Fashion. Beauty. Business.

DAILY EDITION 30 MARCH 2016 1

IN THE BOXHaim and his son Morris Dabah have launched an alternative online children’s wear business called Kidbox. PAGE 5

NEAR A DEAL?KKR is said to be close to selling the SMCP chain to Chinese textile firm Shandong Ruyi. PAGE 3

● Farfetch has lined up Manolo Blahnik as its first monobrand e-commerce partner.

BY RACHEL STRUGATZ

Farfetch is stepping out with Manolo Blahnik.

The eight-year-old U.K.-based retail plat-form has set up a division that will operate monobrand e-commerce sites for designer brands. Blahnik will be the first.

The designer footwear brand will launch its first global e-commerce destination today at manoloblahnik.com, operated by Farfetch’s new Black & White service. The site will sell the brand’s complete range of women’s and men’s footwear, as well as handbags and books.

The new Farfetch division is a natural extension for the platform, leveraging its global expertise linking independent designer retailers worldwide to do a similar thing for luxury brands themselves. It also is another major expansion move by the fast-growing Farfetch after the purchase last year of the well-known London fashion store Browns.

“We do not look at this in terms of share of the overall business,” Farfetch founder and chief executive officer José Neves told WWD. “We look at it as a holistic answer to the question, ‘How will people shop for luxury fashion in five years?’ We think it’s going to be multibrand online — hence Farfetch.com and

RETAIL

Farfetch Jumps Into Monobrand E-commerce With Manolo Blahnik

CONTINUED ON PG. 8

REVEL, REVELIvyRevel aims to be a digital fashion brand – and it has backing from H&M. PAGE 7

● The iconic Sixties model, who has launched an activewear line on her site, sizes up the fashion and photography industries.

BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

The whirlwind speed of fashion hasn’t deterred the iconic Sixties model Peggy Moffitt from getting back into the game with a signature activewear label.

With her 76th birthday in sight, she sounds spry, punctuating much of what she says — and critiques — with laughter. But Moffitt said she seldom ventures into Los Angeles, preferring that her design team periodically camp out for the afternoon in her dramatic all-white living room overlooking the Hollywood Hills. “I don’t have a general opinion

FASHION

Peggy Moffitt:Fashion’s Dead,But I Want In

CONTINUED ON PG. 6

BUSINESS

FrenemiesActivist investors and the industry’s boards aren’t exactly becoming bosom buddies, but directors are learning it’s often better to listen than to fight. A new bill in Congress, meanwhile, seeks to tighten controls on activists. For more, see page 4.Ill

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

Issue: April 20 Ad Close: April 6

Materials: April 18

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beyond the blues

An Advertising Opportunity

30 MARCH 2016 3

● Net sales fell to $81.8 million, but comp sales rose by 10.7 percent.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

Vince Holding Corp. posted fourth-quar-ter results that were better than Wall Street’s estimates.

For the three months ended Jan. 30, net income was $1.8 million, or 5 cents a

diluted share, compared with net income of $10.5 million, or 28 cents, a year ago. On an adjusted basis that excludes the benefit from the recovery on an inventory write-down and a favorable adjustment of certain transition costs, net income was $300,000,

or 1 cent a diluted share. Net sales fell 13.6 percent to $81.8 million from $94.7 million, while comparable-store sales including the e-commerce channel rose 10.7 percent. Wall Street was expecting earnings per share of 0 cents on revenues of $81.1 million.

By sales category, the wholesale segment

dropped 30.2 percent to $48.1 million, while direct-to-consumer jumped 30.5 percent to $33.7 million.

For the year, net income was $5.1 million, or 14 cents a diluted share, on net sales of $302.5 million. Full-year results were at the high end of the company’s updated guid-ance earlier this month.

The company posted results after the markets closed. Shares of Vince closed Tuesday up 5.6 percent to $6.76 in Big Board trading, but then fell 2.4 percent to $6.60 in after-market trading.

Brendan Hoffman, chief executive officer, said on the conference call to Wall Street analysts, “We are making great strides with our product, our top priority, as we work to create everyday casual luxury essentials with modern effortless style.”

He also told analysts that the brand’s wholesale partners are pleased “to see that we have recaptured the brand DNA that had made us so successful in years past” and that “the very emotional connection that our partners had towards the brand has been restored.”

He said the company has ended its nearly four-week tiered promotional event because it had the effect of having customers wait

for sales, as well as “handcuff our wholesale partners.”

Hoffman said he expects the company to “start to see an inflection point” on its per-formance during holiday. He added that the company is taking the necessary steps for the “long-term health of the brand.” Hoff-man said, in some instances, that means “taking a step back or forgoing some short-term top-line gains in order to build the brand back in a way that it’s sustainable.”

He told analysts that the company is making “investments in the business to support long-term growth objectives.” On hold is the handbag business, which will be relaunched. The company is in the process of finding a designer to lead the business, the ceo said.

For fiscal 2016, the company expects diluted EPS of between 0 cents and 6 cents, on total net sales between $290 million and $305 million. The company said it expects continued pressure in the first half, although improvement is anticipated in the second half compared with the year ago period.

Founders Rea Laccone and Christopher LaPolice returned to the brand in November under a two-year consulting pact. Their impact on the design and creative efforts is expected to be seen beginning with the fall 2016 deliveries.

THE MARKETS

Vince Q4 Beats Estimates

The Gucci Pre-Fall 2016 Advertising Campaign ● Shot by Glen Luchford, the exotic, flamboyant pictures are to debut on April 1.

● They Are Wearing: Tokyo Fashion Week Fall 2016

● They Are Wearing: Paris Fashion Week Fall 2016

● Lululemon¹s Lab Concept Hits New York

● They Are Wearing: Art Basel, Hong Kong Edition

Global Stock TrackerAs of close March 29, 2016

ADVANCERS

DECLINERS

Vince Holding Corp. +5.62%

G-III Apparel Group Ltd. +5.13%

The Men’s Wearhouse Inc. +4.67%

Perry Ellis International Inc. +4.26%

Kate Spade & Co. +4.12%

Iconix Brand Group Inc. -9.09%

Luen Thai Holdings Ltd. -4.80%

Shanghai Metersbonwe -4.30%

Giordano International Ltd. -3.03%

Yoox Net-a-porter Group -2.42%

TOP 5TRENDINGON WWD.COM

● The chief marketing officer helped drive the retail group’s omnichannel initiatives.

BY DAVID MOIN Wanda Gierhart, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the Neiman Marcus Group and a key player in driving the luxury retailer’s omnichannel strategies, has decided to leave the company “to focus on other interests.”

Neiman’s did not name a successor.“Wanda has let me know that she has

made the difficult decision to leave the company in the near future to focus on other interests and pursue different opportuni-ties,” Karen Katz, Neiman Marcus Group’s president and chief executive officer, said Tuesday in a letter to employees. “She has committed to staying with NMG as we work through the transition. Her final day at NMG

will be announced at a later date.”Katz added that since 2008, Gierhart has

been a member of NMG’s leadership team, heading up the marketing and creative division. “As cmo, she played a key role as we pursued our omnichannel strategic vision and subsequent transformation enabling a customer to shop a NMG brand, any time and from any mobile device.”

While business at Neiman Marcus has been tough over the past year, the e-com-merce side of the business has grown. Neiman’s says it conducts more e-commerce than any other luxury retailer and that among multichannel retailers, it has attained one of the highest e-commerce rates — 30 percent of total sales in the firm’s latest fiscal year. The year before, Neiman’s e-commerce represented 26 percent of total revenues. In 2014, NMG purchased the Mytheresa.com online luxury business based in Munich and the Theresa luxury store, also in Munich.

Neiman’s growth has assuaged concerns that affluent consumers would be reluc-tant to shop designer fashion online. The company has aggressively supported digital growth by focusing capital on enhancing its online shopping experiences, including

faster checkouts, easier navigation and personalization. The company has also been increasing its ability to fill online orders from stores and is rolling out its buy-online, pick-up-in-store service. Still, online operations experience high returns and have high distribution and delivery costs, cutting into profitability.

“With Wanda’s commitment to keeping the voice of the customer at the center of our marketing efforts, we remain the world’s leading luxury omnichannel retailer with a prestigious and affluent customer base, while we continue to attract a younger, Millennial customer,” Katz said.

Gierhart oversaw all aspects of marketing and branding. Neiman’s credited her with having expertise in global marketing, strate-gic planning, digital and mobile marketing, social media, sales promotion, e-commerce, merchandising and retail management.

Gierhart joined Neiman Marcus Group in 2009. Earlier, she was president and ceo of TravelSmith Outfitters; executive vice president of merchandising and marketing at Design Within Reach, and executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Limited Brands.

RETAIL

Wanda Gierhart Out at Neiman’s

Brendan Hoffman

● The parent of the Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot chains could go for $1.45 billion, including debt.

BY EVAN CLARK

The Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot fash-ion chains are leaning toward Asia.

Three sources said the private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which owns 70 percent of the retailers’ corporate parent, SMCP, is moving closer to selling its stake to Chinese textile concern Shandong Ruyi.

KKR, which signaled in October that it began evaluating “strategic options” for the company, had been looking to raise up to $190 million by listing at least a part of SMCP on the Euronext Paris stock exchange, potentially in June. Private equity owners, however, often use the possibility of an initial public offering as a way flush

out buyers and add urgency to a sale pro-cess. KKR bought the business in 2013.

