DAILY EDITION NOVEMBER 7, 2016 1 Fashion. Beauty. Business. Shake-up Richemont shifts its top management after first- half profits fall by more than 50 percent. Page 4 Artful Touch Giorgio Vasari’s restored “Last Supper” is unveiled in Florence, with help from Prada. Page 11 Pushing the New Buyers say spring accessories focus on innovation, and hope strong sales will follow. Page 7 ● Experts expect Hillary Clinton would make changes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership as president, while Donald Trump has vowed to drop the deal altogether. BY KRISTI ELLIS WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ARTHUR FRIEDMAN WASHINGTON — As one of the most divisive and mud-slinging elections in U.S. history hurtles to a close, the fashion and retail industries are holding their collective breaths to see which way the new presi- dent will tilt on key decisions impacting trade and the economy. With the polls tightening in key battle- ground states and Hillary Clinton battling to maintain her overall lead, both she and her rival, Donald Trump, stepped up their attacks over the weekend — Clinton on Trump’s character and Trump on every- thing from Clinton’s e-mail scandal to the state of the economy. For the industry, the key questions remain on what either candidate would do on trade — most urgently, the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership deal — and on such issues as the minimum wage, Made in the U.S. and immigration. Trump is firmly a protectionist when it comes to trade and he has vowed to not only drop TPP, but even renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and impose tariffs on all imports from China and Mexico. He has also said he will label China a “currency manipulator,” all of which sends chills through the business industry. Clinton has voiced opposition to the 12-nation pact on the hustings, under pressure from the left wing of her party, which rails against job losses associated with trade deals. If she does stay true to her word, experts believe there could be an impact on the U.S. economy, mainly in the area of lost economic opportunities. The trade and business community is banking on Clinton to make changes to TPP and then give her approval if she wins the presidency. Most trade experts believe Clinton won’t just walk away from the pact after the U.S. invested seven years in the BUSINESS What Clinton Or Trump Would Mean For Trade CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Jacobs photograph by Joshua Scott; prop styling by Renata Gar; Clinton by Andrew Harnik; Trump by Evan Vucci Pals and former collaborators Marc Jacobs and artist Julie Verhoeven teamed up again for spring on the shoes and bags the designer showed on his runway. The duo, who collaborated on bags during Jacobs’ Louis Vuitton tenure, used motifs such as eyes, lips, cigarettes, fruits, clouds and planets in leather, suede and python to create elaborate patchwork collages on the accessories headlining one of the biggest spring trends: appliqué bags. For more, see pages 5 and 6. Baggage Patch Kids Marc Jacobs’ python, suede and leather bag.
Transcript
Daily EDition november 7, 2016 1
Fashion. Beauty. Business.
Shake-upRichemont shifts its top management after first-half profits fall by more than 50 percent.
Page 4
Artful TouchGiorgio Vasari’s restored “Last Supper” is unveiled in Florence, with help from Prada.
Page 11
Pushing the NewBuyers say spring accessories focus on innovation, and hope strong sales will follow.
Page 7
● Experts expect Hillary Clinton would make changes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership as president, while Donald Trump has vowed to drop the deal altogether.
by Kristi Ellis with contributions from Arthur FriEdmAn
WASHINGTON — As one of the most divisive and mud-slinging elections in U.S. history hurtles to a close, the fashion and retail industries are holding their collective breaths to see which way the new presi-dent will tilt on key decisions impacting trade and the economy.
With the polls tightening in key battle-ground states and Hillary Clinton battling to maintain her overall lead, both she and her rival, Donald Trump, stepped up their attacks over the weekend — Clinton on Trump’s character and Trump on every-thing from Clinton’s e-mail scandal to the state of the economy.
For the industry, the key questions remain on what either candidate would do on trade — most urgently, the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership deal — and on such issues as the minimum wage, Made in the U.S. and immigration.
Trump is firmly a protectionist when it comes to trade and he has vowed to not only drop TPP, but even renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and impose tariffs on all imports from China and Mexico. He has also said he will label China a “currency manipulator,” all of which sends chills through the business industry.
Clinton has voiced opposition to the 12-nation pact on the hustings, under pressure from the left wing of her party, which rails against job losses associated with trade deals. If she does stay true to her word, experts believe there could be an impact on the U.S. economy, mainly in the area of lost economic opportunities.
The trade and business community is banking on Clinton to make changes to TPP and then give her approval if she wins the presidency. Most trade experts believe Clinton won’t just walk away from the pact after the U.S. invested seven years in the
business
What Clinton Or Trump Would Mean For Trade
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Pals and former collaborators Marc Jacobs and artist Julie Verhoeven teamed up again for spring on the shoes and bags the designer showed on his runway. The duo, who collaborated on bags during Jacobs’ Louis Vuitton tenure, used motifs such as eyes, lips, cigarettes, fruits, clouds and planets in leather, suede and python to create elaborate patchwork collages on the accessories
headlining one of the biggest spring trends: appliqué bags. For more, see pages 5 and 6.
‘How do you juggle it all,’and then I thought, ‘I wish I could clone myself,’”Klum said.
● 2016 Victoria’s SecretFashion Show Performers:Lady Gaga, Bruno MarsAnd The Weeknd
● Calvin Klein ChiefMarketing Officer Melisa Goldie Resigns
● Duchess of Cambridge Attends U.K. Premiere of ‘A Street Cat Named Bob’
● IMG Signs the World’s Tallest Ballet Dancer
Top 5TrendingON WWD.COM
NEWSMAKERSThis Week’s Most Talked About Names In Our Industry
Alexander Wang
Philipp Plein
Zac Posen
Doug McMillon
● Checking in a decade after key sustainability objectives were announced.
by shAron EdElson
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. wants to be more than a good corporate citizen. It wants to be a good global citizen.
That was the message from Doug McMil-lon, the retailer’s president and chief executive officer, during a keynote speech at the Net Impact 2016 conference in Phil-adelphia, where he discussed the role the company can play on critical issues and pointed to a new era of trust and transpar-ency that he plans to preside over.
McMillon cited Wal-Mart’s incremental investment of $2.7 billion over the past two years to increase employee wages and provide training, and called on the broader retail industry to adopt similar measures. “We hire for talent and train for skill,” he said. “We provide mobility — a first job. We’re deploying more and more technology in our stores and we need trained associates. We’ll train over 250,000 employees next year.”
The ceo said Wal-Mart also provides workers with stability, adding, “Our asso-ciates get their schedules more than two weeks in advance.”
“A ladder of opportunity needs to be created,” McMillon added, referring to employment at Wal-Mart. “We have to be careful where we set the first rung. If it’s too high, we won’t employ as many people. We have the starting wage, offer
training opportunities, and be thoughtful about how we think about health care so it’s priced right and customized families. I believe in a free market, but I think fair-ness can, and needs to be built in.”
However, Wal-Mart last month was criticized by Making Change at Wal-Mart, which is supported by the UFCW, for raising salaries for entry-level managers ahead of a rule change that extends man-datory overtime pay to workers making less than $47,500 a year. “This latest move allows Wal-Mart to avoid paying hard-working employees the overtime they earn,” the organization said.
McMillon also discussed environmen-tal initiatives. Former Wal-Mart ceo H. Lee Scott in 2006 made sustainability a hallmark of his tenure, setting the ambitious goal of transforming Wal-Mart into a company that runs on 100 percent renewable energy and produces zero waste. A decade after Scott put Wal-Mart on a more sustainable path, McMillon dis-cussed the progress. Last year, 75 percent of Wal-Mart’s global waste was diverted from landfills. Wal-Mart hopes to achieve zero waste to landfills in four of its larger markets by 2025.
The retailer is halfway toward its goal of powering 50 percent of its opera-tions using renewable energy by 2025, McMillon said. Wal-Mart is the first retailer with an emissions-reduction plan approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative in alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement.
Other goals for 2025 include working with suppliers to reduce product and packaging waste and preserve natu-ral resources, and making Wal-Mart’s private-brand packaging 100 percent recy-clable. “Our goal is to become the world’s most affordable retailer of safe and health-ier food by 2025,” McMillon said, noting that Wal-Mart will double sales of locally grown produce in the U.S. by 2025.
