PLUS: Bijan Pakzad for the music festival in the desert ... · STYLE, PAGE 9 PLUS: Bijan Pakzad of...

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By MILES SOCHA PARIS — Will the taint of bigotry cling forever to John Galliano — an albatross around his neck? Or will the incendi- ary British designer rehabilitate him- self and his name over time, only to rise again like some fashion phoenix? Retailers, headhunters and other experts seem to be rallying for the latter scenario, arguing that Galliano — ousted from Dior last month amidst mounting allegations of racist and anti-Semitic outbursts — has the po- tential to write himself a new chapter and rebound from the crisis. “I hope so. Otherwise, it would be such a waste,” said Carla Sozzani, owner of Milan-based fashion retailer Corso Como 10. “Maybe I’m a dream- er, but I’m hoping he’s going back to his own brand. It would make sense that he works for Galliano.” That scenario is unlikely: As report- ed, at a recent board meeting of the John Galliano company, his employ- ment was officially terminated. And while Christian Dior SA, which owns 91 percent of the Galliano house, has received unsolicited expressions of interest in the business from several of its Italian licensing partners as well as a Chinese group and a firm from the Middle East, it is understood a sale of the company is not a priority and no banks have been contracted to do so. Whether an eventual new owner would seek to reemploy the namesake designer remains an unanswered question. Despite this hurdle, many industry observers are of the school that peo- ple in fashion have short memories — and that Galliano might find this tragic episode quickly behind him. “Look at Naomi Campbell. She had WWD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00 PHOTO BY THOMAS IANNACCONE Seam Spirit PRICE OF A SCANDAL Can John Galliano Ever Come Back? IN WWD TODAY After a test line for spring, Seamline Cynthia Steffe is going big for fall and, so far, Lord & Taylor, Dillard’s and Nordstrom have bought into the new contemporary brand. Creative director Shaun Kearney is gearing the dress collection toward a younger crowd with trendy details such as bold graphics, asymmetric necklines and shoulder cutouts. For more on the line, see page 6. The celebs and fashionable turned out this weekend for the music festival in the desert. STYLE, PAGE 9 PLUS: Bijan Pakzad of Bijan — owner of the self-proclaimed “world’s most expensive store” and fragrance entrepreneur, dies at 71. PAGE 6 CHILLIN’ AT COACHELLA Wal-Mart Buys Social Media Site PAGE 2 RETAIL: The retailer acquires Kosmix in a bid to bolster its mixed efforts in the social media world. The Action at Salone STYLE, PAGE 12 DESIGN: Milan Design Week, headed by Salone del Mobile, was busier than ever as fashion designers expanded their home furnishings lines and other firms showed the quirky to the trendy. U.S. Textiles Ride a Wave PAGE 8 TEXTILES: Upbeat following increasing sales, U.S. textile manufacturers are eager to hold onto the ground they’ve gained against lower-cost competitors. SEE PAGE 4

Transcript of PLUS: Bijan Pakzad for the music festival in the desert ... · STYLE, PAGE 9 PLUS: Bijan Pakzad of...

Page 1: PLUS: Bijan Pakzad for the music festival in the desert ... · STYLE, PAGE 9 PLUS: Bijan Pakzad of Bijan — owner of the self-proclaimed “world’s most expensive store” and

By MILES SOCHA

PARIS — Will the taint of bigotry cling forever to John Galliano — an albatross around his neck? Or will the incendi-ary British designer rehabilitate him-self and his name over time, only to rise again like some fashion phoenix?

Retailers, headhunters and other experts seem to be rallying for the latter scenario, arguing that Galliano — ousted from Dior last month amidst mounting allegations of racist and anti-Semitic outbursts — has the po-tential to write himself a new chapter and rebound from the crisis.

“I hope so. Otherwise, it would be such a waste,” said Carla Sozzani, owner of Milan-based fashion retailer Corso Como 10. “Maybe I’m a dream-er, but I’m hoping he’s going back to his own brand. It would make sense that he works for Galliano.”

That scenario is unlikely: As report-ed, at a recent board meeting of the John Galliano company, his employ-ment was offi cially terminated. And while Christian Dior SA, which owns 91 percent of the Galliano house, has received unsolicited expressions of interest in the business from several of its Italian licensing partners as well as a Chinese group and a fi rm from the Middle East, it is understood a sale of the company is not a priority and no banks have been contracted to do so.

Whether an eventual new owner would seek to reemploy the namesake designer remains an unanswered question.

Despite this hurdle, many industry observers are of the school that peo-ple in fashion have short memories — and that Galliano might fi nd this tragic episode quickly behind him.

“Look at Naomi Campbell. She had

WWDTUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY ■ $3.00

PHOTO BY THOMAS IANNACCONE

Seam Spirit

PRICE OF A SCANDAL

Can John GallianoEver Come Back?

IN WWD TODAY

After a test line for spring, Seamline Cynthia Steffe is going big for fall and, so far, Lord & Taylor, Dillard’s and Nordstrom have bought into the new contemporary brand. Creative director Shaun Kearney is gearing the dress collection toward a younger crowd with trendy details such as bold graphics, asymmetric necklines and shoulder cutouts. For more on the line, see page 6.

The celebs and fashionable turned out this weekend for the music festival in the desert. STYLE, PAGE 9

PLUS: Bijan Pakzad of Bijan — owner of the self-proclaimed “world’s most expensive store” and fragrance entrepreneur, dies at 71. PAGE 6

CHILLIN’ AT COACHELLA

Wal-Mart Buys Social Media Site PAGE 2RETAIL: The retailer acquires Kosmix in a bid to bolster its mixed efforts in the social media world. The Action at Salone STYLE, PAGE 12DESIGN: Milan Design Week, headed by Salone del Mobile, was busier than ever as fashion designers expanded their home furnishings lines and other fi rms showed the quirky to the trendy.

U.S. Textiles Ride a Wave PAGE 8TEXTILES: Upbeat following increasing sales, U.S. textile manufacturers are eager to hold onto the ground they’ve gained against lower-cost competitors.

SEE PAGE 4

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By Sharon EdElSon

Wal-Mart StorES InC.’S Early aWkWard attempts to mas-ter social media failed, but the retail giant isn’t letting that stand in its way. the company on tuesday said it has agreed to acquire Mountain View, Calif.-based kosmix, the developer of a social media technology platform that filters and organizes content in social networks to connect people with real-time information that matters to them. the purchase price was not disclosed.

kosmix founders Venky harinarayan and anand rajaraman will operate as part of the newly-formed @Walmartlabs, based in Silicon Valley. Wal-Mart plans to expand the @Walmartlabs team and ex-pects the new group to create technologies and businesses around social and mobile com-merce that will support Wal-Mart’s global multichannel strategy, blurring the line be-tween bricks-and-mortar stores and e-commerce.

Early pioneers of on-line shopping, kosmix’s harinarayan and rajaraman’s first company, Junglee, was acquired by amazon.com in 1998. kosmix has been working on a social genome platform that captures the connections between people, places, top-ics, products and events as ex-pressed through social media, be it a feed, a tweet or a post. “It became apparent to us that this [social genome] platform could transform e-commerce by providing an unprecedented level of understanding about customers and products, going well beyond purchase data,” said rajaraman. “the social ge-nome enables us to take search, personalization and recommen-dations to the next level.”

Personalization has become a buzzword in e-commerce and mobile commerce, with experts saying the key to higher sales is to more accurately target con-sumers’ wants and needs.

Social genome drives kosmix’s sites, including tweetBeat, a real-time social media filter for live events; kosmix.com, a site to discover content by topic, and righthealth, which, according to the company, is one of the top three health and medical information sites by global reach. the three proper-ties in March together attracted more than 17.5 million unique visitors worldwide, kosmix said. as for whether the retail giant will use the three kosmix sites, a Wal-Mart spokesman said, “We haven’t made a determination about that at this time.”

Wal-Mart’s earlier forays into social media were less than home runs. Its Walmarting across america blog in 2006, about

two Wal-Mart enthusiasts traveling around the U.S. in an rV, was revealed to be less than authentic when it was learned that Wal-Mart paid for the flights, the rV and the gas of the two protagonists. “the hub,” a MySpace-like clone, closed in october 2006, just 10 weeks after it launched, while a Wal-Mart sponsored Facebook group reportedly had lackluster results.

“Social networking and mobile applications are increasingly becoming a part of our customers’ day-to-day lives globally, influ-encing how they think about shopping, both online and in retail stores,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, Wal-Mart’s vice chairman. “We are excited to have the kosmix team join us to accelerate the

development of our social and mobile commerce offerings.”

