WWDTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY ■ $3.00

By BRIDGET FOLEY

PARIS — The Marc Jacobs era at Louis Vuitton ended Wednesday morning in a spectacular display of showmanship, craft and unbridled talent. Next up for Jacobs: Singular focus on the New York-based Marc Jacobs business, which parent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton plans to take public within three years.

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PHOTO BY STÉPHANE FEUGÈRE

Jacobs’ show, in a vast, intensely appointed tent installed in the Cour Carrée du Louvre made for an appropriately stellar farewell from the designer who catapulted the house from dusty leather-goods giant to global fashion leader on the strength of bold, highly specifi c fashion statements season after season; pioneering

SEE PAGE 6FOR LOUIS VUITTON REVIEW, SEE PAGE 4

Jacobs Bows OutLouis Vuitton

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Simon Kneen to Exit Banana Republic

By MOLLY PRIOR

AFTER A TRIO of acquisitions in recent years, Revlon Inc. is emerging as a new company with a new leader at the top.

Ronald Perelman, the beauty firm’s chairman and owner who is also chairman and chief execu-tive officer of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., has once again made a swift change in manage-ment, replacing Alan Ennis with his predecessor, David Kennedy, who will serve as the vice chair-man and interim ceo. Revlon expects to name a successor “in the near term.”

The change comes on the heels of Revlon’s plans to acquire The Colomer Group for $660 million from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. The deal, which brings professional brands such as CND nail polish and American Crew hair care to the fold, is expected to close later this month.

It also comes nearly five months after Procter & Gamble Co. abruptly ousted Bob McDonald from the c-suite and called in his predecessor, A.G. Lafley, to return to the role of chair-man, president and ceo.

Kennedy told WWD, “It’s an excit-ing time for the company. We are about to close the acquisition of The Colomer Group, which means we will have access to [both the mass and professional] channels. We will have a compa-ny with a broader scope. Colomer will immediately strengthen our international business in Europe and our professional business around the world.”

He said the integration of Colomer requires a certain skill set from an incoming ceo.

Kennedy told WWD that the company is looking for a candidate “who is able to manage this signifi-cant change with the Colomer acquisition — perhaps someone who has done it before” as well as someone who can identify and understand geographical op-portunities. “We will be looking for an experienced, seasoned executive with a broad range of skills. Someone who is an effective leader and proven by the results that they delivered in the past,” he continued.

“We have multiple opportunities. All the brands are healthy and we have access to the professional channel,” said Kennedy. “This company has never

been in a better position.”Kennedy began his first stint as ceo at Revlon —

a position he held from 2006 to 2009 — during a tu-multuous time for the company in which sales and retail space were declining. He took the reins from Jack Stahl, who after a four-year run, was ousted along with much of his management team after what Perelman saw as a series of strategic missteps.

During his tenure, Kennedy succeeded in re-storing order to Revlon by completing a three-year turnaround plan before assuming the role of the company’s vice chairman and senior executive vice president of MacAndrews & Forbes, clearing the

way for Ennis to become ceo.Ennis previously held the role of

executive vice president and chief fi-nancial officer, and prior to that, was president of Revlon International. He joined Revlon in 2005 as senior vice president of internal audit.

Ennis may have been a “numbers guy,” but he took a keen interest in the product and marketing side of the business.

Early on in his four-year tenure, Ennis recruited former Coca-Cola executive Julia Goldin to the role of executive vice president, chief marketing officer to dial up and sharpen Revlon’s advertising strat-

egy. With Goldin charged with returning Revlon to its storied heritage, Ennis focused on his often-repeated mantra of “growing profitability,” which he said was achievable through a two-pronged ap-proach of organic sales gains and acquisitions.

Ennis, who was known for his energy and quick Irish wit, revived Revlon’s appetite for acquisitions. During the last two years, Revlon got aggressive on the buying front, acquiring two nail-care brands, Sinful Cosmetics and Pure Ice, and then making a bold move deeper into the professional salon mar-ket with Colomer.

Perelman seemed to like the team. He told WWD in May 2012, “It was only until I put David Kennedy in as ceo that he brought real order and discipline and focus and allowed us to proceed with what we’re good at in manufacturing and developing product. And then we brought in a very good mar-keting person, Julia Goldin, who’s fabulous, and Alan Ennis is doing a very, very good job.”

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Fitch Cuts J.C. Penney’s Debt Rating

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 206, NO. 69. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 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

Marc Jacobs is leaving Louis Vuitton as plans take shape for an eventual public offering for his namesake brand. Page 1 Lucy’s new president and marketing initiative aim to supercharge awareness of the activewear brand. Page 3 Michael Kors was the guest of honor Wednesday when God’s Love We Deliver broke ground on a new headquarters that will be named for him. Page 3 Burlington Stores Inc. shares shot up 47.1 percent to $25.01 in the retailer’s first day of trading as a public firm on Wednesday. Page 3 Harper’s Bazaar’s Runway Report has gone digital after five years as a print edition. Page 3 Miu Miu, which helped close Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday, was said to have talked with Coty Inc. about a beauty license. Page 8 Lord & Taylor has doubled the square footage devoted to men’s at its New York flagship this fall, adding a second floor of selling space. Page MW1 Brioni’s growth plan includes more U.S. locations, sales diversification and further expansion in China. Page MW2 J. Hilburn is set to unveil its first brick-and-mortar location: a pop-up shop in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. Page MW2 The market for higher-priced men’s jeans is tightening, pushing vendors to work harder to get the most for their premium buck. Page MW6

Paris Fashion Week street style. For more, see WWD.com.

THEY ARE WEARING: WWD went off the runways and onto the streets and sidewalks for the best looks from Paris Fashion Week. For more, see WWD.com.

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Ribeirão Preto is in the northeastern part of the state of São Paulo. The state is in the southern part of the country. This was incorrect in a story about Iguatemi on page 9, Wednesday.

By SHARON EDELSON

SIMON KNEEN, executive vice president of design and creative director of Banana Republic, is leav-ing the company, effective Dec. 31. Kneen’s depar-ture was announced on Tuesday by Gap Inc. on the Banana Republic portion of the corporate Web site.

“In the last five years with the brand, Simon has led with passion, creativity and a thoughtful ap-proach to designing modern and versatile styles for professional men and women. As we compete to win on the global stage, now is the right time to make a change,” said Jack Calhoun, global brand president of Banana Republic, a suggestion that Kneen’s departure was planned by the company.

The retailer said it will start a search for a new head of design and creative director immediately.

Kneen, who has been in his current role since January 2008, will remain with the Banana Republic design team through the end of the year to help manage the transition. Julie Rosen, a 19-year veteran of Gap Inc., will continue in her role as evp of Banana Republic North America, leading

merchandising and inventory management.Kneen was a fan of collaborations and capsule col-

lections. He partnered with Hollywood for an “Anna Karenina” line based on the film, worked with Janie Bryant, the costume designer of AMC’s “Mad Men,” on two collections and introduced capsules from Trina Turk, Milly and Issa, among others. “Man Men” has been credited with helping Banana Republic post $622 million in sales in the first quarter of 2012. A L’Wren Scott for Banana Republic collection will be Kneen’s final partnership, bowing in December.

Banana Republic may have been looking for de-sign assistance for some time. The brand in August 2012 recruited Narciso Rodriguez to rev up its fash-ion offering. At the time, the specialty retailer said Rodriguez would assume an advisory role, working alongside Kneen. The first collection bearing the imprint of the Rodriguez-Banana Republic partner-ship launched for fall.