McMillon showed the Net Impact audience of students and professionals involved in driving social and economic change, a turquoise short-sleeved T-shirt, priced at $3.88. “This T-shirt shows that we can create a more sustainable garment at the lowest price point in the category,” he said. “It will be available in February in stores and online made from Mississippi Delta cotton. We’re engineer-ing sustainable apparel.”
McMillon said Wal-Mart supports the human dignity of workers in the retail supply chain, noting that the retailer is joining the Leadership Group for Respon-sible Recruitment, a collaboration of businesses and NGO partners working to ensure ethical recruitment and treatment of workers globally. The retailer also wants to improve the lives of people in communities with initiatives such as a previously announced pledge to source $250 billion worth of products that sup-port American jobs by 2023 and $20 bil-lion in products from women-owned busi-nesses in the U.S. by the end of this year. The retailer also committed to donating four billion meals to fight hunger by 2020 and to contributing $25 million toward disaster relief and resiliency around the world over five years.
“Some of these problems are very difficult and will take some time to solve,” McMillon said. “You have to have a mind-set of serving multiple stakeholders.”
● The business posted an increase in sales for its first quarter as a combined company.
by Allison Collins
Revlon Inc. may move back into China.“We see a great opportunity for growth
in China with Elizabeth Arden based on their platform, [and] also for Revlon,” said Revlon president and chief executive officer Fabian Garcia on the company’s first earnings call as a combined business Friday morning. Revlon pulled out of China in 2014, but Arden is strong there.
“Asia and China in particular are important regions for Elizabeth Arden and for Revlon,” Garcia said, declining to lay out a specific timeline for growth in the region. “These geographies continue to provide significant growth opportuni-ties for both brands in color cosmetics which is experiencing double-digit growth online and at retail. We have just begun a relationship with Revlon and Tmall, which is promising, but at this early stage, it’s premature to draw any meaningful conclusions or conclude next steps.”
Combining geographic strengths is one of the reasons Garcia cited for the acqui-sition when it was announced back in June, saying, “as we look at the synergies that we have, there are countries where we are both strong: the U.S., the U.K. and South Africa. Then you have a bucket of countries where Elizabeth Arden is strong
and we are not as strong: South Korea and China. Then you have another bucket of countries where we are strong and they are not as strong: Japan.”
Arden opened a new counter in Shanghai recently with a new look, which signifies the renovation and revitalization of the brand in brick-and-mortar, Garcia said on the call.
Garcia also outlined plans to improve operations at three of Revlon’s struggling brands: ColorSilk hair color, Almay and CND. For ColorSilk, Revlon’s launched a new color protecting shampoo and prod-uct formula; Almay’s getting a new brand positioning; and CND is launching two new innovations, one of which is the low-er-priced CND Creative Play nail collec-tion, and the second of which will come in the latter half of 2017, Garcia said.
“Almay will begin a relaunch of the brand in the second half of 2017,” Garcia said. “Building on the brand’s core equi-ties with a modern, relevant positioning.
“We have just completed extensive qualitative and quantitative research with more than 1,700 women to assess purchase interest and acceptance for the repositioned brand concept and the results were very positive,” Garcia said. “We expect to begin to present to some of our key trade partners toward the end of the year,” he added, declining to provide further details until that time frame.
Almay has been called out in recent quarters for its lagging sales, but Garcia said that the brand has seen improvements
for the quarter, as had CND. Almay specifically saw improvements “driven by promotional activity, which held the brand flat for the quarter,” Garcia said.
Revlon’s acquisition for Elizabeth Arden officially closed on Sept. 7, and the combined companies reported a 28.3 percent increase in net sales to $604.8 million for the quarter. Earnings, pushed down by various charges, amounted in a loss of $4.7 million. The company recorded $33.5 million in acquisition and integration costs, it said, and without non-operating and unusual items, net income was $15.8 million.
Revlon’s consumer segment posted $342.8 million in net sales and an $81 mil-lion profit, driven by higher sales of Revlon beauty tools and color cosmetics that were offset by lower sales of Sinful Colors color cosmetics. The Elizabeth Arden division brought in $135.2 million in sales, posting a profit gain of 46.7 percent to $32.5 million because of higher sales and lower cost of goods, the company said. That division saw higher sales of color cosmetics, as well as fragrances from Juicy Couture, John Varvatos, Britney Spears (driven by the Private Show line) and Curve.
Revlon’s professional division posted $118.8 million in net sales with a $23.7 mil-lion profit, driven by Revlon Professional Be Fabulous and American Crew’s men’s grooming products, offset by lower CND sales. The “other” segment, which con-sists of the CBB fragrance business, had $8 million in net sales and a $100,000 loss.
For the moment, Revlon is focused on integrating Arden, and leveraging opportu-nities to “expand across categories, chan-nels and geographies,” Garcia said — but that doesn’t rule out future acquisitions. “We are constantly evaluating other poten-tial opportunities for growth,” Garcia said.
● The shake-up in management structure comes as the group adjusts to slower growth in the luxury watch industry.
by sAmAnthA Conti LONDON — Johann Rupert is shaking up and whittling down the management structure at Compagnie Financière Richemont, as the group gets used to the “new normal” of slower growth in the luxury watch industry.
After reporting a 51 percent decline in first-half profit to 540 million euros, or $605 million, and a 12.6 percent drop in sales to 5.09 billion euros, or $5.70 bil-lion, Rupert believes it’s time for change at his luxury goods pole, the parent of brands including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Dunhill.
He’s eliminated the role of chief execu-tive officer altogether, and wants the board to run the company.
“It’s not possible for one individual to be ceo and this was highlighted to me by poor Mr. Lepeu, who ended up with 35 direct reports,” said Rupert, referring to his current ceo, Richard Lepeu, who will retire in March.
“We need to look at spreading that load and having a structure that allows man-agers more time to really address their responsibilities,” said Rupert, adding he’s expecting a lot more harmony under the new structure.
“These are people who have been work-ing with one another for decades and are extremely happy about the clear allocation of responsibility and authority.”
Rupert will remain as executive chair-man, as well as Richemont’s shareholder of reference.
“My role will be the same as before. I am an air traffic controller of egos — and noth-ing’s changed,” said the famously straight-talking Rupert, who has served as Richemo-nt’s ceo on three separate occasions.
Markets applauded the move, with the shares climbing 6.7 percent to 67.30 Swiss francs, or $69.18, following the announcement.
Regarding the new management struc-ture, Rupert isn’t the only luxury leader who’s been doing some soul-searching during hard times for luxury.
Earlier this year, Burberry announced that Christopher Bailey would make way for a new ceo, Marco Gobbetti, and return to a full-time role of chief creative officer. Bailey will also take on the title of pres-ident as the company aims to outstrip luxury industry growth, and cut costs.
Rupert said he wanted to take advan-tage of the impending retirement of two valued company veterans — ceo Lepeu and chief financial officer Saage — to make the structural changes.
Burkhart Grund, deputy cfo, will succeed Saage while Georges Kern, who is currently ceo of IWC, will become head of watchmaking, marketing and digital, a new position.
Jérôme Lambert, ceo of Montblanc, has been named head of operations, respon-sible for central and regional services and all of the product divisions other than jewelry and watchmaking. His is also a new position.
All will join the board, in addition to Nicolas Bos, ceo of Van Cleef & Arpels.
This is not the first time that Rupert has retooled the top management structure.
As recently as this year, the company was run by co-ceo’s, Bernard Fornas and Lepeu. They both took over in 2013 after Rupert gave up his ceo position to take
a yearlong sabbatical. Fornas has since retired, leaving Lepeu as ceo.
Rupert is not giving up on his old team. Alongside the changes and in the interest of “continuity in the decision-making process,” and the “wealth of knowledge” among Richemont veterans, many former managers and current non-executive directors will join a new international advisory council.
They include Yves-André Istel, Simon Murray, Lord Renwick of Clifton, Professor Jürgen Schrempp and The Duke of Wel-lington. The council will act as a sounding board for the board of directors, drawing on the “significant expertise” of its mem-bers, according to Rupert.
Fornas, Lepeu, Norbert Platt, and Alain-Dominique Perrin — all former Richemont ceos — will be appointed as senior advisers to group management, liaising directly with Rupert and the senior executives.
Although Richemont saw a return to positive sales growth in October, Rupert said the management shakeup is part of a larger vision to position the company for the future, making it more flexible and responsive especially in “the developing field of digital marketing and e-commerce.”