It’s a big deal — 1.3 billion euros, or $1.45 billion, including debt, according to some reports — and would give new standing to Shandong Ruyi, which is relatively unknown, at least to several U.S.-based fash-ion dealmakers. It also would be the latest in a wave of acquisitions by high-paying Chi-nese firms. The Chinese group Anbang, for example, is in a multi-billion dollar bidding war with Marriott Hotels with Starwood.

Chinese fashion companies have been strong on production capacity, but gen-erally haven’t committed to buying global brands. Investment bankers have said that deep-pocketed Asian buyers have been looking to deepen their fashion investments for years.

SMCP has said its revenues last year increased 33 percent to 675 million euros, or $748 million at average exchange rates, while earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation and amortization advanced 44

percent to 107 million euros, or $118 million.The 1,118-door business operated in 33

countries at the end of 2015 and targeted between 80 and 100 new stores this year.

SMCP president and chief executive offi-cer Daniel Lalonde said earlier this month that the priority markets for expansion are the U.S., Greater China, the U.K., Spain and Italy. “There is a lot of room to grow in those markets in a very disciplined and targeted way in big cities,” Lalonde said. “Frankly, we are just at the beginning of the international adventure.”

The ceo singled out the Chinese market, saying that between 2011 and 2020 the number of households entering the middle class there will grow to 85 million from 33 million. “They represent new customers for us,” he said.

That’s familiar territory, though, for Shan-dong, which makes and sells woolen textile goods in China and internationally. The Jining-based company markets its products under the Ruyi brand name.

BUSINESS

KKR Near Deal to Sell SMCP to Chinese Textile Firm

4 30 MARCH 2016

● Legislation has been introduced to increase the transparency of activist hedge funds.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM DEBRA BORCHARDT

We’re listening.

That appears to be the attitude retail and fashion firms are now taking toward a group they once considered their enemies — activ-ist investors. While the two camps haven’t exactly become bosom buddies, many board directors and top management have learned a valuable lesson: It’s better to consider what the activists might be proposing than face a drawn-out, vituperative battle that could end up with them being eaten alive.

In other words — and to use that old phrase — companies are discovering that it’s better to bring the fox into the henhouse.

Activists have been circling plenty of firms in the industry lately, including Macy’s Inc.; Avon Inc.; Christopher & Banks, and The Children’s Place. In most cases, these firms — while not adopting all the activists’ sugges-tions — have begun taking actions that are close to what the activists have proposed.

John Pound, senior adviser to investment banking firm Peter J. Solomon & Co., who specializes in corporate governance and activist-investing strategies, said it’s the current culture of corporate boards that has helped bring some modicum of success to activist positions.

“Companies are no longer willing to fight so there’s this shift in the cultural balance of power. These campaigns from the activists are no longer about taking control. So as a company [that’s] not hitting every ball out of the ball park, when a large investor says it’s not asking to take over but just want its ideas to be heard in the board room, it’s really hard for boards to stonewall that,” Pound said.

Pound did note that one of the dangers of activism in the apparel and retail space is when the investor focuses on the balance sheet, such as suggesting that a division be spun off. His point is that the focus should be on product, an understanding of the brand and what it means to the consumer.

Not that things have been that easy for the activists lately. The disastrous attempt by William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital to force change at J.C. Penney Co. Inc. pushed the retailer deeply into the red and cost Ackman millions in losses on the stock before he finally retreated. His record since in sectors other than retail has been decidedly checkered.

Ackman’s antics and those of other activists also have put them on the radar of Congress — and at least one presidential candidate — more than ever. There is now legislation in Washington aimed at increas-ing transparency and strengthening the over-sight of activists. That’s because the concern remains that activist hedge funds are only in the game for short-term profits.

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) and Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) earlier this month introduced The Brokaw Act, legislation to increase the transparency of activist hedge funds. Cosponsoring the bill are Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and fellow antiWall Street Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.).

One of the provisions redefines “person

or group” so that a collective stake by several funds working together would be consid-ered a single entity required to disclose any stake above 5 percent. Investors are already required to disclose stakes above the 5 per-cent threshold.

Baldwin’s Web site said the change pre-vents “wolf packs from skirting the intent of the disclosure rules” when the individ-ual investments are below the reporting threshold requirement. The bill also hopes to shorten the time frame for 13D disclosures to 2 days from 10 so there’s less chance of a “tipping” to allies of an impending filing, a move that can provide an opportunity for so-called riskless gains by allied hedge funds.

Brokaw is named after a small town in Wisconsin, home to a paper mill that pro-vided jobs for the town and that the senators clearly believe represents a cautionary tale of activist investing. Starboard Value — the activist investor that has a stake in Macy’s and has been agitating for change at the retailer — acquired Wausau Paper Co. in the town and ultimately closed the mill. The town of Brokaw went bankrupt as a result.

Doug Snyder, Starboard’s managing director and investor relations point person, did not return a request for comment about Wausau.

Even if the Brokaw bill advances in the divided Congress in what will be a lame duck session after the November elections, it may not go far enough to address short-term gaming when activists claim they are in it for the long haul.

Andrew L. Sole, managing member of Esopus Creek Advisors, which is the adviser to the hedge fund Esopus Creek Value Series Fund, said, “If legislators wish to properly align a company’s long-term interests with those activists that purportedly represent the long-term interests of stockholders, Con-gress should pass legislation that mandates that the short-swing rule would apply to any holder that files a 13D and extends the penalty period to 18 months, rather than the current six months. This simple change in the law would likely rid the market of the scores of activists who are simply “renters” of common stocks and their derivatives. Such a Congressional act would protect true long-term investors.”

Short-swing is the profit rule under the Securities and Exchange Commission regulations that requires company insiders to return profits made from the purchase and sale of company stock when both transactions are within a six-month period. A company insider is anyone — officer, director or holder — who has more than 10 percent of the company’s shares.

Even as many companies and their

boards still consider activist hedge funds the scourge of the investment community, that isn’t stopping activists from circling firms in the fashion world. Starboard Value, led by Jeffrey Smith, has been advocating that Macy’s Inc. spin off its real estate to lift share-holder value. Starboard has been agitating for change at Macy’s at the same time that it has been pushing for the entire board of Yahoo Inc., another of its investments, to be replaced.

Smith has suggested that Macy’s stock could be worth more than $125 a share, when the company is viewed as two oper-ating components — the operating business and its real estate. Smith even pegged Macy’s enterprise value at $29 billion, with $21 billion made up of the real estate value. In January, Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn, who has a stake in Macy’s, said the retailer could be taken over by a private equity firm and a real estate investment trust.

Shares of Macy’s have been trading in the range of $44. Macy’s, under the leadership of chairman and chief executive officer Terry J. Lundgren, has nixed Starboard’s push to create a real estate investment trust. The retailer now has a squadron of professionals advising it on strategy, such as the possibility of joint ventures. Last week Macy’s added real estate expert Bill Lenehan, the ceo of Four Corners Property Trust Inc., to its board beginning on April 1.

Some believe that Smith might have even suggested Lenehen as a possible board candidate. Lundgren has said the company is in constant dialogue with its sharehold-ers. The fact that Macy’s is even exploring options for its real estate portfolio reflects the growing influence — and success — that some shareholders are having in getting their voices heard, even if Macy’s has maintained that the review was something they already had on their agenda.

Bebe Stores Inc. is another retailer that has fallen under the activist spell. Prentice Capital Management LP now owns over 5 percent of the outstanding stock. Pren-tice Capital founder Michael Zimmerman has publicly expressed his frustration with Bebe’s chief executive officer Manny Mashouf and the company’s board of directors in letters filed with the Securities Exchange Commission. The letters express concern over the declining stock price, Mashouf’s compensation package and a belief that the board isn’t entertaining credi-ble strategic candidates.

Zimmerman also believes Bebe should secure a line of credit to strengthen its bal-ance sheet and communicate a turnaround plan to shareholders. So far, Bebe has not responded to Prentice Capital or Mr. Zim-merman’s overtures.

On Monday, Avon Products Inc. and the investor group led by Barington Capital Group reached a settlement to avoid a proxy fight. The agreement gives Barington the right to approve the appointment of an independent director -- selected jointly by Avon and Cerberus Capital Management -- to Avon’s board.

Avon completed the spinoff of its North American business to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management earlier this month. Cerberus took over the business as part of a strategic partnership with Avon, one that called for Cerberus to invest $435 million for a 16.6 percent stake in Avon, plus $170 million for an 80 percent ownership in the North American business. Avon retained

a 20 percent minority interest in the North American business, now called New Avon.

The Avon-Barington agreement suggests that the parties have been able to build a level of trust on both sides as a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a Form 8-K, indicates the absence of a so-called standstill provision. That means that should the investor group suddenly find that the necessary changes aren’t being made, it still has the option of going public with its concerns.

It wasn’t Barington’s first win.On March 14, Avon provided additional

details on the execution of its three-year transformation plan that was disclosed during its investor day in January. Those details include the reduction of headcount and the move of its headquarters from New York to the U.K. Avon said both moves are to align corporate functions with current and future needs of its business.

Barington was quick to take credit for some of the changes.