Gap said Rodriguez’s contract has expired and the company is looking forward to the next oppor-tunity to bring fresh perspective to the brand.

Kneen’s final collection for Banana Republic will be summer 2014.

David Kennedy

FITCH RATINGS downgraded J.C. Penney Co. Inc.’s debt rating two notches to “CCC” from “B-minus.”

A “CCC” rating under Fitch’s scale means that “default is a real possibility.”

Fitch said the downgrade reflected “higher-than-expected cash burn in 2013” as well as concerns that the company will need to raise additional funds next year.

The debt watchdog now expects Penney’s will burn through $2.8 billion to $3 billion in cash this year — $1 billion more than projected in mid-May.

Penney’s comparable-store sales have been weak-

er than Fitch expected and the company has been spending this year to launch its new home depart-ment and bring back basics and private-label brands.

Fitch said “the risk for further inventory mark-down remains through the holiday season as inven-tory buys remain aggressive and sales could con-tinue to disappoint.”

Last week, the company surprised at least some investors with a plan to raise more than $800 mil-lion by selling at least 84 million shares. That came on top of a $2.25 billion term loan secured in May.

— EVAN CLARK

WWD.COM3WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013

By RACHEL BROWN

LUCY DOESN’T WANT to be left behind in the activewear battles.

The VF Corp.-owned brand is relatively unknown in the increas-ingly crowded activewear segment compared with competitors like Lululemon and Nike, but a new president and marketing initia-tive aim to supercharge consumer awareness efforts. Laurie Etheridge, former senior vice president of women’s merchandising and design at Levi’s, is now at the helm at Lucy, which today will launch the Light Forest, a light installation along the DCR’s Charles River Esplanade in Boston that runs for 10 days.

“My decision to come to Lucy was really all about the possibilities,” said Etheridge, who follows Mark Bryden and Shaz Kahng into the president’s post at Lucy. “It is a brand with a history, but low awareness. It is a brand that is focused on women that is both fun and not too serious, while still being committed to and being serious about performance.”

Conceptualized by Minneapolis-based advertising and branding agency Mono, the Light Forest was under development when Etheridge joined Lucy, but she has fully em-braced it. The installation took two to three days to erect and is made up of more than 10,000 solar-powered LED lights that are placed on reedlike components that move and illumi-nate when people pass through them. Complementing the movement, there are sounds of nature and civilization to create a multisensory effect.

Dawn Dzedzy, director of brand marketing at Lucy, described the Light Forest as a celebration of fit and active women. “We knew that our target was out there every day moving, and we wanted to find a way to connect with her out there when she was moving,” she said.

Dzedzy and Etheridge experienced

the Light Forest last month when it was taken for a test drive on a farm in Minnesota. They remarked that it’s optimal to view the installation at dawn and dusk, although it can be ef-fective throughout the day.

If the Light Forest proves to be successful in Boston, Lucy will bring it to more cities, with a second appearance possibly by February or March. Sales won’t tell the story of the Light Forest’s suc-cess, according to Dzedzy. “We re-ally think of this as an awareness builder,” she said. “We are not re-ally saying it is going to have X per-centage increase in sales or traffic. We do think there will be some ef-fect there, but the big effect will be around impressions, social-media activity and buzz for the brand.”

The Light Forest is a key ele-ment of one of Etheridge’s priori-ties at Lucy: elevating the brand’s marketing voice. Other priorities are expanding the store count and wholesale distribution, and engaging consumers through strong customer service, education and activities. There will be 60 Lucy stores by the end of the year, and the company will remodel stores and add to its retail fleet next year. Etheridge said the specific number of stores set to open next year is yet to be finalized.

At VF Corp., Lucy is housed within the Greensboro, N.C.-based conglomerate’s fast-growing out-door and action sports division, which also includes Timberland, The North Face, Vans, Reef, JanSport, Eagle Creek and Eastpak. In the second quarter ended June 29, the division’s sales rose 6 per-cent to slightly above $1.1 billion, and it accounted for half of VF’s revenues for the quarter, although Etheridge acknowledged that Lucy has faced its share of difficulties.

“We, like much of the industry, have seen traffic to malls being challenging in general,” she said. “However, we have some incredibly high-performing stores that stand out and absolutely break with that over-all trend. What that has inspired us to focus on is really making sure that when women come to the store, they are very compelled by the product, the service and the story telling.”

With the fallout from the black Luon pant recall still hanging over Lululemon, Lucy may be able to draw activewear shoppers looking for alternatives. “We see that the landscape continues to be one with room for many players, and we be-lieve that our positioning is very distinctive from Lululemon in par-ticular,” said Etheridge.

Lucy Installation Lights Up Boston

Lucy’s Light Forest.

By ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

THE JOKES were a given with Michael Kors and Joan Rivers on hand at Wednesday’s launch of the God’s Love We Deliver expansion project.

As the lead sponsor, thanks to a $5 million dona-tion, the designer was the guest of honor at the ground-breaking for the nonprofit’s New York headquarters that will bear his name. The group’s SoHo space will more than double to 44,000 square feet, enabling volun-teers to churn out two million meals a year compared with the current rate of one million.

“I am going to make it brief, because we really just want to get to the cake. It has your name on it, did you see?” Rivers asked, referring to the Lulu Cakes confec-tion, with a rendering of the new building.

“Oh thank God,” Kors said. “First off, I have always wanted to wear a hard hat. No, I’m joking. I’m half Jewish, half Swedish and the Swedish side has a very huge head, so hats are not my friends.”

Having never dreamed he would have even one store with his name on it, never mind more than 400, Kors de-scribed the God’s Love building as “extremely gratify-ing,” noting “meals will be served to people in need who cannot feed themselves with no questions asked.”

A GLWD board member, Kors said, “I have been working with them for 25 years. They began the initia-tive in the Eighties. That was when many people in New York, in the fashion industry and beyond, people who were my friends, coworkers and colleagues, began dying of AIDS. Since then, their work has expanded to reach all of those in need of hot meals delivered.”

Afterward, Kors told WWD how there is always more to be done: “Your kids can deliver a meal. You can chop a carrot. We can all do something.

“As New Yorkers, we’re all racing around like crazy. People’s children at the age of four are racing around like crazy. I think somehow in a fast-paced life, you have

to kind of take stock, take a breath and say to yourself, ‘You know what? I am fortunate. How can I give back?’”

Rivers agreed, having seen lives changed and bur-dens lessened. The same would be true of her view of Kors. “I knew him when he was just a simple designer before he became a mogul,” she said. “He’s always been adorable, funny and modest. He is so not of the breed. This is a boy from Queens who has done it all himself, no handouts, just a lot of hard work and the stuff is so great. The first thing I bought from him in the Eighties was an orange molten cape. I still wear it. His stuff is so classic. It doesn’t wear out — you have to shoot it.”

As for her Oct. 14 showdown with the Writers Guild of America about her potential expulsion, Rivers in-sisted she would hold a press conference as soon as a decision was reached. When asked how long she has been a WGA member, Rivers said, “I’m a union girl. I carried signs in the Seventies. I can’t say anything about anything until I walk out of kangaroo court.”

God’s Love We Deliver Honors Kors

By VICKI M. YOUNG

SHARES OF Burlington Stores Inc. shot up 47.1 per-cent to $25.01 in the retailer’s first day of trading as a public firm on Wednesday after the shares were priced at $17 the night before.

Shares hit an intraday trading high of $25.62. The company in June filed with the Securities and

Exchange Commission to go public and had hoped to raise $200 million. A total of 13.3 million shares were priced Tuesday night at higher than the originally ex-pected $14 to $16 range due to high demand. The un-derwriters have an overallotment option in which they can sell another 2 million shares.