Like many luxury goods captains, Rupert has long been wary of the web and the leap into e-commerce. Of late, the com-pany has begun to embrace digital, selling
Cartier watches through the London-based online retailer The Watch Gallery, and pro-moting its IWC timepieces with Mr Porter, part of Yoox Net-a-porter Group, of which Richemont is part owner.
During a conference call, Rupert said he also wants to slim down the supply pipe-line “and make sure that we don’t have excess fat. That’s not just me — everybody realizes this.”
Trimming the fat also refers to the company’s excess shops, especially those in China. “Like all of the other companies, we have excess boutiques in second and third-tier cities or non-productive areas in China,” said Rupert, adding the plan is to downsize or shut them.
Rupert said his long-term goal for Richemont is unchanged: “I’m interested in [customers] giving us their hard-earned money, so we’ve got to create demand for our products. Demand will create free cash flow with which we can pay dividends, and our goal is to grow our dividends by 15 percent per year.”
The changes come as Richemont reported falling sales in all categories and geographic regions. Sales growth was further dented by buybacks of under-performing watches, mostly Cartier gold designs. Earlier this year, Richemont had confirmed it was buying back watches, picking off the precious gems, and melting down the metal.
(According to Luca Solca, managing director at Exane BNP Paribas, Cartier has not been suffering more than the other Richemont watch brands. Instead it’s reacted more quickly to the slow-down, and it’s also far larger than its sister brands).
The buybacks were aimed at helping third-party retailers clear stock with-out resorting to promotions, and cost Richemont 249 million euros, or $279 million, in the period. A portion of that money also went toward making the Richemont stores more efficient.
On a separate conference call, Saage confirmed that the buyback program, which involves Richemont handing a credit note to wholesale customers in return for the goods, is complete.
Overall, the company is still looking at problems with watch overcapacity, and adapting its manufacturing structures to the level of demand.
While the company has ruled out layoffs in its watch division, Saage said Richemont would continue to invest in manufacturing while also “gaining effi-ciencies” in the process.
Excluding the buybacks, sales in the half decreased by 8 percent in constant terms, due mainly to a weak demand for watches in general, as well as historically high comparatives with the corresponding period last year, Richemont said. Back in September, Richemont said it was expecting profit to fall 45 percent, due to the slowdown in hard luxury sales, and of watches in particular.
The decline in watch sales was partly mitigated by demand for accessories and, to a lesser degree, for jewelry.
Looking ahead Saage talked about the “new normal” for the watch business.
“Before the gifting explosion in China we were seeing modest growth in watches. We don’t know where sales are going to be in the future, but we can no longer expect a return to growth of 20-odd percent. We’re looking at this — and all parts of the business — on an ongoing basis.”
Although Richemont saw sales growth in all regions deteriorate, the company said the rate of decline in Asia-Pacific has continued to soften, and was minus 8 per-cent compared to a 17 percent decrease in the prior period.
The overall decline was partly offset by continuing growth in mainland China and positive retail, jewelry and accesso-ries sales in the region. “More and more Chinese are buying at home, so if you take the total sales of Chinese, that is going up. It’s just where they buy that’s different,” Rupert said.
In addition to mainland China, other markets that saw growth were the U.K., due to the weak pound, and South Korea, thanks to local Chinese tourists.
According to Rogerio Fujimori of RBC Europe, the first half should mark the low point in terms of sales decline and margin erosion for Richemont. “We now have a cleaner trade stock situation for Cartier (Richemont’s largest brand) and easier comparatives ahead,” he wrote.
Fujimori also said the recovery for watches should be gradual given the lagging nature in wholesale, but recent sell-out trends in greater China are more encouraging. “We also see growth for the jewelry category re-accelerating” in the second half, he said.
He believes Richemont offers the stron-gest balance sheet of all the luxury brands that RBC Europe covers. Richemont’s net cash as of Sept. 30 amounted to 4.55 billion euros, or $5.05 billion.
Jill Haber's suede, leather and patent leather bag.
Altuzarra's python and crystal embellished bag.
Valentino's leather bag.
Aldo's polyurethane bag.
Kate Spade New York's leather bag.
Fendi's studded leather bag.
Bertoni's leather bag.
Furla's leather bag.
november 7, 2016 7
● Designers’ efforts to put out something different could counter the consumer fatigue that’s ailing the category.
by misty WhitE sidEll
Buyers have gotten what they’ve asked for. Beleaguered by reports that luxury accessories sales have been hit by stagnant design and consumer “fatigue,” retailers say that accessory “innovations” for spring could spark a further turnaround.
“I think there was a time where every-thing looked the same and [now] I’m definitely seeing a shift toward innovation — I think that designers are really looking at putting more newness out there and creating things that the customer doesn’t already have,” said Neiman Marcus’ fash-ion director for women’s accessories Ana Maria Pimentel.
Her comments were echoed by multiple high-end retailers. And in offering newness, designers have also spurred a new model of commerce. Rather than choosing to dictate overarching trends, labels appear to be applying their signature aesthetics to large swaths of product in the interest of appealing to multiple consumers — enabling a sense of newfangled individuality at retail.
“It’s less about overarching stories. I could highlight a few [trends], but almost always it was individual items that stood out — specific pieces are what is driving desire more than ‘we are moving to a certain shape of shoe.’ We are moving to individual pieces,” said Net-a-porter
fashion director Lisa Aiken.That concept extended to shoes, bags
and costume jewelry — the latter of which is experiencing a major resurgence.
Brands that appeared to wage the most influence this runway season were entirely European, particularly from Milan and Paris. New York-based labels did not appear to capture as much interest. Heavy-hitters include Loewe, Pierpaolo Piccioli’s solo debut at Valentino, Anthony Vaccarello’s debut at Saint Laurent, Chloé, Bouchra Jarrar’s debut at Lanvin, Prada, Céline and Balenciaga.
Runway shoes ran a large gamut — from the pool slides at Prada, to midheels at Chanel, and stilettos, notably spotted at Vaccarello’s inaugural Saint Laurent outing.
“I think we are seeing a very good com-bination of very good high heels at Saint Laurent and Balenciaga and various flats, some good evening flats at Lanvin — I think there is a really good cross-section of all different customers,” said Matches’ buying director Natalie Kingham. “I think there is a real sense of your personal style. All brands have such strong DNA and this allows you to buy into your style, your taste — there’s a good selection of different shoes and trends that allow you to dress appropriately for whatever lifestyle,” she added.
Said Roopal Patel, Saks Fifth Avenue’s senior vice president, fashion director: “I think right now, you are starting to see sporty slides, ornamented slides, jeweled slides, the return of the everyday slide and others that are very strong and very directional with ankle wraps, as well as great stilettos at Gianvito Rossi and then
flats at Valentino. There is a nice assort-ment at different heel heights for every single customer.”
But according to consignment resale site The Real Real — which logs search and purchase data, often mining results that mimic the full-price market — stiletto sales continue to fall flat. “Lower midheels and flats are moving faster,” said chief mer-chant Rati Sahi Levesque.
On this past season’s runways, hand-bags also exhibited new ideas and unique perspectives. Buyers appreciated the ring details shown at Chloé, the layered minibags at Valentino and the oversize approach seen at Balenciaga and Céline.
“We are seeing handbag design come to the forefront over just pure function,” said Net-a-porter’s Aiken. Said Neiman’s Pimentel: “I think Céline showed a hand-bag on almost every look, which hopefully points us in the right direction in terms of the handbag business. That was quite exciting for us.”
“There were two very directional hand-bag shapes with the return of the small bag at Valentino, the duet of a small com-pact work with a minibag and the little handheld clutches at Céline and the little saddle at Chloé. Then we saw an extreme — overexaggerated bags at Balenciaga and Céline. I think there’s something for every-one,” said Patel.
Aiken added that brand showrooms offered various iterations of the directional bags seen on the runway — offering even more choices. “The Balenciaga bag was wildly oversize on the runway and the commercial version in the showroom was
shown in solid and print, and that’s the kind of style I know we are going to see. It’s not like anything else — there was a mini [size], a medium and then an extra large.”
Linda Fargo, Bergdorf Goodman’s senior vice president, fashion, said, “I feel like accessories are becoming so interesting, so compelling — I feel like an accessory used to literally accessorize your self, accessorizing the star which was ready-to-wear. I feel like at this point, accessories are almost the starting point when they are interesting enough. Getting dressed — if you have embellished Gucci shoes — you almost start with something like that.”
