun collection marked by structure and tailoring. Sporty Neoprene, a favorite material here, was sculpted into dresses, tops, jackets and even a great sweatshirt in a northern lights print. Other notable looks included a herringbone jacquard coat and dress that looked graphic and modern, and a cool sequined tracksuit for evening.

Tadashi Shoji: The strength of Tadashi Shoji’s glamorous collection was more sensual, less sizzle. Cocktail dresses and gowns with blouson tops, Watteau backs and dropped waists covered more than they bared and moved gracefully over the body. Looks both long and short were shown in bonded lace, paisley printed gazar and cut or washed velvets — some with beaded insets and leather belts — and were a testament to the designer’s terrific restraint.

Tome: Fresh off their Ecco Domani win in January, Ryan Lobo and Ramon Martin’s star continues to rise with their first fashion week presentation for Tome. The Australian duo cited Georgia O’Keeffe — the woman and her art — as inspiration for dresses, coats and shirting, all elegant in their simplicity. Chic gray wool toppers cocooned around the body while a long, crisp white shirt and long black skirt had a Southwest bent when topped with a black hat.

Haus Alkire: Sometimes, beauty can be found in devastation. Such was the case for Julie Haus, who was inspired by the aftereffects of Hurricane Sandy. Walking around the ghost town that was downtown Manhattan last fall, the designer stumbled onto a new kind of beauty. Her collection for Haus Alkire included a “banksia flower” pattern on long, pleated skirts and frocks that was shot by her husband while they were living by candlelight, and a “dream tree” print that appeared on shirts and trousers. The designer also worked with exotic skins such as eel on tops and lizard collars on dresses.

Tess Giberson

FALLNEW YORK 2013

COLLECTIONS

FASHIONCAREERS

COME IN DIFFERENT SIZES:

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at 80DURAN’S DIRECTIVE THROUGH THE YEARS THE CLASSIC SPIN

In eight decades, Lacoste has turned a classic shirt into a $2.3 billion empire.

WWD WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 9, 2013

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THROUGH THE YEARS...

Duran’s DirectiveThe new ceo calls the year ahead a time to regroup. By Joelle Diderich

AS IT MARKS its 80th anniversary, Lacoste is getting ready to write a fresh chapter.

The maker of crocodile-logo polo shirts has a new boss, José Luis Duran, after being taken over last November by Swiss retail group Maus Frères SA in a deal that valued it at 1 billion euros, or $1.3 billion.

In January, Duran was named chief executive of-ficer of Lacoste SA while also remaining at the helm of Devanlay SA, the Maus Frères subsidiary that has held the global apparel license for Lacoste since 1999. This brings the production and ownership of the brand under the same roof.

“In the next few weeks, I will be forming a sin-gle top management team,” Duran told WWD in his office in Paris. “I will be asking my teams for more alignment, more coherence and more efficiency in the service of the brand.”

The relationship between Lacoste and Devanlay has already been fruitful, he noted.

In 2012, Lacoste posted record wholesale volume of 1.8 billion euros, or $2.31 billion, up 13 percent from the previous year, with strong growth in all regions.

Sales of ready-to-wear rose 12 percent, leather goods were up 60 percent, and shoes posted a 20 percent increase, Duran said. Perfume sales lagged, inching up just 2 percent, after the launch of the new Eau de Lacoste women’s fragrance was postponed to early 2013.

The results, Duran noted, “prove that we have been working together well. But at the end of the day, we are merging two teams that work in very different ways and with slightly different visions, so it’s going to take a little time.”

Until recently, Lacoste was majority-owned by the heirs of René Lacoste, the French tennis hero and businessman who founded the company in 1933 with his partner André Gillier. Its culture was mainly image-driven, while Devanlay has traditionally been

focused on operations, Duran noted.The former Carrefour ceo, who took over

Devanlay in 2009, characterized the year ahead as a time to regroup. Going forward, Duran will push for better integration between Lacoste and its various license holders — Pentland Group for footwear, Procter & Gamble Prestige for fragrances, Movado Group for watches and

Charmant Group for eyewear, among others.“When I look at our different marketing cam-

paigns, they are all individually good. The question is whether everything is coherent, unique, aligned and efficient,” Duran said. “I’m going to ask every-one — perfumes, shoes, etc. — to be a little more dis-ciplined, a little more in line with what I expect in terms of brand positioning.”