At $17 a share, Burlington raised $226.7 million. The company was taken private in 2006 when it was acquired by Bain Capital for $2.06 billion. Following the initial pub-lic offering, Bain continues to be a majority stakeholder. The proceeds from the IPO will be used to redeem cer-tain senior notes and for general corporate purposes.

The company began a substantial turnaround initia-tive when it hired Tom Kingsbury in December 2008 as president and chief executive officer.

Under his initiatives, the company has invested in technology and has built a data-driven testing culture. The retailer has also fine tuned its focus on its core fe-male customer, who is between ages 25 and 49 with annu-al household income of between $25,000 and $75,000. The retailer has also improved product offerings in women’s ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories to increase the fre-quency of visits and average spend of its core customer.

In a telephone interview shortly after shares of Burlington began trading, Kingsbury said the core cus-tomer shops fairly frequently at the stores and that the women’s business continues to be a strong category for the off-pricer. While much of the heavy lifting has been done, Kingsbury said there are “still opportunities across the board to grow women’s apparel within our stores.”

The retailer operates 503 stores, and has opened on average 23 stores a year since being acquired by Bain. Kingsbury said that rate of store openings still holds due to the opportunities available across the U.S.

For the year ended Feb. 2, or fiscal 2012, the com-pany posted net income of $25.3 million on net sales of $4.13 billion.

Burlington Stores, which operates the Burlington Coat Factory stores, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BURL.”

Burlington IPO Bows With Strong Demand

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DIGITAL DAWN: Harper’s Bazaar’s Runway Report has gone digital. After publishing the print version for five years, publisher Carol Smith said, “It was time.”

“Clearly, it was time to rethink it,” Smith said. “The newsstand is challenging for every magazine. Since this made all its money by selling to 100,000 to 200,000 women on the newsstand,” Bazaar was looking for other alternatives. “It did OK,” she admitted of the newsstand sell-through, “just OK.”

Smith wondered if there was a way to do the report less expensively with fewer pages. At a meeting at Lord & Taylor, executives said they wanted to raise the retailer’s fashion quotient and drive shoppers to the L&T Web site and stores. And they wanted to focus on digital. Runway Report, Bazaar’s first click-to-buy electronic special interest publication (eSIP), was born.

Six Harper’s Bazaar Reports are planned, including two dedicated to each of three categories: runway collections, beauty and luxury extras.

The current report includes fashion tips from Suzanne Timmins, senior vice president and fashion director of Hudson’s Bay Co., parent of Lord & Taylor, along with advice from other fashion directors.

Smith said it’s not an advertorial. “It’s custom publishing,” she said. “They [L&T] don’t see the content beforehand and they don’t have approval on it. We keep our editorial integrity, but L&T is very involved in the direction of the report. It’s a partnership that works.”

The Runway Report is available for download with the October issue of Bazaar, and can also be viewed at runwayreport.harpersbazaar.com. Each page directly drives readers to lordandtaylor.com, where they can purchase looks inspired by the issue.

The special publication is just the latest indication of how Bazaar is pushing e-commerce in the new digital era. The October issue with Miley Cyrus proclaims in a bold cover line: “Best Shopping at Every Price: Buy It Now at Shop.Bazaar.com Our Online Store.” — SHARON EDELSON

Blaine Trump, Michael Kors and Joan Rivers at God’s Love We Deliver.

4 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013

Louis Vuitton: Razzle dazzle ’em.A true showman lives by the

mantra, through to the end of his run. On Wednesday morning Marc Jacobs punctuated his brilliant tenure at Louis Vuitton, one that transformed the house from stodgy giant to fashion marvel with a dark-side-of-Busby-Berkeley extravaganza. It razzled, dazzled and captivated his audience.

At a preview on Tuesday night, the soundtrack from “Chicago” played as Jacobs did fittings and approved yet-to-be-assembled embroideries. Stephen Jones tended to a model’s giant feathered headdress that channeled Cher and every unknown glamazon of the Folies Bergère. Jacobs said the show was about “the showgirl in all of us,” and dedicated it to an extensive list of women he loves and finds inspirational, from stylist

Katie Grand to longtime friend Sofia Coppola to icons of audacity: Liza Minnelli, Lady Gaga, Madonna.

It was dedicated, too, to the city of Paris, specifically those parts of it that are “decorative — superficial in a sense,” Jacobs said. “Because it’s perfectly honest and normal to have deep feelings about something that just takes your eye. And new is what you do next, it’s not anything else.”

Though Jacobs maintained he hadn’t designed the show as a goodbye, it certainly felt like one, its set a provocative pastiche of references to his Vuitton past — elevators, escalators, hotel corridor — all coalesced into one lyrically decadent whole. Even a whiff of feisty spring 2013, muscled in via the dark navy-and-black Mongolian lamb damier rug, though one had to wait until the lights went up postshow to notice that.

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That’s because everything was black. Some saw an elegy, though Jacobs denied such intent and reasonably so, given the wit, sexiness, even subtle humor he poured into the darkness.

The showgirl parade astounded, Jacobs’ bravado and the atelier’s craftsmanship on sensual display. And for all of the sheer tulled, feathered and beaded goddesses, there were spectacular clothes. A motorcycle jacket made of appliquéd, studded ostrich. Tuxedo trousers with plumed side stripes. Shirred mink dresses with jeweled inserts. Jeans with windows of decorated tulle. Embroideries for days. Glamour gowns sprung from Victorian pathos.

Starting it all off: Edie Campbell, dressed only in Stephen Sprouse graffiti. It was as if Jacobs were saying, “I’ve given it my all, and it stays here.”

Even as it closed the curtain on

Jacobs’ Vuitton, this show marked the end of a larger era, that heady moment of pan-fashion reinvention that started in the mid-Nineties. Tom Ford was in high heat at Gucci; John Galliano took his enchantment to Dior, opening Givenchy for Alexander McQueen; and a pair of American upstarts, Michael Kors and Jacobs, became two house designers. Jacobs was the last remaining of that generation of industry-altering hires, and leaves with his work more potent than ever.

The show started exactly at 10, when the clock (train show, fall 2012) hanging between the two escalators started to tick — backwards. Mere ruse? Perhaps. Or maybe it signaled that after years of fabulous fashion on two continents, Jacobs and Robert Duffy are going back to the singular focus with which they started. Next goal: the IPO.

Grand Finale

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Jacobs Bows Out at Vuittonartists’ collaborations that rocked the industry, and dra-matic, entertaining fashion shows with increasingly high production values as the years progressed.

Though he’s leaving Vuitton, Jacobs and his longtime busi-ness partner Robert Duffy are not leaving the LVMH fold — far from it. Rather, their exit from Vuitton is an essential part of a developing long-term strategy for Marc Jacobs International. WWD first reported the French luxury group’s interest in a Jacobs IPO on June 10.

Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s chairman and chief executive officer, discussed the strategy with WWD in an exclusive in-terview at which Jacobs, Duffy and Michael Burke, Vuitton’s chairman and ceo, were pres-ent. The mood in the room at the Vuitton offices was relaxed. Arnault held the floor through most of the session, with Jacobs and Duffy joining in.

“This [Marc Jacobs] brand has an enormous potential all over the world,” Arnault told WWD. “To materialize this po-tential, we decided together within the next two or three years, to do an IPO. This re-quires a lot of investment on our side, a lot of management on our side and a lot of personal investment for Marc and Robert to really give the input, both cre-atively and communication-wise on the brand, all over the world. So it will take a lot of the energy of both of them.”