Buyers feel that Alessandro Michele of Gucci’s influence has boosted the accesso-ries category, including costume jewelry.
“There is a maximalist movement com-ing through. The [accessories] category is really a little more lighthearted and playful and I think the personal style element has been inspiring,” said Aiken.
Said Patel: “It’s an exciting time for accessories in regard to newness. We’re starting to see that people, especially in the world of handbags and shoes, apply more novelty, creating more of a reason to buy in the last year than ever before in my opinion. There are a lot more tongue-in-cheek elements.”
Patel added that Gucci has also contrib-uted to a logo-centric mood in the larger industry. “Now we see Loewe and YSL, and Off-White using a logo to give items a cult-y factor. Things had been stripped back for a long time and now we are seeing the power of the logo come back.”
But while critically acclaimed by fashion insiders, logo-heavy merchandise may not be snapped up by a broad swatch of consumers. According to recent research by The NPD Group, consumers — par-ticularly the Millennial age group — now prefer items with subtle logos or no logos at all. Eighty-one percent of Millennials say that purchasing a bag with subtle logos is important to them.
accessories
Buyers: Spring Accessories Focus on ‘Innovation, Individuality’
Valentino’s layered minibags; ring details at Chloé;
negotiations and expanded political invest-ment on the foreign stage.
TPP is one of the largest trade deals the U.S. has ever negotiated. It includes the U.S., Australia, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Chile, Brunei and New Zealand. Their respective governments must now ratify it in order for it to be enacted. If implemented, it would encompass nearly 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product.
It’s also seen as a potential corner-stone of President Obama’s legacy and a potential boost for U.S. exports and the economy overall.
Congress could pass TPP in a lame-duck session after the election, which would give President Obama the opportunity to sign it into law. Congressional leaders have repeatedly signaled they do not have the votes to pass it but some officials believe the door is still open for a vote on TPP after the election.
If Congress fails to pass TPP after the election, the next president would have to reintroduce implementing legislation to Congress. Assuming it is Clinton, she could try to negotiate side deals to TPP, renegoti-ate it altogether — a far riskier proposition — or walk away from it.
Clinton’s views on TPP have taken some twists and turns. As secretary of state under President Obama, she was tasked with carrying out the president’s priorities and lobbied for the trade deal, at one point during the negotiations calling it the “gold standard” of trade deals. As a presidential candidate, her views changed, particularly under pressure from key primary chal-lenger Sen. Bernie Sanders, who vigor-ously opposed TPP.
Clinton now says she opposes the TPP deal as it is written, which some view as leaving her wiggle room to ultimately sup-port it, and has outlined three criteria for trade deals: create jobs, raise incomes and increase national security.
Many industry officials believe Clinton will pivot to support TPP once she is in the White House, although not quickly or easily.
“I don’t think she will walk away from the TPP agreement,” said Hun Quach, vice president for international trade at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. “I think she sees the strategic importance of our economies being connected. She sees opportunities for U.S. companies and U.S. workers in being involved and working on TPP. I don’t think that she is interested in walking away from these major partners who have committed to strong labor and environmental standards and opening up their markets for U.S. exports.”
Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he expects Clinton to “re-brand” TPP if elected. He said she will have to work with the left wing of her party and labor groups such as the AFL-CIO that have been vocally opposed to the trade deal.
“All of that says to me that she will be very slow to try to craft a new deal and if she does craft a new deal, it will be quite different as she tries to totally re-brand it,” he said.
There is disagreement over whether the U.S. could successfully renegotiate TPP, as many of the countries involved have made it known they would not come back to the negotiating table. Some experts have said there is a better opportunity to negotiate side deals on key issues.
Joshua Teitelbaum, former deputy assistant secretary for textiles, consumer goods and materials at the U.S. Commerce Department, who played a key role on
textiles in the TPP negotiations, said: “Ulti-mately, renegotiation for TPP is something I’m sure other countries would not be receptive to.”
Teitelbaum, who is now with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, noted that while Obama administration officials have stated that renegotiation is not on the table, there are other mechanisms such as side letters with which to resolve outstanding issues.
Mickey Kantor, U.S. Trade Represen-tative under President Clinton, said the other TPP partners might be receptive to changes to the deal “depending how vigorously they are advocated by a Clinton administration.”
“It will take hard work. You are talking about 11 other countries — two of our three largest trading partners among them — Canada and Japan,” Kantor said. “You would have to draft and propose changes that are also attractive to the other coun-tries and not try to run over them.”
Kantor said Clinton has “always been a trade skeptic.”
“She voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement [while a senator] and has always been concerned about jobs, incomes and other matters that some believe are affected adversely by trade,” he
said. “The idea that any president coming into office would accept a pending trade agreement without any changes, without any alterations, without discussion, with-out any concern would be naïve.”
Projections on potential economic losses if TPP is never implemented vary widely.
The U.S. International Trade Commis-sion has said there will be a small positive gain for the U.S. economy from the trade deal. An ITC study found that U.S. annual real income would increase 0.23 percent, or $57.3 billion, by 2032 compared to baseline projections that did not include TPP. Real GDP would be $42.7 billion, or 0.15 percent, higher than baseline projects and employment would be 0.07 percent, or about, 128,000 full-time equivalents, higher than the baseline.
U.S. exports would increase 1 percent, or $27.2 billion, while imports would gain 1.1 percent, or $48.9 billion relative to base-line projections, according to the ITC.
Economists at the Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated in one study that each year’s delay in implement-ing TPP represents a $77 billion to $123 billion permanent income loss for the United States, depending on the discount rate applied.
Rick Helfenbein, president and chief
executive officer of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said if TPP doesn’t pass, he believes “there would be little long-term damage to the apparel industry (in terms of imports) as China and Vietnam together already control 48 percent of all imports to the USA and that’s with duty.”
“The USA would suffer some short-term loss of credibility but, in the long term, everyone still wants to trade with us, so new opportunities will arise,” Helfenbein said.
Among the key sticking points outlined by lawmakers are inadequate patent protections for biologics, high-priced medicines derived from living organisms, and dispute settlement provisions for tobacco products.
“Given the time and resources that I personally put into and invested in this agreement, which are not nearly as signif-icant as a lot of the negotiators and staff who worked on it for many years, I have to be an optimist about the chances for pas-sage of this agreement,” Teitelbaum said. “I just believe it is too important to not consider the strategic value for the U.S., both economically and as a global power in the Asia-Pacific region. The president and administration will be all in in trying to push it during a lame duck.”
Kantor said there is a “strong possibil-ity” Congress can pass TPP in a lame-duck session. “I think there are a number of members in both the House and Senate who, in a lame-duck session, will feel more politically free to support it. If that is the case, I think it can pass.”
Julia Hughes, president of the U.S. Fash-ion Industry Association, said if Congress fails to act on TPP, “When you go in as
What Clinton or Trump Would Mean for Trade CONtiNueD FrOM pAge 1
continued on page 9
Most trade experts believe Hillary Clinton won’t just walk away from the pact after the U.S. invested seven years in the negotiations and expanded political investment on the foreign stage.
president, you have a honeymoon and lot of goodwill. But to quickly pivot to support something that was such a hotly debated issue during the campaign, I can’t see her [Clinton] doing that.”
If it is not ratified by the U.S., Helfenbein said he expects the U.S. and the TPP part-ners to try to pursue separate and smaller trade deals, which could be easier to get through Congress.
As for what would happen if Trump pulls out a last-minute victory in the elec-tion, the business community is concerned that he would kill the TPP deal outright and they have a new study that under-scores the downside of failing to imple-ment the agreement.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers said in a report Friday there are risks to U.S. workers and companies if Congress fails to vote on TPP. The council predicted there will be “substantial” lost opportunities to increase economic growth and productivity in the U.S., which would “prevent the United States from helping to shape trade in Asia to adhere to high standards and U.S. values.”
If TPP fails to pass, the CEA said other countries have made it clear they will negotiate their own trade deals. A big deal waiting in the wings is known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, which does not include the U.S., but does include China, Japan and many other Asian countries and TPP partners such as Vietnam.