Wal-Mart operates retail businesses in 15 countries and e-commerce businesses in nine countries.

In other Wal-Mart news, in its definitive proxy, filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company reported that total compensation for Mike duke, its president and chief execu-tive officer, fell 2.7 percent to $18.7 million, from $19.2 million in 2009, as the world’s largest re-tailer fell short of its objectives for sales, operating income and return on investment.

duke’s salary rose 2.5 per-cent to $1.2 million but his stock awards declined 0.5 per-cent to $12.7 million as Wal-Mart’s adjusted roI fell just short of the 19.21 percent tar-get, and adjusted sales, target-ed for a 3.6 percent increase, rose 2.4 percent. Stock pay-outs are based on the average achievement of performance targets over a three-year peri-od so the shortfall in 2010 will impact duke’s compensation through 2012.

Bonus cash — technically “nonequity incentive plan com-pensation” — was the area that most affected duke’s pay pack-age. With Wal-Mart falling slight-ly below the 5 percent growth in operating income set as the tar-get, at 4.8 percent, duke’s bonus fell 19.8 percent to $3.9 million from $4.8 million in 2009.

Qualifying as a named exec-utive officer for the first time,

Bill Simon, president and ceo of Wal-Mart U.S., earned a total of $14.1 million, including $802,000 in salary, $951,000 in bonus cash and $12.2 million in stock awards.

Companies are required to report the stock and option awards earned by their named executive officers in a given year but, because of vesting schedules and changing stock pric-es, these awards aren’t necessarily realized. Wal-Mart gave no option awards last year, in 2009 or in 2008.

� —WITH�CONTRIBUTIONS�FROM�ARNOLD�J.�KARR

EYESCOOP: See more party and festival pictures from Coachella, They Are Wearing: Coachella and Model Call: Natalie Keyser at WWD.com/eyescoop.■ BUSINESS: More financial news and daily stock movements at WWD.com/business-news.■ GLOBAL BREAKING NEWS

WWD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 20112WWD.COM

To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is [email protected], using The individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2011 FAIRCHILD FASHION GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 201, NO. 80. TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, November and December, two additional issues in February, March, April and August and three additional issues in September and October) by Fairchild Fashion Group, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For reprints of articles, please contact Scoop ReprintSource at 800-767-3263 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Group magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.Ph

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fINANCIAL 2RETAIL 2,6,7,12fASHION 5READY-TO-WEAR 6,7

TEXTILES 8MEDIA 9ARTS 9,10,11CELEBRITY 5,9,10,11

CorreCtion

Steeve hagege is the international general manager of diesel Fragrances. hagege’s full name was incorrect in an article on Style, page 3, Friday.

Daily Quote

We do think that in order for his brand to be successful, there would need to be assurance that all of the right conditions would be met to restore the good faith required between a designer brand,

a luxury retailer and sophisticated customers. — Bonnie Brooks, chief executive officer of the Bay,

on John Galliano’s future in fashion. PaGe one.

toDay on WWD.CoMSeCtorS in thiS iSSue

The scene at Coachella.

Wall StrEEt retreated Monday, pushing retail stocks down 0.8 percent after Standard and Poor’s cut its out-look on U.S. debt, underscoring the stakes in Washington’s debate on how to cut the nation’s looming budget deficits.

the S&P retail Index slipped 4.33 points to 524.06 as the dow Jones Industrial average ended down 1.1 per-cent, or 140.24 points, to 12,201.59, having recovered from a nearly 250-point drop.

although S&P said the U.S. econo-my was highly diversified and flexible, buttressed by the dollar’s strength as a global currency, the rating agency cut the outlook on its “aaa” credit rat-ing to negative from stable.

“More than two years after the beginning of the recent crisis, U.S. policymakers have still not agreed on how to reverse recent fiscal dete-rioration or address longer-term fiscal pressures,” said S&P analyst nikola Swann. the rating agency sees a one-in-three chance that it will lower its rating on the U.S. within two years.

From 2003 to 2008, the U.S. govern-ment’s deficit ranged from 2 percent to 5 percent of gross domestic prod-uct. But that ballooned to more than 11 percent of GdP in 2009 and has yet to recover, S&P said.

President obama and house republicans have laid out competing plans to lower the deficit.

“the market has been gener-ally vulnerable to a correction,” said Paul nolte, managing director at in-vestment firm dearborn Partners in Chicago. “We’re just kind of hanging with what we have at this point and seeing how things shake out.”

nolted described the outlook for re-tail stocks as “ok” with money moving from luxe retailers toward stores at the lower end of the price spectrum.

among the decliners Monday were the Bon-ton Stores Inc., down 3.4 per-cent to $13.83; Saks Inc., 3 percent to $11.49, and Gap Inc., 3 percent to $21.79.

Shares of Sears holdings Corp. inched down 0.1 percent to $78.42. Moody’s Investors Service cut its out-look on Sears’ “Ba2” corporate family credit rating to stable from positive, reflecting the retailer’s “moderating revenues and narrowing profit mar-gins over the second half of 2010.”

Bucking the general trend, american apparel Inc.’s stock rose 8.1 percent to $1.03 as the company searched for capital or a deal with lenders to stay afloat. the company has to show that it can continue as a going concern by april 30 or run afoul of its credit agreements.

� —�EVAN�CLARK

FinanCial

Wal-Mart to Buy KosmixRetail Stocks Retreat 0.8%

The change in the total reported compensation of Mike Duke, president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Including stock awards and bonus money, Duke earned $18.7 million last year versus $19.2 million in 2009.

-2.7%sourCE: ComPany rEPorts

Mike Duke

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4 WWD tuesday, april 19, 2011

so many problems. No one remembers,” Sozzani said, re-calling how the supermodel, convicted of assault in 2007 and sentenced to community service, transformed the pen-alty into a quirky fashion opportunity, posing for W maga-zine as a chic street sweeper serving out her sentence.

“After a while memories fade and, as the British say, ‘Today’s news is tomorrow’s fish-and-chip paper.’ I really believe most people do get a second chance and rebound,” agreed Sarah Rutson, fashion director at Hong Kong-based specialty retailer Lane Crawford, characterizing Galliano’s fashion career as simply on pause. “If John truly gets the help he needs for his issues and shows that he is genuinely doing everything in his power to rehabili-tate himself, he will be forgiven and accepted back.”

“I think he’s talented enough to recover from this and to come back,” added Agnès Barret, principal of Paris-based creative search firm Agent Secret. “Kate Moss did it,” she noted, alluding to the supermodel who was initially shunned following a 2005 cocaine scandal — only to come roaring back a year later and appear in a slew of high-profile ad campaigns.

“When people are really talented, they have the right to express themselves. His talent will not disappear,” Barret said. “I would advise him to do it in a different way.”

Bonnie Brooks, president and chief execu-tive officer of Canadian department store The Bay, cautioned that it could take a long time to restore the Galliano name.

“We believe in his genius; however, we do think that in order for his brand to be successful, there would need to be assurance that all of the right conditions would be met to restore the good faith required between a designer brand, a luxury re-tailer and sophisticated customers,” she said.

Betsey Pearce, a Paris-based legal adviser and consultant with a specialty in fashion, noted that Martha Stewart and Tiger Woods are relevant examples of famous, high-functioning personalities who rebounded from scandal, an investment scheme and marital infidelity, re-spectively. “Would Tiger Woods be terrible if he weren’t married?” she asked. “Is it relevant to his golf, other than the effect of being vilified?”

Pearce hinted that plenty of designers are guilty of be-havior that would be deemed reprehensible if caught on tape. “Are we buying the guy’s morality, or the guy’s incred-ible talent?” she asked. “He’s a genius in his work.”

With unanimity, observers stressed that Galliano should not be absolved of individual responsibility for his behavior and his horrendous statements cannot be swept under the carpet. Druggy or diva behavior is one thing; invoking Adolph Hitler quite another.

Asked if Galliano would be able to come back if he made amends, Franca Sozzani, editor in chief of Vogue Italia, said: “It’s not a matter of making amends, because what hap-pened will never be excused. You must let time go by and recognize that, on a human level, he’s made a mistake, and that, on a creative level, he remains a huge personality.”

Robert Burke, president and ceo of Robert Burke Associates, noted that the anti-Semitic nature of Galliano’s outbursts is “pretty unprecedented” and dis-tinct from the familiar wild-child antics of pampered

stars from fashion or Hollywood.“America loves a comeback story, but this is a very

different offense that’s very sensitive to many people,” Burke said. “Time will tell.”

