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SEE PAGE 4

SEE PAGE 12

Italian ClassWith their first fragrance project together, Ermenegildo Zegna and the Aramis and Designer Fragrances division of the Estée Lauder

Cos. Inc. are aiming to put a couture spin on the men’s scent market. The quintet of fragrances — to be priced at $195 each for a 4.2-oz. bottle — will launch in December. For more, see page 6.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00

WWD

RON VS. TERRY

J.C. Penney Wins RoundIn Macy’s-Martha Fight

By EVAN CLARK

NEW YORK — Score one for Ron Johnson and J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

A New York state judge ruled Penney’s can move ahead, for now, with its plan to set up Martha Stewart shops next spring. That’s a setback for the Terry J. Lundgren-led Macy’s Inc., which sells Martha Stewart goods under a 2006 agreement and sued Penney’s this month to stop it from moving ahead with the home goods brand.

Penney’s lawyers agreed not to vio-late the terms of a prior injunction pro-tecting Macy’s agreement to sell certain Martha Stewart-branded goods exclu-sively, including housewares, cook-ware, bedding, bath and kitchen tex-tiles, home decor and certain furniture. Judge Jeffrey Oing said he would con-solidate Macy’s cases against Penney’s and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. A trial is set to start in November.

Penney’s lawyer, Mark Epstein, of Munger, Tolles & Olson, painted the dispute as a broader battle between retail competitors.

“The real concern [for Macy’s] is J.C. Penney is on the rise — we’re trans-forming,” he said.

Under the guidance of Johnson, who is chief executive officer, Penney’s has eliminated coupons, streamlined its operations and is trading the de-partment store format for one cen-tered around a group of specialty shops. The financial toll of that rein-vention has been worse than expected and comparable-store sales fell 20.3 percent in the first half.

Although still operating at a different price point, Penney’s approach is put-ting it in more direct competition with Macy’s, and Oing was careful not to get between the two.

“It’s one thing to enjoin MSLO be-cause I believe the company is sort of

By KELLY WETHERILLE

TOKYO — Once the titans of the Japanese retail scene, department stores are now faced with the challenge of maintaining a strong customer base against stiff competition from online and smaller-scale, specialized retailers. As Japan’s luxury market remains largely stagnant, many of these stores are forced to look for new revenue streams that will set them apart from their competitors, while at the same time helping the com-panies stay profitable.

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd., the country’s largest department store op-

erator that was formed by a merger be-tween then-competitors Mitsukoshi and Isetan and which operates over 50 stores throughout Asia, is one such retailer that is finding ways to adapt to Japan’s changing retail climate.

Here, the company’s president and chief executive officer, Hiroshi Onishi, talks about the changing habits of Japanese consumers, what the future holds for the nation’s department stores, and the ways his group is adapting its strategy to set itself apart and remain competitive.

WWD: Earlier this year Isetan Mitsukoshi

Isetan Mitsukoshi Reinvents

PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE; STYLED BY AMY LOMACCHIO

SIXTH SCENTSOSCAR DE LA

RENTA LAUNCHES

ESSENTIAL

LUXURIES, A

FRAGRANCE

SEXTET. PAGE 7

AUGUST HEATRETAILERS SAW

SURPRISINGLY STRONG COMPARABLE-STORE SALES

THIS MONTH, DRIVEN BY BACK-TO-SCHOOL AND PROMOTIONS. PAGE 3

WWD.COMWWD friday, august 31, 20122

To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is firsTname_lasTname@fairchildfashion.com, using The individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2012 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 204, NO. 46. FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, October and December, and two additional issues in February, March, April, August, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For all request for reprints of articles please contact The YGS Group at condenast@theygsgroup.com, or call 800-501-9571. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

on WWD.CoM

the Briefing Boxin Today’s WWd

A New York state judge ruled J.C. Penney Co. Inc. could set up Martha Stewart shops, denying Macy’s Inc.’s request for an injunction. PAGE 1 Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd.’s Hiroshi Onishi talks about the changing habits of Japanese consumers and the ways his group is trying to remain competitive. PAGE 1 August same-store sales were stronger than expected, but analysts remain cautious about holiday spending. PAGE 3 Carrefour revealed Thursday it had narrowed the first-half net loss compared with a year earlier and detailed elements of its turnaround plan. PAGE 3 Ermenegildo Zegna is aiming to put a decisive point of view on the men’s fragrance category with a quintet of scents called Essenze by Ermenegildo Zegna. PAGE 6 The Laura Mercier Ovarian Cancer Fund has been established to fight the disease that is expected to kill 15,500 American women this year. PAGE 6 Oscar de la Renta is launching a sextet of fragrances, all based on places he loves. PAGE 7 A spate of hot beauty items across the nail polish, mascara and skin-care categories promise to boost back-to-school beauty sales by 8 to 10 percent. PAGE 8 Valentino on Thursday feted the Venice Film Festival as well as a new eyewear line designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. PAGE 9 Uniqlo is kicking off the fall season with the latest installment of its “People” campaign. PAGE 9 When it comes to politicians’ wives, it seems as though austerity is the new luxury. PAGE 11 Moncler will mark its 60th anniversary this year with a series of comics featuring MonDuck, the brand’s iconic duck character that appears on the label’s tags. PAGE 12

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FASHION: This year, the Jeffrey Fashion Cares fashion show was held at the American Cancer Society Center, and raised a little over $600,000 for the Atlanta AIDS Fund and the Susan B. Komen for the Cure Greater Atlanta Affiliate. For more, see WWD.com/fashion-news.