Rumors of Jacobs’ likely de-parture had swirled for months and with them, succession spec-ulation. Nicolas Ghesquière is considered the front-runner — a shoo-in, according to some sources. Arnault and Burke maintained otherwise. “No deci-sion is done,” Arnault said. “We have to, after the show, think and decide. But no decision will be made immediately.”

“It’s nice to get it from the [top] person,” Burke added.

Talks between LVMH and Jacobs and Duffy have been going on for some time, and major elements of Jacobs’ show for Vuitton on Wednesday — Stephen Sprouse graffiti, French maids, a merry-go-round, el-evators, escalators, a fountain — felt like a retrospective. But both Jacobs and Arnault said

the decision to make the specta-cle the designer’s last show had just been made.

WWD reported on Monday that negotiations had reached a critical juncture, with the tim-ing of Jacobs’ swan song still up in the air.

“Mr. Arnault left it to Robert and me,” Jacobs said. “Two weeks ago when I arrived back in Paris, he said, ‘The future of Marc Jacobs will require so much of your and Robert’s attention that at some point you will have to de-cide when you will make it your last show.’ But he left it to us to decide. And we had just — prob-ably brought on by the [WWD]

story and all the rumors — we just decided like [today].”

As for the retrospective mood of the show — mere co-incidence, albeit a remarkable one. “I know people will per-ceive this in whatever way they want,” Jacobs said. “They will read into all sorts of things. The choices that I made were based on something completely differ-ent. This was never my intention to be the last show. The three of us, with Michael’s company, decided that [last-minute]. So again, whatever.”

Yet prior to that decision it was clear that Jacobs’ tenure was winding down. “We are at the point — and it’s our desire — that to continue and accel-erate the growth [of the Marc Jacobs brand], it would be ex-tremely difficult for them to

do both,” Arnault said. “That’s the only [reason] that we de-cided together to concentrate on Marc Jacobs. I think this is a fantastic opportunity for both of them and for the group. Marc Jacobs may be the best and most known, successful brand in the U.S. It has already ex-panded all over the world, and we are going to accelerate the growth. The [level of] success we have in mind will require more and more work, more and more investment. We are going to provide that investment and commit with them. I think and I hope it’s the beginning of a fantastic business story and cre-

ative story. It’s already a fantas-tic creative story.”

Arnault noted how much the Marc Jacobs brand has grown under its LVMH stewardship over the past 16 years, calling it “a quasi-startup” at the onset of the relationship, doing about $20 million versus nearly $1 billion today. LVMH owns a controlling share of the Marc Jacobs operat-ing company. The conglomerate, Jacobs and Duffy own one-third each of the trademark.

Arnault expressed “the ut-most confidence” in Jacobs and Duffy. “We have an incompara-ble relationship,” he said, while lauding Jacobs’ talent. “I think Marc is one of, if not the, most talented people that I’ve ever worked with.”

Asked whether Michael Kors’ wildly successful IPO brought

the issue to the fore, the three men all weighed in.

Jacobs: “Has Michael Kors been successful?”

Duffy: “To be honest, we’ve talked about this for a few years, not knowing that Michael was going to do what he was going to do.”

Arnault: “We have some fa-miliarity with the stock market.”

Jacobs: “Even with a cold, you have a good sense of humor.”

As for where the company will be listed, Jacobs shook his head. “I don’t know anything about these things. I’ve got hair and makeup tests to approve.”

With no such imminent tasks distracting him, Arnault con-firmed that as an American company, Marc Jacobs would be listed in the U.S.

But first, there’s work to be done. “The first step is to put in place the organization, and to complete the business plan, which requires retail organi-zation, retail investment and more products,” Arnault said. “These steps have already start-ed. This will take time, maybe two or three years, to be com-pletely in place.”

Strengthening distribution via the brand’s own stores is a major priority. “We’ve never had flagship stores. We’re always opening these little things,” Duffy said, the intent of his un-derstatement plain. A case in point: The brand’s first store,

a modest 2,500 square feet on Mercer Street in New York, hasn’t had a significant upgrade, nor even a major update, since it opened in 1997.

Grander retail environments will require more merchandise. “To fill the stores, especially if the stores are larger, we need more products. It’s very sim-ple…” Arnault said.

“It’s why we have to invest in the product, because retail means some investment,” he continued. “Whether we buy some buildings or rent some buildings, it’s a substantial in-vestment.”

As an example of increased product range, Arnault cited the extremely successful Sephora makeup launch in August. He said Jacobs and Duffy would determine the specifics of ad-ditional brand extensions: “It’s mainly up to them to define the style that they want to project. Marc has his style. It’s just a question of expanding the range of products in his own style.”

Duffy pointed to work al-ready under way. “We’ve started to reposition Marc by Marc, so we hired a new design team.” The hires of Katie Hillier as creative director and Luella Bartley as women’s design di-rector were revealed last May; fall 2014 will be their first col-lection. “We’re going to start increasing the collection hand-bag business and we’re going to start working on distribu-tion. We really have to redefine what we’re doing. It’s almost like bringing everything back to

square one,” said Duffy.Several times during the

conversation, Arnault stressed not only the need for Jacobs and Duffy to be fully focused on the Marc Jacobs brand, but his own level of interest as well. “I am myself committed to the fu-ture of the company,” the busi-ness titan said. “I must say that the relationship with Marc and Robert for all the time that we’ve worked together was absolutely fantastic. And it still is fantastic.”

Asked about a piece published in WWD in which sources charac-terized the Arnault-Jacobs/Duffy relationship as complicated, he begged to differ. “It’s not compli-cated at all,” Arnault offered. “We agree completely together and we are the only shareholders, so there are no complications. It’s very simple.”

{Continued from page one}

Bernard Arnault, Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy backstage at

Wednesday’s spring show.

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Jacobs’ Vuitton through the years: From left, Sprouse chic, spring 2001; satin and Murakami, spring 2003; carousel romp, spring 2012; train time, fall 2012; going pop, spring 2013.

For more photos From Jacobs’ 16 years at Louis Vuitton, see

WWD.com/fashion-news.

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WWD.COMWWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013 7

Miu Miu: Home turf. Within one of Miuccia Prada’s many comfort zones is a control of clashes, whether in color, texture or general aesthetics mashed up for a perverted beauty. Such was the scene at Miu Miu, where the set of mismatched interiors — retro wallpaper, midcentury chairs (placed in the second row), egg-crate foam benches and checkered floors — related directly to the clothes.

The collection was a remix of Miuccia Prada standards, the Sixties/Seventies ugly-pretty ladies that have been a consistent touchstone in her canon, most recently for her spring 2012 retro pantsuit parade. Here, she dolled up the look, outfitting twisted Belle de Jour types in fitted jackets with rounded collars and big patch pockets done in jarring color combinations. For example, the pale-pink and baby-blue coat and matching skirt paired with a rusty orange blouse, thick white textured tights and purple patent mary janes. Variations on similar hosiery and footwear — there were also printed and sequined lace-up boots — were constant in the collection, adding a cartoonish, childlike quality to the look.

Full of creative colorways, interesting textures and playful prints concerning cats, fish and birds, the lineup was stocked with appealing merch, if not a major new statement. Prada is a master of the improbably appealing mix, so even her weirdest ideas gelled, such as the finale of good-girl daywear decorated with showgirl beading and fringe.

Hermès: French chic. It’s effortless and sophisticated. At Hermès, it’s also a key element in the house ethos, from the stitches on a leather glove to the fine hardware details on a pocketbook.

On Wednesday afternoon, Christophe Lemaire closed the spring fashion season with a collection that captivated with simple but impactful silhouettes and a strong execution, particularly with the handsome leathers.