The designer is to stand trial on a charge of public insult at the High Court here, which is expected on May 12 to set the date for the proceedings. Three people — Géraldine Bloch, Philippe Virgiti and an anonymous woman — allege Galliano hurled racist and anti-Semitic remarks at them in a Paris bar. He could face six months imprisonment and a fine of 22,500 euros, or $31,271 at cur-rent exchange, according to the French prosecutor.

Galliano has denied the allegations against him, apolo-gized for his behavior and stated plans to pursue a claim of defamation, insult and menace filed against Bloch and Virgiti. Sources said the designer recently completed an “intensive” one-month treatment at a rehabilitation center in Arizona and is now in extended “after care,” recogniz-ing effective treatment is a long, ongoing process.

Barret suggested the designer must repent further, make amends with the Jewish community, and prove that his ability to dazzle and innovate is intact.

Crisis management experts agree penance is a key first step.“He needs to spend at least three months quietly re-

habilitating in a clinic,” said Gene Grabowski, senior vice president of Washington-based Levick Strategic Communications. “When he emerges, he should an-nounce that he has changed his life and has learned new and healthier habits and that he is ready to contribute to his field and to society again. He then must demonstrate that he is serious about his new direction by contributing a sum of money or his time to a worthy project connected to the fashion industry or to helping a cause connected with Jewish interests. He behaved himself into his situa-tion and now he must behave himself out of it.”

Grabowski cautioned, however, that the process could take a year or two “for the new reputation to build and for memories of the old behavior to fade.”

Robbie Vorhaus, founder of Vorhaus & Co., based in New York and Paris, rattled off a long list of famous people who came back from the brink: Robert Downey Jr., Eminem, Mickey Rourke, Britney Spears, Winona Ryder and Hugh Grant.

Yet he said their transgressions only seem passé and irrelevant now because they went back to work and demonstrated their talent, diverting public attention away from their bad behavior.

“Redemption and resurrection is a powerful story, and if Galliano can show that he retains his talent, in-stincts, skill set — and that he is sorry for his actions — he can, over time, return to a leadership role. However, it can’t be an act,” Vorhaus said. “If John Galliano is, in fact, in his heart racist or anti-Semitic, or is not willing or able to remain with his addiction recovery program, or he falls back into socially unacceptable behavior, he will have lost significant momentum for a long time to come.”

“I think he’s finished for a good while,” warned Glenn Selig, founder of Florida-based The Publicity Agency. “While he may be well known in fashion, to the vast major-ity of people this is their introduction to him. Because the public really doesn’t know him as a person, there’s no real reason for the public to open their hearts to him.”

Lingering anger toward Galliano surfaced last week when an onlooker called the disgraced couturier a rac-ist as he whisked through the Los Angeles Airport and

ignored questions lobbed at him.Caught on camera, the video went viral

— just like the one a month ago that depict-ed Galliano saying in a slurred voice, “I love Hitler,” and cost him his job.

Yet addiction experts agree rehabilitation is possible for the 50-year-old iconoclast.

“It may take more than one attempt but it is always possible,” said Lou Lebentz, an ad-diction therapist at The Priory Hospital in Roehampton, London.

Asked whether a return to the fashion industry could be a hindrance or a help to Galliano’s recovery, Lebentz replied: “[One has to ask] how important your work identity is to you. Do you need it in terms of boundar-ies and purpose or to take your mind off your-self?” she said, highlighting that the purpose and routine a patient may find in work could have a positive influence on their recovery. “Recovery is an inward journey, about shut-ting off the external world…you will not find the answers outside yourself.”

Deirdre Boyd, ceo of the U.K. charity Addiction Recovery Foundation, said that a lot of male addicts in recovery tend to go back to work. “Often they do very well because they are grateful to their employers, they may feel they owe their lives to their employers,” she said. As for Galliano, she said: “Maybe he will look more objectively on his life and reevalu-ate his priorities, and maybe the fashion in-dustry is not the right place for him to go back to.” She added that the greatest predictor of successful recovery is support from family and then support from your place of work.

For the moment, Galliano has no job to which to return.

It is understood the in-house design team at Galliano, which shares members with Dior’s, will be charged with continuing to produce col-lections at a label prized for bias-cut dresses, newspaper prints and retro-tinged tailoring.

The Galliano business is based mainly on licensing. Key partners include Gibò Co. SpA for the signature men’s and women’s collec-

tions; Ittierre SpA for the second line Galliano: Perfume Holding for fragrances; Diesel for children’s wear; Marcolin SpA for eyewear; Albisetti for swimwear, and Morellato for watches.

Although sources deem an eventual sale of the com-pany a foregone conclusion, as Dior seeks to put more distance between itself and the disgraced designer, Dior may first seek to further disentangle itself from the de-signer, who holds a minority stake in John Galliano SA.

It is understood there are other legal tussles ongoing related to Dior’s dismissal of Galliano, though nothing that would prevent it from naming a new couturier (see related story, page 5).

Revenues in 2009 at John Galliano SA, mostly from roy-alties, totaled 14.2 million euros, or $20.9 million, while losses tallied 5.3 million euros, or $7.8 million, according to legal information filed with the commercial court in Paris. Dollar figures are converted from average exchange rates for the period. According to Dior’s 2010 annual report, Christian Dior acquired John Galliano SA in 2008 for 17

fashionCan John Galliano Ever Come Back?

{Continued from page one}

’’’’

Maybe he will look more objectively on his life and reevaluate his priorities, and maybe the fashion industry is not the right place for

him to go back to.— DeirDre BoyD,

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WWD.COM

million euros, or $23.8 million at av-erage exchange rates for that year.

In an indication that it won’t be easy for the designer to return to fashion, retailers are already shun-ning Galliano products.

One American retailer, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned that the Galliano name now has toxic connotations. “I think his label will continue to create controversy for some time,” the executive said.

A spokeswoman for Selfridges, which has featured the Galliano sec-ond line in its men’s department, said the London retailer no longer carries the brand, but she declined to com-ment further. However, an industry source said the decision had to do with customer reaction to the Galliano drama.

Corso Como’s Sozzani said she has dresses from Galliano’s spring-summer designer collection hanging in her shop, but she did not place an order for fall, partly because of Galliano’s absence. “I’m waiting to see what happens,” she said, citing a policy that pro-hibits designer brands created by another person, if the founder is still alive.

According to market sources, retailers in America and the U.K. reacted immediately and sharply to the scandal and often pulled products off shelves, while the business in other regions, including Asia, Europe and the Middle East, remains largely unaffected.

“We hope Galliano will continue to perform. Despite what happened, we are happy with the license,” said Enrico Ceccato, president and ceo of Perfume Holding, the brand’s fragrance licensee. However, he denied in-terest in acquiring the Galliano business, insisting the company is dedicated to fragrances only.

According to Ceccato, the rollout of Galliano’s new Galliano women’s fragrance, Parlez-Moi d’Amour, is happening at almost the same pace as originally scheduled. The scent is set to launch in Asia and South America after hitting Europe and the Middle East at the end of last year. “The only question mark is how and when to launch in the U.S.,” said Ceccato referring to Perfume Holding’s initial plans to launch the scent there in early spring.

Antonio Bianchi, owner of Albisetti, which now con-trols Ittierre, acknowledged interest in the Galliano business, saying he is discussing ways to generate new and more extensive agreements “given the optimal re-lationship” it already has.

Whatever Galliano’s fate, his downfall highlighted the risk companies can face if their brand is too closely tied to the specifi c image or talent of one individual, who could leave the company, die or fall from grace, according to the legal adviser Pearce.

No matter how many people may be involved in bringing fashions to market, “we want rock stars: We want individuals that stand out,” she said.

A boilerplate statement in Dior’s annual report notes: “Inadequate products or communication policies with the brand image, inappropri-ate behavior of persons who repre-sent the brands, along with circula-

tion of prejudicial information to the media, could affect brand image and lead to an adverse effect on sales.”

Lucian James, creative director and founder of Paris-based strategic consultancy Agenda Inc., highlighted the irony that luxury brands, until recently nervous of social media, were seduced by the exposure opportunities the digital world afforded. “So it’s genuinely unfortunate that it is the John Galliano video outside La Perle which has become the most viral in fashion history,” he said.

Moreover, the Galliano incident highlights impor-tant changes that will affect the broader luxury indus-try. According to James, “We are witnessing the begin-ning of an important debate about the relationship between creativity and business imperatives.”

For one, “the acceleration of fashion has created more of a ‘hit-factory’ approach to creativity, which can squeeze and frustrate designers, and also put pressure on the overall business.