By KRISTI ELLIS

TAMPA, Fla. — As the presidential campaign switches to Charlotte, N.C., next week for the Democratic convention, political observers, party loyalists and industry of-ficials said Republicans and Mitt Romney at least played well to their base at their convention here, while it remains to be seen how successful they were in sway-ing undecided voters.

Over the course of the week, Republicans focused on the econo-my, reducing the deficit and balanc-ing the budget, criticizing President Obama’s signature issues of health care and stimulus programs, re-pealing burdensome regulations and championing women’s issues.

Industry representatives gen-erally felt the message from the convention was positive and would resonate with voters.

“I think the interesting strate-gic thing about rolling out Romney [on the national stage] is, he isn’t comfortable talking about himself in soft ways,” said Bill Hughes, se-nior vice president for government relations at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. “The presen-tation they developed and the way he presents himself is ‘Look, I am not here for you to like me, but I am here for you to trust me and I am here to get the job done.’”

“It’s not a likability contest,” Hughes said. “President Obama is a very likable person. It’s a question about who will get the job done.”

To that end, Hughes said he be-lieves Republicans did a “good job of focusing on the economy and our debt situation and talking about the need for solutions for both.”

“From a retail point of view, we view that as a positive,” he added. “We do believe consumer confi-dence and the willingness to spend is affected over concerns of fiscal matters, and of course growing the economy and creating jobs also helps us as retailers.”

Kevin Burke, president and chief executive officer of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said one of the strong messages delivered by Republicans was the impact of regulations on businesses.

“This is raw Republican meat — get rid of regulators and regu-lations. That was the same mes-sage under Ronald Reagan and through two Bush administrations: Regulations are important but don’t overdo it,” Burke said. “The message that is being conveyed is that a Romney administration will not only repeal some [Obama] regu-lations, but also take a very strong

look at the efficacy of those regula-tions to see whether they work or whether they are harming industry or consumers or whether they are too repetitive. That is the balance they have to make.

“For him to be successful and convince people that he is a great leader, he has got to get beyond the image he helped nurture,” Burke said. “He seems remote at times and gives robotic answers. But behind all that is a smart guy. Americans want a tough but fair president who has compassion. He has to show his compassion-ate side, something that Obama has never had trouble with. I think Romney has to show he has com-passion in order for the American people to believe this guy is the real deal.”

Party loyalists, meanwhile, gave the thumbs-up to the convention, the message and their nominees.

Casey Curry, an alternate delegate from Waco, Tex., and a federal govern-ment employee who would like to see a smaller govern-ment, less regula-tion and an overhaul of the tax system, said, “The more conservative grass roots see Romney as a big-spending Republican like George W. Bush. [Vice presidential nominee Paul] Ryan gives [Romney] credibility.”

Elton Milstead, a delegate and county commissioner from Nacogdoches, Tex., who initially supported former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said, “Ryan helps Romney. With Mitt’s business ex-perience and Ryan’s ability to cut a budget, it’s a perfect team.”

But while party loyalists were revved up by speeches designed to stir the base — from Gov. Chris Christie (R., N.J.) and Ryan, who accepted his nomination in a speech here Wednesday night — some political analysts said Romney might have a hard time getting a message across to the broader public.

Romney faced a significant chal-lenge Thursday night in his speech accepting the nomination in the wake of criticism over his chang-ing stance on some key issues and attack ads by Democrats branding him as a heartless business tycoon with little regard for the middle class. Those are the images, fair or not, that the Republican National Committee and Romney surrogates have tried to counter at the three-

day convention, while at the same time going on the offensive, attack-ing Obama’s health care, regula-tions and handling of the economy.

“They have tried to present themselves with a human, com-passionate face in contrast to the image that they are hard-core, pro-trade and don’t care about working Americans,” said Marick Masters, a business professor and director of labor at Wayne State University. “I think…they have had a good op-portunity to present that message to the people…but it is really up to Romney to present himself in such a light to dispel any doubts people might have about his character and his passion for people.”

Marick said he believed the Romney-Ryan ticket will get a

bounce at the end of the conven-tion. “The ques-tion is whether Democrats will get a bounce, and that remains to be seen,” Marick said. “They don’t have much that is new to present, but they are bringing out more popular figures from the past, particularly Bill Clinton, to play a large role at the convention.”

Dave Redlawsk, political science professor and di-

rector of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, said, “Romney is having trouble with presenting himself as a good alternative to Obama. There is a lot of discontent out there, and on the personal side, that he is just widely disliked and not well trust-ed. The message Republicans are trying to pound home is: ‘You have no choice. Things are not going well. You have to vote for this guy.’ That was at least Christie’s attempt. But Romney has run away from every attempt to be pinned down on anything.”