Having opened or renovated a series of global flagships in recent years, including its unit on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Lacoste is fo-cusing mostly on emerging markets, where it plans to open stores averaging 1,300 to 1,400 square feet.

That will include between 10 and 15 stores in China, three to four in Turkey, four in Russia and two in Argentina, where Lacoste is taking over two for-mer Polo Ralph Lauren locations. In addition, it will renovate its two largest stores in Amsterdam, and one in the Arkadia shopping mall in Warsaw.

The sportswear maker, which manages some 1,200 freestanding Lacoste stores worldwide, will also add 10 separate units, primarily in Asia, for its Lacoste Live line, which targets a younger, more contempo-rary customer.

“For us, 2013 is a big year of reorganization,” Duran said. “We have made huge investments over the last three years. We remain in a somewhat dif-ficult environment for the economy and consumer spending, so globally we are going to digest, rein-force, improve and fine-tune what we have done.”

He also wants to redirect resources toward direct communication with consumers. With a Facebook page that has been liked more than 11 million times, Lacoste benefits from strong brand recognition and enduring appeal, but Duran believes those assets are not being exploited well enough.

“I am convinced that a greater share of our mar-keting budget should go to digital initiatives and a smaller share to print — how much exactly, I don’t know,” he said.

The executive wants the company to project a more innovative approach in all areas, from advertis-ing to product and store windows. “We have to create a ‘wow’ impact through all these elements,” he said.

Central to its communications efforts this year is a series of 80th-anniversary initiatives, including capsule collections revolving around Lacoste’s iconic cotton piqué polo shirt.

Graphic artist Peter Saville, famous for his album covers for Factory Records in the Eighties, has de-signed a logo, which appears on products including 12 limited-edition custom polo kits, on sale exclu-sively on Facebook. Lacoste also plans a roving exhi-bition, which is to tour Asia.

Duran noted that China is increasingly important, vaulting to the third spot among its top 10 markets last year from number eight just four years ago. Traditional European markets like Spain and Italy have slid from the top 10, however, as austerity mea-sures force households to tighten their purse strings.

The U.S. remains Lacoste’s largest single market, generating 21 percent of revenues, but other regions are catching up. Asia now represents 25 percent of sales, Latin America 14 percent, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa 40 percent.

“Our geographic portfolio is becoming increasingly balanced,” said Duran. “Today we no longer depend on a single country, as we did five or six years ago.”

Nonetheless, the executive is cautiously project-ing single-digit growth in 2013.

“I prefer that we continue building the business and figure out every day how we can make the brand more upscale, rather than chasing turnover,” he said.

“For a company that is 80 years old, six to nine months of digesting change is not a long time, and we have to be a little patient. But I think that over the next three to five years, we have a real opportunity for additional growth in existing licenses and markets.”

José Luis Duran

Lacoste has an aggressive store expansion and renovation plan in progress. Here, the Champs-Elysées store.

The storied history of the brand of the crocodile spans eight decades. Here are some highlights.

1904 Future tennis legend René Lacoste is born in France.

1927 Lacoste, whose nickname is the Crocodile, for his tenacity on the court, makes a white polo shirt for his personal use on the tennis court, bearing an embroi-dered crocodile on the chest.

1933 Creation of the Lacoste company. Industrial production of the first Lacoste shirts, in particular the white “petitpiqué” cotton polo shirt, code-named the “L.12.12.”

1940-1946 Production is inter-rupted during World War II, but in 1946, starts again in the French market.

1951 The petit piqué cottonpolo shirt begins to appear in color; exports to Italy start.

1952 Apparel exports to the U.S. start. A year later, David Crystal, owner of what even-tually became Crystal Brands and the Izod label, buys 50 per-cent of the distribution rights to Lacoste for the U.S. Izod and

Lacoste would be associated for many years.

1959-1960 Children’s wear launches; shorts and striped polo shirts are introduced.

1961 Apparel manufactur-ing and distribution license is signed for Spain.

1963 René Lacoste invents the steel racket, paving the way for today’s models, and the first Lacoste tennis shoe.! Bernard Lacoste, René’s eldest

son, takes over as chairman.