“It’s no surprise that the movie ‘Black Swan’ was so suc-cessful in this cultural mood because it exposes the feroc-ity and destructive power of creative talent. And more spe-cifi cally it’s no surprise that the movie was such a personal favorite of so many people who work in the fashion world, and could identify so closely with its theme,” he continued.

James also predicted luxury brands will emphasize their original designers and “spiritual leadership so that issues like this are less damaging.”

For example, he said it would be a “powerful ritual symbol to concretely restore the image of Monsieur Dior at this point, via, for example, an empty chair at each runway show.”

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LUISA ZARGANI AND KERRY OLSEN IN MILAN, AND SAMANTHA CONTI,

NINA JONES AND CATHERINE TIPPLE IN LONDON

5WWD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011

HITTING THE BULL’S-EYE: Target will be partnering with Dockers to bring the “quintessential khaki work pant” for men to its stores this fall. According to industry sources, the subbranded product will hit the chain in September. Levi Strauss & Co., Dockers’ parent, will also bring its Denizen brand to the U.S. this summer through a deal with Target. Dockers had no comment and Target did not return calls. On Wednesday, Dockers lost Jim Calhoun, head of the brand, to Nike where he will serve as chief executive offi cer of the Hurley brand.

WEB INVESTMENT: Diesel chief Renzo Rosso is now a shareholder of H-Farm, an Italian Silicon Valley-esque company that provides income and resources to Internet start-ups. Rosso, through his private investment holding, Red Circle Srl, participated in a capital increase in the Venice-based self-proclaimed “venture incubator,” calling it “a hothouse of ideas and innovation, which constantly stimulates my vision of the world and of the way to do business.” Rosso, who recently upped his share in e-tailer Yoox, stated his personal investment choices clearly demonstrate his growing fascination for the digital world.

HELPING OUT: Fashion Girls for Japan’s recent two-day sample sale at The Bowery Hotel may have netted $270,000 for the relief effort, but the group’s not done yet. The organizers just launched a limited edition “I O NY” T-shirt and tote collection on fashiongirlsforjapan.com. Proceeds, of course, will go to the earthquake victims.

TAKING A TOUR: Several Saks Fifth Avenue executives may seem absent from headquarters, the stores or the markets this week. But actually, in a fi rst for the luxury chain, top management is taking a three-day fi eld trip to Google, Microsoft and Facebook on the West Coast to learn about technology and take in some corporate culture from the outside. “The idea is to get exposed to cutting edge technology trends and learn about the potential applications and implications for Saks,” said Stephen I. Sadove, Saks’ chairman and chief executive offi cer. “I have no idea what we’ll see. We are going to learn.”

About 15 Saks offi cials, including members of the executive committee and other senior managers, are making the trip, which Sadove disclosed during a panel on retail leadership sponsored by New York University’s Stern School of Business and Herbert Mines Associates. His point: “Strong leaders ask questions, are willing and wanting to learn, and not just doing the day-to-day activities.”

The other panelists agreed that you have to look at what’s going on outside your own company to make it more innovative. Susan Davidson, ceo of Scoop, and Zac Posen, stressed “fl exibility” as a key to success. “You have to be able to adapt to the changing landscape,” in addition to having “a strong vision, developing, communicating and executing a strategic plan.” OPENING UP: Cynthia Rowley’s planting yet another fl ag on the shores of Long Island. On Memorial Day, she’ll unveil a new boutique in Southampton’s relaunched Capri Hotel, which will feature everything from her own designs to collaborative merchandise (Cynthia Rowley for Roxy wet suits; Mr. Powers men’s wear) to vacation miscellany: international newspapers, sun hats, beach towels, custom-made candy and board games. The designer, who also has a store in Montauk, is consulting on the hotel’s decor, too. She’s adding the Rowley touch to the Nobu outpost there, dubbed Nobu at the Beach; the poolside Bathing Club as well as the individual rooms. Actual design details are TBD, but Rowley let slip that she’ll be curating the art in the rooms — via her Exhibition A art retail Web site — and creating the graphic for the swimming pool fl oor.

FASHION SCOOPS

PARIS — The industry’s fi xation on who might replace John Galliano as the new couturier at Christian Dior reached a fever pitch during Paris Fashion Week that has since died down to a low murmur.

Dior offi cials have indicated they are in no hurry to name a successor, which has helped to quiet the rumor mill.

Still, there are plenty of gyrations behind the scenes.

While luxury titan Bernard Arnault, chairman of the board at Dior, will certainly get the last word on who will be handed the creative reins of his most treasured fashion property, there are other pivotal decision makers, chiefl y Dior chief executive offi cer Sidney Toledano, who has helmed the company since 1998 and is the architect of its recent growth arc. Delphine Arnault, since 2008 the deputy managing director at Dior and widely viewed as the eventual heir apparent, is also said to be keen to assert her point of view.

According to sources, Bernard Arnault’s advisers have submitted lists of suggested candidates, spanning such marquee names as Tom Ford, Hedi Slimane, Olivier Theyskens, Nicholas Ghesquière and Alber Elbaz, along with

lesser known designers such as Haider Ackermann, Prabal Gurung and Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton.

Dior executives have also been fi elding unsolicited suggestions from top editors and even shareholders.

Givenchy’s rising star Riccardo Tisci is considered a strong contender

from within Arnault’s constellation of designers, and is said to be lobbying for a shot at the high-powered job, sketching out his vision for the brand.

Delphine Arnault is seen as a keen champion of the young Italian, who rose from a modest background to become one of the hottest young guns in fashion with an entourage that includes models, artists and pop stars.

Yet if Burton were to succeed in dressing Kate Middleton for her April 29 marriage to

Prince William — something she and the company insist they are not doing — her chances would greatly improve.

According to a source, Bernard Arnault is transfi xed by royalty, and would be keen to launch Dior alongside the next-generation couple, just as Princess Diana helped catapult the image of the brand in

1995 when she toted a Lady Dior bag and, a year later, donned a midnight-blue, bias-cut Dior gown by Galliano to attend the Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

At Dior’s recent shareholders’ meeting, Arnault said the plan was to interview a slate of candidates and take a decision when “conviction” arrives.

According to a Paris source, the powers

that be are placing less importance on marquee names, prioritizing “someone who understands Dior and fi ts the needs of the company.”

It is understood Dior’s in-house design studios — now headed by Bill Gaytten, who has worked beside Galliano since the Eighties — are already at work creating the upcoming cruise collection, and starting on couture in anticipation of a high-fashion show in July.

— MILES SOCHA

The Players Behind the Dior Succession

Sidney Toledano

Bernard Arnault

Delphine Arnault

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Clinic stay

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Charitable contribution to Jewish cause or organizations

Brilliant work to display his talent and contribution to

the fashion industry

Time

The “I O NY” T-shirt.

Page 6: PLUS: Bijan Pakzad for the music festival in the desert ... · STYLE, PAGE 9 PLUS: Bijan Pakzad of Bijan — owner of the self-proclaimed “world’s most expensive store” and

6 WWD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011

OBITUARY

Bijan Pakzad, Rodeo Drive Pioneer

Steffe Unveils Seamline

ready-to-wear

By Lisa Lockwood

after a spring test, cynthia steffe is expanding its new seamline cynthia steffe collection of contemporary dresses for fall.

according to terri speiser, president of sales for contemporary and modern brands at Bernard chaus inc., “the core competency of the [cynthia steffe] line is dresses, and we’re positioned at the high end of contemporary. we felt there was an opportunity for the younger girl at the early part of her career to buy the cynthia steffe brand.”

seamline is priced significantly lower than the steffe line. the seamline dresses will wholesale from $58 to $90, whereas the whole-sale range for cynthia steffe is $43 to $360. Both collections are de-signed by shaun kearney, executive vice president of design-creative director of cynthia steffe.

Because of its accessible price points, the company expects seamline to get broader distribution than the steffe collection. for spring, seamline launched in 16 doors of Lord & taylor, and “there’s potential for seamline to be in all the Lord & taylor doors,” said speiser. steffe’s collection is currently carried in nine Lord & taylor doors. in addition to L&t, seamline was shipped this spring to Belk and several specialty stores. this fall, the line will also be available at dillard’s, nordstrom and more specialty stores. since delivering six styles to stores this month, “every style has turned between 6 and 20 percent,” she said. going forward, speiser said there will be 10 dress deliveries a year.