Barington’s chairman and chief executive officer James A. Mitarotonda said, “We are pleased that Avon is following our recom-mendation to reduce costs and corporate overhead. We believe that there is still much more that needs to be done to improve the business as outlined in our Dec. 3 letter.”

That letter, among other points, called for change in the senior management team, including current ceo Sheri McCoy, whose background the investor group considers a poor fit for the beauty firm.

On March 10, Christopher & Banks reached an agreement with its activist inves-tor Macellum Capital Management, which had been pressing for change since March 2015. The agreement included the nomina-tion of four new independent director candi-dates for election to the company’s board at its annual shareholders meeting on June. 30. One of those candidates includes Jonathan Duskin, Macellum’s ceo.

Macellum also was the activist investor in The Children’s Place, as was Barington. The activists and Children’s Place last year reached an agreement to settle their differ-ences, but not before the investors went hostile with a proxy fight. The settlement was reached just hours before the battle was to take center stage at the retailer’s annual meeting.

Macellum’s Duskin spoke with WWD about the differences in dealing with the two retail boards, noting that the process at Christopher & Banks had the two working more “collaboratively.” There’s no question that the battle at Children’s Place can only be described as acrimonious. Duskin said that was avoided at Christopher & Banks, in part because the directors who resigned “realized the board needed to change.” Duskin also said of LuAnn Via, the retailer’s president and ceo, “Management has been incredibly supportive. LuAnn made some mistakes, and has implemented some changes.”

And last year, Legion Partners Hold-ings LLC, one of the activists in Perry Ellis International Inc., was successful in agitating for the separation of the chairman and ceo roles. George Feldenkreis, who held both roles last year, remains the company’s chairman. His son Oscar has taken over the ceo role. According to Feldenkreis in an interview last May, the separation of the two roles was something the company had already been contemplating as part of its succession planning.

BUSINESS

With Activists, Boards Now Think Listening Better Than Fighting

A Macy’s store.

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● The service automatically ships five boxes of kids’ clothing annually and encourages parents to spend time with their families and give to those in need.

BY DAVID MOIN

Seeking to spare parents the trials and tribulations of shopping with their young children, a group of entrepreneurs and investors with roots in fashion and technol-ogy have launched Kidbox.

The company is a children’s wear business that Haim Dabah, acting chief executive offi-cer and partner in Kidbox and a well-known pioneer in brand-building and apparel manufacturing, says is based on conve-nience and “push commerce.” That involves an advanced machine-learning algorithm making data-driven decisions or predictions which help stylists to handpick items and cre-ate customized assortments. These selections then get shipped to families so clothes are discovered and tried on at home. The hassles of shopping stores and the ordeal of a fitting room are avoided.

Kidbox is also geared to create an enjoy-able, shared experience where parents and kids together unwrap packages, contents unknown, in the spirit of opening birthday or Christmas gifts. “Parents are feeling guilty about not spending more time with their kids. The idea is to give moms more time by reinventing a way of shopping with kids,” said Dabah.

While it is seeking to grab a slice of the nation’s $38 billion children’s wear industry, Dabah said the Kidbox format was inspired by Trunk Club for men’s wear and Stitch Fix for women’s wear. Those businesses are gain-ing popularity, utilize the push commerce format and have stylists picking clothes for those who prefer not to shop for themselves.

Dabah’s son Morris, also a partner in Kid-box, spoke to the convenience factor. “When you are online, the choices are overwhelm-ing,” he said. “Kidbox is for busy parents who want to buy great outfits for their kids at a great price, and would prefer someone else to do the work for them.”

Harry Tawil, cofounder of Kidbox, said, “Shopping for kids can be time-consuming and often difficult. Kidbox lets experts do the time-consuming part and delivers families just the fun part — opening presents together, with cool new things to wear.”

In addition to their roles at Kidbox, Tawil and Morris Dabah serve as ceo and president, respectively, of Q4, a children’s wear licensing and manufacturing company. Kidbox sources products from 20 brands in Q4’s stable so in each Kidbox delivered are items from such labels as Butter Supersoft, Seven For All Man-kind, Lucky Brand, Reebok, Kenzie, Limited Too, Weatherproof and Paper Denim & Cloth. Kidbox is also sourcing brands from other companies. Both Q4 and Kidbox are based at 20 West 33rd Street in Manhattan.

Other key players at Kidbox are Justin Renard, who oversees marketing and brand strategy, and Gal Brill, chief technology offi-cer and another cofounder.

There’s an important charity aspect to the business. For every $98 spent by a family, a new outfit, jacket or dress will be sent to a child in need through K.I.D.S./Fashion Deliv-ers Inc., which provides children’s clothes to foster children, children of military families

and families confronting financial crisis or natural disasters.

“The charitable component is really essen-tial,” Haim Dabah noted. “Maybe Kidbox represents the first time moms and their kids talk about giving.”

“So many needy children never have new clothes, and so many families with financial capacity would like to help others. Kidbox recognizes this situation,” said Lisa D. Gur-witch, president and ceo of K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers. “It’s remarkable for a company to start out making this commitment. The experience encourages families to begin a conversation with their kids about how they can help make a difference in another

child’s life.”Over the last 50 days, the Kidbox format

has been successfully tested with about 200 families, said Haim Dabah, giving him confidence int he launch of Kidbox which happened on Tuesday this week. “The most important thing is to make sure the system works. We have experienced a very high retention rate.”

Those who sign onto Kidbox automat-ically receive four boxes of children’s wear annually, one for each season, and a fifth holiday box, though members can add or skip deliveries, or cancel the service totally. This is not a subscription model.

Opting in is simple. There’s no fee to join, no delivery fees and only a short online questionnaire with eight ques-tions, to determine a child’s age, activ-ities, style preferences and sizes. The company’s assortment caters to girls and boys, from toddler sizes up to size 14.

“The key is that we are using national brands and Kidbox to do the work for you,” said the older Dabah.

Here’s what’s inside a Kidbox:• An ensemble of six to seven items

that work together to form a wardrobe, at an average price of $15 to $20 per item.

• A shipping pouch, pre-printed label and free postage to return any or all items. Boxes will be delivered by FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service on Fridays and Saturdays when everybody is more likely at home.

• Surprise gifts for the kids — like jew-elry, letter stickers and other educational products.

Adding to the fun of opening a box of gifts, the Kidbox itself is designed so kids can color it, and it’s sturdy enough to store things. Boxes come in two sizes.

Haim Dabah, recently a group pres-ident at Li & Fung USA now known as Global Brands Group, with a long track record of involvement in proprietary brand creation, in November 2014 launched HDS Capital in New York to invest in tech start-ups. HDS also targets venture funds and “accelerator” compa-nies that work to grow other companies. His other son, Mac, is currently running HDS so that the elder Dabah can focus on the Kidbox launch. HDS Capital and First Time Ventures in Tel Aviv provided seed funding for Kidbox.

“One of the key benefits of HDS Capital is that our various technology start-ups support each other,” said Haim Dabah. “For example, one of our early invest-ments, Stylitics, is providing the auto-mated-outfit-building-engine for Kidbox. This enables our stylists not only to make the best style choice from our algorithm, but also to feature outfits.” Nine engi-neers in Tel Aviv, led by Brill, are part of the effort. They have been involved in developing a custom code focused on the algorithm.

“Kids really do fall into specific per-sonalities,” affecting how they dress, observed Sara Pilot, a fashion consul-tant who works for Elie Tahari, Steve Madden and now at Kidbox as a stylist. They can be sporty or preppy, or more urban or sophisticated, for example, though not necessarily always one way or another, she said. A boy could wear a button-down shirt with a fitted blazer one day, and baggy jeans with a logo T-shirt the next. It’s her job to see where the kids of Kidbox fit in, and work with the team to customize the shipments, with the items and brands that work together to create an ensemble tailored to the tastes of a particular child. “It’s very hard to do that when you go to the store with your child,” Pilot said.

The boho-chic look, crochet, lace and black leggings are currently among the best-sellers in girls’ merchandise, Pilot said. For boys, she added, “the hottest thing is the change from the loose-fitted athletic pant to the jogger.”

“Having two children myself, I know it’s a battle going to a store with a child,” said Pilot. “I don’t know one person who has ever said ‘I had fun shopping with my son or daughter.’ It is very hard for a kid to enjoy it. They hate to try things on,” though she acknowledged, as kids grow up, they change their attitude and are more inclined to have a day of shopping with mom.

“The Kidbox philosophy is nice because you are in your own home, and you have this great experience of opening this box,” finding clothes with toys inside.

RETAIL

The Dabahs Launch ‘Kidbox’ For Children’s Wear

Kidbox is designed to give patents and kids a

“shared experience.”

6 30 MARCH 2016

about anything. Give me a subject and I will give you an opinion,” she said.

Feeling “fair-to-middling” on this afternoon, Moffitt touched upon Los Angeles’ changing landscape, “I was born in a Hollywood hospital and I live in the Hollywood Hills, but I traveled a little bit around the world in between. I don’t really go down the hill very much. I do realize there are a lot of freeways, which I don’t like. I don’t drive, so I don’t have to take them.”

Her colorful, intercontinental life inspired the debut collection’s five high-tech groups — Dharma, Freedom, Paris, Grande Prix and Playa. “The lack of not being in things” was reason enough to return to fashion, she said. The collec-tion consists of things that Moffitt and the late fashion designer Rudi Gernreich were interested in — the body, colors and clothes that actually fit. “I always wanted to be a dancer. I have always been interested in movement more than the old-fashioned thing of having to fit yourself into somebody’s preconceived form rather than have your body be the form.”