1964 Exports start to Japan.

1966 Lacoste signs an apparel manufacturing deal in the U.S.

1968 Launch of Lacoste Eau de Toilette, produced under li-cense by Jean Patou.

1971 Lacoste sponsors Roland Garros.! Japanese production and dis-tribution license is signed.

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René Lacoste,

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WWDMILESTONES

HOW DO YOU breathe new life into a classic?

That is the challenge faced by Lacoste artistic director Felipe Oliveira Baptista, charged with propel-ling the crocodile-logo polo shirt into the 21st century.

“I don’t think there are many brands that have created an iconic piece of clothing that is in every ward-robe and that is made by many other brands, so it is our duty to make it evolve and rethink it more or less con-stantly,” said Baptista.

Originally worn by René Lacoste on the tennis court, the L.12.12 polo shirt this year celebrates its 80th anniver-sary with a series of special editions.

For his fall collection, showing today during New York Fashion Week, Baptista went a step further, bond-ing the shirt’s trademark cotton petit piqué fabric with textiles such as ul-trafine jersey, wool, leather and cotton to expand its use to other categories, like outerwear.

“Last season, we worked a lot on the house’s heritage and played with the symbols of tennis. This time around, I wanted to approach the heritage in a slightly more conceptual, futuristic way,” said the Portuguese-born design-er, sitting in his Paris office in front of a mood board showing polar land-

scapes and bold architecture.“It’s also about Lacoste in the fu-

ture, and the brand’s ties to innovation, because René Lacoste was not just a great tennis player, he was an inventor — the polo shirt was one of many ideas he had. So I wanted to pay homage to his inventive character and to revive this technical and functional aspect of the brand,” he added.

Since succeeding Christophe Lemaire at Lacoste in 2010, Baptista has implemented a more segmented approach to designing its ready-to-wear, with the aim of helping the brand

grow beyond its sportswear roots.“I think it’s no longer just a ques-

tion of fashion, it’s a sociological issue. Thirty years ago, Casual Friday was a treat. Nowadays, for a lot of people, every day is Casual Friday,” he re-marked.

While men’s wear represented 64 percent of sales last year, the brand has placed a growing emphasis on its women’s collections — which account for 20 percent of revenues — and opened two dedicated women’s stores in Paris.

Meanwhile, the Lacoste Live line, aimed at a younger customer, has grown to 10 percent of sales, versus just 2 percent in 2009, while accesso-ries make up the remaining 6 percent.

Then there are the collaborations: In 2013, graphic designer Peter Saville will follow in the footsteps of such artists as the Campana brothers and Jonathan Adler to create Lacoste’s an-nual Holiday Collector’s series. Saville has also designed a logo for the anni-versary, which appears on a range of limited-edition polo shirts.

Baptista, meanwhile, is working on a project with Japanese manga stu-dio Tezuka Productions. But for all his riffs on the house’s codes, the de-signer’s vision for the next five years is firmly grounded in basics.

“I hope people continue to perceive Lacoste as a classic brand with a very strong identity and image, but also in tune with the times,” he said. “So it has these roots, this classicism, this quality and this timeless side, but it continues to seduce and be relevant to people today. That’s what my job is all about.”

Felipe Oliveira Baptista

1978 The company licenses Cahours de Virgile for eye-wear and agrees to a manu-facturing and distribution deal in Brazil.

1981 Lacoste collaborates with L’Amy on a line of sun-glasses and optical frames. Edgar Hamon is licensed for belts and Sogedi for travel and sport bags.

1982 Delorme is licensed for towels, sheets and bathrobes.! The world’s first Lacoste boutique opens on Avenue Victor Hugo in Paris.

1983 Patrick Co. wins the li-cense for sport shoes.! Licensed manufacturing and distribution starts in Australia.

1985 Launch of Lacoste ten-nis shoes, followed by deck shoes in 1986 and walking shoes in 1988.

1986 Licensed apparel manu-facturing and distribution starts in South Korea and Argentina.

1987 Seibu Saison takes over the license for Japan.

1988 Licensed manufactur-ing and distribution starts in Thailand.

1990 Launch of Lacoste’s Equijet racket.! Turkish and Mexican licens-es are signed.

1991 Pentland Group is li-censed for Lacoste Leisure shoes.

1992 A license is signed to make and distribute apparel in India.

1993 A worldwide manufac-turing agreement is signed with Devanlay S.A., indus-trial partner and associate of Lacoste, granting Devanlay exclusive worldwide manu-facturing rights through June 2012.! Marking its 60th anniversa-ry, Lacoste organizes a world-wide campaign in support of the fight against multiple sclerosis, raising more than $1 million.