“these are not simple dresses. they have great lines and interesting em-bellishments,” said kearney, discussing why they chose the name seamline. the dresses are designed with such details as asymmetrical necklines, one-shoulders, bustiers, ruffle treatment, prints and exposed zippers. “the print direction [in seamline] is much younger than in the regular collec-tion,” added speiser. the dresses are manufactured in china, using fabrics such as matte jersey, ponte, lace, novelty jacquards, velvet and charmeuse.

seamline is designed to be feminine and girly, with the ability to be worn to the office and out afterward. the line hangs in contempo-rary dress departments near brands like Laundry, BcBg and french connection. speiser declined to give first-year volume projections.

“the magic price point is under $200 at retail,” said speiser. she said there have been conversations about branching into other categories, in-cluding sportswear, with the seamline label.

Looks from Seamline Cynthia Steffe.

By racHeL Brown

Los angeLes — Bijan pakzad, 71, an iranian american who solidified rodeo drive’s repu-tation as a luxury shopping destination with his exclusive showroom and built a brand that spanned clothing, fragrances and jewelry, died saturday at cedars-sinai Medical center in Los angeles after suffering a severe stroke.

a skilled marketer whose toothy smile was a signature in his namesake brand’s promo-tional imagery, pakzad prided himself on serv-ing rich people with the most impeccable tastes and dressed a long list of politicians, actors and businessmen, including Jack nicholson, tom cruise, anthony Hopkins, Michael eisner, steve wynn and presidents Barack obama, george w. Bush and ronald reagan. He billed the House of Bijan location in Beverly Hills as “by appointment only,” and touted its high pric-es as a selling point with the slogan “the most expensive in the world.”

“i am not a mass designer,” pakzad told the Los angeles times in 2003. “what was important to me was not to have two million clients, like Versace, but to have 20,000 clients. they all have one thing in common. they appreciate quality, exclusivity and service. My clientele is very difficult and de-manding. i work so hard, and so many hours.”

pakzad proffered different stories about his past to bolster the mythology of his brand, but, by most accounts, he was born to a wealthy fam-ily in tehran and his father was in the steel in-dustry. He told people magazine in 1984 that he studied engineering, which he detested, and left the discipline to open a boutique in tehran be-fore emigrating to the U.s. in the early seventies. He was twice divorced, and had his daughter daniela with his first wife, sigi, and his daughter and son alexandra and nicolas with his second wife, tracy Hayakawa. “i love clothes, women and cars, in that order,” he said in people.

pakzad partnered with real estate developer dar Mahboubi to start Bijan in 1976 by convert-ing a car park on rodeo drive into a lush the-ater for fashion filled with marble and crystal. By his own estimates — and he was known for hyperbole — the location was renovated in 2000 to the tune of $12 million and a branch on fifth avenue new York cost $8 million to complete in 1983 before it was shuttered around 1999. pakzad became newspaper fodder as a result of an ad campaign featuring an overweight model. also controversial was a billboard that was placed above his fifth avenue outpost.

although he began in retail and men’s wear, pakzad is probably most recognized for fra-grance. in 1981, Bijan launched its first per-fume for men in handcrafted, signed and num-bered Baccarat crystal flacons and, roughly six

years later, Bijan fragrance for Men and Bijan perfume for women were introduced. the Bijan fragrance was distinct for its bottle with a hole in the middle, its price that rose to roughly $10,000 for a 32-oz. size, and its distribution model that initially relied on an exclusive arrangement with saks fifth avenue, recalled sondra Love, former vice president of marketing for Bijan fragrances.

“everything that had Bijan’s name on it — it didn’t matter if it was a piece of ribbon, a label, a color on a package — Bijan signed off on and was involved in everything,” she said. “He was meticulous about every detail, and there was zero tolerance for mistake making.”

pakzad and Mahboubi pioneered the mod-ern celebrity fragrance market by signing Michael Jordan to a licensing deal in 1995. the resulting Michael Jordan cologne went on to be one of the most successful launches in the fragrance industry. Love explained that Bijan created a frenzy for the product by inking an exclusive retail deal for the launch with foot Locker, where Jordan had a massive following for his branded shoes with nike.

when the Jordan fragrance launched, wwd interviewed the basketball star and Bijan to-gether as they needled one another.

“we’ve got [Bijan] backing us,” Jordan said. “i don’t have a problem with that. He’s my point guard.”

“i’ve played basketball with him,” Bijan chimed in.

“He’s learning,” Jordan said.“i’m a very bad student,” Bijan admitted.“He played in a tuxedo,” said Jordan with a

wink. “i’m still trying to get him into shorts.”“the demand was so great that the launch

date was backed up one month from november to october and [there was] a limit of only 12 bottles per consumer. Many asian customers wanted to purchase 100-plus bottles at a time. it was extraordinary,” remembered Brett charles neubig, owner of neubig & co. and former vice president of global marketing and corporate communications at Bijan.

five star fragrance co., a subsidiary of perfumania Holdings inc., acquired the rights to Bijan fragrances’ trademarks in the early aughts, and the Bijan fragrance continues to be one of perfumania’s best-selling products. over the years, Bijan also expanded into skin care with the face saver skin care Line, light alcohol-free fragrances such as Bijan Light eau de toilette for women and Men and extensions of the Jordan fragrance brand.

pakzad’s long-time business partner and friend Mahboubi said, “Bijan was a mentor to many. He will always be remembered as one of a kind, but mostly, i knew Bijan as a man of tremendous integrity and respect for human dignity.”

What was important to me was not to have two million clients…

but to have 20,000 clients.— Bijan PaKZaD

’’’’

coULd Last month’s substantial hike in price inflation for dresses — 7.1 percent to be precise — be a sign of things to come? retail pric-es for every other women’s catego-ry declined in March, according to the Labor department’s consumer price index.

But further in-creases may lie ahead, due to the skyrocketing cost of cotton and ever-climbing transporta-tion costs, according to John Lonski, chief economist at Moody’s capital Markets group. “the jump in dress prices could perhaps be a signal of things to come. But as retailers and manufacturers try to spill over these higher costs, the question is whether consum-ers will resist the price hikes so much that manufacturers and re-

tailers will have to retrench,” said Lonski, noting that year-to-year cotton prices are up 150 percent.

this spring, an assortment of stores including neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, H&M and target have highlighted shirtdresses,

which frequently are made of cotton. But more often than not demand based on popularity can put pressure on stores and manufacturers to send prices skyward, he said.

dresses have been a top performing category in re-cent years. and celebrity-con-scious shoppers may have already seen online and on tV that alexa chung, alessandra ambrosio and kate Bosworth opted for dress-es at last weekend’s coachella Music and arts festival. — R.F.

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Further Price Hikes May Be Looming

7.1%price inflation

for dresses

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WWD.COM7WWD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011

By RosemaRy FeitelbeRg

DRaFting oFF shoppeRs’ interest in her wed-ding dresses for David’s bridal, Vera Wang has unveiled a bridesmaid dress collection under the White by Vera Wang label for the 300-plus unit chain.

last year Wang exited the bridesmaid business after deciding she didn’t have enough access to the collection and couldn’t run it in a way that was timely. in an interview, Wang said, the alliance with David’s bridal has allowed her to de-velop bridesmaid dresses “in a much larger and more unusual way with a tremendous amount of support. they are up for anything i am interested in trying.”

the seven-piece line of dress-es in such shades as orchid, am-ethyst, charcoal and champagne will ship to 250 David bridal’s stores in late June. but the de-signer noted “these dresses are not inexpensive,” with a few retailing for $200. (more cost-conscious brides will find a $158 opening price point.) a one-shoul-der short dress with a bubble skirt adorned with oversize rosettes is geared for style-minded wedding parties. but there are also more traditional choices such as a short dress with horizontal pleats and a sleeveless chiffon column dress with swag skirt.

more formal options can be found in a satin asymmetri-cal design with a bias cut or a strapless draped gown paired with a grosgrain sash. “everyone is doing the long skirt now. i never thought we would see that come back but it has,” she

said. “it just felt right.”each dress is meant to convey “a very youthful”

spirit — something Wang keeps track of by how her two millennial-age daughters and their friends like to dress. how that translates to the world of retail is something that laird + partners’ trey laird helped Wang and her company’s president mario grauso define. that called for field trips to David’s

bridal stores. “We wanted to see how everything was mer-chandised within the stores, not just the clothing. We looked at the hangers, the signage, the logo,” she said.

a shoe collection also will hit the retailer’s stores in late June. the four shoe styles — a pump, a ballerina flat, a peep-toe pump and an open-toe bootie with a grosgrain ribbon — will retail from $58 to $98. the idea is not to flood the stores with too much of any one thing.