But it isn’t only TPP that is raising indus-try concern. Trump has promised to rene-gotiate NAFTA and withdraw from it if Can-ada and Mexico refuse to do so, calling it “the worst trade deal ever.” Experts believe that even Clinton could try to update that deal, even though it was negotiated by her husband when he was president.
Asked if Clinton might also reopen NAFTA if elected, Kantor said, “Frankly, I have always advocated it. It has been 23 years since NAFTA passed Congress and it needs to be updated. All three countries should want to do it. If president-elect Clinton asked me, I would say absolutely. In 1993, when we finished NAFTA and it passed Congress, there was no such thing as the Internet. Can you imagine the things that are not included in NAFTA?”
According to a report from the Wharton School of Business, overall trade between the three NAFTA partners has increased sharply over the pact’s history, to more than $1.1 trillion in 2016 from about $290 billion in 1993. It cited Wilson Center estimates that 25 cents out of every dollar of goods that are imported from Canada to the U.S. is actually “Made in USA” content, as are 40 cents out of every dollar for goods imported into the U.S. from Mexico.
Some critics argue that NAFTA is to blame for job losses and wage stagnation in the U.S. because competition from Mexican firms has forced many U.S. com-panies to relocate to Mexico, the Wharton study noted.
Kantor said NAFTA has been “helpful to the U.S. economy, no doubt. That cannot be argued.”
“Of course there have been job shifts, mostly because of technology and glo-balization, but some because of NAFTA,”
he said. “We are not losing jobs. We are shifting jobs, but we have not done a good job of that. No administration has. I am criticizing myself and everyone on that.”
It is this division that worries fashion and retail executives — as well as execu-tives in almost every industry. Whether it is TPP, or modifying NAFTA or completing negotiations on trade deals under way between the U.S. and European Union, industry and trade officials said the U.S. can’t ignore globalization.
“We have never in my knowledge in our history turned down a trade agreement — ever,” Kantor said.
In Trump’s view, all that matters is Made in America and he has vowed to bring back to the U.S. industries like steel-making or coal mining that left the country long ago because they were either uncompetitive or for environmental reasons.
Under the campaign slogan of “Make America Great Again,” Trump has outlined several tax reforms, including lowering the corporate tax rate and trade reforms, both of which he said will create new jobs in the U.S.
A large portion of his economic plan cen-ters around cracking down on unfair trade and keeping the U.S. out of “bad” trade deals that could lead to more job losses.
Trump has also come under fire for reportedly having his suit and tie collection made in Mexico and China, while he simul-taneously rails against off-shoring. And he has angered the business community with disparaging remarks he made about Mexican immigrants. Macy’s Inc. dropped his signature suit business in its stores last year over those incendiary comments on the campaign trail.
Clinton has outlined a plan to strengthen U.S. manufacturing through a $10 bil-lion investment in “Make It in America” partnerships that bring a broad coalition of workers, labor, business, universities and community colleges together to focus on boosting U.S. production. Companies that take part will have to pledge that they do not shift jobs or profits from the partnerships abroad and will support “buy American” standards.
She has also proposed creating tax incentives to encourage investment in
the hardest-hit manufacturing communi-ties, crack down on companies that ship jobs and earnings overseas and expand apprenticeships and training focused on manufacturing.
On minimum wage, which has stood at $7.25 an hour for seven years, both candidates have shown varying degrees of support for raising the federal rate.
Clinton supported a $12 minimum hourly wage at the start of the campaign season, but has since she would support taking it to $15 an hour, looking to garner support from the progressive wing of her party.
Trump supports increasing the mini-mum wage, but has also said it should be left to the states, which is a reversal of a position he took opposing a hike in last year’s debates.
Their approaches to immigration are vastly different.
Clinton has pledged to introduce comprehensive immigration reform and provide a “pathway to full and equal citi-zenship within her first 100 days in office” and also supports providing legal status to children who arrive in the country illegally and allowing immigrant parents of children born in the U.S. to receive work permits and avoid being deported.
Trump’s plan does not call for a “pathway to citizenship,” but does call for deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, significantly expanding the U.S. border control infrastructure and building a massive wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
But there could be even a bigger moment at stake in American political history, according to Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press” and political direc-tor of NBC News, who recently spoke at the WWD CEO Summit. In his view, the upheaval from this election could fun-damentally change the Democratic and Republican parties. In his view, one party is likely to be internationalists and the other isolationists.
“I think the two political parties are going to reorganize themselves on economic issues, not on social issues,” Todd said. “The cultural wars have essentially ended in the last month....We are going to have a debate over capitalism in this country.”
What Clinton or Trump Would Mean for Trade CONtiNueD FrOM pAge 8
Donald Trump is firmly a protectionist when it comes to trade and he has vowed to not only drop TPP, but even renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and impose tariffs on all imports from China and Mexico.
● At a time when brick-and-mortar is seriously challenged, CallisonRTKL tackles a wide range of retail projects.
by dAvid moin
It sounds counterintuitive, yet Callison-RTKL, a global architecture, planning and design firm, sees opportunity at a time when store closings are common and the Internet is rising.
“The idea that something can be seen as a risk to retail is actually the very same thing that makes it interesting,” observed Eric Lagerberg, CallisonRTKL’s executive vice president and global practice group leader for retail stores.
Sitting in Sam’s Place, an old-style Italian restaurant in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood, Lagerberg presents a particular point of view on store design, discussing everything from worn wood floors and luxury environments to the impact of technology on retail settings and the CallisonRTKL agenda.
“The idea that traditional retailing is dead I think might be accurate, if tradi-tional retailing is referring to something that doesn’t change. But I don’t think there is single category or aspect that doesn’t need to change and roll with the times. Today, it’s Amazon. Yesterday, there was some other disruptor that made it more challenging and interesting.”
CallisonRTKL is known for its scope, from shopping centers to designer bou-tiques and department stores around the world, as well as projects in the hospitality, health care, office and residential sectors. The company is involved in everything from brand positioning down to lighting the store and creating the signs. Then there is business analysis, trends, design and concept work, permitting and approv-als, and construction administration.
In addition, Callison creates prototypes and implements rollouts. “We are distinct in the sense that we have the horsepower to do that,” Lagerberg noted. “It wouldn’t be uncommon for someone like us to either specialize in one or the other; do the front-end design and let someone else roll it out,” or vice versa.
Most recently, a visual merchandising service led by Ignaz Gorischek, vice pres-ident of store design and visual merchan-dising, was formed. Gorischek, a former Neiman Marcus vice president, said the new service offers window and interior visual presentations, seasonal and holiday displays, pop-up concepts both in-shop and standalone, kiosk design, and a full
array of art services including acquisition, curation and installation.
In the retail sector, Callison has a wide range of clients, from Nordstrom, Burb-erry and Charming Charlie to a Brazilian jewelry brand called Hueb. There’s also a long list of beauty brands where Callison has created both in-store and freestanding shops. “We are working on hundreds of brands simultaneously,” Lagerberg said. Much of Callison’s work centers around helping brands to reposition, he said. “Everything is changing. It’s about hang-ing onto aging customers and attracting new customers.”
While reluctant to discuss specific client projects, he did go into some detail on a few.
“The fact that Liberty Travel is a thriving business — that there is a need and a customer base out there — was completely surprising to me, because of the accessibil-ity of all the data that used to be held in the hands of a travel agent,” Lagerberg said. “But there are many people that are intim-idated by the onslaught of information and they want the service to help them navigate the very same thing. That’s the kind of complexity that makes it interesting.”
Liberty’s locations had languished for a long time, Lagerberg said. “The objective was to bring back the customer experience, by bringing in new lighting standards, new materials, to make it a brand that speaks to the romance of travel, not a commodity. It’s all about being comfortable,” so a family or group of friends can readily interact with Liberty’s travel agents. “It was about integrating
technology into the setting so it’s acces-sible, like it would be at your home, with more of an open-sell atmosphere. It’s in the type of furniture, the way the space was zoned, which allows for a more inti-mate, personal interaction as opposed to serving from behind the counter. Physi-cally, people are on the same side of the table looking at the same screen.”
Liberty Travel, while not the most the-atrical of retail settings, posed a challenge because of its wide customer spectrum. “The easiest [projects] are those that serve a very specific customer,” Lagerberg said. “The toughest retail projects are the ones that serve everyone.”