Redlawsk said he doesn’t expect either side to get much of a push from the conventions.

“The problem is we are jump-ing right into the Democratic con-vention, and I think that the old sense of that old convention style bounce is unlikely this year for either side,” Redlawsk said. “For the Republicans, it is because the Democrats will stomp on their mes-saging immediately.…For Obama, I don’t know that there is much room for a bounce, to the extent [that] this election is tight.”

� —�WITH�CONTRIBUTIONS�� FROM�ERIK�MAZA

Republicans Deliver Message to Core

By ARNOLD J. KARR

BELK INC. CONTINUED to ex-pand its net income and sales in the second quarter, although at a slower pace than in the first three months of the year.

In the quarter ended July 28, the Charlotte, N.C.-based department store retailer’s net income expand-ed 9.6 percent to $27.4 million from $25 million. Sales were up 4.3 per-cent, to $867.9 million from $831.8 million, and grew 4.9 percent on a same-store basis. Cost of goods sold increased at the same rate as sales, leaving gross margin essentially un-changed at 33.3 percent of sales.

The company identified men’s wear, children’s and home as the merchandise categories with the highest rates of growth.

“This marked our 10th con-secutive quarter of comparable-store sales growth,” said Tim Belk, chairman and chief ex-ecutive officer. “The results are aided by investments in the busi-ness, including branding, store remodels, technology and a pro-gram on service excellence.”

He added that, in support of a rapidly growing e-commerce busi-ness, the company in June opened a 515,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Jonesville, S.C., repre-senting a $4.5 million investment

for the firm and the expected cre-ation of 124 new jobs in the area.

Following a strong first-quarter performance, year-to-date sales and earnings grew faster than those for the most recent quarter. Net income for the six months rose 19 percent to $67.7 million from $56.9 million as revenues expand-ed 5.8 percent to $1.78 billion from $1.68 billion. Same-store sales were up 6.2 percent with gross margin at 33.5 percent of sales for both periods.

With 303 units in 16 Southeastern states, Belk is the largest privately held department store operator in the U.S. Its five-year investment budget for areas including store remodeling, ser-vice enhancements, marketing and e-commerce is about $600 million.

Belk Net Up 9.6% in Q2

Mitt Romney

Behind the scenes of the Jeffrey Fashion Cares fashion show.

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w31a002a.indd 2 8/30/12 8:05 PM08302012200552

WWD.COM

By ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

RETAILERS GoT an unexpected August lift.Tax-free holidays, eye-catching promotions and fresh

back-to-school inventory gave consumers an excuse to shop last month — and shop they did, giving a nice boost to the back-to-school season.

But recession-weary analysts remain cautious about holiday and it’s not clear how much profit margin re-tailers had to give up to draw shoppers into stores with price cuts. And despite the strong showing in August, the S&P Retail Index fell 0.5 percent, or 2.98 points, to 646.50 Thursday on a down day for the market.

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, August sales rose by 6 percent, which was higher than the 3.5 to 4.5 percent growth it expected. That momentum came off of July’s sound 4.6 percent increase.

Even so, retailers might be better off erring on the side of caution. The ICSC anticipates a deceleration in September in the form of a 3 to 4 percent comp gain.

Taking it a step further, Daniel Farmer, principal in the retail practice at A.T. Kearney, added that it’s too early to draw any sweeping conclusions about the

strength of retail — much less holiday — based on the solid b-t-s season.

“We’re seeing a decoupling of holiday and back-to-school,” Farmer said. “It’s pretty difficult to see how it’s a predictor of holiday.”

The analyst said the month’s sales were aided by bet-ter weather conditions and more aggressive discounts.

“Retailers saw traffic wasn’t coming in so they ramped up promotions in July,” he said, adding that while most chains were able to get rid of excess inven-tory, teen retailers still likely have too much.

While that is partially linked to teen shopping hab-its — teens tend to revamp their wardrobes after they see what their friends are wearing — it also has to do with increasing gas and food prices. older teens may be sensitive to those price increases, but waiting to shop in September might also give retailers a bit of a boost next month, Farmer said.

“The momentum seems to be fairly neutral in re-tail,” added Michael McNamara, vice president of MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. “It seems like con-sumers will spread their budget around differently, de-pending on the month. People are picking places where they spend.”

Although McNamara said his company, which pro-vides research data on consumer spending, saw an 8.7 percent pickup in women’s apparel this August over last August, it’s premature to “pop the Champagne.”

“I would be cautious to look at some of [August comp] numbers and project into holiday season,” he said. “There are macro factors that aren’t front of mind that the [presidential] election will bring forward. You’re going to have a very different news cycle in November and December. This probably isn’t the kind of p.r. that the retailers are looking for during the holiday season.”

McNamara referred to the fiscal cliff issue that will face lawmakers at the end of the year and said that should get consumers thinking about their spending habits.

For the time being, McNamara pointed to the strength at retailers offering value — and great footwear.

With its strong footwear offering, Nordstrom Inc. posted a 21 percent jump in same-store sales in August.