The show had a new time slot and venue — the Orangerie in the beautiful Jardin du Luxembourg. It was the first time the space was opened for a private affair, and guests were perched amid lush flora, which nicely played into the collection’s “Tropical, after the storm” theme (as did the venue’s balmy temperatures, by the way, but that’s another story).

Lemaire worked his inspiration with confidence, sometimes remaining quite literally on topic — dresses and boots in a matching floral provided tropics overload. Elsewhere, he translated the idea with subtlety and a mature hand via both long and lean and light and relaxed, even slouchy, shapes, executed in a late Seventies/early Eighties vibe. Standouts included a blue suede tunic and a blue kimonolike top with languid toffee-colored pants. The looks were pure Hermès, and ended the Paris shows on a very French chic note. PHOT

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FOR MORE REVIEWS AND IMAGES, SEE

WWD.com/fashion-news.

PARISSPRING 2014

COLLECTIONS

Miu Miu Hermès

WWD.COM8 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013

ON THE SCENT?: Could fragrance be the next expansion vector for Miuccia Prada’s Miu Miu brand? According to sources, the Italian label, which helped close Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday, has held talks with Coty Inc. about a beauty license. The likelihood of a deal could not immediately be learned. Contacted at the show, officials at Prada Group, Miu Miu’s parent, had no comment. — MILES SOCHA

DISPLEASED DONATELLA: Donatella Versace famously had no issues with being spoofed by Maya Rudolph on “Saturday Night Live,” actually calling the parody “hilarious.” The designer isn’t quite as lenient towards Lifetime’s original movie “House of Versace,” slated to make its debut on Saturday. Asked to comment on the film, the company said, “Versace has neither authorized nor had any involvement whatsoever in the forthcoming TV movie about Mrs. Versace.” The firm takes issue with the inspiration for the film, the 2010 book by Deborah Ball, “House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival.”

“Since Versace did not authorize the book on which it is based, the movie should only be seen as a work of fiction,”

the fashion house said. The book centers on the struggles and the challenges faced by the designer after the murder of her brother Gianni Versace in 1997. Gina Gershon plays the role of Donatella Versace in the movie. — LUISA ZARGANI

GIRLS ON FILM: Guests at the Miu Miu show in Paris on Wednesday included Lena Dunham, who recently wrapped filming on season three of her hit TV show “Girls.” While Dunham was mum on plot details, she said character Hannah Horvath’s style will evolve.

“I made a decision that Hannah was going to wear more pants. I’m not going to say they’re flattering pants, but she’s moving in a more ‘Annie Hall’ direction, and in a less Mormon housewife direction,” she said.

The 27-year-old shrugged off criticism of the floral Prada gown she wore to the Emmys last week. “I just find the whole process joyful, and I find it kind

of funny if anyone’s been offended by my outfit,” she said. “That Emmy dress was a real dream, and I’ll stand by it always. And maybe force my daughter to

wear it to her prom.” Joining her in the front row

were Dianna Agron, Gabrielle Union, Michelle Dockery, Rashida Jones, Lupita Nyong’o, Imogen Poots and Agathe Bonitzer.

Agron and Poots are tipped to star together in “Pretenders,” the story of a love triangle set in the early Eighties. Agron said it was too early to discuss the project but was happy to talk Eighties style.

“I was born in 1986, so my first four years were a lot of leggings, a lot of side-tied T-shirts. I think my favorite outfit was these leggings that had cheetah spots, and it was pink, purple and teal, and this white shirt with this little side bangle,” she said.

Union said her BET television show “Being Mary Jane” will make its debut on Jan. 7, and she recently completed a comedy directed by and starring Chris Rock. Union will also be seen next year in the sequel to “Think Like a Man,” in which her character, Kristen, will try to get pregnant.

Jones is also having a baby — or rather, her character Ann Perkins on “Parks and Recreation” is. “I’m doing a

lot of growing and changing,” she said of the new season. On the movie front, the daughter of Quincy Jones brushed up her dancing skills for “Cuban Fury,” which features scenes of competitive salsa dancing.

“I mean, I wouldn’t call myself a fiend. I’m a fiend in the sense that I love it. I’m an enthusiast, and a much better dancer than I was, but it’s very difficult, salsa dancing,” said Jones. “I wouldn’t be afraid to go salsa dancing, let’s put it that way.” — JOELLE DIDERICH

CHUCK’S CHOICE: Chuck Lorre is one of the most powerful show-runners in television. He is the force behind two of the highest-rated shows on the broadcast networks, “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” on CBS, where he now has a total of four sitcoms. But, actors, don’t mess with his priceless words.

On Tuesday night, Rebel Wilson, one of the breakout stars

of movies “Bridesmaids” and “Pitch Perfect,” appeared on a promotional Q&A for her new sitcom, “Super Fun Night,” with Cosmopolitan editor in chief Joanna Coles. The conversation revolved around the difficulties actresses, particularly full-figured women, face in Hollywood and television. To illustrate her point, Wilson, who appears in Cosmo’s September issue, described an audition she did for Lorre some time ago for his show “Mike & Molly,” which centers on a plus-size couple. At the time Wilson hadn’t yet appeared on the two films that’d bring her so much acclaim and was looking for work in America.

“I auditioned for ‘Mike & Molly’ and got kicked out of the room for making up my own jokes. [Lorre] said, ‘There’s the door, thank you very much.’” The part eventually went to Melissa McCarthy. “I realized that if I was going to be on a TV show, I was going to have to write it myself,” Wilson said.

ABC has given Wilson’s sitcom a prominent position on the schedule, just after powerhouse “Modern Family,” but she was also candid about the creative tensions that have surfaced with the network during the show’s development.

“It’s tough because you have to fight battles all the way. You have to have fights with people about individual lines,” she said. Coles wondered if Wilson would take the show to cable if the fights with ABC continued. “Probably,” Wilson said. — ERIK MAZA

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FASHION SCOOPS

FOR MORE SCOOPS, SEE

WWD.com.

Dianna Agron, Lena Dunham and

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We are now accepting applications for the Spring 2O14 Workshop at Macy’s!

If you are a woman or person of color and own your own business, we invite you to apply for the Workshop at Macy’s! You’ll gain insight from seasoned Macy’s pros and Macy’s partners, and get the tools you need to succeed and sustain growth in the retail industry.

Apply today at macysinc.com/workshop

This picture is missing something: YOU

PLUSBrioni outlines a growth plan that includes more

retail locations in the U.S., sales diversification and further expansion in

China. Page MW2

Good Break“Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston has more hits than misses when it comes to personal style. Page MW2

MAN OF THE WEEK

October 3, 2013

The men’s denim arena is in flux, with consumers

demanding a reason to pay for higher-priced

offerings. Manufacturers are responding by

injecting their brands with value-added

treatments such as distressed finishes and

heavy washes. For more on the denim

market, see pages MW4 to MW6.

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Lord & TaylorHighlights Men’s

RETAIL REVAMP

Fifth Avenue flagship doubles space, adds second floor

{Continued on page MW7}

Faded Glory

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

NEW YORK — Lord & Taylor has turned its attention to men’s wear.

The department store has doubled the square footage devoted to men’s at its New York flagship this fall, adding a second floor of selling space. The expansion, which brings men’s to 100,000 square feet, is de-signed to capitalize on the growing impor-tance of the sector and has thrust the store firmly into the contemporary market.

The expansion and renovation puts a stake in the ground for Lord & Taylor, which has historically been seen as a women’s store with a men’s department tucked away on the top floor.