1994 Lacoste licenses the Swiss company Roventa-Henex to produce watches and Vimont SA for distribu-tion.! Licensed apparel distribu-tion starts in China, and a bou-tique opens in Shanghai.

1995 The first American Lacoste boutiques open in Palm Beach and Bal Harbour, Fla.! Licensed distribution starts in Russia.! Phillips-Van Heusen ac-quires Izod from Crystal Brands, divorcing Lacoste from Izod.

1996 René Lacoste dies.! First Moscow shop opens.! Lacoste’s Web site launches.! Store opens on Madison Avenue.

1998 Devanlay is taken over by the Maus family (90 per-cent) and Lacoste (10 percent). The Maus family, through Devanlay, thus becomes a 35 percent shareholder of Lacoste, with the remaining 65 percent belonging to the Lacoste family.

1999 License is signed for Lacoste home textiles with the Descamps SA unit of the Zucchi-Bassetti group.

2000 Christophe Lemaire succeeds Gilles Rosier and is responsible for the artistic di-rection of Devanlay’s Lacoste activities. His first apparel collection will be for spring 2002.! Worldwide license for bags, travel items and small leather goods is signed with Samsonite.

2001 Procter & Gamble Prestige Beauté is licensed for Lacoste fragrances and beauty.

2002 The first new con-cept boutique opens in Düsseldorf, followed by shops in Omotesando in Tokyo, Lyon, Orlando, Berlin, London, Istanbul and the next year, Paris and New York.! P&G Prestige Beauté launch-es Lacoste Pour Homme world-wide with a major ad campaign by Herb Ritts.

2003 Lacoste Pour Femme scent launches.! Lacoste stages its first fash-ion show in New York.

2004 Touch of Pink scent launches and is ranked among the top fragrances sold in Europe’s main countries.! The Lacoste Piqué Stretch polo boosts the brand, particu-larly in the U.S., which, at year-end, is Lacoste’s top market.

2005 Tennis star Andy Roddick, 22, signs a five-year deal to becomes a Lacoste am-bassador.! Michel Lacoste becomes chairman and ceo, succeed-ing his brother Bernard, who steps down for health reasons and is named honorary chair-man.! P&G Prestige Beauté launches Lacoste Essential worldwide.

2006 Bernard Lacoste dies.! Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa signs with Lacoste.! Movado Group wins a long-term global license for watches.! The René Lacoste Foundation is created under the aegis of the Fondation de France, helping young peo-ple to find their way in life through sport.! Vincenzo Zucchi SpA is li-censed for home textiles.

THROUGH THE YEARS...

The ‘Classic’ DilemmaUpdating a venerable brand image while maintaining a sense of

heritage — that’s Felipe Oliveira Baptista’s mission. By Joelle Diderich

The classic polo is constantly evolving.

Spring 2013

{Continued from page 2}

{Continued on page 6}

A look from 1998.

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MOVADO GROUP CONGRATULATES LACOSTEON ITS MILESTONE 80TH ANNIVERSARY

2007 Elegance men’s scent bows.

2008 Christophe Chenut is named ceo, with Michel Lacoste remaining president.! Lacoste becomes official sponsor and outfitter of um-pires and “ball kids” of the Australian Open.

2009 Lacoste begins its sup-port of the Save Your Logo campaign to preserve biodi-versity on the planet and safe-guard crocodiles.! Hayden Christensen is the face for Challenge men’s scent.! José Luis Duran is named head of Devanlay.

2010 The men’s fragrance Lacoste Essential Sport

launches.! Lacoste’s e-shop in France is created by Lacoste, Devanlay and Pentland. By August, the e-commerce site becomes available in the U.K.

and Germany.! Lacoste signs a four-year global license with GL Bijoux Group to develop fashion jewelry.! Felipe Oliveira Baptista be-comes Lacoste creative director.