While those high-flying results were due mainly to the shift of its anniversary sale into August, the retailer has seen strong growth throughout the downturn.

“We’re on a huge footwear rebound, which began last fall,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners. “If you were to peel apart some of [August’s] numbers, footwear at Macy’s and Nordstrom has been stellar.”

Johnson also noted that apparel is on the rebound, as retailers are cycling in more colorful, hipster-inspired fashions, including funky patterned denim.

Some of those fashions are trickling into the Gap Inc.’s merchandise offering, and it’s paying divi-dends, as old Navy, Banana Republic and the Gap posted comp increases of 12 percent, 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

The TJX Cos. Inc. and Ross Stores Inc., both with 8 percent comp increases, have also maintained a strong

fashion offering at an accessible price.“The consumer will shop for what’s compelling, but

they want to see that they are getting their money’s worth,” said Kurt Salmon retail strategist Alden Lury, who noted that despite the economic troubles and po-litical uncertainties, Americans are still consumers at heart.

“People like to shop and back-to-school gives them a reason to spend, even in the face of uncertainty,” Lury said. “It seems as though consumers are telling us that when they have an excuse, they’ll spend.”

3WWD friday, august 31, 2012

august Comparable sales

aug.2012 aug.2011 july2012 june2012 %Change %Change %Change %Change

DePaRTMenTSTOReS Bon-Ton 2.2 -4.7 0.0 -0.8

Kohl’s 3.4 -1.9 1.7 -4.2

macy’s 5.1 5.0 4.1 1.2

nordsTrom 21.0 6.7 0.9 8.1

sTagesTores 6.5 -1.7 5.3 3.3

aveRage: 7.6 0.7 2.6 2.3

SPeCIalTyChaInS BananarepuBlic 8.0 -4.0 8.0 5.0

BaTh&BodyWorKs 6.0 8.0 17.0 2.0

BucKle 4.5 8.3 -0.1 -2.5

caTo 0.0 -3.0 -2.0 -10.0

gap(u.s.sTores) 9.0 -8.0 13.0 4.0

oldnavy 12.0 -4.0 12.0 1.0

perfumania -2.3 7.4 3.2 -3.7

vicToria’ssecreT 9.0 16.0 12.0 11.0

WeTseal -18.3 5.5 -15.6 -9.0

aveRage: 3.1 2.9 5.3 0.6

MaSSMeRChanTS

cosTco* 6.0 7.0 7.0 5.0

rosssTores 8.0 4.0 7.0 7.0

sTeinmarT 5.6 -7.5 2.8 -0.5

TargeT 4.2 4.1 3.1 2.1

TJXcos. 8.0 1.0 7.0 7.0

aveRage: 6.4 1.7 5.4 4.1

Tally: up 16 11 15 12

flaT 1 0 1 0

doWn 2 8 3 7

TOTal 19 19 19 19

source:companyreporTs*eXcludesfuelsales.

august Comp Crux

BY JoELLE DIDERICh

PARIS — Could Carrefour finally be turn-ing a corner?

The French retailer’s shares closed up 6.7 percent at 16.81 euros, or $21.14, on the Paris Bourse on Thursday after the compa-ny revealed it had narrowed the first-half net loss compared with a year earlier and detailed elements of its turnaround plan, including 600 job cuts.

“I am very confident,” Carrefour chief executive officer Georges Plassat said in a three-hour press conference, during which he often displayed a combative streak. “We’re still here, but maybe we’re going to change our game. We were at the back of the court. We may step up to the net.”

Analysts hailed the figures as the first sign of change since Plassat took over in May from his predecessor Lars olofsson, who struggled to turn around Carrefour’s underperforming hypermarket business and presided over a string of profit warnings.

The world’s second-largest retailer behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Carrefour posted a loss of 31 million euros, or $40.2 million, in the six months ended June 30 versus a loss of 249 million euros, or $349.3 million, during the same period last year.

The retailer attributed the loss mainly to the cost of selling its stake in Greek super-market chain Marinopoulos and closing its two stores in Singapore. Not including dis-continued operations, Carrefour would have posted a net profit of 199 million euros, or $258.3 million, compared with a loss of 879 million euros, or $1.2 billion, during the cor-responding period in 2011. Dollar figures have been converted at average exchange rates for the periods to which they refer.

First-half operating profit fell 8.2 percent to 769 million euros, or $998 million, exceed-ing analysts’ expectations. Sales rose 0.9 per-cent to 38.8 billion euros, or $50.38 billion, as gains in Latin America were offset by contin-ued sluggishness in its core European mar-kets, in particular southern Europe.

Plassat said Carrefour would offer vol-untary redundancy to between 500 and 600 administrative staff at its headquarters, but added he did not predict further job cuts at this stage.

he declined to provide detailed figures for his turnaround plan, saying his efforts would be judged on the company’s financial results. Reiterating comments he made at the annual general meeting in June, Plassat said the process would likely take three years.

Chief financial officer Pierre-Jean Sivignon said the company would no lon-

ger issue guidance, but simply comment on market consensus estimates. he added that Carrefour remained comfortable with analysts’ forecasts of full-year operating profits of 2.03 billion euros to 2.09 billion euros, or $2.55 billion to $2.63 billion.