“Men’s has been a growing business for us for a while,” said Liz Rodbell, president and chief merchant of L&T’s parent com-pany, Hudson’s Bay Co. “Our mission was to expand the men’s position on Fifth Avenue and in the market for Lord & Taylor. We’re on a great road and the men’s business is a great opportunity.”

HBC has definitely raised its profile in recent years, becoming a major player with its pending purchase of Saks Inc. to add to its Lord & Taylor and The Bay nameplates. The $2.9 billion Saks acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Until that time, the company is moving ahead with a $40 million renovation of the 625,000-square-foot L&T flagship, a project that kicked off last year. One of the biggest changes has been the addition of the ninth floor to the men’s department. In the past, all of men’s was compressed onto the 10th floor with furnishings on the main floor. All told, 22 brands have been added to the men’s mix.

Wayne Drummond, senior vice presi-dent and general merchandise manager of men’s wear for Lord & Taylor and The Bay, stressed that when assembling the mix, the men’s team was “very careful to think through” the resources it would add to pro-vide “updated choices” without alienating its existing customer base. “We’re evolving to support the whole young movement, but we also want to create an exciting environ-ment for our core customers,” he said.

The ninth floor, which formerly merchan-dised home products and contained offices, is now home to sportswear and contempo-rary vendors as well as an expanded denim assortment. “Denim is one of the larg-est areas we exploited,” Drummond said. G-Star, DL1961, Joe’s Jeans and Seven For All Mankind are showcased in the new area. “We’re taking the opportunity to expand the premium end of the business while still con-tinuing to give more options and ideas to

Burberry Prorsum’s wool coat, BLK DNM’s wool sweater and cotton tank top and The Innercity Raiders’ cotton denim jeans. Saint Laurent boots.

Men’s WeekMW2 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013

Brioni Eyes Further Expansion of Retail

G-III Acquires G.H. Bass

by RACHEL BROWN

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Brioni is getting big-ger in its biggest market.

During a quick trip to Orange County, where the Kering-owned Italian suit maker opened a store at the South Coast Plaza shopping center in June, chief executive of-ficer Francesco Pesci reemphasized that the brand’s growth plan includes more retail locations in the U.S., sales diversification — with non-tailored men’s wear, leather goods and footwear gaining ground — and further expansion in China.

“We think there is unexploited potential in the United States market and, tradition-ally, the retail presence has always been concentrated on the East Coast and the West Coast, but there are other cities where we

can go,” he said. “I am very confident in the potential of this market because I think that the United States is bound to remain Brioni’s most important market.”

After restraining retail development, Pesci described Brioni’s present approach to retail as “aggressive” and “ambitious.” This year, the brand opened stores in Costa Mesa, Chicago and Palm Beach, Fla., a number that Brioni feels comfortable repeating in the U.S. going forward. “We’ll keep on following this pace for the next three years from 2014 to 2016,” said Pesci, who estimated Brioni flagships are pri-marily 6,000 to 7,000 square feet, and its small-er stores are 3,000 to 4,000 square feet.

Store renovations are a possibility too, and Brioni is considering updating its New York unit. The revamp of the Beverly Hills flag-ship on Rodeo Drive, which was unveiled in May 2012, proved that change could be a good thing. “The store is going extremely well. I

have to say that the renovation really changed the performance,” said Pesci, elaborating that the renovated store concept is “luxurious, but not imposing. People want to come into the shop. They don’t feel intimidated.”

As it adds stores, Brioni’s revenue mix is skewing more toward retail over whole-sale. Currently, retail accounts for 42 per-cent of the brand’s business. Pesci’s goal is to increase that figure to 60 percent by 2016. There are 51 franchise units and 32 compa-ny-owned units worldwide. In China, where Brioni recently bought back five stores that were franchises, the company expects to open three to four stores next year.

“The U.S. cannot provide the same kind of growth pace that China is providing at the moment, but the U.S. is still growing in the double digits, which is quite high for a ma-ture market,” said Pesci. Overall, he said the brand is “doing well in terms of sales. The company is growing and is growing profitably. Basically, it’s becoming a bigger company, but also a better-managed company.”

If Pesci is making Brioni a well-managed company, then Brendan Mullane, the former senior head men’s wear designer at Givenchy who became the firm’s creative director in June of last year, is meant to make Brioni a more creative one. Pesci said his objective is for Mullane to demonstrate Brioni is “a brand that is able to stir passion and emotion.”

“We have seen definitely an improvement in our sell-through since the first new collec-tion by Brendan, but I think the most impor-tant thing is that his first collection is really helping us to show the changes that we want-ed to implement and, notably, the fact that we are now focusing more on closer-fitting sil-houettes that can be appreciated by younger customers,” said Pesci.

While the ceo admitted Brioni is often thought of as a brand for older men, that image is shifting. “Our age target is a man be-tween the ages of 35 and 55. Now, in Europe, Russia and China, the split between 35 to 45 and 45 to 55 is equal,” he said. In the U.S., the older segment remains a larger consumer base for Brioni, but Pesci said, “The younger age bracket is catching up.”

Although tailored merchandise is par-ticularly strong in the U.S., where Brioni has a very established name, the non-tailored category has experienced momentum glob-ally. Non-tailored merchandise constitutes slightly more than 40 percent of Brioni’s sales today, and Pesci’s goal is for that figure to swell to 50 percent in three to five years. Meanwhile, leather goods and shoes have been surprise performers. “They have grown to 7 percent this year. It’s a fast rise and our vexpectation is to have those two categories representing 15 percent of our consolidated sales by the end of 2016,” said Pesci.

J. Hilburn Opening Pop-upJ. HILBURN, a Dallas-based direct seller of men’s wear, is set to unveil its first brick-and-mortar location: a 1,400-square-foot pop-up shop at 91 Grand Street in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. Billed “A Fortnight in SoHo,” it will open Wednesday.

“The driver behind why we wanted to do a pop-up is brand building,” said Veeral Rathod, president and cofounder. “What separates brands is the deep emotional experience they have with their customers. Men’s wear is less about the piece you buy than creating trust in the brand and stylists.” J. Hilburn has a na-tional network of over 3,000 stylists who visit customers in their homes and offices to sell custom shirts, trousers, sport coats, suits and accessories. “We believe that if we can create a physical manifestation of the brand, we can build that trust a lot quicker.”

J. Hilburn has a small showroom at its com-pany headquarters and Rathod said the firm’s

average sale from an office or home visit is $350, while it’s nearly $800 at the showroom.

Rathod said that if the New York City pop-up is successful, the company will move to other markets next year — cities such as Tulsa, Okla., where demand for its product is high and competition is limited. “This takes trunk shows to the next level,” he said, noting that the shops can be packed up and moved easily around the country.

“Our five-year plan is to have three to five brand statement stores,” he said. These would be located in New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago.

J. Hilburn, which was launched in 2007, expects to have sales of $55 million by the end of the year. It has sold 300,000 custom shirts to date and bills itself as the largest maker of custom shirts and made-to-mea-sure trousers in the world.

— JEAN E. PALMIERI

Man ofTHE WEEK

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The Emmy Award-winning “Breaking Bad” star sheds his suburban-chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-dealer look, channeling a more sophisticated European flair.

The casual brown suede

shoe reveals a higher taste level

and a personal confidence of his

own style.

BRYAN CRANSTON: B+Although the shaved head from seasons past gave him a sharper appeal, the textured cut with good volume enhances his strong jawline.

A subtle Botox treatment would help with the deep wrinkles without decreasing his older-man sex appeal.

The oversize gingham check shows an adventurous and playful side and creates the perfect backdrop for the solid navy knit tie.