A mobile phone shop is tough to design because of the diverging attitudes toward technology. “There is a 16-year-old girl and 65-year-old woman, with different shopper mind sets, generally very far apart, and with different attitudes towards embrac-ing technology,” Lagerberg said. “There are those who research the product, find out the price, know exactly what they want and their interest in the customer experience is just about ease of purchase. They don’t want advice. They don’t want someone in their face.”
Then there are customers who are “intimidated” by technology, possibly buy-ing their first mobile phone device and have no idea what to buy. “They want interac-tion, so that’s the difficult part. How do you build a store, build the operations, build the service around a crazy, broad spectrum?”
Nordstrom has posed another type of challenge, he said. “It’s been a clas-sic story on how to refresh the space to engage a new, younger customer without alienating the traditional base. The real litmus test is, does this feel like a Nord-strom store when you walk in? It has to be how do we evolve what’s there, keep the integrity and open the door for a new cus-tomer. It’s done with lighting, the material palette, coloration, art and integrating the food service as part of the experience, and not just as an add-on.”
Restaurants at Nordstrom, “used to be a separate thing in their older model — tucked away on upper floors. Now it’s integrated into the experience. It’s open. You can see into the restaurant from the shopping area. The lines are sort of blurred. Previously when you walked through the restaurant door, it was a very inward, pub-like space.”
Brazilian jewelry brand Hueb has a store on Madison Avenue with four different “zones” that help the operation of the business and enhance the customer expe-rience. “You may look at it from the street
and see it as one space, but once inside, initially, there is an open area, “a relax-ation point off Madison Avenue,” Lager-berg said, “And then you are immediately confronted with a display fixture of gifting, lower price points. It’s lighter. There’s more daylight. The palette is lighter. The product is more accessible.
“The second zone is an interactive area, where people might huddle around a display case and talk about things. It’s similar to open sell at Liberty Travel where you have a salesperson more involved in the transaction. Here, price points start to go up a little. It’s a bit more exclusive product, underneath a wood ceiling.”
Deeper into the store, “There is more comfortable area facilitating one-on-one consultation type sales, for more exclusive product back there.
“There is a commercial component about engaging the right customer with the right product at the right place; and then there is an emotional piece — the Brazilian joie de vivre.”
Lagerberg said, not surprisingly, “the life cycle of a retail space could be as short as four or five years, though usually it’s five to ten years. With high traffic, there is a wear and tear component, and there is also the need to stay relevant and interesting,” as the company creates new products or learns what’s selling and what’s not selling.
If a store isn’t renovated within 10 years, “It would be living on borrowed time. It depends on the type of store, too. Some of the high-volume mobile phone stores, with so much traffic going in and out, think of the wear and tear on that...At Starbucks, it’s not just the massive high traffic, but it’s also a wet environment.” Still, “a worn wood floor is maybe not so bad,” since it could bring character to the environment.
With high-end designer boutiques, “The materials are better. The detailing is better and the wear and tear is not so bad. Customers treat the place pretty well, and there is less traffic volume. You can see a lot more interesting things going on with the facades.” It could be five to 10 years, generally speaking, before redos would be needed, Lagerberg said.
Asked if stores are cutting back on reno-vations and updates, Lagerberg replied, “It doesn’t feel like it. Sometimes when business is tough they want to get the most out of the assets they have. Aggres-sive expansions get hammered in tough economic times, but usually the reposi-tioning and renovation stuff, with the real estate cycle, they are making decisions years ahead.”
● Prada contributed about $390,000 to the costs of the restoration of the painting.
by luisA ZArgAni
FLORENCE — Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” in Milan may be instantly more recognizable around the world, but there is another painting of the same name by Giorgio Vasari that has a highly symbolic value and that was unveiled in Florence on Friday after a technically complex resto-ration with Prada’s contribution.
Badly damaged during a devastating flood on Nov. 4, 1966, the presentation of the restored art work, covering five wooden panels, took place as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations here, draw-ing Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella; the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Dario Franceschini; Mayor Dario Nardella, and the city’s cardinal Giuseppe Betori, among others.
“This event is happening at a time of tragedies in central Italy, such a beautiful country but so fragile,” said Prada’s chief executive officer Patrizio Bertelli, refer-ring to the deadly earthquake that hit the Marche region at the end of August and the ongoing aftershocks that continue to rock and shatter several regions surrounding that epicenter. “I call upon all companies, small and big, to help out on rebuilding monuments that go back centuries,” he said, speaking after a brief private meeting with Mattarella.
The restoration of Vasari’s “Last Sup-per” has an additional, personal value for Bertelli, who hails from Arezzo, the artist’s hometown, an hour’s drive from Florence. “I was born next to Vasari’s own home, I would play soccer under the Vasari loggia until I was 16, and my school would take us to visit his home. He was fundamental in life at Arezzo,” said Bertelli, expressing his pride in having contributed to the restoration.
After the ceremony, asked about the day of the flood, the entrepreneur said he remembered it “very well,” and that for two weeks, he would “come here to the library and help clean the books with my friends,” armed with sponges to clear the pages from the mud. “We worked so much on those books,” he reminisced.
Bertelli emphasized the “virtuous partnership” between private and insti-tutional parties that worked together on this project, with restorers from all over the world. Five of them were financed by Prada, who contributed to the works with 350,000 euros, or $388,500 at current exchange rates.
He saw “a problem” in the fact that “people always talk about the government and the state asking for help, but then we forget that we citizens are the state. There should be a national conscience. The gov-ernment does not have a magic wand.”
He reiterated that he was “appealing to all companies” to take action in central
Italy and “not the ones that say they will do it and then don’t actually spend a lira [old Italian currency].”
“I called upon everyone as an instinct, it will be a problem for how serious the losses will be. The state can help but it does not have such massive capitals, it’s too much. And we don’t even know when the aftershocks will be over. The state will firstly help the citizens, the mountainous agriculture, but we need private help for the monuments and churches,” remarked Bertelli.
The painting, which dates back to 1546, was unveiled at the Santa Croce basilica and Irene Sanesi, president of the Opera di Santa Croce, a private nonprofit laical institution in charge of the administration of the monumental complex, underscored that “Prada realized not only the artistic value but also the story it tells, it’s a tale of rebirth and hope.”
She noted that the “Last Supper” had been left in a deposit box for 40 years, and
that there was little hope of recovering it, after being under water and mud for 12 hours. It was originally created for the refectory of the convent of the “Murate [enclosed nuns].”
A new mechanical system allows the painting to be hoisted six meters, or almost 20 feet, which is one meter higher than the level the water rose 50 years ago.
Prada revealed in 2014 that it was going to help finance the restoration.
The work began in 2004 by the res-toration laboratory of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, a Florence-based public insti-tute controlled by the Ministry for Cultural Affairs, focused on the conservation and restoration of Italy’s artistic heritage. The restoration follows the conservation work one on the wooden panels conducted in 2010 by the Getty Foundation, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Prada has collaborated with Fondo Ambi-ente Italiano, the Italian National Trust.
fashion
Restoration of Vasari’s ‘Last Supper’ Unveiled
● The designer didn’t hold back in a talk with Fern Mallis at 92Y.
by rosEmAry FEitElbErg
Alexander Wang wasn’t allowed to shoot free T-shirts into the crowd on Nov. 3 during the Q&A at 92Y as he had hoped, but the designer fired away all sorts of facts about his life.
Keeping attendees laughing throughout his lengthy chat with Fern Mallis, the Amer-ican designer didn’t hold back about some of the more trying challenges he faced breaking into New York’s fashion scene and starting his business 11 years ago. How a Parsons School of Design dropout rocketed to international fame is a story in itself, but Wang’s trajectory was only enhanced by his humor. Whether describing dealing with his first hangover, the trials of working with family members or how the 2008 recession was a ho-hum event for his mega-million dollar company, the designer kept the audience entertained.
In New York to attend Parsons, Wang spent his first summer working morn-ings and some weekends at Barneys and interned at Marc Jacobs. School didn’t have
the same excitement. “Everyone has a different way of learning and adapting for an environment. It just wasn’t for me,” he said. Wang told Mallis that young designers need all kinds of experience “Retail, edito-rial and from the creative side, you have to get it from all the angles.”
Recalling how it was “all hands on deck” when he started interning for Marc Jacobs months before one of his fall shows, Wang learned, “You’ve got to multitask. Marc has a very specific way of working that works for him. He works on the collec-tion and a lot of his creative ideas come toward the end. It’s an amazing energy in the office. People get very excited by his
energy and his ideas. They go all-in. It was an incredible time especially as my first New York experience.”