Plassat confirmed capital expenditures would total some 1.6 billion euros, or $2 billion, in 2012. he acknowledged this amount would have to rise next year in order to fund Carrefour’s ambitions, but said he was opposed to a capital increase.

Instead, the company will need to track and eliminate waste and trim finan-cial costs by curbing debt, Plassat said. Carrefour’s net debt totaled 9.6 billion euros, or $12.5 billion, at the close of the first half, down 9.6 percent year-on-year.

“our debt is manageable, but it does not give us any margin for maneuver to turn around the company, so we have to work on it,” he said. “We have to improve our pro-duction of operational cash flow.”

Plassat said Carrefour was mulling whether to stay in Indonesia and Turkey, where it has local partners, but he pledged to continue investing in the company’s core markets: Europe, Brazil and China.

The executive also remains committed to the nonfood category, which he estimat-ed accounts for around 30 percent of sales

in Carrefour’s hypermarkets. Unlike olofsson, a Nestlé veteran,

Plassat has a strong track record in ready-to-wear, having joined Carrefour from fashion group Vivarte, which owns brands includ-ing the Minelli and André footwear chains and the Kookaï and Naf-Naf women’s wear stores. Addressing the prospects of the tex-tiles division for the first time, he expressed confidence that this sector could grow.

“Currently, the average weight of tex-tiles in global store sales is less than 8 per-cent, but when you look at it in terms of ab-solute value, it remains an extremely large business, and I am convinced that, by rein-tegrating this into our core competencies and focusing on great products, which are not necessarily in competition with those of specialists, we can very clearly increase this share,” he said.

“What we have to do with textiles in hy-permarkets is to have better stock manage-ment,” he said, noting that unpredictable weather had left many retailers holding large inventories. “one of the strengths of hypermarkets is that they can make a sig-nificant portion of their offer less seasonal.”

The executive’s approach to textiles is part of an overall drive to simplify its business, with fewer products on shelves and everyday low prices on basic foods. Promotions increasingly will target high-demand branded goods and advertising will no longer be limited to traditional media, Plassat explained.

Carrefour Turnaround Shows Progress

Retailers Post Strong Aug. Comps

UP BEAT: Among the retailers tracked by Thomson Reuters, only two — teen retailers The Wet Seal Inc. and Zumiez Inc. — reported August comparable-store sales results below analysts’ expectations, producing an 88 percent “beat” percentage that was the highest in TR’s more than decadelong history of monitoring monthly sales. Wet Seal, poised for a proxy fight over the composition of its board, was expected to drop 17 percent and fell 18.3 percent, while Zumiez was up 3.7 percent for the month, a point shy of its anticipated finish. Drug retailers Rite Aid and Walgreens report August results next week. Without them, the median increase for the month was 3.6 percent, nearly twice the 2 percent increase expected. For the fourth month in a row, the nation’s two largest off-price chains, The TJX Cos. Inc. and Ross Stores Inc., registered identical comp increases, with August’s gains crossing the finish line at 8 percent.

CALENDAR CURL: August results in August? Stores generally report their monthly results on the first Thursday of the subsequent month. But with the irregularities of retailing’s 4-5-4 calendar, into which the industry’s 13-week quarters are divided, occasionally the tally for a four-week month falls at the tail end of the month being reported. And, as the peculiar mathematics of the Gregorian calendar would have it, the “last Thursday” phenomenon already has occurred twice in 2012 — in May as well as August — and will happen once again, at the end of November, before the year is through. It never happened in 2010 or 2011 and won’t occur in 2013 or 2014, either.

� —�ARNOLD�J.�KARR

w31a003a.indd 3 8/30/12 6:54 PM08302012185602

4 WWD FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012

Isetan Mitsukoshi Evolves With the Timesopened some smaller-format con-cept stores, such as the beauty store Isetan Mirror and Isetan Haneda Store, aimed at business travelers passing through Haneda Airport. Why have you begun fo-cusing on this type of retail out-let, and how do these fit into your overall strategy?Hiroshi Onishi: Well, for one thing, the [current] circumstances are such that we can’t open a new department store. This is a bal-ance of business and nourishing [customer relationships], so vari-ous channels are popping up in many places where we can do commerce with customers while also maintaining a connection. If you ask where the portion of sales that department stores have lost has gone, it’s online, to consumer electronics [stores], to drugstores…customers are shop-ping in a variety of places. From that point of view, it’s true that we’ve come to an age when de-partment stores as a whole can’t win. The department store busi-ness has become quite difficult, and each one’s strategy and mis-sion is changing.

In our case, it’s natural that from now on we continue with department stores, as I don’t think department stores will disappear from Japan. So for one thing, as we once again redefine what a department store is, we will also [focus on] small and medium-size stores, as this is one of our strengths. Specifically, we’re talking about stores between about 400 or 500 square meters [4,305 or 5,380 square feet] and 1,000 square meters [10,764 square feet], and in certain cases up to 2,000 or 3,000 square meters [21,528 or 32,292 square feet]. So from now on, we want to continue expand-ing by creating new channels, new settings for customers of about that size to showcase our strongest products and aspects.