The wide spread collar frames his

face and allows for the thicker tie knot.

The sloped shoulder indicates

that he could use a slight alteration

but plays well with his softer side.

A French cuff with a simple cuff link would finish the Euro-influenced style. But barring that option, the shirtsleeve needs to show.

He would benefit from a jacket that

is one inch shorter.

The South Coast Plaza store.

by DAVID LIPKE

PVH CORP. has inked a definitive agree-ment to sell its G.H. Bass & Co. footwear business to G-III Apparel Group Ltd. for about $50 million in cash. The transaction, revealed late Wednesday, is expected to close early in PVH’s fiscal fourth quarter, which begins in November.

PVH has sought to unload the strug-gling Bass division, which it acquired in 1987, so it can focus on its higher-growth Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands. It began seeking a buyer for Bass following its acquisition of The Warnaco Group Inc. in February, said Emanuel Chirico, chair-man and chief executive officer of PVH.

“Our retail heritage businesses have really been struggling for the past few years. This significantly reduced that ex-posure,” said Chirico. “[Bass] is a heritage brand that is well known, but we have not been investing in the brand from a market-ing point of view. That has the ramification of putting sales and gross margin pressure on the business.”

Bass currently does $250 million in vol-ume in about 160 outlet stores, or about 40 percent of PVH’s heritage brands retail business, which also includes Izod and Van Heusen stores. Sales are split evenly between men’s and women’s.

Another $30 million-plus in Bass wholesale sales comes from Harbor Footwear Group Ltd., which holds the li-cense for men’s, women’s and children’s footwear in the wholesale channel.

For the six months ended Aug. 4, same-store sales dropped 9 percent in PVH’s heritage retail business, due mostly to con-tinued weak performance in the Bass retail unit. PVH has no plans at this point to di-vest other heritage brands such as Arrow, Speedo, Olga or Warner’s, said Chirico.

G-III plans to improve product de-sign, marketing and the in-store experi-ence at Bass stores, said company chair-man, president and ceo Morris Goldfarb. “It’s not often you are able to acquire a company that has two iconic compo-nents to it — Weejuns and Bucs are the heart and soul of American footwear,” he noted of two signature Bass designs. “It

was a brand that wasn’t given the appro-priate attention at PVH.”

G-III has deep relationships with PVH, holding licenses for women’s Calvin Klein apparel in North America and Tommy Hilfiger men’s and women’s out-erwear and luggage.

The Bass business will be organized under G-III’s Wilsons Leather division, which operates about 150 stores, mostly in outlet malls. Kristin Burrows, president of Bass, will report to Bill Hutchison, presi-dent of Wilsons Leather.

The creative and sourcing teams at Bass will remain headquartered in New York, but other functions like retail opera-tions and warehousing will be consolidat-ed at Wilsons Leather’s headquarters in Minneapolis, said Goldfarb.

In Bass outlet stores, about 65 percent of sales are in footwear and 35 percent are in apparel and accessories. PVH will retain the Bass men’s apparel business, under license from G-III, which is also distributed in wholesale accounts such as J.C. Penney and Bon-Ton Stores. Goldfarb said he expects to sign new Bass licenses in additional categories.

“For the next year, we’re going to shore up the underpinning of the busi-ness and make sure it’s fueled for growth,” said Goldfarb. “We know we can improve on dollars per square foot gen-erated, and we think we can grow the wholesale business quickly.”

PVH will use proceeds from the deal to make additional debt payments in 2013. Despite the sale, PVH reaffirmed its earn-ings per share guidance of $7 for the full fiscal year, on a non-GAAP basis. For the current third quarter, EPS is forecast at $2.25, up from prior guidance of $2.20.

PVH expects the deal to be 5 cents per diluted share to its fourth-quarter earn-ings, on a non-GAAP basis, and about 15 cents per diluted share on an annual basis going forward. PVH said it will incur an approximately $20 million pretax loss in connection to the sale of the Bass assets.

G-III expects the acquisition to be about 10 cents per diluted share to fully diluted net income for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, but accretive thereafter on an annual basis.

Men’s WeekMW4 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013

Let It Rip

Balmain’s wool blazer, Hugo’s wool shirt and

BLK DNM’s cotton and spandex denim jeans.

Saint Laurent’s wool jacket, T by Alexander Wang’s wool sweater and Baldwin Denim’s cotton denim jeans. Stetson hat.

Grunge rocker is one of the main inspirations for denim companies as ripped, distressed silhouettes and skinny black jeans are the key looks of the season. — ALEX BADIA

PHOTOS BY RENIE SALIBA

Men’s Week MW5WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013

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BLK DNM’s leather vest, Marc Jacobs’ wool sweater, Seven For All Mankind’s wool shirt and DL1961’s cotton denim jeans.

Costume National’s wool blazer, AG Adriano Goldschmied’s wool shirt, Junk Food’s cotton T-shirt and Hudson’s cotton denim jeans. Frye boots; Stetson hat.

Prada’s wool coat, The Innercity Raiders’

cotton hoodie, Public School’s wool shirt and Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren’s cotton denim

jeans. Raif scarf; Saint Laurent boots.

Lanvin’s leather jacket, Dries Van Noten’s wool

sweater and J Brand’s cotton denim jeans. Saint

Laurent boots.

Surface to Air’s velvet blazer, Craft Atlantic’s wool sweater and Nudie Jeans’ cotton denim jeans. Marc Jacobs belt; Raif scarf.

Men’s WeekMW6 WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013

by ARNOLD J. KARR

THE AIR at the top of the men’s denim market is getting thinner, pushing fashion vendors to both keep a close eye on their prices and offer more bang for the pre-mium buck.

Retailers and brands looking down the road to 2014 are working harder to make sure that anything billing itself as “premium” can justify that designation. They’re pricing their products more com-petitively in light of heavy promo-tions leading up to and since last year’s discount-driven holiday season, moderation in the price of cotton and a trend towards trou-sers among fashion customers.

That doesn’t translate into an exodus from higher-end products. But in both men’s and women’s apparel, companies are taking note of a new level of discretion among consumers about their fashion purchases as spending has shifted in favor of higher-tick-et items and durable goods.

“In general, men are wanting fewer, better things,” said Matt Baldwin, chief executive officer of Baldwin Denim in Kansas City, Mo., who operates both whole-sale and retail businesses for the brand as well as two retail stores under the Standard Style moni-ker. “If you’re going to pay top dollar for a jean, or any fashion product, it’s got to have some-thing very special to justify it.”

Although obviously invested

in his own brand at Standard Style, he’s stocked plenty of oth-er lines. “But in recent seasons, I’ve brought the number of jeans brands down from something like 30 to about three. Just like the customer, it’s been a story of few-er, better lines. Specialty stores are trying to slim down their as-sortments because they don’t want to cannibalize their sales.”

Men’s jeans sales in the U.S. grew slowly in the 12 months ended in August, adding just 0.8 percent in dollar terms to reach $5.8 billion from $5.75 billion in the compa-rable prior-year period, according to figures provided by The NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y. And the growth came exclusively from higher average prices, which expanded 2 percent to $26.64, as units declined 1.1 percent to 217.8 million from 220.2 million.

All the growth came from jeans priced between $25 and $75, NPD’s data show. Jeans in the $25 to $49.99 category were not only the largest segment covered by NPD, but also showed the highest level of growth by far, advancing 6.4 per-cent to $2.51 billion, while jeans in the $50 to $74.99 bracket picked up 1 percent to hit $840.4 million.