2011 Marchon eyewear is li-censed for optical and sun-glasses.! Alexa Chung becomes the new face for Lacoste’s latest fe-male fragrance, Joy of Pink.! Unconventional Chic ad cam-paign begins.! Lacoste L!VE launches.! Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 col-lection of men’s fragrances launches.! Lacoste ambassador Yani Tseng, 22, tops the Women’s World Golf Rankings, the youngest player to win four major titles.! Lacoste becomes the offi-

cial partner of the Costume Designers Guild Awards. ! A 4,300-square-foot flagship opens on Champs-Élysées.! A flagship opens in Hamburg.! Lacoste LAB, which revives the brand’s tradition of in-novation and builds a bridge between its heritage and its future, is introduced.! In New York, a flagship opens on Fifth Avenue, as well as a boutique in SoHo.! American designer Jonathan Adler teams with Lacoste on a limited collection of polo shirts.! At the end of 2011, besides its institutional Web site, the 36 countries in which the brand is present all have Web sites. The institutional site is translated into 11 languages. In 2011, it has more than 1.5 million visitors monthly, which represents 16 million unique

visitors a year.! Lacoste LAB products — a bicycle, football and rugby balls, a boomerang, a moto helmet, a surfboard and two skis — sell exclusively at Colette in Paris.

2012 Swiss retail group Maus Frères SA acquires 100 per-cent of Lacoste SA, valuing the maker at 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion).! American tennis player John Isner becomes brand ambassa-dor for four years.! Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Rouge scent is added to the men’s fragrance collection.

2013 José Luis Duran is named ceo of Lacoste SA, suc-ceeding Christophe Chenut.! The brand marks its 80th anniversary.SOURCES: LACOSTE AND WWD ARCHIVES

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Family ValuesIT MIGHT HAVE begun with a shirt, but René Lacoste and his family formed the foundation of the company that is still a major player today.

The revolutionary polo that made Lacoste’s name resonate around the world was born from a personal frustration with the long-sleeve attire the tennis champion was forced to wear on the courts, driving him to design the breathable, short-sleeve L.12.12 shirt that remains a classic.

The rare mix of sports and engineering that carved the company’s identity harked from further back: René Lacoste’s father made his fortune in electronics for the automotive and aerospace in-dustries, but was also a keen sportsman. He want-ed his only son, born in 1904, to study engineering, but René preferred to play tennis. He persuaded his father to allow him to go professional, and in the Twenties went on to win the French Open three

times, Wimbledon twice and the U.S. National Championships twice — the first Frenchman to win the American competition.

His determination came from a desire to be the best at whatever he did, fam-ily members recall. For exam-ple, René Lacoste studied his opponents’ games and wrote page after page of notes on their techniques.

“My grandfather was always trying to make things better,” said Beryl Lacoste Hamilton, René’s granddaughter.

When forced to stop play-ing tennis due to ill health in 1929, he turned his eye to his inventions. René patent-ed around 50 designs in total, from a ball-delivery machine to the first steel tennis racket.

He also nurtured young sporting talents in tennis and golf. His wife, Simone Thion de la Chaume, was France’s

first female international golf champion, and the Chantaco golf course opened by her father was one of the first in France to be open to all and promote young players from all walks of life, including the couple’s daughter, Catherine, another golfing great.

“My grandparents met because of sport,” Lacoste Hamilton commented. “They wanted to give back to sport, because sport gave them a lot.”

While Lacoste had been producing shirts since 1933, it was his eldest son, Bernard, Beryl’s father, who transformed the business into what it is today.

“My father saw the business was there, he was selling a few thousand shirts, but really nothing,” said Lacoste Hamilton. “He went to his dad and said, ‘Let me have a hand at the business, I think it has a lot of potential and I would like to do something with it.’ My grandfather said, ‘You can’t do that, Bernard, you have a family to raise, there’s no way you’re going to be able to support them.’ My father said, ‘Let me see what we can achieve.’ At the time, it was not an obvious choice.”

That was the beginning of a new era for the firm, with Bernard Lacoste holding the reins from 1963 until 2005, when poor health forced him to hand over management to his younger brother Michel, until then in charge of the company’s legal and financial business. Michel Lacoste remained president of the

firm until last year.“The product was there, but my father took it to

the next level with the help of my Uncle Michel,” Lacoste Hamilton explained.