In the case of cosmetics, they are the shortest [use] products for customers, and they aren’t affected much by business con-ditions because they’re a neces-sity. So we started with cosmet-ics for now. And there isn’t much point if it ends after just one or two stores, so within about three years we’d like the [over-all] scale to reach that of about one department store, at which point…recognition will increase and we can continue with the next step toward growth.

WWD: How was the concept of the Isetan Mirror beauty stores conceived?H.O.: About six or seven years ago — and at that time I had nothing to do with this — the company had proposed making Sephora-style stores in Japan. But in the end it was scrapped because [it was judged] not to be profitable and also, at that time, cosmetics manufacturers didn’t answer yes [to the concept]. Then three years ago when I became president, I

saw the documents and I thought, even if it’s not Sephora, I think we can do this kind of thing. Plus, cosmetics are very difficult to buy at department stores — it’s difficult to enter, and it feels like a consultation, so [for custom-ers] who know what they want to buy, it’s not an environment where they can [easily] choose products, so they don’t buy them. Compared with people who buy women’s clothing at Isetan, only 70 percent buy cosmetics, which means there’s a problem with the way we sell cosmetics at depart-ment stores. I’ve always had that feeling, so we thought we could create an environment where people could more freely pur-chase [cosmetics]. We didn’t think we could do it right away, but the reaction of the companies we’re dealing with was extremely good, so we were able to realize it rela-tively quickly.

WWD: And what about the Haneda store? Was that some-thing that was originally pro-posed long ago as well?H.O.: Honestly speaking, this one came from the property. When Haneda [Airport] was being de-veloped and evolving, I looked at a map. There’s a road called the Tokyo No. 8 Ring Road, and be-yond that is Futako Tamagawa, where Takashimaya has a hugely successful shopping center. But after that, there are no other shopping centers. It’s not in the outskirts, and it’s also not in the city [center], but it’s just be-tween the two. So I started think-ing about what Haneda would become in the future, because if you keep going in that direction you get to Haneda and before Haneda there are a lot of open plots. So because of this — and I probably won’t be around at this point — but in 10 or 15 years perhaps, that area won’t just be an airport, but I think it will be-come a commercial complex. So I wanted to create a foothold for us there with a highly original shop, rather than the usual sou-venir shops that Mitsukoshi has had [at airports] until now.

At first I thought since we were already doing the cos-metics store and the timing coincided with that, it would be good to make this a cos-metics store as well. However, upon looking at different types of data, I realized that at air-ports there are many male customers — businessmen. So I thought we should try [a store] based on the concept of gentlemen’s travel and general goods. But having said that, we also thought it would be good to link this with souvenirs, food products for families, a café and other such things. The way in which the [target] audience shops is not just because they happen to be on a business trip. But the number of people who actually treat it as one of the places they shop, as one of the places they buy the things they need, has increased a lot. So the frequency [of customers’ visits] is very high. The amount of traffic is about 30 percent less than I thought it would be, but the number of people who actually make a purchase and the value of individual pur-chases are high. So in a store of about 800 square meters [8,611

square feet], if we can make 500 million yen [$6.35 million] in sales per year, we’ll make a profit. So under existing condi-tions, we’re able to successful-ly do business with extremely limited customers.

In the future, for cosmetics, we really want to open more stores fairly speedily, but in the case of Isetan Haneda Store, I have a feeling that airport areas, not just in Japan, will change from now, so we want to open stores in those areas before it’s too late. But we’re not in a big rush.

WWD: You mentioned you want to open more beauty stores fair-ly quickly. Do you have any idea when or where the next ones will be opening?H.O.: The next one will open on Sept. 13 in Omiya [outside Tokyo]. After that, nothing’s been decided, but we’d like to open about five stores per year. For the first year or two we’ll focus on Tokyo, but in the fu-ture, if possible, we’d also like to open stores in Osaka, Fukuoka and other big cities. At the mo-ment we’re thinking we’ll focus on [shopping centers attached to] train stations. In the suburbs, Aeon, Hankyu and Sumitomo Corp. have started similar things, so we’d like to concentrate on train stations and big cities in other regional areas.

WWD: Aside from the cosmetics stores and the Haneda store, are you planning on opening any other smaller-format stores under different concepts?

H.O.: We’re thinking of the next one now. However, I think it’s best if we do it by fitting togeth-er our own strengths with cus-tomers’ needs. So, for example, maybe a little down the line [we might do] something with food, or something that creates a fu-sion between food and fashion, also maybe something [having to do with] living or home wares. We’re using a lot of different cat-egories, so I want to move for-ward by pulling out our strengths from within those. But if the categories get too spread out it could actually get quite confus-ing, so I think it would be good to just have an additional two or three types [of stores].