There were also more sobering exchanges such as his promotion to chairman and chief executive officer of his company, succeeding his mother and sis-ter-in-law. “From Day One, my family has said, ‘We’re here to support you, we want to do the right thing for the business.’ I’d come back from Paris [as creative director of Balenciaga] and I wanted to have more communication in the brand. I have always said that is the most important thing in the operation and the success of the company,” noting his sister-in-law wanted
to spend time with her children and his mother wanted to chill out a bit. “I don’t know that this is forever but right now at this moment I felt this was the time for me to really be more educated in all aspects.”
On the Balenciaga years:“I would fly Sunday night, get to Paris at
6 a.m., go to the office at 9 and work until 8 [p.m.] Monday through Friday. Then I’d take the red-eye back on Friday, have dinner with my friends [in New York] and do it all again two or three weeks later. It was pretty crazy….It was an incredible team of people keeping me on track and disciplined. But I decided it was time to go back to my own brand and really focus my efforts on clearly something I started from the ground up.”
On the importance of winning the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund’s $200,000 versus the mentorship with Diane von Furstenberg that came with it:
“The mentorship — for sure. Money is like in and out. You’ve got to pay a bill or…Diane came to my showroom, and the first thing she said was, ‘Clarity, you have so much clarity with what you want to do.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I do? I feel like I’m so con-fused.’ But I was like, ‘I’ll take that.’’’
On working with his family:“It’s kind of like cutting an onion.
You’re really excited to have the onion, but you’re crying at the same time….They’ll ask, ‘Why don’t you come over for dinner?’ and I’m like, ‘I spent Monday through Friday with you.’”
fashion
Alexander Wang Discusses His Future
giorgio Vasari’s “Last Supper” painting unveiling ceremony.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT PAMELA FIRESTONE, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER AT 212 256 8103 OR [email protected]
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November 30
november 7, 2016 13
New Museum Next Generation Dinner Honors LaToya Ruby FrazierThe annual event gave a nod to the artist, who explores social and environmental justice issues through gelatin silver print photography.
N’eat Brings Casual Nordic Cuisine to East VillageChef Gabriel Hedlund in partnership with restaurateur Mathias Kaer are behind the restaurant.
there's a new Nordic eatery in town. N'eat has opened in the East Village, joining the coalition of New York restaurants serving Scandinavian fare — Agern, Aquavit, Aska — but taking a more casual approach to the cuisine.
"I saw there was a little bit the beginning of a Nordic wave coming, but only fine dining, Michelin-starred restaurants," remarked co-owner Mathias Kaer, who relocated to the states a year and a half ago in search of some "fresh air." He credits Copenhagen's Noma, currently closed, for the recent influx of interest in Scandinavian food and culture. "It started five six years ago with Noma being the world's best restaurant," he explained. "With a cuisine that was so new, that nobody had heard about before."
Kaer found a chef partner for his first New York restaurant in Gabriel Hedlund, whom he met a few years back while they were both working in Copenhagen. Hedlund, who's been in New York since December 2015, crafted the menu at N'eat to showcase his native region's cuisine, marked by fresh flavors and high acidity and minerality. Fifteen dishes are offered a la carte, featuring vegetables, seafood and meats, which encompass techniques such as pickling, brining and smoking. The restaurant is mostly using local ingredients, with the network of fellow Scandinavian chefs in the city acting as a guide to the local food vendors. The only ingredient Hedlund mentioned a lack of Stateside was cheese. "You're not so good at the cheese over
here, I'm afraid," he said.N'eat is situated in a cozy,
minimalist space along Second Avenue in the East Village. "I think it's a really good neighborhood, it's super cool," Kaer said of the location. "The thing we're doing here is so informal, and the idea is that it's not necessarily a destination restaurant, it's more a neighborhood restaurant." Kaer came across the space in its former iteration, when it was decked in dark cherry wood and leather banquets. They did a gut renovation to transform the room to be simple and very Nordic. The room is swathed in light wooden elements, white-washed wooden walls and gray-toned Danish furniture. The front dining room features a chef's counter, and the back dining area, encased in glass,
puts the restaurant's wine cellar on display in a jewel-box setting overlooking a courtyard.
Kaer and Hedlund are optimis-tic that pairing Michelin-level food details with a welcoming environ-ment will be a winning combina-tion for the downtown neighbor-hood, which has no shortage of dining alternatives.
"It's definitely more pressure because there's a lot of good restaurants here, a lot of good chefs," Hedlund said, reflect-ing on the unique pressure of cooking in New York. "But, there are also a lot of people who are eating all of the time." — Kristen tauer
n'eat58 2nd Avenue, New York, NY(917) 892-6350neat-nyc.com
rehydrated beets with blackberry, pine and cottage cheese.
the glass wine room can be utilized as a
private dining room.
Chef gabriel Hedlund and restaurateur Mathias Kaer.
the new Museum in Manhattan knows how to spot and hype the next cool, new thing.
“This venue has a storied history,” said museum director Lisa Phillips, welcoming the Next Generation dinner crowd. “It was [the] Chinese Opera Theatre. It also was the site of one of the biggest gangs in Chinatown — a lot of things went on in this space over the years. Apparent-ly it was the street that had the highest crime rate in New York in the 19th century.”
The building at 5 Doyers Street has long moved on from its violent past, and on Friday, the museum had taken over the historic space, which will soon open as Chinese Tuxedo. The crowd — Phillip Lim, Laura Love, Leigh Lezark, Tali Len-nox, Lauren Remington Platt, Jen Brill — were the first to experience the swanky restaurant.
The annual Next Gen dinner honors emerging artists and this year the museum recognized LaToya Ruby Frazier, who ex-plores social and environmental justice issues through gelatin silver print photography. Her work was first shown at the New Museum in 2009.
“I was very surprised and flattered,” Frazier remarked during a pre-dinner cocktail in the building's subterranean cock-tail lounge. “It’s a confirmation, because I make very difficult work that's socially and politically engaged,” she continued, daz-zling in a blue sequined track suit. “It's a recognition that reflects on the people I care about and my identity, which are usually people overlooked and silenced.” The artist noted that she had just returned from giving a lecture to students at Binghamton Univer-sity in upstate New York, “talking
about issues like global warming, the North Dakota Access Pipe-line, and why it's important for them to vote."
With election day looming, the current political climate was naturally a dominant topic of conversation during dinner.
“It’s giving me anxiety,” said Lim, who mentioned that he plans to spend election evening watch-ing the results with a group of friends. “I’m with Hillary, obviously. I’m going to be so nervous until that day."
Fashion Scoopson Her ownlola Burstein-Rykiel, the grand-daughter of Sonia Rykiel, is launching her own public relations and con-sulting firm in New York called Le Chocolat Noir. Her first client is, nat-urally, Sonia Rykiel, which will be the agency’s only ready-to-wear brand. Her second client is French jeweler Marie-Hélène de Taillac.
“I wanted to open my own agency but still be very tied to the brand of my grandmother,” said Burstein-Ryki-el. “[Sonia Rykiel] will be my first and most important client and then I can start to represent people I believe are giving the same spirit through their product as the universe I grew up in. I want to represent product that if my grandmother was still here, she would love.” Sonia Rykiel passed away in August at age 86.
Burstein-Rykiel named the agency for her, her mother Nathalie and her grandmother’s favorite sweet: dark chocolate. Her grandmother was even a member of Le club des croqueurs de chocolat. “It has a big meaning,” she said of Le Chocolat Noir. “It’s this idea of having a little bit of something amazing but you have to handle it carefully — if you have too much, it’s not good. I like to have this approach to stuff that I love.”
Working with de Taillac is an exam-ple of this philosophy. Burstein-Rykiel was first introduced to her jewelry through her grandmother and moth-er, both avid clients, who brought her to de Taillac’s store when she was 18. “It was a huge revelation for me,” she said. “It was definitely my grandmother’s favorite jewelry brand. [Working with it] is not going to be about doing something viral or digital. It’s definitely a special brand that could be known better in America.”