“It was this trio of very strong personalities, each very good in an area,” she added, describing the fam-ily’s driving values as “teamwork, sport, entrepre-neurship, doing your best.…”

René Lacoste was no doubt a visionary. The croco-dile logo on his shirts is regarded in branding his-tory as the first instance of a visible logo, although, ironically, it was criticized as vulgar at the time. And while the concept of product placement had not yet been invented, René Lacoste gave his croco-dile shirts to friends to wear on the courts, building brand awareness.

Bernard Lacoste’s vision was also ahead of his time, taking the brand global before internation-al expansion was the norm, opening a network of stand-alone boutiques and building the licensing model on which the company’s business is still based today.

“When you think of teamwork, you also think of the structure that Lacoste became, thanks to my uncle [Bernard], who sought out partners throughout the world and in different product categories,” said Sophie Lacoste Dournel, Michel Lacoste’s daugh-ter, who founded the philanthropic René Lacoste Foundation and was briefly non-executive president of the company before its takeover by Maus Frères late last year. “Bernard invented a management style, a way of treating a brand, of internationaliza-tion. He was ahead of the times.”

THROUGH THE YEARS...

Starting with founder René, the Lacoste family steered the company for more than 75 years. By Alex Wynne

René Lacoste wins the Forest Hills tennis championship, 1927.

Catherine Lacoste, 1967.

Simone Thion de la Chaume wins the British Open golf

championship, 1927.

{Continued from page 4}

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Andy Roddick, 2005.

congratulates Lacoste® on the past 80 years.

WWD.COM

LACOSTE MADE its first vol-ley into fragrances in 1968, and the brand’s been upping its game ever since.

While executives at Procter & Gamble, which has held the license since 2001, would not discuss numbers, indus-try sources estimate Lacoste scents generate 230 million euros, or $310.9 million at cur-rent exchange, in wholesale revenues annually.

“The Lacoste fragrance business has been growing pretty steadily,” said Carla Liuni, vice president of fash-ion brands for P&G Prestige. “[It] continues to be a key pri-ority for us…and has quite a unique place in our portfolio.”

Fragrance is the brand’s second-largest license, behind textiles, according to Lacoste.

In a 2005 WWD story, Hartwig Langer, P&G Prestige Products’ global president at the time, recalled the ac-quisition took place because “we felt we needed a French brand. Lacoste, the crocodile and the icon became hip and cool again. And that was the right time. We jumped it be-fore the crest really started rolling again.”

The sportswear firm’s first fragrance licensee was Jean Patou, privately held by the Jean de Mouy family. Among fragrances launched under the partnership was Eau de Sport in two versions, with each bearing the Jean Patou and Lacoste names, in the late Sixties. There was also Lacoste Original in the Eighties, along with Land co-logne, Booster and Lacoste for Women in the Nineties.

P&G and Lacoste have in-troduced numerous scents, as well. There was Lacoste Pour Homme in 2002, then Lacoste Pour Femme in 2003,

which together kicked off the label’s high-end segment. A year later, the brand launched the men’s scent Lacoste Style in Play and Touch of Pink for women, meant to reflect Lacoste’s sports heritage. And Lacoste Essential — marking the introduction of a “free-dom” category, about relax-ation — hit shelves in 2005.

Pour Femme remains a top-three seller in Russia and has important market share in Germany. Touch of Pink boasts a solid following in the U.K., while Essential has a large fan base in the U.S. Lacoste fragrances are sold in more than 95 countries altogether, said Liuni.

Like the Lacoste fashion business, the brand’s fragrance activity is believed to be skewed toward the men’s category.

Lacoste’s iconic crocodile has been prevalent on its fra-grance packaging. For Booster, for instance, the trademark reptile was wrapped around the scent’s box so retailers could position the packages to create a parade of crocodiles. Advertising for some Lacoste fragrances, such as Touch of

Pink, features models wearing the brand’s sports gear.

Since the Style in Play scent was about capturing the type of adrenaline rush athletes experience before competition, its 20-second TV spot at launch featured break-dancer Samy Sainte Barbe doing a handstand prior to leaving his dressing room and appearing before a crowd.