On a broader note, for exam-ple, until now department stores have been at our core, so proper-ties we’ve developed have been at least 20,000 square meters [215,278 square feet] — for ex-ample, when we were looking to open a men’s building, there were offers for spaces of around 10,000 square meters [107,639 square feet], but at that time we didn’t have the material for that [size of a store]. But from now on, I think we’ll be able to answer a lot of de-velopers’ different needs — 1,000 square meters [10,764 square feet] would be OK, and 5,000 square meters [53,820 square feet] would be OK. In certain cases, if we combined different things, even 10,000 square meters would be OK. I think our types of stores will really increase.

WWD: You mentioned earlier that even though it’s a difficult

time for department stores in Japan, you don’t think they’ll disappear completely. What do you think the role is of the Japanese department store in today’s retail landscape? H.O.: Retail sales [overall in Japan] are about 135 trillion yen [$1.72 trillion], and depart-ment store sales are 6 trillion [$76.35 billion], so the scale of [department store] sales is only about 5 percent. Web businesses have now exceeded 7 trillion [$89.08 billion], so the position of department stores — if we’re speaking in extremes — for cus-tomers, is such that they no lon-ger really need them. The rea-son for this is that department stores ourselves, we didn’t do our best to [promote] our own strengths, our own intentions, our own originality, our own in-dividuality. We came to depend on suppliers and we didn’t take responsibility for the risk, so we all ended up being the same. So within that system, if everywhere is the same, there’s no need for customers to go to other stores and, of course, that’s why de-partment stores have become broken. Because we don’t take responsibility for the risk, naturally we also don’t get the returns, so sales decrease and profits decrease, and that’s how we got into the current condi-tion, which is no good.

For us, the problem is clear, so we are taking drastic mea-sures by taking on the risk, add-ing [our own] products in order to reverse the homogenization [of department stores] by push-ing our own individuality with products only found at Isetan Mitsukoshi and things that only Isetan Mitsukoshi can do. By doing this, we want to revive the department store.

WWD: Do you have any plans to add new department stores or close existing ones?H.O.: No, we have no plans like that. We won’t be closing any stores. As for new stores, even in rural areas department stores need to have at least about 20,000 square meters, and that’s something we can’t eas-ily do right now. But we have an oversupply nationwide, so espe-cially in rural areas, the ques-tion is whether we can survive even with this oversupply. So now it’s difficult to think about new stores. As we revive the de-partment stores, our strategy for new growth will be to increase the number of small- and medi-um-sized stores of up to about 10,000 square meters.

However, internationally it’s a bit different. We want to open slightly larger stores — ones that will become key stores for us — in other countries. We have quite a few stores [internationally], but they’re all small sized, so the re-turn, or impact, is small.

WWD: What countries in particu-lar are you looking at?H.O.: They say that in China the economic environment is ex-tremely severe and that there are high risks [of doing busi-ness there], but even so I think there’s still a market there. Unfortunately, in China our Shanghai store is only about 15,000 square meters [161,459 square feet], and for department

This is purely a guess, but I feel like customers are

spending more money to buy things with value, things that

have real quality.— HIROSHI ONISHI, ISETAN MITSUKOSHI

5%DEPARTMENT STORES’ SHARE OF

RETAIL SALES IN JAPAN.

{Continued from page one}

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stores if you don’t have 25,000 or 30,000 [269,098 to 322,917 square feet] then you can’t have all the categories. So I want to keep that as a possibility. Also, our Singapore store reached 40 years old last year, so it has a degree of familiarity. But it’s unfortunate that our most recognized store is only 15,000 square meters. Takashimaya has a store of about 35,000 square meters [376,737 square feet], which leads to big-ger profits. So I want to look for a store that will be more of a re-source [for profits].

WWD: After last year’s earth-quake, do you think the shop-ping habits of Japanese consum-ers have changed?H.O.: The earthquake was in March, so in March, April and May, numbers were quite bad be-cause of the effects of the earth-quake. Then we slowly started seeing signs that things were im-proving, and it’s true that at that time we were able to sell expen-sive things little by little. I get the feeling that this was perhaps because customers’ mind-sets changed after the earthquake and they became more interest-ed in things that reflected emo-tional bonds, things with value, and not just monetary value.

Department stores have a price line, which is the price range that sells the most. For ex-ample, for women’s clothing the price range around 23,000 yen [$292.68] sells the best at Isetan. And that maybe has about 25 to 35 percent of the [total] share, so if there are 100 people about a third of them buy things for 23,000 yen. This price line is extremely im-portant. It’s like the cornerstone of a store. But after the Lehman shock [in 2008] it was all about price, but we didn’t have any products that were low-priced. We continued offering things that were good [quality] and not just cheap. The result of that was that the share of things below the price line increased a little overall. But on the other hand, after the earthquake, the share of things above the price line has in-creased slightly. This means that the [average] purchase price per customer has risen. This is purely a guess, but I feel like customers are spending more money to buy things with value, things that have real quality.