Jeans under $25 declined 1.1 percent to $2.06 billion, while those at the highest level moni-tored by NPD, $75 and above, con-tracted dramatically, shedding 19 percent to $381.9 million.

The shifts in pricing are sup-ported by those in distribution

channels: Specialty stores contin-ued to lead in men’s denim market share, with 27.6 percent, but, like department stores, national chains and especially manufacturer-owned stores saw declines in their shares during the 12 months that ended in August. Only two channels saw increases — off-price stores and mass merchants, which grew 1.4 and 0.6 points, respectively, to 10.6 and 16.7 percent of the market.

Much of the higher-end men’s fashion market is moving towards jeans that are ripped, torn, de-stroyed and otherwise distressed, essentially reviving grunge-rock influences of a generation ago. But that’s at odds with another, longer-term trend in the men’s market, that of the multipurpose, day-into-night “neat jean” that can be either dressed down with a knit or chambray top or dressed up with a sport coat and well-pressed broadcloth shirt.

Baldwin Denim’s Baldwin, among last year’s class of GQ’s Best New Menswear Designers and now involved in a limited-edition col-lection with Gap, believes that the market has moved past its former focus on “fashion-y, heavily brand-ed pocket” jeans into a phase when, at a variety of price points, “custom-ers are looking at the quality of the textile and the fit, the quintessen-tial platforms right now.”

Baldwin’s men’s jeans assort-ment is available in four fits — slim, straight, a hybrid of the two and a straight leg with a drop yoke. “We

haven’t seen much of a shift in fit,” he said, “but we do see that guys want softer jeans. They’re tired of breaking down their jeans forever.”

In addition to a men’s assort-ment within its Mavi collection, Mavi U.S. offers 34 Heritage, which is specifically geared to a more mature customer with distri-bution focused on specialty stores. The brand is carried in 530 spe-cialty store doors and is available in the U.S. and Canada only.

“You won’t see ripped and dis-tressed jeans in 34 Heritage like you would in Mavi, and there’s less whiskering,” said Ardie Ulukaya, senior vice president of Mavi U.S. “We’ve positioned ourselves to be the ‘denim solution for the discern-ing man’ and say that our jeans go on when the suit comes off.”

For spring, the line is moving toward lighter fabrics to empha-size comfort, with virtually all fab-rics in the line weighing in at 10 ounces or less and virtually every jean in the line made with stretch.

Still, Ulukaya has seen the old-er customer gravitating towards a slimmer fit, even as younger men have more enthusiastically em-braced looser ones. The trend can be seen in the mix between 34 Heritage’s Charisma model, with an 18-inch leg and an 18.5-inch knee, and its more tapered Cour-age silhouette, which sports a 16-inch leg and 18-inch knee.

“Courage was 10 to 15 percent of the business and is now up to be-tween 30 and 35,” he said. “Within two years, I’m pretty sure Courage will be bigger than Charisma.”

Men’s Jeans Battles Intensify

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Men’s Week MW7WWD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013

area features a number of new vendors in-cluding John Varvatos USA, Ted Baker, Dr. Martens, New Balance, Onitsuka Tiger, Fred Perry and Swims. “Shoes have been a huge growth category for us,” Drummond said. “And the space here is almost doubled. We’ve added 10 new brands and expanded the fash-ion [stockkeeping units].”

Rodbell said that, all told, this expansion and revamping of men’s is “just the beginning for us. We’re looking at expanding men’s in

more stores and are evaluating the opportu-nities now where we can make it work.” She said that where applicable, the vendors that have been added in New York will be includ-ed in the branches as well. “It’s an objective for us and [this renovation] is consistent with the blend of where we’re going,” she said.

Drummond added: “The message we want is that we are actively in the brand-acquisition mode. We have the ability to be a specialty store in a department store setting.”

our core customer and introduce new cus-tomers to the floor,” he said.

Outside of denim, the floor highlights updated classic merchandise on one side and modern collections on the other. In the rear of the floor is an expanded Black Brown 1826 department, the private brand designed by Joseph Abboud. “We’ve dou-bled the real estate for Black Brown,” Rodbell said. “And we grew our classic grid as well,” Drummond added. “So this is ad-ditive. It’s very important for our brand and our DNA.”

The floor has a loftlike feeling and the windows to the outside have been exposed, allowing natural light to spill in. The open feeling and the metal and wood displays are designed to provide a “comfortable, modern experience,” Drummond said. “We have the opportunity to create lifestyle messages now.” The number of mannequins on the floor has been tripled in order to offer inspiration to the men’s customer. “The loft environment creates a modern feel to the floor and is the mood we wanted to get across,” Rodbell said.

The newly added vendors with shops on the floor are John Varvatos Star USA, G-Star, Rogue State, Vince Camuto, Seven Diamonds, Victorinox, Bruun & Stengade, DKNY Jeans, Levi’s, Dockers Alpha Khaki and Guess. True Religion, Grayers, Boss Green and Boss Orange have also been added. Vendors who received new shops in the update are Polo Ralph Lauren, Nautica, Lacoste, Calvin Klein, Perry Ellis, Kenneth Cole, Buffalo David Bitton, Lucky Brand, Superdry, Bench Penguin and Puma.

“We took our core brands to a whole new level,” Drummond said. He pointed to the “stealth shop” from Calvin Klein, a design that made its debut here, as an example, as well as the 30 percent more space that has been added to the Polo shop.

There’s an “active zone” on the floor as well, which is housed next to denim and of-fers brands including Under Armour, Puma and Superdry.

Rodbell said since the floor was converted to men’s, the com-pany has experienced “tremen-dous growth” and the revamp is still being tweaked. Specifically, Drummond said John Varvatos Star USA and Rogue State have been “phe-nomenally successful right out of the gate.”

Ironically, Rodbell said her office had been located near where the Calvin Klein shop is now when she was a merchant at Lord & Taylor. In the back right hand cor-ner of the floor, the former office of the store’s president is being used for a luxe of-fering of Black Brown. The fireplace, wood paneling and flooring from the office have been retained and serve to showcase the higher-priced merchandise. Rodbell said the luxe end of the line continues to grow in importance and the store has plans to build on it in the future.

Nestled near the escalators is an area where L&T will showcase up-and-coming or trending brands. The area includes an espresso machine, video screens and is designed as a “pausing point for custom-ers,” Rodbell said. “This is an assortment of unique, specially curated items that we will continue to keep fresh.” Some brands are carried only in this area, such as Mads Nørgaard and New Balance shoes, and others have been pulled from elsewhere in the men’s store.

The 10th floor has been similarly up-dated with an airy design and a lot more mannequins. Furnishings is at the front of the floor in nearly triple the space it had on the main floor. “And we’ve added to the fashion assortment,” Drummond said, with additions such as Vince Camuto, Ted Baker and John Varvatos.

“We also saw a large opportunity to expand Hugo Boss,” he said, noting that the space has been doubled and a new shop installed. Other additions include Pure; Strellson, a luxe Swiss brand that

has been a star at The Bay stores and has been added exclusively to L&T in the States, and Bugatti. All of these brands are housed in new shops.

Within the expansive tailored-clothing department, Drummond said the “modern part of the business” has been expanded. There’s a sizable assortment of Tallia Orange, for example, that he said has been “flying” out of the store since it was added.

L&T is also jumping onto the lucrative shoe bandwagon with a new, larger depart-ment off the elevators on the 10th floor. The

LORD & TAYLOR PUTS FOCUS ON MEN’S WEAR{Continued from page MW1}

The luxe offering of Black Brown 1826 is housed in the former president’s office.

Wayne Drummond and Liz Rodbell

The trend area.

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