Burstein-Rykiel grew up in Paris and has been living in New York City for six years running American public relations for Sonia Rykiel. She initially came to New York to study dance at the Martha Graham School, after which she returned to Paris to work for the brand. Within a few months her mother sent her back to New York to head up the U.S. public relations. For now, Burstein-Rykiel is her new company’s only employee. She will continue to work out of Sonia Rykiel’s 57th Street offices. “I’m really in love with what Julie [de Libran] is doing at Sonia Rykiel…I’m not at all escaping from it,” said Burstein-Rykiel. “But it’s true that for me as a person and as a woman, I want to grown and have my own business.” — JessiCa ireDaLe
Top Honorsthe italian government has honored François Pinault for his support for Italian luxury brands and his contribu-tions to the art world, namely through his Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana contemporary art museums in Venice.
Italy’s ambassador to France Giandomenico Magliano on Thursday made the French business titan a grand officer of the Order of the Star of Italy on behalf of Italian president Sergio Mattarella.
The award recognizes Pinault’s efforts to develop brands such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Brioni and Pomellato, which belong to Kering, the luxury conglomerate he founded and which is now headed by his son François-Henri Pinault. The business-man is also a major art collector.
In 2005, Pinault — who also owns auction house Christie’s — ditched plans to build a private museum to house his art collection on the Île Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, southwest of Paris, after the project became mired in red tape.
His decision to showcase the works at Palazzo Grassi was seen as a major blow to the French capital’s cultural prestige. The multi-millionaire has patched up relations with Paris officials and earlier this year announced plans to showcase part of his art collection at the Bourse de Commerce.
The 150,000-square-foot building is in the center of Paris near the newly refurbished Forum des Halles shopping center, and in a neighbor-hood that is being transformed.
The 18th-century building boasts a cupola that is listed as a historical monument. Paul Smith and Lanvin have used it for shows during Men’s Fashion Week here. The Pinault family, under the umbrella of family holding company Artémis, is to be the holder of a 50-year lease.
Works are to start in early 2017 and the museum’s opening is slated for end of 2018. LVMH Moët Hen-nessy Louis Vuitton chief executive officer Bernard Arnault opened his Fondation Louis Vuitton, a striking art museum on the leafy fringes of Paris, in October 2014. — JOeLLe DiDeriCH
Mariah’s MomentFireworks, an explosion of white confetti strewn into the night air and Mariah Carey singing “All I Want for Christmas Is You” before thousands of street-crammed fans set the stage for the first joint unveiling of holiday windows at Saks Fifth Avenue and Hudson’s Bay in Toronto on Nov. 3.
“These windows are a gift from us to the city…and to visitors alike,” said HBC chief executive officer Jerry Storch just moments before welcoming Carey, the singer with the famed, five-octave range, onto a stage built outside the joint entrance to the department stores’ Queen Street flagships.
Finally unwrapped, the Bay’s five animated “Enchanted Forest” window displays portrayed a veritable winter wonderland for 2016, filled with twin-kly gaggles of geese sporting holiday wreaths and snow shoes, dancing raccoons, frolicking mice and bun-nies skating on an icy forest pond.
Set in fantasy music boxes, Saks transported viewers to a “Land of 1,000 Delights” this year where hand-painted mannequins twirled atop their wind-up pedestals dressed in hoop skirts made of gi-ant candy canes, gingerbread men and cupcakes.
Yet Carey’s own over-the-top holiday sheen stole the show as she emerged on stage 40 minutes late, with fans madly flinging their phones and selfie sticks into the air chanting, “Mariah! Mariah!”
Dripping in diamonds and decked out in a red satin gown with a pink sash by designer Anna Maier, the pop diva kicked off the night singing “Here Comes Santa Claus.”
“I wrote this song a long time ago,” said Carey as she introduced “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which was first released in 1994 as the lead single from her first holiday album, “Merry Christmas.”
With fireworks and confetti raining down on fans, Carey waved to the crowd throughout her Toronto perfor-mance — which lasted little more than five minutes.
According to TMZ, Carey report-edly raked in a cool $1 million for her short yet sweet Toronto appearance. — COnstanCe DrOGanes
A Cabin in TownFaherty, a casual men’s and wom-en’s wear brand inspired by the beach, will open a pop-up on Bleecker Street for the holiday season.
The two-level, 1,200-square-foot shop at 351 Bleecker Street, will be designed as a “Faherty Cabin,” and will house the brand’s fall and holiday apparel collections including pre-washed cotton flannels, traditional sun- and wave-patterned Cowichan sweaters, Aztec-printed brushed cot-ton surf ponchos and sherpa-lined serape print blankets.
In addition to Faherty products, the store will include an assortment of other accessory, grooming, pet, children’s and home goods from brands including Wigwam, Red Wing, Waltzing Matilda, Baxter, Taschen Books, Jack Rudy Cocktails and We Took to the Woods candles.
Interior designer Ryan Lawson partnered with the Faherty brothers’ mother Ninie Norris to design the Cab-in. It is intended to transport customers
out of the city and into a cozy lodge filled with vintage pieces, taxidermy and art from around the world.
Faherty was founded in 2013 by identical twins Alex and Mike Faherty, who translated their love of the beach and surfing into a sustainable apparel collection. They operate four permanent stores in SoHo on Thompson Street as well as Nan-tucket, Mass., Malibu and Newport Beach, Calif.
The pop-up shop will remain open through Christmas Eve. — Jean e. PaLMieri
Family TiesKylie Jenner is keeping it all in the family for her makeup brand’s first collaboration.
The reality star and budding beauty mogul revealed Friday on Snapchat that she has linked with older sister Khloé Kardashian on Koko Kollection, a four-item range with three matte liquid lipsticks and a lip gloss. Launching Nov. 9, the range includes the burgundy lipstick shade Gorg, bright strawberry lipstick shade Okurrr, glittery pink lip-gloss shade Damn Gina and go-to nude lipstick shade Khlo$$$$$.
While showing the shades to her fans via Snapchat, Jenner exclaimed, “How gorgeous is the Koko Kollection. This is by far one of my favorite proj-ects. Khloe, you did such a good job.” The lip products in the Koko Kollection are packaged in shiny gold tubes and housed in a gold and white box. The range is priced at $40 for $66 worth of products.
While the collaboration is a first for Kylie Cosmetics, the publicity formula of stoking demand on Snapchat as well as Instagram, where the brand posted pictures of the Koko Kollection, has already been incredibly successful. After an announcement in late July on Snapchat of limited-edition birthday merchandise, the product sold out in less than a minute when it premiered a few days later.
The Koko Kollection marks Kardashian’s return to makeup following a prolonged legal battle over Kardashian Beauty, a brand she partnered on with Kourtney and Kim Kardashian. In August, a judge sided with the Kardashians, and halted production and distribution of Kar-dashian Beauty products by licensee Haven Beauty. — raCHeL BrOWn
● The former math geek was the first fashion designer to speak at the Adobe MAX conference.
by mAghAn mCdoWEll
Technologists might just be the next generation’s artisans, according to designer Zac Posen, who brought some fashion flair to Adobe’s annual MAX con-ference in San Diego.
It was the first time a fashion designer has spoken in the event’s 13-year history, and it was the first time the designer had spoken to a crowd of 11,000. The three-day event ended Friday.
For Posen, the connection between Adobe and his role as a fashion designer is a natural one that began when he drew his first line on Illustrator. Today, the former math geek embraces both traditional arti-sans in his New York atelier and the power of technology to improve the business of designing and manufacturing, and to extend the aesthetic possibilities.
That was on display at the Adobe event, when a model came on stage in an organza gown woven with fiber optics. The dress was first revealed in May when Claire Danes wore it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala.
This isn’t the first time the “Project Runway” judge has created a dress that breaks the traditional mold. Posen has also worked with Google’s Girls Who Code on a dress worn by Coco Rocha in September 2015.
“I hope that this influences more people in the fashion space to start interacting and playing with technology,” he said. “As the world is evolving into tech, you can’t fight it. You have to embrace it use it. It has to be symbiotic.”
He said fashion and tech would grow even closer as virtual reality and artificial intelligence evolve — although the future is certainly not clear.
“A lot of the time we are drawn to something that replicates something that we can’t place,” he said. “I think it will go to something experiential and emotional and beyond what we can identify [that] is happening in reality. It’s really abstract and exciting and scary.”
fashion
Zac Posen Talks Fashion and Technology
Designer Zac posen at the Adobe MAX conference in San Diego.
Mariah Carey at the Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue window unveiling.