Studying dance influenced her taste a great deal, as did acting, which led to roles in “Blow-Up” and other films. “I studied ballet, which is what I really wanted to do. But then I went to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. There, one of our teachers was Martha Graham. There was ballet and there was mime,” Moffitt recalled. “There were also fabulous acting teachers, too — Sanford Meisner, Sydney Pollack, elocution and all kinds of stuff. It was a two-year school.

“I didn’t think Martha Graham was a very good teacher at all, because she was always performing being Martha. She was always sort of, like, ‘This is how you look being agonizing.’ She had no rapport really with a bunch of people who wanted to be in the theater. She just came and was Martha Graham all over the place without teaching,” Moffitt said. “There were other teach-ers of dance who weren’t very famous at all, who were much better teachers. Isn’t there an expression, ‘Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach,’” she laughs, “which means you understand it but you don’t do it as well as some people.”

As for how Pollack inspired his acting students or helped them along, Moffitt said, “I can’t tell you how gifted people are able to do that. He was terribly, ter-ribly gifted. Sydney Pollack was a genius and he was brilliant. He died so early, which was so terribly sad,” referring to his death in 2008 at age 73.

As an actress, Moffitt also appeared in “You’re Never Too Young,” “Who Are You Peggy Magoo?” and “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” although the esteemed director was no longer calling the shots when she appeared in an episode of the TV show.

After somebody suggested Moffitt, who always loved clothes, give model-ing a whirl, she was hired as a fit model by the designer Gus Tezzell. His friend Gernreich came to see one of Tezzell’s shows, and Moffitt became somewhat friendly with Gernreich, partially due to their running in the same circle. “God, it was so long ago. Rudi had a line of

clothes that was made in Japan that was considered young. I think that he hired me because I was young, But the clothes that he did, there wasn’t anything child-ish about them,” she said.

“He once said to me, ‘You inspire me when I don’t want to be inspired,’” she said. “He had been criticized for something from a collection. Well, he couldn’t help being inspired, right? Nei-ther could I. But I was not inspired to go into showrooms with others, because nobody had that kind of talent. I did do photography because that was more important.”

Widely known as Gernreich’s muse, Moffitt’s late husband, Bill Claxton, a well-regarded photographer, also joined in on their collaboration, most famously for images of his wife topless in a Gernreich-designed monokini that were published in 1964. “Everybody published it — to the extent where it drove me nuts. They would choose

awful pictures that weren’t good. It was just impossible. I turned to my husband and said, ‘We’re doing this the wrong way.’ Hunting magazines and idiotic magazines were publishing the topless bathing suit photos and the vast amount were choosing dumb pictures, not the ones that should have been published,” she said. “After a while, I said, ‘This has got to stop. I want to choose one picture and that’s it. And do-your-own-fishing magazine will have to have this picture.’ I kind of just stumbled on making some-thing an icon.”

Moffitt oversees Claxton’s estate but current photography and fashion hold little interest. “I like photography, but I don’t think much is happening in it right now. I don’t think anything is happening in fashion really. I think fashion is dead. It’s the way I look at it. I feel that way because of my taste. I don’t think there is any fashion,” Moffitt said. “Right now I’m wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt, and so is the rest of the world. I like whichever brand fits me. I’m sorry to be so negative.

“Fashion fell off a long time ago. I can’t tell you to the minute that it died. Probably when everybody started wearing pants,” Moffitt said. “If you’re going to the Academy Awards, you get all dressed up in a fantasy thing. But just to live, I don’t know what a secretary or someone who works in an office wears, probably pants. Fashion is really dead except for these sort of dream occasions or fantasy.”

That isn’t stopping her from getting into it.

Solely distributed on Moffitt’s e-commerce site, the line ranges in price from $33 to $133 and in keeping with her “freedom, form and function” philosophy is offered in XS, S, M and L. Shoppers will find yoga pants with mesh inserts, color block capri pants, a zip-front white mesh hoodie and silk modal T-shirts, among other options. In the months ahead, swimwear certainly

could be an appropriate line extension, said Moffitt, who counts on Arina Gasa-nova as creative director.

With her severely asymmetrical bob and near-harlequin eye makeup, the whippet thin Moffitt brought more to modeling than an unmistakable appear-ance. Her arts-inspired approach could be a tutorial of sorts for others. “I don’t think I modeled like other people. I knew how to move in a different way. I used to change the way I walked by what I wore. If it was a little girl dress, I might walk pigeon-toed or I would often spoof it. If it was a men’s gangster suit, I might do it in a very girly way. I liked to have fun with clothes,” Moffitt said. “But most of my modeling was photog-raphy, which is what I liked best. I could make different shapes, which you can’t do when you’re walking. I could get in positions that were static positions. That was like dance in photography.

“If you’re on the floor with your knees overhead or something, you’re static and you could compose something in a picture. In a showroom, somebody is looking at the back of you while somebody else is looking at the front of you. Because Rudi’s clothes often had a ‘wow’ factor, you didn’t know until the model turned around there was this whole other thing happening. I would sort of choreograph so that people would sort of gasp when I turned. But you can’t do that in a photograph because it’s kind of like a painting. It’s 2-D.”

A self-described “bookaholic,” Mof-fitt has “tons and tons of books” and remains very interested in photography. She added, “Across from me is ‘The Charlie Chaplin Archives.’ It’s a great big, huge book that you have to have an enormous table for. I like great big coffee table books — books that remind you. I don’t read novels. Well, it’s visual stuff that I’m interested in.”

In addition to fashion, Moffitt isn’t so high on the state of magazines either. “I read magazines a great deal. I’m trying to fall out of love with magazines because I don’t think they do much. Because I’m very interested in fashion, I take Vogue. There are about 10 pages of editorial and the rest of it is ads,” Moffitt said. “People [magazine] was fun for a while. I don’t think it is anymore, because I don’t think anybody’s inter-esting anymore. I don’t think anybody’s doing anything anymore.”

Ditto for designers, fashion photog-raphers and actresses with style. Only Audrey Hepburn and Vivian Leigh ranked with Moffitt for their style. “I was married to a very brilliant photogra-pher and he, obviously, was my favorite. I loved [Richard] Avedon. I liked Hiro and [Irving] Penn. I liked the usual suspects like everyone else. The brilliant ones I loved. Did I ever work with Penn? I think I did and he was a jerk. It doesn’t matter. They’re good,” she said.

Apart from being able to live with-out arthritis or diabetes, Moffitt said her wish list includes a sable brown Burmese male cat with green eyes to replace her last one “Banjo,” which also had a brother, “Bebop,” at one time. “I would like to fall in love again. I miss my husband. That would be nice to have that kind of relationship.” she said of Claxton, who died in 2008.

This spring’s launch of her signature activewear will inevitably remind some of her modeling days. If it does, Moffitt said, “I hope they liked it first of all. Photography and showroom [model-ing] are totally different. I hope they recognize the quality, comfort, taste and humor. Humor can be in the garment, in the person wearing it or the way your spirit is. And remember me fondly.”

Peggy Moffitt:Fashion’s Dead,But I Want In CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Peggy Moffitt in her modeling heyday.

Peggy Moffitt

30 MARCH 2016 7

● The Stockholm-based digital fashion house, with its propriety algorithm that tracks consumers’ behaviors, will launch globally on April 7.

BY SHARON EDELSON

IvyRevel, a digital fashion house, will have a distinct advantage over other start-ups when it relaunches globally on April 7: The considerable muscle of the H&M Group, which is an investor and strategic adviser to brand.

H&M provided production expertise and connected IvyRevel with suppliers in its network. Another adviser, Paypal, shared insights about payment and distribution.

“We are still an independent brand,” said Aleks Subosic, cofounder and cochief executive officer of IvyRevel. “In the end, we make our choices by ourselves. H&M helped us with their production appara-tus and we used suppliers from the H&M Group. All the creative processes are in Stockholm.”

“We are delighted to support the entre-preneurs at IvyRevel on their journey to explore the merging of fashion creativity with technological innovation and in creat-ing a fashion brand for women of the digital generation,” said Björn Magnusson, head of H&M Group’s investment team CO:LAB.

Subosic said that working with H&M factories, which are usually accustomed to larger production runs, hasn’t been a prob-lem. “They have great suppliers that helped us a lot with the designs we produce,” he said. “They haven’t felt that we’re too small. It’s only been thumbs-up.”

IvyRevel was founded in 2012 by Subosic; his brother, Dejan, and two others, who shared “a passion for fashion and technol-ogy.” However the initial collection and the one currently online bear no relation to the “new” IvyRevel being introduced on April 7.

“The things you see on the [existing] Web site are not representative,” Subosic said. “That’s the old IvyRevel. Everything will change when we launch on April 7, including the logo. We haven’t shown the collection yet. We’ve been working for eight months to create the true IvyRevel.”

He added, “We have a design team and a creative collective. We want to merge digital heritage with creativity.”

IvyRevel’s collection bowing on April 7 will feature 200 items, from leather jackets embroidered with gold thread to five-inch heels. The line has the full wardrobe covered, from casual to party clothing. Prices, which seem to have benefited from H&M’s sourcing abilities, range from $30 for T-shirts to $300 or $400 for genuine leather jackets. Most of the designs will be limited edition, adding uniqueness to the global offering. Exclusive, highly embellished dresses will cost around $2,000.