However, it’s Lacoste’s most recent fragrance offerings that forge the closest links with the label’s apparel. The Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 men’s fran-chise, which was introduced

in early 2011 starting with a trio of scents, was inspired by Lacoste’s iconic polo shirt — from its name to the textile crocodile emblem on the bot-tle. Its video spot showing an origamist’s hands transform-ing a shirt into the scent flacon is the second-most-watched ad on YouTube in France, with more than 2 million viewers, according to P&G.

It’s Lacoste’s best-selling fragrance line, and at launch L.12.12 was among the top-10 men’s scents in such markets as the U.K., Germany and France.

Starting in early January, the Lacoste brand’s then-10.7 million Facebook fans could preview a video of actress Amy Adams discussing the new Eau de Lacoste women’s fragrance, the sister to L.12.12 for which she’s the ambassador. It gleaned inspiration from the feeling on skin of pure white cotton fab-ric, like that used for Lacoste clothes. The scent’s cap has the same petit piqué texture, and there is a crocodile logo.

Lacoste’s Facebook fans could also sign up for a “VIP sample” of Eau de Lacoste. And it served an ace: Liuni said the batch of 43,000 was out of stock in four days.

— JENNIFER WEIL

WWD WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 9, 2013

SECTION II

WWDMILESTONES

8

Multimedia PlayerThe brand reaches existing and new targets with strategies from print to digital.

By Paula Szmydke

LACOSTE SURELY speaks digital, the language of the 21st-century customer.

“[Digital marketing] provides new opportunities to reach out to a new au-dience in a much faster, targeted and quantifiable way than other forms of media,” said Didier Calon, communi-cation director of Lacoste SA.

He noted Lacoste is “on the verge” of reaching 11 million fans on Facebook, while the Web sites attract more than 35 million visitors a year.

“We also count millions of video views through our various social-me-dia networks,” Calon added, noting its “Polo of the Future” video has been seen more than 47 million times since last December.

This fun clip was to mark Lacoste’s 80 years and provide a futuristic vision of the brand’s most iconic product, the L.12.12 polo shirt, which — as the video suggests — could one day change color and style with a touch of the hand. Viewers were then invited to de-sign their own version of the polo shirt through an interactive tool.

Lacoste’s print campaigns, mean-while, reflect its style evolution. It was René Lacoste who posed for pictures when the crocodile first appeared on a piece of clothing in 1926. The brand’s ambassadors since have included tennis champions Arthur Ashe, Mats Wilander and Andy Roddick, further underscoring Lacoste’s sporty image.

Elisabeth Prat, creative head of fashion at Peclers Paris, the trend and consulting agency, credits the brand with coming a long way, evolving from a “BCBG brand” in the Sixties to be-

coming outdated in the Seventies and Eighties just before being picked up by the streets and hip-hop culture again in the Nineties.

“Finally, in the 2000s, it turned into a fashion brand with the arrival of Christophe Lemaire,” Prat said.

Since the crocodile has tradition-ally been a man’s pet, a stronger focus on women also became more apparent — already briefly expressed in the 1973 “Les crocodiles sont belles” advertise-ment (which translates into “Female crocodiles are pretty”). The campaign heralded a shift in marketing strategy,

moving away from traditional prod-uct advertising to providing a general mood and a catchy tag line.

The current “Unconventional Chic” campaign, which launched in 2011 with model Anja Rubik sport-ing a white polo shirt over a glittery black evening gown, among others, has proved “a little controversial,” admit-ted Calon. According to Prat, it is remi-niscent “of the old top-model era of the Nineties” and was “not realistic.”

“Yes, this image was strange, but we tested the campaign in France, the U.S. and China, and the results were very good,” said Calon. “You need to take risks. The campaign was launched at a time when the market was difficult and the competition tough, so we de-cided to show our differences — we are not the only brand that is casual and chic, but we were the first one.”

For its ads, Lacoste has employed photographers as diverse as Terry Richardson, Ellen von Unwerth, David Sims and Phil Poynter.

Marc-Antoine Jarry, the executive strategic director at Ogilvy who helped Louis Vuitton and Coca-Cola Zero find their voice through images, said Lacoste “doesn’t need brand construction any more, it needs to be nourished.”

“It’s one of the most amazing brands in the world, it has a lot of power. But when you go to the Web site, you don’t even see a section that is about the spirit of unconventional chic, so you don’t really know what to do with it. Unless you are familiar with the history of Lacoste, you don’t understand why they claim unconven-

tional chic, which is probably a rein-terpretation of the rupture of men playing in shirts,” he said.