“We’re growing gradually as a business and we are in a good place. We’re in a very solid posi-tion and we’re trying to build on that consistency and creativity,” Wang said. “it definitely has not been the easiest of times since two and half years ago when the market went down and the world went with it. other de-signers might not tell you that, but it’s the truth.”

as for how Wang reinvents bridal from one season to the next and churns out design ideas for 40-plus categories, she said, “the secret is i always wonder

how i could do it better, push the envelope farther and do it on a better budget,” she said. “nothing is done without thought.”

Wang Dressing Bridesmaids With David’s

sixty-FiVe yeaRs aFteR priscilla Kidder first ventured into the bridal business, her namesake company, priscilla of boston, is dressing up its image with a little designer glitz and a new greenwich, Conn., boutique in the fall.

Company executives have been busy working with marchesa’s georgina Chapman and Keren Craig to develop eterna by marchesa, a wedding dress collection that will bow at retail in september. With retail prices ranging from $1,500 to $5,000, the line will be sold in priscilla of boston’s 19 freestanding stores. Chapman and Craig will continue to do their signature high-end wedding gowns as well as their marchesa notte label.

“We’ve been around for 65 years and we want to be mod-ern and fresh for the girl who is really into fashion,” said Kimberly lee minor, chief fashion strategist and general merchandise manager for priscilla of boston. “so we were thinking about who could take us there. georgina and Keren are so glamorous and marchesa is so prevalent on the red carpet. i talked to my chief executive about the idea and around that same time they approached us through someone they knew at the company.”

in addition to its signature collection, priscilla of boston’s other proprietary labels include Jewel by priscilla of boston, platinum for priscilla of boston, the Dress, melissa sweet, Reverie and Vineyard, each defined by a different price range and targeted shopper. introduced in February and priced between $575 and $975, the Dress consists of five right-off-the-runway styles that are always in stock for shop-pers who prefer to buy on the spot. popular as that is, the company’s $1,500 to $3,000 retail tier has been generating the most business recently.

having opened a beverly hills boutique with a more mod-ern interior in January, priscilla of boston also is sprucing up its selection with a greater emphasis on designer cock-tail dresses and eveningwear from marchesa notte, thread social, Carmen marc Valvo and naeem Khan, among others. the retailer also sells Vera Wang’s signature wedding gowns, as well as her luxe label. minor said, “We want to be a gal-axy, not just an offering. to create a galaxy, you ask, ‘Who is best of class?’ and then you fill that space.” — R.F.

Priscilla of Boston Taps Marchesa for New Bridal

A bubble skirt dress from

White by Vera Wang for

David’s Bridal.

1 7 - 2 0 J u n e 2 0 1 1milano I n t e r n a t i o n a l P r e s e n t a t i o n o f

b r i d a l a n d f o r m a l w e a rcollections 2012www.sposaitaliacollezioni.fieramilano.it

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Italian Tr ade Commission

Page 8: PLUS: Bijan Pakzad for the music festival in the desert ... · STYLE, PAGE 9 PLUS: Bijan Pakzad of Bijan — owner of the self-proclaimed “world’s most expensive store” and

By Kristi Ellis

WAsHiNGtON — U.s. textile executives, operating in a re-covery and expansion mode for the first time in a while, are looking for ways to consolidate their gains without losing profit margin to historically high cotton prices and market share to pending trade agreements.

textile executives attending the National Council of textile Organizations’ annual meeting here last week were upbeat about the overall health of the industry, although they voiced concerns about several trade issues threaten-ing to reverse some of their gains.

“last year, would anybody have guessed that cotton prices would have tripled, polyester would have been up by more than 30 percent and importers would begin to seriously doubt China and turn back to the Western Hemisphere and that we would actually run into capacity issues for some of our prod-ucts?” David Hastings, outgoing NCtO chairman, and presi-dent and chief executive officer of Mount Vernon Mills, asked in his report to the group. “All in all, i’m pleased to say the industry met the challenge of that roller coaster year. U.s. production of yarn, broad-woven apparel and knit fab-ric were all up double digits and overall textile shipments in 2010 were up 7.4 percent. While we are not all the way back to 2008 levels, we are clearly on our way.”

Hastings said the industry has invested in new plants and machinery in the U.s., reopened shuttered mills and made upgrades in many facilities. But cotton prices, which have jumped by as much as 160 percent over the last year, are an ongoing concern.

“We’re at a point now where cotton prices are extremely high and we are working in a six-month window where re-tailers will see some of the price increases,” said Anderson Warlick, president and ceo of Parkdale Mills inc., a Gastonia, N.C.-based yarn producer. “As that happens, you’ll see the real reaction to $2 cotton.”

Warlick said retailers are giving suppliers money up front to process orders, unlike in the past, where they want-ed extended terms.

“Now, you have a lot of suppliers around the world, particularly in Asia, that just can’t afford that anymore,” Warlick said. “they don’t have the working capital to get cotton in the mills unless you pay for it up front and that means a lot of credit risk in the system.”

the outlook on cotton prices this year is far from stable, according to Anthony tancredi, president of Allenberg Cotton Co., a cotton merchant based in Memphis.

“We have seen [price] moves that used to take an entire year

take place inside of 12 hours — 14 cent, 18 cent, 21 cent moves in a day,” tancredi said. “Volatility is not going away. this will be a year that is as difficult as the one we came out of.”

Cotton was trading at about $1.40 a pound last Monday, the first day of the NCtO meeting.

On the trade front, Bill Jasper, president and ceo of Unifi inc., a producer of multifilament polyester and nylon tex-tured yarns, who is taking over as NCtO’s chairman, said opposition to the south Korean free trade agreement as it is currently written and which Congress could consider this year is the “big issue” for NCtO.

Jasper said the agreement is uneven in that many duties for goods being imported into the U.s. from south Korea would be eliminated immediately, whereas the same textile products going in the other direction are phased out over a long period of time.

the U.s. textile industry is banking on its rebounding export business in the Western Hemisphere to offset some of the price pressures in the system. in 2010, U.s. exports of yarn and fabrics to Central America and the Dominican republic, all part of the Central American Free trade

Agreement, rose 12 percent to $2.49 billion. textile exports to Mexico rose $3.5 billion.

Jasper said Unifi recently added 15 percent to its poly-ester texturing facility capac-ity in El salvador, which now produces 20 million pounds of polyester draw textured yarn.

“if we continue to see growth in Central America and in the U.s., i anticipate add-ing more capacity next year in both [places],” Jasper said.

to that end, NCtO will join forces with the U.s. Association of importers of textiles & Apparel, as well as the federal government and other associations to promote the region with a new, multifaceted Western Hemisphere initiative, dubbed “sourcing in the Americas,” which will be unveiled at MAGiC in las Vegas Aug. 21.

Gail strickler, assistant U.s. trade representative for textiles, and Kim Glas, deputy assistant secretary for textiles and apparel for the Commerce Department’s international trade Administration, are spearheading the effort for the government. As part of the collaboration, the program includes a Western Hemisphere sourcing summit that will bring together key sourcing executives; a pavilion that will showcase regional apparel, fabric and yarn mills, and the launch of a database linking suppliers with buyers.

“We’re bringing in our Western Hemisphere partners, from CAFtA-Dr, other Western Hemisphere trade prefer-ence partners, and our domestic manufacturers, to make that pitch to sourcing agents that you can source in the Western Hemisphere, that there are advantages to sourcing [there] and there is a diversity of product,” Glas said.

8 WWD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011

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Critical Juncture For U.S. Industry

textiles

The amount U.S. textile shipments were up in 2010.

7.4%■ South Korea Free trade agreement: The National Council of Textile Organizations is lobbying against the accord because it claims it will lead to more industry job losses. The industry contends that the tariff provisions are unfair and that weak customs enforcement language will pave the way for more textile and apparel transshipments, particularly from China.

■ tranS-PaciFic PartnerShiP: The industry is pressing for a yarn-forward rule of origin and long tariff phaseout on textile and apparel imports from Vietnam, one of eight countries negotiating with the U.S. for an Asia-Pacific free trade area. Gail Strickler, assistant U.S. Trade Representative for textiles, said the U.S. plans to present a textile and apparel rule of origin proposal by May 6 to the seven other countries — Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Peru, New Zealand and Chile. The next formal negotiating round is in Vietnam in June, where product-specific rules of origin will be discussed.

■ indian cotton: The U.S. is considering filing a case with the World Trade Organization against India over its restrictions on cotton and cotton yarn exports, which a coalition of textile groups said has driven up global cotton prices. India recently raised its export restrictions on cotton yarn, but they remain in place on raw cotton exports.