It’s a far more expansive collection than IvyRevel offered when it approached H&M; at that time it boasted customers in 31 markets.

Polished, bold and extroverted, “with an ample amount of attitude,” is how Subosic describes IvyRevel. The concept is unusual in Northern Europe, where colors are muted and styles aren’t edgy or aggressive. “The Nordic countries are into minimalism,” Subosic said. “We like maximalism. More is more. We like lots of embellishment, embroidery, beading and

bright colors.”Subosic described IvyRevel’s creative

process as “very democratic. Everybody has the right to speak their mind in terms of design, fabric and creative.”

The Stockholm lab is tasked with blue-sky thinking to experiment with the future of fashion. Machine learning as part of the cre-ative process, interactive fabrics, wearable tech, distribution and customer experience are all being studied. Subosic declined to discuss the proprietary algorithms that IvyRevel uses to develop and adapt products. “This is something we hold really dearly,” he said. “It’s a business secret for us.”

However, Subosic divulged that IvyRevel captures data when customers make a

purchase, “but also way before that through the algorithms and trend analysis. We make products our customers want and ensure that IvyRevel understands our customers’ changing passions.”

Subosic said the data can influence every-thing from color to style. “Data enhances creativity — that’s the really interesting part,” he said. “Instead of seeing data as boring, we see it as exciting.”

The group made the decision to distrib-ute IvyRevel digitally; however, given H&M’s brick-and-mortar prowess, Subosic said, “We have plans to open stores. The future will tell what we’ll do. Our focus right now is to be purely digital.”

According to Subosic, IvyRevel didn’t know anyone at H&M. “We just sent an e-mail and gave them our pitch — what IvyRevel is and what we’re all about. That e-mail led to a meeting and that meeting led us to where we are today.”

Subosic wouldn’t say whether H&M invested in IvyRevel with an eye toward developing the business. H&M has nurtured other brands, including & Other Stories, which has roots in Stockholm. The retailer & Other Stories, which bowed in March 2013, operates independently of H&M with design ateliers in Paris and Stockholm. Its first U.S. store opened in October 2014 at 575 Broadway in SoHo.

“I think they [H&M] found our tech-nology very interesting and they found it interesting that we approach fashion and the fashion industry from a fully digital perspective,” Subosic said. “In the end, it’s about people sharing the same vision and enjoying working with each other. We share with H&M the same vision and we have a lot of fun working with them.”

RETAIL

IvyRevel’s Data-Driven Designs Catch H&M’s Eye

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BrownsFashion.com – but also mono-brand online — hence Farfetch Black & White. But it will also be in-store and this is why we invested in Browns and we have created a retail business unit for continu-ous tech innovation.”

Black & White puts Farfetch into even more direct competition with Yoox Net-a-porter Group, the Yoox side of which partially built its business by operating e-commerce monobrand sites for designer brands. Yoox operates 40 dedicated e-commerce sites — including Armani, Maison Martin Margiela, Jil Sander, Moschino, Emilio Pucci, Valentino and Marni — and plans to launch Chloé later this year.

The online flagships accounted for 10.5 percent of Yoox Net-a-Porter’s pro-forma revenues last year. The gross merchan-dise value of the goods sold through that channel increased by 27.5 percent, while Yoox’s own revenues from the business rose 19.2 percent to 175.3 million euros, or $194.6 million.

Farfetch is looking to get in on that action.

“The vision was always to build Black & White as a true platform,” said Neves, noting the monobrand business is sepa-rate from the main marketplace. “Tech-nologically, Farfetch is built with an API [application program interface] layer, which means we can put all the function-alities you see on Farfetch at the service of the best luxury brands and retailers worldwide.”

He said three additional brands would launch e-commerce destinations on the platform by the end of the summer. He declined to reveal them at this stage.

Farfetch had already tiptoed into the business. Its white label service launched in September with Roksanda Ilincic, AMI, Derek Lam, La Perla and Jason Wu unveil-ing branded boutiques directly on the Farfetch platform. This gave each brand access to the marketplace’s customer sup-port, click and collect, return in-store as

well as a range of customized e-commerce features, from payments to international shipping to Brazil, Russia and China.

Black & White is another step by Far-fetch to leverage the strength of its plat-form and keep pace in the increasingly competitive world of luxury e-commerce. The competitive set ranges from the

bulked-up Yoox Net-a-Porter Group to the likes of Neiman Marcus, Lane Crawford and other leading retailers, all of which are ramping up their e-commerce opera-tions as brick-and-mortar sales flag.

The company added beauty and kids’ apparel to its lineup this year and has 10 offices around the world. Stephanie

Horton, the company’s chief marketing officer, projected gross merchandise vol-ume on the Farfetch platform would jump to $800 million this year, a more than 50 percent increase from 2015.

Farfetch remains one of the industry’s darlings, having raised $86 million a year ago that gave it a billion-dollar valuation and made it it one of fashion’s tech “uni-corns,” along with Warby Parker.

Black & White could mark a significant change for Farfetch and the brands that opt to use the service to expand their businesses.

Neves insisted that Farfetch’s efforts differ from other organizations that offer white label services. With Black & White, partners can choose how integrated a service they wish to use, whether it’s end-to-end like Manolo Blahnik or remaining on their existing e-commerce site, but using the new service to help deliver to China, for example.

As for product, a brand doesn’t need to deliver from a warehouse and can sell product from their store or any inventory point that Farfetch uses to ship. Every service is available in English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Brazilian Por-tuguese, Spanish, German and French, as are local payment systems, local customs and clearance and logistics support.

“Customers shop in monobrand stores as well as multibrand stores,” Neves said. “It’s a bit like in the real world. The type of experience is different, but both are complementary.”

Farfetch Jumps Into Monobrand E-commerce With Manolo Blahnik CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

● The additions were disclosed in a letter sent to the Los Angeles firm’s wholesale accounts.

BY KARI HAMANAKA

American Apparel’s board just received a strong shot to the arm from a string of fashion industry veterans, led by former Liz Claiborne Inc. chairman and chief executive officer Paul R. Charron.

The Los Angeles firm’s wholesale president Brad Gebhard said in a letter, obtained by WWD and sent to the

company’s wholesale customers, that the firm’s seven-member board has three additions and they come with strong industry experience that could add muscle to American Apparel’s turn-around bid.

Charron has been named chairman of the American Apparel board. The other two appointments include Scoop and Zac Posen ceo Susan Davidson and St. John Knits ceo Bruce Fetter.

“I am certain their considerable expertise will position the company — and its partners like you — for success,” Gebhard said in his letter. “Recently, our new chairman emphasized to me how optimistic he is for our bright future,

bringing even higher-quality basics and first-rate service to our wholesale and retail customers.”

The board also consists of Amer-ican Apparel ceo Paula Schneider. The remaining seats are filled with appointments made by the company’s bondholders.

A spokeswoman for American Apparel declined comment on the appointments.

American Apparel emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, following a rocky year that saw the firing of founder and former ceo Dov Charney in late 2014 and eroding busi-ness conditions. Charney spent much of last year trying to get back into the

company with tactics that included a last-ditch effort late in the year to make his case before a bankruptcy judge to have American Apparel’s plan for reor-ganization rejected as he attempted to stitch together a buyout offer. The board ultimately rejected the offer.

RETAIL

Paul Charron Named Chairman Of American Apparel

Here and below: A page from the Manolo

Blahnik Web site.

A page from the Farfetch Web site.

Paul Charron

30 MARCH 2016 9

● From designers on hoverboards to models in bikinis and live reggae performances, Korean designers served up a little bit of everything this season.

BY CRYSTAL TAI WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LEE HYO-WON

From designers on hoverboards to models in bikinis and live reggae perfor-mances, Seoul Fashion Week delivered a little bit of everything this season.

The fall edition of the shows, which ran Monday through Saturday at the Zaha Hadid-designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza, featured the work of more than 80 Korean designers. New venues and events were added this season. Generation Next, the event’s young fash-ion component, was held at the newly added Daesun Flour Mills Factory in Mullae-dong. Meanwhile, Fashion Kode, Seoul’s annual fashion trade show, was held in conjunction with SFW this year at J-Gran House near Namsan.

Key trends from the shows included leather jackets, men’s skirts and velvet garments like tops, blazers, pants and dresses. As expected, K-pop was a major theme. Korean tunes accompa-nied many runway shows, and several musicians put in appearances at various points, including Lee Gi-kwang, from boy band Beast; Tiffany and Hyo-hyeon from Girls Generation; Hyuna from 4Minute, and Meng Jia from Miss A.

Joom Moki Cho, head buyer of local anthology retailer Boontheshop, noted the increasing importance of K-pop and streetwear influence to Korean fashion.

“The majority of our clients are Chinese. And when we buy the same brands [worn by Kpop stars,] they tend to be fashion show pieces...international clients really like these,” said Cho.

“What I like about Korean designers is that each designer tries to be differ-ent,” said Lay Peng Pek, founder and buyer from SocietyA, a Singapore-based retailer specializing in Asian labels. “Overall with the economy and currency exchanges and fluctuations, consumer demand this year is expected to be pretty mild but we feel that it’s also a good time for designers to further build upon their branding and recognition during this long period...This is a good time to pick out brands for introducing them to our region.”