Jarry cited the “Un peu d’air sur terre” campaign (“A bit of air on Earth”) as a milestone in Lacoste’s ad-vertising strategy. Thought up by BETC Luxe, it ran from 2006 to 2011 and featured models walking through the air. “It was an amazing combination of energy and timelessness. It made everyone rediscover Lacoste with a refreshed perspective and was very inspiring from the historical point of view of advertising.”

According to Kantar Media, Lacoste SA has increased its ad spending in the U.S. alone from $5.5 million in 2009, to $6.9 million in 2010 and $8.5 million in 2011. Calon would not reveal its global ad expenses, but said the budget jumped by 10 percent between 2011 and 2012.

“It shows their ambitions,” con-cluded Jarry. “Becoming a global fashion house needs support and increased investment.”

Fragrance Follows Fashion

The 1973 ad that reads, “Female crocodiles are pretty.”

The current “Unconventional Chic” campaign.

Eau de Lacoste women’s fragrance.

Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 for men.

Pentland congratulates Lacoste

on 80 years of style and heritage.

SECTION II WWD.COM

WWDMILESTONES

WWD WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 9, 201310

Rockin’ the CrocLacoste props and protects its storied symbol in many ways. By Norma Quinto

LACOSTE’S CROCODILE is not merely a logo on a polo shirt.

Once used to describe a player’s style on the tennis court, it has transcended into a global brand and a focal point for philanthropic endeavors.

It is also a precious piece of intellectual property, which Lacoste guards with the tenac-ity of the reptile itself. Lacoste dedicates an entire team to the global protection of its trade-marks, and works with police and customs authorities in dis-mantling international counter-feit activity in many countries.

“Brazil, China and India are the top three countries where we are facing the most serious counterfeit issues. Two million fake Lacoste products were seized in India in 2011,” said Rajesh Jain, di-rector and chief executive of-ficer of Lacoste India. Lacoste has joined L’Oréal and Calvin Klein in this fight.

While the brand name, logo and products are under a watchful eye, Lacoste took

crocodile protection to the next level with its Save Your Logo campaign, actively supporting projects to protect certain spe-cies of crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gavials now in danger of extinction. The com-pany is also a sponsor of the World Crocodile Conference, which takes place this year in Sri Lanka, May 20 to 23.

Charity is a significant part of René Lacoste’s legacy. The René Lacoste Foundation pro-vides opportunities for young people around the world to find new paths through sport. This includes Andy Roddick’s Youth Tennis Program in the U.S., the Open Play soccer program in Brazil and the “A Chacun Son Everest” (“Each has his own Everest”) mountain-climbing program for young cancer pa-tients. Ongoing global initia-tives include building a gym-nasium at a Russian orphanage and a skateboarding park for children in Afghanistan.

Lacoste has its famous crocodile striding confidently

into more new territories, bringing another dimension to the brand by collaborating with other designers on vari-ous projects.

“The idea of inventing again brought us to look for the best experts in each cat-egory,” explained Christophe Pillet, design director. “In working on the Lacoste con-cept car, we chose Citroën because they have the materi-als, engineers and the latest technology. When we decided to make surfboards, we went to the best surf-equipment manufacturer in Europe. The goal was to raise the value of the brand by returning to the label’s innovative roots. We wanted to play with design ideas without thinking about market constraints.”

“In the Sixties, Steve McQueen and Jackie Kennedy were wearing Lacoste, not be-cause a p.r. guy gave it to them, but because it was part of their lifestyle,” said Lacoste’s German ceo, Sanjiv Singh.

“Today, you see Rihanna and Diane Kruger wearing Lacoste. The brand speaks to a very broad audience. Some love it for the heritage and some for the sportswear.”

Germany is Lacoste’s larg-est European market, with 650 accounts and about 1,000 doors.

“René Lacoste was an in-ventor, designer and an inspi-rational guy, and many of his ideas are still around,” Singh said. “Eighty years later, it is a $4 billion business [worldwide at retail] that has inspired many [people], and that, to me, is an incredible journey.”

An ad for the Save Your Logo campaign.

SCAN TO DISCOVERWWW.LACOSTE-PARFUMS.COM/MOBILE/L1212WHITE