Key trade iSSueS

alan Bersin, u.S. customs commissioner

cass Johnson,

ncto president

anderson Warlick

Bill Jasper

WWD.COM

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BILLY SAYS ADIEU: After one year at Town & Country, Billy Norwich is leaving the magazine. When former editor in chief Stephen Drucker joined the title, he lured Norwich away from Vogue to join him at Town & Country as a special correspondent, occupying third place on the masthead below the editor and creative director David Lipman. Norwich was an integral part of Drucker’s vision to update the magazine’s coverage of fashion and the New Society (whatever that is). But Drucker exited in January and his successor, Jay Fielden, is putting together his own team. Norwich was told he would now be working exclusively as a writer. “Alas, there isn’t a Web site yet to satisfy the urge to write more in real time so I think it is really time for me to do something out of the box,” Norwich told WWD.

Fielden, who recently hired Alexandra Kotur from Vogue as creative director, said to expect more staffi ng changes soon. “We thank Billy for his contributions to the magazine during his tenure and look forward to publishing his freelance work if the opportunity presents itself,” Fielden said. — AMY WICKS

WWDSTYLEPHOTO BY DONATO SARDELLA

Coachella’s Desert Daze

WWDSTYLE

THE DESERT WAS THE place to be last weekend, as 90,000 fans descended onto the fi elds of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., for the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, which is now as much the launch of the “festival fashion” season as it is a chance to take in the dozens of live performances. Ultrashort and high-waisted denim shorts, crochet, lace and boots were all de rigueur among the stylish set, as were cross-body bags, fringed hobos, straw hats and aviator shades. (See They Are Wearing, page 11.) As always, a privileged handful took part in chic off-site pool parties and raucous late night bashes. On Friday, A|X Armani Exchange hosted a poolside brunch at the Colony Palms Hotel for young actors such as Shiloh Fernandez, Jamie Chung and Ashley Greene.

The next day, Diesel threw a Bloody Mary brunch at a rented estate for those who could

make it out of bed before noon. (Several hundreds of revelers had stayed out till the wee hours at an AllSaints-hosted bash for Kings of Leon, who closed the festival on Friday night.) Also on Saturday, Mulberry hosted a noontime poolside barbecue at the Parker Palm Springs, where creative director Emma Hill had set up shop with the fall-winter collection in the famed Gene Autry house (because it makes perfect sense for an English brand to host market appointments in the desert). Parker guests Nicole Richie, Gia Coppola, Nathalie Love, Hilary Tisch, Hedi Gores, Harley Viera-Newton and Sky Ferreira all sported tiny handbags from the collection. Also present were Camilla Belle, Eliza Doolittle and Alexa Chung, who took a quick break from her DJing duties at Phillip Lim’s pool party nearby.

Sky Ferreira took a break from the action at Coachella at Mulberry's

poolside barbecue.

MEMO PAD

{Continued on page 10} {Continued on page 11}

THE SCENE AT SALONE: All the trends and action at the Salone del Mobile

and Milan Design Week. PAGE 12

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“I definitely am coming to Coachella every year from now on,” said Belle.

Lim’s own shindig, up the mountain off Bob Hope Drive, boasted a bird’s-eye view of Palm Springs along with an infinity pool. The scene was reminiscent of a Slim Aarons tableau, only with slightly grungy types dotting the yard instead of well-groomed socials. Lim for his part floated in the water enjoying the scene.

“This is the first time I’ve done this,” he said. “I figured, you have to do it once, you know?”

Back at the polo grounds, where shows started at noon but most fans arrived around 5 p.m., the VIP area was swarming with beautiful women and the men who love them. Isabel Lucas, Alessandra Ambrosio, Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Dita Von Teese were spotted in the crowds that came to take in Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, Jenny and Johnny and a slew of other acts. Afterward, those with the energy headed to a nearby airport hangar for 944 and A|X Armani Exchange’s Neon Carnival, which was just that, and included carnival rides and midway games. Rihanna, Usher, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kellan Lutz were among those who partook in the amusement.

By Sunday, guests had the wake-up, lounge-poolside, listen-to-bands and party-into-the-wee-hours routine down pat. Those at Lacoste and HTC’s poolside idyll frolicked one last day before the final night of the festival, where Kanye West closed the show with fireworks — literally — and a set that included a natural anthem for the weekend, his hit “Good Life.” — Marcy Medina

Desert Daze

Usher and Rihanna at the A|X Armani Exchange carnival.

Duran Duran

Kellan Lutz at the A|X Armani Exchange carnival.

PJ Harvey

Harley Viera-Newton and Eliza Doolittle at the

Mulberry party.

Alexa Chung at the

Mulberry party.

Camilla Belle at the Mulberry party.

Emma Roberts at the Diesel brunch.

Foster the People

Nicole Richie at the Mulberry party.

The crowd at Coachella.

{Continued from page 9}

For More CoaChella, See

WWD.com/WWD.com/eyescoop

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WWD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011 11WWD.COM

MEMO PADTHEY ARE WEARING: COACHELLA

FILLING AN EMPTY CHAIR: Speaking of Town & Country and Vogue, the latter’s successor for Alexandra Kotur is Chloe Malle, a 25-year-old contributor to The New York Times’ Styles section and The New York Observer. Malle will oversee “Flash,” the society and style front-of-the-book section that Kotur created and oversaw until she left for Town & Country. Malle’s title will be social editor.

Malle spent a year as the residential real estate columnist at the Observer and has been freelancing for the Times for the past six months. She also freelanced a piece for Vogue that is slated to run in the Nostalgia section in the next few months.

She is the daughter of actress Candice Bergen and the late French fi lm director Louis Malle. She grew up in California, New York and France, and this will be her fi rst job as a staffer. Her fi rst day is on April 26. — JOHN KOBLIN

COUNTING THE PULITZERS: The balance of power was spread evenly among the major papers on Pulitzer Prize day this year: The New York Times received two; the Los Angeles Times won two; the Washington Post and Boston Globe each won one, and The Wall Street Journal won its fi rst Pulitzer in four years, and the fi rst since Rupert Murdoch bought the paper.

This was the lowest intake on Pulitzer day for The New York Times in three years. David Leonhardt won the commentary Pulitzer for his business columns and Clifford J. Levy won his second Pulitzer with reporting on the justice system in Russia (he previously won for investigative reporting

in 2003, and is sharing this Pulitzer with Ellen Barry).

ProPublica, led by former Journal editor Paul Steiger, won for a second-straight year and brought home the fi rst-ever Pulitzer awarded to a story that wasn’t published in print (it won the national reporting award for a multipart series written by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger on how hedge funds and banks contributed to the economic collapse). ProPublica published the series on its Web site and collaborated with NPR and “This American Life.”

The Journal fi nally got the Pulitzer scoreboard with a win in the editorial writing category. Murdoch and Journal editor Robert Thomson have been dismissive of the American awards process, but it looks like this was the year the Pulitzer committee fi nally warmed up to them — the Journal was a fi nalist in three other categories.

The Los Angeles Times, a paper that has been ravaged by job and budget cuts over the last decade, won multiple awards for the fi rst time in six years, with wins for public service and photography. The Washington Post, which led all newspapers in total Pulitzers two out of the last four years, only walked away with the breaking news photography award this year.

For the fi rst time ever, the Pulitzer committee did not give out a breaking news award.

Jennifer Egan’s “A Visit From the Goon Squad,” which already won the National Book Award for fi ction, won the Pulitzer for the fi ction category. Columbia professor and historian Eric Foner won his fi rst Pulitzer for history for his book “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.” — J.K.

{Continued from page 9}

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12WWD.COM

WWD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011

By Luisa Zargani

MiLan — “Design week is the hottest week of the year,” said gildo Zegna, chief executive officer of the Ermenegildo Zegna group, at the brand’s sleek Via Montenapoleone store during Milan’s salone del Mobile international design and furniture show, which closed sunday. “There is even more commer-cial traffic than during fashion week.”

Zegna presented its new line of lamps and iPad supports by Philippe starck and antonio Citterio for Flos, which also designed the store’s lighting.

The salone posted a 2 percent increase in visitors to 321,320. Carlo guglielmi, president of Cosmit, which organizes the show, noted how “the bond between the exhibition, mainly dedicated to business, and cul-tural events organized in the city and for the city was strengthened over the years. Our goal for the immedi-ate future is to take further steps in this direction.”

Developing a real, substantial business remained a priority outside the salone, too, and even more so for the italian fashion brands that showcased their home collections.

“We really do sell furniture,” said giorgio armani at his Casa store, one of 67 in 45 countries. “i almost didn’t expect it.”