Ivan Chan, chief executive officer of Duier, a popular Chinese retailer based in Chengdu, said that in spite of the economy, budgets have increased this year.

“We have a higher budget in line with our expansion plan, although the overall economy is deteriorating,” said Chan. “We see this downturn in the economy as a good opportunity to gain market shares in both online and offline markets.”

Fiona Tan, representing luxury

retailer Club 21, said that while buyers are increasingly interested in Korean fashion, the local government and orga-nizers also need to give new designers a chance.

“I like to support new Korean design-ers because I think there’s a lot of talent...[But] the country doesn’t seem to support them as much,” Tan said. “I would think the designers at the Gener-ation Next [venue] should be given more of a chance,” she said, noting that the venue located 40 minutes away from DDP was a “logistical nightmare” to get to.

Military-meets-preppy statements were spotted at men’s wear designer, Caruso, in the form of navy coats, dark trousers and culottes tinged with bright yellow hems. A traditional Korean jeon-gak singer performed a 10-minute solo during the entire show while seated in the middle of the runway in a flowing hanbok.

Unisex designer Yohanix took an abrupt departure from last season’s bright, casual and somewhat cartoon-ish T-shirts and dresses, and went Goth this season. The show featured embroidery and bejeweled detailing on black Neoprene and dark military greens. Insouciant models in teased hair grimaced while simultaneously walking and smudging their dark plum lipstick with one hand.

At Heich Es Heich, the label’s designer Sang-hyuk Han emerged on a hover-board to take his bow.

A row of teenage cheerleaders stood at the front of the runway, screaming and waving banners and balloons during the show of men’s wear designer Mun-soo Kwon. Inspired by the golden era of K-pop in the Nineties, Kwon’s high-energy show captured a spirit of youthful exuberance. Models sported sweaters with bearing the word “Oppa,” a term of endearment meaning older brother.

On Friday, Jean Paul Gaultier held a press conference at Dongdaemun Design Plaza for the opening of an exhibition held in partnership with Hyundai Credit Card. The French designer has brought more than 150 pieces from his archives to be viewed until June 30.

At Fashion Kode, South Korea’s largest industry trade fair, the event’s Designer Award went to Lee Chung Chung, creative director of Lie. Lee showcased sleek sportswear-inspired tailored looks with geometric details in bold splashes of red and Yves Klein blue. The Central Saint Martins-trained designer, who also serves as general manager at Lie Sang Bong, said he “mixed classic and modern images of London with British modern rock style.”

This season’s fair featured the Culture Technology Zone by the Busan Design Center. The booth introduces 3-D simulation technologies that could be applied in designing clothing and beauty products, and invites participants to engage in a unique virtual fashion experience.

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Seoul Fashion Week Delivers Eclectic Styles

Ordinary People Seoul Fashion Week

2016 Fall WinterA look from

Munsoo Kwon.

A look from Kye.A look from

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A look from D.Gnak.A look from Caruso.

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● The two collaborated on a fashion line for Target in 2007.

BY JEAN E. PALMIERI

NEW YORK — David Bowie was more than just a rock legend — he was also a gentleman.

“They always say, don’t meet your heroes,” said designer Keanan Duffty. “But Bowie was a gentleman and very funny, and working with him definitely changed me.”

Duffty, a British-born designer and musician, collaborated with Bowie in 2007 on a line for Target that was inspired by the entertainer’s music and distinct fashion sense. Bowie’s gen-der-bending, glam-rock style was a major inspiration and reference to scores of fashion designers over the years, includ-ing Alexander McQueen, Hedi Slimane and Tommy Hilfiger. He died in January at the age of 69.

In a presentation to students and industry figures at the Fashion Insti-tute of Technology’s Faces & Places in Fashion series, Duffty said Bowie died in “a creative burst of energy,” releasing a new album, working on an off-Broadway musical and an InstaMiniSeries on Insta-gram right before his death.

“Bowie is a tremendous creative figure,” he said, “and, for me, a mystical figure.”

Duffty ran through the various stages of Bowie’s fashion life, starting with the Mod years, when he channeled the youth culture in London as he was starting out in his career. He then moved into the Hippie years, where he first stood out with his androgynous outfits, one of the

most famous being the famous floral “man dress” made by Mr. Fish in London in 1971.

From there, Bowie headed into his “science fiction outer space rock star” era when he released the Ziggy Star-dust album, dyed his spiky hair red and painted a lightning bolt across his face, Duffty said.

“This was the dawn of glam rock and a seminal fashion moment,” Duffty said. “This is where he went from following others to taking the lead — not just in fashion, but in hair and makeup, too.”

It’s also the time when he worked with Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto, who created avant-garde kimono-style outfits for the singer.

As his fame grew, Bowie moved to Berlin “and started dressing like a normal

person,” Duffty said. This was the era of “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” the science fiction drama film, when Bowie opted for “stark and more sophisticated clothes. He embraced modernism and looked to the future…as an elder statesman of rock.”

By the time Duffty approached Bowie’s team about the Target collaboration, the rock star was leading a more private life. At the first meeting, the designer said he was expecting to see “a space alien,” but instead, met a man in Tommy Hilfiger chinos, suede boots by Roots and an ill-fitting sweatshirt who admitted he “wasn’t interested in fashion. But I told him I wanted to create a collection based on his fashion legacy.” Bowie agreed to cooperate although by this time he was a “wealthy global superstar” who didn’t need the publicity.

After Duffty had sketched out his ideas for the line, he brought Bowie’s albums to Target headquarters — the singer declined to make the trip — to show the executives the “rich tapestry” of his looks that illustrated the “evolution of what happened in fashion” over the years. And the Target team was all in.

Duffty related one anecdote about Bowie’s famous Moonage Daydream print that looked like a “circuit board” and was a favorite of the singer, who used it on a jumpsuit during his Ziggy Stardust years. Target didn’t buy that print, which Duffty had put on a T-shirt, but Bowie was insistent, saying, “They can’t take that out,” Duffty recalled. The retailer agreed to reconsider and add the shirt. “And the entire line sold out, except for the Moonage Daydream T-shirt,” Duffy said with a laugh. “You can find it on eBay for $5 now.

“The moral of the story is that a cre-ative artist is not always the best judge of commercialism.”

While Duffty is obviously a fan, he said he’s found most people either love or hate Bowie — there’s no middle ground. “If you love him, you’ll be a fan for life. If you hate him, you can’t get over the mullet, the red hair and the one-legged jumpsuit,” he said.

FASHION

Keanan Duffty on David Bowie’s Fashion

Mick Rock, David Bowie

“Life On Mars”, London 1973.

Glamour and the BodyGlamour is embracing what many women’s fashion magazines have overlooked — the plus-size market — through a multitiered partnership with Lane Bryant.

The Condé Nast-owned glossy has partnered with the plus-size retailer in a deal that includes a fashion col-lection, two special issue magazines, print and digital sponsored editorial, a video series and advertising.

Seedlings of the partnership were planted in 2013 when Linda Heasley joined Lane Bryant as chief executive officer with a mission to increase the visibility in the media of her compa-ny’s customer in order to emphasize “body positivity.” She said she wanted to change Lane Bryant from “being a size business to being a fashion business,” and that the media would play a crucial role.

“We met with a lot of the publish-ers and said we need to increase the content for this consumer,” Heasley said. “The reaction [among publish-ers] in 2013, was the genuine belief that they were covering the industry for this client.”

She stressed to the media that roughly two-thirds of U.S. women are “plus-size” and that they account for a large share of the $100 billion women’s apparel market.

While the ceo noted that definition of plus-size is a bit murky and “part of the challenge” — the fashion world

puts plus-size at beginning at eight or 10 and above, while Lane Bryant starts it at size 12 or 14 — spending is at least $19 billion a year. Heasley offered the plus-size consumer’s spending power is closer to between $25 billion and $40 billion. That data caught the attention of Glamour, which signed on to work with the brand.

Connie Anne Phillips, publisher and chief revenue officer, called the collaboration “so necessary” and insisted it was more than simply about potential revenue. In her words, the deal presented the ability to tell a story that Glamour readers (many of whom, going by Heasley’s statistics, are plus-size) “craved.”

While Glamour, similar to rival glossies, produces scant plus-size coverage compared to its broader fashion stories, the partnership gives readers more to focus on. Former

plus-size model Lauren Chan, who is also an associate fashion writer at Glamour, underscored the need for such coverage. Although the title has been “making waves” since 2009 when it included Crystal Renn and Ashley Graham in its September and November issues that year, Chan said: “We’ve been watching plus-size fashion evolve for quite some time, but the past 12 months have shown an exponential amount of growth.”

Chan, along with a handful of Glamour editors, put together a 96-page special issue, which goes on sale today for a steep $12.99, that is devoted to plus-size fashion. There will be 115,000 copies on newsstands and 50,000 copies in select Lane Bryant stores, which will be offered as a gift with purchase.

Plus-size media darling Graham, who appears in Lane Bryant’s “This Body” campaign, fronts the issue, which is supported by Lane Bryant ads. (The retailer’s ads will also appear throughout the year in Glamour in print and online.) Glamour will produce another special issue in September to coincide with a fall collection dubbed “Glamour x Lane Bryant.”

The collection, which will appear in roughly 75 Lane Bryant stores and on-line, includes selected looks through-out the year. The fall collection hits stores in October and consists of six to eight pieces. It will be in stores through holiday in November and De-cember, with eight to 10 styles each month. Pricing decisions have yet to

be made. The clothing line was cre-ated in consultation with the editors, according to Glamour, which said the deal is a “licensed royalty agreement with minimal guarantees.”

But consumers don’t have to wait until the fall to experience styling tips from Glamour. In its stores, Lane Bryant has trained associates who worked with editors to select trend-driven styles. (Shoppers can identify these salespeople by brand-ed buttons affixed to their uniforms that read “Styled By Glamour.”)

Lastly, Lane Bryant has capital-ized on the partnership through a branded three-part video series, which features plus-size models Iskra Lawrence, Precious Lee and Georgia Pratt. Those videos, called “How to Wear Everything You’ve Been Told Not To,” can be accessed on video.glamour.com.

Calling the partnership “open-end-ed,” Heasley said that moving ahead she hopes to influence Glamour to put plus-size models on its cover — not just on the special issue covers or, as in the past, inside.

“This is a democratizing plat-form,” the ceo said of the media partnership, before turning to the plus-size consumer. “There’s a lot of judgment coming at our client and a lot of naysayers saying ‘this woman is unhealthy.’ The reality is this woman wants what other women in American want. She wants fashion…she wants to be beautiful with no judgment.” — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

Memo Pad

Ashley Graham on Glamour’s Special Issue

Smell the FlowersOn the first stop of a trip in Asia, Phillip Lim is in the Japanese capital celebrating his brand’s 10-year anniversary with a special installation in his store, located in the Aoyama district.

“Japan was the second flagship store we ever had after New York, so after the show in New York in spring we decided to come back and kind of retrace the steps of our path after 10 years. This is the sec-ond installation of this ‘Stop and Smell the Flowers’ journey,” the designer said. “And tonight we created this idea of showering cherry blossoms, and cherry blossoms to Japanese are so symbolic and import-ant. It’s like spring, death and new life.”

Lim worked with Japanese flower artist and “plant hunter” Seijun Nishihata, who filled glass orbs with water, arranged them with sprigs from three differ-ent types of flowering cherry trees, and then hung them from the ceiling of the store at various heights. The installation will be on display in the store for one month starting Wednesday.

Lim said that Japan is significant to his brand not just in a business sense, but also in a creative one.

“This past fall’s inspiration was Japanese, basi-cally; Japanese objects, culture, art. And I always find myself coming back to this source of inspiration because it represents something so much deeper than on the surface,” he said. “I feel like in another life I was Japanese perhaps, and the way they wear clothes here is like no other because they approach it in such a naïve way. It’s almost like the passion of getting dressed and just putting on anything togeth-er. For a designer it always proposes something new, something that I’ve never thought of because of fear, or [thinking] you shouldn’t do it, but the way they do things, it’s almost like, oh why not?”

Following his stop in Tokyo, Lim will be heading to Hong Kong, where he will host a photo installation and work with his team on a community outreach program in a public garden. — KELLY WETHERILLE

Music MatchIn what could only be described in fashion terms as a dream collaboration, or in marketing terms a the ultimate synergy, Los Angeles-based model and dress designer Christy Dawn Petersen has collabo-rated with Angeleno native and hipster singer Z Berg of the band Phases, on two festival fashion-ready pieces, going on sale Wednesday, just in time for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival outfit shopping season. Phases will also be making its Coachella debut on April 15.

Petersen and Berg met when Petersen’s husband, fashion entrepreneur and Odd Us band frontman Aras Baskauskas, recorded an album with Berg’s father, record producer Tony Berg. “We became friends and Z said to me, ‘Hey, you want to make some cool s--t? A dress and maybe a jumper?’” said Petersen.

A vintage swim coverup of Berg’s was the inspiration for the cotton baby-doll dress “Z Dress” which comes in five deadstock fabrics for a total of 50 pieces priced at $191 each. The Z jumper comes in three fabrics and retails for $197. Both will be sold at Petersen’s year-old Christy Dawn boutique on up-and-coming Lincoln Boulevard in Venice Beach, as well as her e-commerce site (Christy Dawn, a Made in L.A. label that Petersen founded two years ago, also wholesales in Free People). “Z really likes to wear short sexy dresses onstage and I’m the opposite, so the pieces reflect both our tastes,” said Petersen.

She’s used to designing with her friends; Christy Dawn has also produced collabs with with Peters-en’s friend and fellow model Emily Ratajkowski and actress Langley Fox Hemingway. The latter also appeared in the video for Berg’s single “Cooler,” in which Berg, Petersen and Hemingway went on a road trip to Big Sur (the campaign shots shown here were taken on the shoot).

In a perfect end note, Berg will be performing an acoustic set to celebrate the design project on Wednesday evening at Superba, the hipster hotspot located down the street from the Christy Dawn store. — MARCY MEDINA

Fashion Scoops

Z Berg modeling a look from her collection with Christy Dawn for Coachella.

30 MARCH 2016 11

● Natural makeup and skin-care companies leave their mark at the event.

BY RACHEL BROWN

If there was any doubt, Natural Products Expo West made it official: Natural beauty is no longer niche.

As the category thrusts mainstream, its players are swiftly pouncing on mainstream trends. Name a hot product or skin-care ingredient at Sephora or Ulta Beauty — sheet masks; essences; Konjac sponges; a multiplicity of oil formats; turmeric; charcoal; kale, and inside-out beauty supplements and waters — and it was on display at the bustling trade show, during which attendance swelled by 6.9 percent to 77,000 from March 9 to 13 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“Our industry is really evolving. What I have seen now is the lines are blurred a little bit between natural and conventional. It is really important for us to keep up on trends,” said Clare Blunt, a regional buyer for the Whole Body department at Whole Foods. “Until the last few years, our suppli-ers were really limited by the ingredients available to them. We are really excited that these companies are innovating and finding great plant-based ingredients. They are starting to set the trends instead of trying to copy the trends in a weird hippie way.”

Natural beauty brands and retailers that carry them have to stay relevant as they go head-to-head with conventional brands chasing Millennial dollars. “I still want the core customer, but we have this opportu-nity with a younger customer,” said Cindy Young, wellness buyer at New Seasons Market, a Portland, Ore.-based grocer. “We have this new shopper who could be 20, 25, 30 or younger. They are shopping online. They are shopping at Sephora. They

are used to more exciting packaging and trends, and we are learning how to keep up.”

Andalou Naturals, Alba Botanica, Burt’s Bees and Derma E came out swinging in the on-trend department. Burt’s Bee’s presented Intense Hydration Nourishing Facial Water — its take on a skin-care treat-ment popularized by Japanese and Korean brands — and Cleansing Oil, an unusual product for mass retail. Andalou Naturals exhibited eco-friendly versions of Konjac beauty sponges and four varieties of sin-gle-use sheet masks to clarify pores, soothe, brighten and lift skin. “Andalou is the first in the natural channel to adopt the [sheet mask] trend coming out of Korea,” Blunt said. “They are serum based. So, whatever is left, you massage into your neck and décolletage. It is like a spa experience at home.”

Derma E unveiled a Purifying line of six products with activated charcoal. “It’s really great for the younger demographic, who may have issues with blemishes and hormonal breakouts, and is geared toward skin health,” said Virginia DeSimone, com-munications manager at Derma E.

Alba Botanica is releasing four sheet masks to address acne, hydration, tone and wrinkles, and a five-item Hawaiian Detox line containing volcanic clay, an ingredient with antipollution properties similar to charcoal. “Alba is [for] a young consumer, and detoxing is a big trend with that consumer. There is an understanding that detoxifying your skin makes it more beautiful,” said Sarah Galusha, director of marketing for personal care at Alba Botani-ca’s parent company Hain Celestial.

A trend in natural beauty brands’ wheel-house, essential oils, continue to prolifer-ate. They’ve even filtered down to children. Three alumni of Advanced Beauty Inc., which sold Cantu and Bodycology last year

to PDC Brands, launched Oilogic, a brand offering essential oil personal-care items and roll-ons for babies and kids priced from $7.99 to $9.99. The line has been picked up by Target, Meijer and Buy Buy Baby. “We think there are moms shopping at stores every week, and they’ve heard about essential oils, but they haven’t tried them because they’ve been hard and expensive,” said cofounder Worth Anne Herrell. “These are all pre-mixed, so there is no worry and fuss.”

Historically a difficult segment, natural color cosmetics are gaining momentum as makeup has surged at conventional beauty retailers. Burt’s Bees is pushing into cosmetics aisles with 14 lipstick shades and a BB Cream with SPF 15. Sun-care brand Coola is rolling out six sheer shades of Mineral Liplux with SPF 30 as part of an effort to amplify its year-round business. Originally conceived as a fragrance brand, Pacifica Beauty has become a color cos-metics authority, and its latest introduction is Dream Big, a mascara featuring a brush that extends outward to lengthen lashes and contracts to boost volume. Today, cosmetics account for roughly one-third of Pacifica’s revenues.