The Casa business posted 10 percent growth in 2010 (the company did not provide a sales figure). armani, who just completed renovations on his latest purchase — an 18th century house in saint Moritz — this year expanded the Casa Collection to offer items for a sec-ond home at the beach or in the mountains. “There is so much potential when you think of second homes, they are so diversified. Just imagine the range, from the Hamptons to the riviera,” said armani.

among the highlights were a linear, wooden cabi-net inspired by a Japanese, 18th century version used to store kimonos and a modern version of a 1934 arm-chair in white leather. “There is a fe-rocious need to have new things, but

one must also stay true to one’s design con-cept,” said the designer, whose second hotel is expected to open in november in Milan, with 80 rooms and located in the same building that houses the Via Manzoni Emporio armani megastore.

in just two years, Diesel has reached sales of 20 million euros, or $28.8 million at current exchange, with its home collection, said owner and founder renzo rosso. “i started the line because i wanted to do business, and the right partners give us cred-ibility,” said rosso. Diesel furniture and lamps are licensed to italian companies Moroso and Foscarini, respectively, and textiles to Zucchi group. standouts were an armchair made with washed fabrics and linen, cinched by a belt and with feet reminiscent of shoe heels, and the brand’s first sofa bed made with layered mattresses, belted down and zipped in.

Diesel’s parent company Only the Brave also con-trols the Martin Margiela brand, which teamed once again with designer nino Cerruti’s Cerruti Baleri furniture line. “The collection has a very strong cohe-sive concept, it’s surreal yet practical,” said Cerruti, pointing to the “undersize” sofas, which refer to Margiela’s oversize and undersize shoes and fashions on the runway, and tables with asymmetric legs, lev-eled by a drawer.

rosso, who has decorated a guest room in his own home with the designer’s line, said the Margiela-designed La Maison Champs-Elysées hotel in Paris will open in June.

Donatella Versace also highlighted the strong ties between her fashion and her home collection, show-cased at Versace’s Via gesù palazzo. “i want the home to be like the Versace dress: Just as i cleaned my fash-ion and evolved it with less ornaments, focusing on cuts and fabrics, i did the same with my home line,” said the designer. The brand’s staple greek frieze embellished vases and consoles, and the Herald arm-chair in bright lacquered red patent shows a golden metal band reminiscent of the asymmetric cuts of her dresses. also of note were comfy circular seats with fluffy alpaca fur, and blue or orange round coffee ta-bles. Versace explained her collection veered towards “curvier and softer shapes, more feminine.”

Likewise, Blumarine’s anna Molinari said she “wanted the brand’s home collection to follow [her] personality and fashion.” Enter the anna, a seat made with her rose-patterned fabrics, coated and hand-treated with a special resin. However, Molinari was adamant that what made the line successful was its “innovation and research, combined with arti-sanal techniques,” and the association with “solid” italian companies for production, such as idea and Compagnia del Cristallo. in addition to the trade-marked treatment for the anna seat, the company worked on giving wood a velour effect, with a special spray paint, so that mirror frames or the swirls on a chair have a softer edge and come in contrasting, colorful hues.

Missoni, a veteran in the home goods sector, added

new items such as the Jellybean lounge in maple, covered with the brand’s staple col-orful patterns. Hermès chose Milan to intro-duce its furniture line created by artistic direc-tor Pierre-alexis Dumas in collaboration with top international design-ers including Enzo Mari, antonio Citterio, Denis Montel and Eric Benqué.

Fendi’s traveling project, Fatto a Mano, also selected Milan design week for its lat-est leg, with designers creat-ing pieces using the company’s scrap materials and working together with Fendi artisans in the brand’s stores.

During the salone, the alexander McQueen bou-tique near Via Montenapoleone showed off the late designer’s creations for The rug Company — one of the last creative projects McQueen undertook before his death in 2010. The handmade rug that appears in the boutique’s window has a military brocade de-sign, originally created in 2001 as embroidery for a coat. The rug features wreath and fern silhouettes, gold fringing, a curled oriental serpent and a skull at the center. The design — made from gold silk yarn — is set against a black wool background. There is another rug — and tapestry cushions — with a skull motif, and cushions covered with hummingbirds and plumes of smoke. During the salone, alexander McQueen and Wallpaper co-hosted an event at the store, with guests including anna Dello russo, alasdhair Willis, and shaun Leane.

MILAN — Across Milan, from the big, raw show spaces of leafy Lambrate, with their peeling paint and concrete floors, to the sprawling Fiera, where brands large and small show their latest wares, designers were in a playful mood.

They mixed the hard with the soft, stitching brightly colored yarn onto rustic wooden chairs at Moroso, and encouraged fair goers to play with magnetic wallpaper at Vij5, or bits of fabric upholstery for benches at Tuyo Design Studio.

“We like playful things, we like our furniture to be a game, and for people to have a close relationship with the object,” said Maria Margarita Garcia Munzer, co-founder of Tuyo. “We want you to do your own thing.”

This year, too, there was a riot of modernist children’s furniture: The German firm Richard Lampert created a desk with a chalkboard top, while designers at the Italian company Magis whipped up modular bunk beds and miniature office cubicles for tiny design lovers.

Here, a selection of some of the standouts of Milan Design Week.— SAMANTHA CONTI

t

SEBASTIAN BRAJKOVIC: The Amsterdam-based designer said he’s fascinated by the relationship between time and motion. His Lathe VIII design is meant to show what a chair looks like in the split second it’s turned from one position to another. He calls this a “metaphysical explanation of movement.” His silver aluminum Lathe Table is inspired by the same idea. It has a grooved top — like a

record — that looks as if it’s spinning.

LAURENS VAN WIERINGEN: Dutch designer Laurens van Wieringen said there is no one theme that sums up his work. “I start with a blank sheet every time, and I just give life to my own weird ideas,” he said. His wooden Buffet Cabinet was inspired by a 1968 Lancia automobile and his Fruit Boom was a treelike frame for apples, pears, oranges and lemons. “A friend’s child honestly thought that fruit originated from the supermarket,” he said. “My aim here is to put fruit back on the living room table.”

LALA LAB: Japanese lighting and furniture designer Yuki Iida has set out to meld the ancient and modern with a series of log-shaped torches that can be used alone or piled on top of each another, bonfire-style. These Fire and Torch lights run on batteries or electricity, and emit a subtle glow. “The electric lamp was invented 130 years ago, but people have been using fire for more than 500,000 years,” he said. “People still love fire as lighting, which is why I wanted to combine them.”

VIJ5: The one annoying thing about wallpaper is that it sticks — and you have to live with it. The Dutch design label Vij5, which works primarily with recycled materials, has a solution in the form of magnetic wallpaper. They glued old wallpaper to strips of magnetic foil, which can then stick to walls that have been treated with a special paint. Commitment-phobes can create a patchwork design of their liking — and alter is just as easily. The company also offered a wool Puzzle Carpet, which can be assembled and reassembled to suit a variety of spaces.

t JARROD LIM DESIGN: There is something quiet, contemplative — and whimsical — about this Singapore-based designer’s furniture. His Idle Chair, a rocking chair made of polished wood and covered in pea-green fabric, would fit well at home with Hansel and Gretel, as would his Butler Table, which has three spindlelike legs. “I take a humanistic, emotional approach to design: My priority is always how a product makes you feel, instead of how it looks,” said Lim. “And I wanted these pieces in particular to be very homely, cozy and comfortable.”

LIVING DIVANI: The presentation this year was a study in anthropomorphism: Junya Ishigami’s lightweight white steel chairs with their irregular proportions look as if they have been drawn with a child’s hand. Ishigami said he created the chairs — tall, short and medium-size — to suit a person’s many moods. “It’s also fun to decide which is your favorite chair. Like a family sitting around a table, so the chairs are arranged around the table,” he said.

ANNE KIEFFER: Practicality is of utmost importance to the Luxembourg-based designer Anne Kieffer, whose wooden cabinets have pleated, colored fabric closures at the front. “They’re easy

to wash, and you can change the colors if you get tired of them,” said the designer. “I think the fabric gives them a more personal, cozy touch.”

t

TUYO DESIGN STUDIO: Wooden benches that can look different from one moment to the next are among the latest designs at Norway’s Tuyo. The benches come

with colored, rectangular fabric covers of various sizes that can be mixed or matched.

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Standouts of Design WeekDESIGN

Salone Gets More Fashionable

Armani Casa’s white leather armchair.

Items from Versace’s home collection.

An Hermès table.

For more Images, see

WWD.com/fashion-news.