“A true red in natural is really, really hard to achieve [in lipstick] because it [the red] is artificial. Pacifica has been really striving to get those bright colors. Brook [Harvey Taylor], the founder of Pacifica, said for the longest time, everything in her skin-care routine was 100 percent natural, but she used bright red lipstick from Chanel. She was on a mission to replicate a true red with natural ingredients,” Blunt said. “We are not 100 percent there yet, but I see a lot of innovation, and people are finding ingredients so you don’t need to resort back to the not-natural color cosmetics to get your full look.”

With most natural beauty classifications

firing on all cylinders, investors are vying to get in on the action. During a visit to Coola’s booth at Expo West, executives from two investment firms were eager to chat with founder and chief executive officer Chris Birchby — and for good reason. He reported sales of the brand’s products, which are available at Ulta Beauty and Sephora, skyrocketed more than 150 percent last year. “It feels like everyone is hungry around here. I have seen a lot of private equity folks. It’s crazy,” said Birchby, who emphasized he’s not currently looking to make a deal.

Sensible Organics Inc., producer of Nourish Organic and Promise Organic, a brand that premiered exclusively at CVS in September, is looking to make a deal. The company has hired Threadstone to solicit interest from investors. Sensible Organics ceo Rob Robillard revealed sales have doubled annually since 2012, and he’s bullish on growth going forward. “The challenge with M&A in this space is to find brands that could turn into $50 [million] to $100 million brands. There are not a lot of brands here [at Expo West] that will get to that place,” he said, adding about Promise, “We are already doing a huge business. I believe Promise has the potential to be a $100 million brand. Nourish will be slower, but will get there.”

One of the only black clouds hanging over Expo West was a Wall Street Journal story published during the trade show suggesting detergents from Honest Co. Inc. were filled with sodium lauryl sulfate or SLS, an ingredient Honest vowed to avoid. Vendors and retailers seemed concerned by the report — as well as an earlier con-troversy surrounding Honest involving a mineral sunscreen — could diminish trust between brands and consumers, and impact sales. Honest has denied the claims made in the Journal article. “We stand behind our laundry detergent and take very seriously the responsibility we have to our consumers to create safe and effective prod-ucts,” the company said in a statement.

Honest’s troubles don’t seem to have affected other companies. Mineral sun-screen specialist Goddess Garden Organics grew 60 percent last year, according to Jill Taylor, national sales director for the natural channel. Asked about the sunscreen controversy at Honest, she lamented, “We don’t want anyone to get the idea that mineral sunscreens don’t work. Mineral sunscreens do work.” Some brands sense an opportunity to nab customers possibly retreating from Honest. Hain Celestial is positioning Live Clean, a Canadian brand it acquired last year, as an alternative to Hon-est. “Our formulas are clean, and our price points are lower,” said Roseann Fernandez, a beauty industry veteran shepherding Live Clean’s U.S. launch. The company’s prod-ucts are priced from $4.99 to $5.99.

Honest’s controversies have put pressure on third-party certifications to help keep the bonds of trust between shoppers and consumer product companies intact. The Environmental Working Group recently inaugurated a seal that verifies that com-panies are fully disclosing what is in their formulas, don’t utilize ingredients deemed unacceptable and adhere to suitable manufacturing processes, among many stipulations. MyChelle Dermaceuticals is the first personal-care brand to incorporate the seal. Kimberly Heathman, the brand’s chief marketing officer, said, “They [con-sumers] don’t want to be second guessing products.”

Young at New Seasons Market applauded companies’ willingness to rid their formulas of dubious ingredients, but questioned whether certifications influence purchases. “We do look for ones that we can stand behind, and there are a lot of them,” she said. “Unfortunately, it is very confusing to the customer. I don’t think it is driving a large percentage of them.”

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“My mom was like ‘you have to watch this show, you have to watch this show,” says 20 year-old actress Jamila Velazquez, of the Fox sen-sation “Empire.” Velazquez’s mother is not alone; few programs have exploded culturally quite like the record label soapy drama, launching into the second half of its second season on Wednesday. Velazquez went quickly from a binge-watch-ing fan to Naomi Campbell follow-up. “I remember following Lee Daniels on Instagram,” she says of the show’s creator, “and being like ‘I could totally be on this show. Why haven’t I gotten an audition for anything?’”

Velazquez was born in the Bronx and moved to Rockland County at age 11. It’s where she calls home when not on set in Chicago. “Singing was my first love, it was everything — it still is everything,” she says. “When I was a baby, my mom couldn’t walk out of the house without making sure I had my little toy micro-phone.”

She attended a perform-ing arts school and then was set to study acting in college, but dropped out to film “Empire,” which films in Chicago and records in Los

Angeles. “We went to L.A. first to record ‘Mimosa’,” she says of the song she per-forms with costars Raquel Castro and Yani Marin. “They only guaranteed that I would be in four episodes. And I’ve been in every episode through the season finale.”

Her character, Laura, is the sweet, quiet singer who joins Cookie’s record label, and is the antidote to Hakeem’s usual quest of womanizing. “I love how they wrote Laura,” she says. “They’ve kept her really hon-est. She’s not willing to com-promise for a man, or for money, and I love that. When I went into the first wardrobe fitting, I was like ‘oh my god, they’re really going to make me look like I’m 12 years old,’ but her growth was just fun, to discover more about her, and her relationship with Hakeem.”

That relationship will only continue, she teases, when the show returns. “Laura and Hakeem’s relationship is going to grow, and secrets are going to start coming out — lots of drama, some tragedy,” she says. “It’s going to be good.”

Laura is one of three singers in “Mirage à Trois,” a girl-group throwback to the Destiny’s Childs and TLCs

of yesteryear. Velazquez’s own musical tastes divert a bit from the club ballads “Empire” is known for. “I do love hip-hop. I mean, I think I’ll always be a kind of natural hip-hop head because I’m from the Bronx,” she says. “And that’s what I grew up listening to. But I also listen to Alice in Chains, The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald — everybody. I love kind of like a blues/rock sound. It’s more on the alternative side for sure.”

Much as her playlist departs from the tropes associated with a Latina ac-tress from the Bronx, so do her character aspirations.

“I want to play anything that shines Hispanics in a good light,” says the actress, who is of Puerto Rican, Dominican and Ecuadorian descent. “Like your average caucasian family in a movie — I want to be that.”

This June she’ll have a role on “Orange Is the New Black,” a part she booked immediately before landing “Empire.” But the “Empire” gig is sure to open some doors — something her mom, once again, is on the nose about. “My mom was like ‘get a publicist!’” she says. “‘We’ve got to take advantage.’” — LEIGH NORDSTROM

Meet Jamila Velazquez of ‘Empire’Jamila Velazquez, who plays Laura, the latest recording sensation (and Hakeem’s love interest), on how she landed her role on the hit show.

Speedy Romeo Expands to the Lower East SideChef Justin Bazdarich discusses the Clinton Hill pizza spot’s new location.

Speedy Romeo’s new location is catering to a specific breed of New Yorker: those who refuse to leave Manhattan.

“I used to work for Jean-Georges Vongerichten for nine years; he’s never gone to that restaurant,” said chef Justin Bazdarich, referring to the eatery’s Clinton Hill location. “Because he says plain as day, ‘I don’t go to Brooklyn.’ How many other people who live in Manhattan act the same way?”

Bazdarich was standing in the kitch-en of Speedy Romeo’s outpost on Clin-ton Street a few days before opening. The new location is still slightly off the beaten path, a few streets over from the Lower East Side’s main drag of restaurants and luxury developments. “We feel like there’s a rebirth going on on this street,” remarked co-owner Todd Feldman. “It kind of feels that in a certain way; we’re part of the reinven-tion of this area.”

Like the Clinton Hill location — which is also home to Ray’s Coffee Shop on HBO’s show “Girls” — the restaurant’s menu is centered around a wood-burn-ing grill and oven. Pizzas take the main stage, with additional dishes such as peekytoe crab crostini and grill-friend-ly mains: fish, steak, chicken. “I couldn’t believe what it did to the meat and the flavor it gave to the food,” Bazdarich said of the grill, which he first encoun-tered while cooking under Vongericht-en’s tutelage. The new spot will also

continue its tradition of pizza collab-orations — the first one for the Lower East Side location is with Katz’s Deli.

The dining room is intimate and has a homey feel, which is largely the result of a trip to the massive Brimfield Antique Flea Markets in Massachu-setts. The team came away with a broad assortment of odds and ends, everything from windows from a Penn-sylvania factory to an old scoreboard, which is now permanently lit with “SR” in the restaurant’s bathroom, where a recording of a horse race also plays on loop. But Speedy Romeo’s most prized acquisition was found closer to home, a “liquor sign” that was sal-vaged from the former building across the street.

“They were going to throw it away, and then everybody in the neighbor-hood was after it,” Bazdarich said of the sign, which he eventually walked away with in exchange for a dinner invitation. “Turns out it was 25 guys in Brooklyn,” he recalled. “It was like a big pizza party for all these Irish guys who were on the demolition team.” With construction still ongoing across the street, the pizza party just got a lot closer.

Opens Wednesday.SPEEDY ROMEO63 CLINTON STREET212-529-6300WWW.SPEEDYROMEO.COM

— KRISTEN TAUER

Here and below: Jamila Velazquez in “Empire.”

Jamila Velazquez

Chef Justin BazdarichInterior of Speedy Romeo’s Lower East Side location.

Peekytoe Crab Crostini with nasturtium vinaigrette, and spring vegetables.