Newspapers have written simplified things, such as that watches are selling well at de-partment stores or that precious stones are selling, but I don’t think it’s that simple. Of course those things are selling, but we’re talking about things that only have about a four or five percent share at department stores. More than that, it’s about a sales increase among good quality things that are priced just slightly above the things that really sell well. And I think that’s the reason why retail sales aren’t really increasing, but they are relatively stable. There isn’t really any good news — the strong yen, the economic prob-lems in Europe, the Japanese political situation — so in com-parison, consumption is rela-

tively stable. But the number of customers entering the stores has decreased. I imagine that compared to last year [before the earthquake], the number of customers has dropped by about three percent, and I think it will continue to decrease. However, the number of prod-ucts one person buys and the total value of the purchase has increased, so currently we’re just able to keep good numbers because of this multiplication.

WWD: In the future, do you think people will continue buying more, even as customer num-bers continue to dwindle?H.O.: I think the number of cus-tomers will fall another 3 to 5 percent, so in order to be able to make our sales, on average we need to get customers to pur-chase about 1.2 to 1.5 times as much as they have until now. So our value policy is extremely im-portant. If we can make products at a higher price point that have a different value, people will think that even though it’s a little more expensive, it’s better to buy that one. Department stores have a lot of customers who buy [prod-ucts for] 23,000 yen, but if some of those people think that some-thing for 26,000 yen [$330.86] has more than a 10 percent value in-crease, the average purchase per customer will increase, which is extremely important. Our price policy, which is very important, is not to sell cheap things, but to sell good [quality] things at a price that is slightly higher. It’s like value added things, so it has to be something that has an impact on the customer to make that extra 3,000 yen [$38.18] between 23,000 and 26,000 yen worth it.

WWD: In the past, international luxury brands have been very important for Japanese retailers. Do you think that has changed?H.O.: I think they’re still impor-

tant, but the expansion of luxury brands in China, Taiwan and Korea over the past year or two — they’ve expanded with tens of stores at once. The reason for that is that they can make a store that they [the brands] them-selves like, and they can show [the brands’] world. But inside a department store they’re lim-ited. Especially in the case of Isetan Mitsukoshi, we’re incred-ibly strict about how brands are displayed in our stores, so for them, maybe department stores have lost their appeal. So maybe [it’s better] to have freestanding stores — of course in the case of Japan, even if they open a free-standing store in Ginza the real estate is expensive so they may not be able to make a return [on investment]. But looking at it globally, in China and Taiwan it’s a free-for-all of store openings. I think it’s true that the reality is shifting to that [region], but I don’t think international luxury brands will leave Japan, and I don’t think their importance to department stores has changed.

As individual cases, there are brands whose value or qual-ity has increased and I think they’re very important to Isetan Mitsukoshi. And there are also brands that haven’t changed their quality over a history of many years, so it depends on the item. But speaking as a total, I think these brands will always have fans and they’ll al-

ways need to be a part of [our] plan. But we want to evolve with these brands within Isetan Mitsukoshi’s own concept.

WWD: How do you expect the rest of this year to shape up for Isetan Mitsukoshi as a company?H.O.: Our fiscal year goes from April to March, so for sales, if we count all of our main stores and regional stores, we think we’d like to be able to match last year’s sales. Naturally, we’d like to increase them, but the Shinjuku store is under rede-velopment and we’re doing con-struction now, so until the grand opening in March there will be some part of it that is closed. Even now, for example, half of the third floor is closed, so sales at the Shinjuku store will fall about three points, which is about 600 or 700 million yen [$7.64 million to $8.91 million]. So by covering that [sales loss] through other stores, we’ll aim to match last year’s figures. But of course for profit there will be an increase. If possible, we’d like to have an increase in both sales and profit, but in the worst-case scenario sales would be parallel and unchanged, but profit will increase.

But next year it will be after the Shinjuku store reopens, so sales at the Shinjuku store will increase. So in the next fiscal year, I think the results will be a bit better.

The department store business has become quite difficult, and each one’s strategy and

mission is changing.— HirosHi onisHi

Here and below: The cosmetics array at Isetan.

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By JULIE NAUGHTON

WITH HIS first fragrance proj-ect with the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., Ermenegildo Zegna is aim-ing to put a decisive point of view on the men’s category with a quintet of scents.

The collection, dubbed Essenze by Ermenegildo Zegna, is set for a December launch at Zegna’s New York City Global and Las Vegas CityCenter out-posts and key Zegna doors in Europe, Latin America and Asia, for a total of 15 brick-and-mortar doors, and online at zegna.com. Both Ermenegildo Zegna, chief executive officer of the business which bears his name, and Veronique Gabai-Pinsky, global brand president of Aramis and Designer Fragrances, BeautyBank and Idea Bank at the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., see the collaboration as a watershed moment which will also extend in the future to men’s skin care.

The Aramis and Designer Fragrances division of Lauder acquired the Zegna fragrance li-cense from L’Oréal’s YSL Beauté division in July 2011, and Zegna sees this launch as an opportuni-ty to reintroduce the Zegna name to the beauty world. As well, Zegna noted, the collection also references the high-end men’s Ermenegildo Zegna Couture Collection, known for its luxury positioning and its rigorous qual-ity control. “We have a small [fra-grance] business, but it can be-come very important — not only in fragrance, but in beauty prod-ucts [such as men’s skin care] in the future,” Zegna said in an ex-clusive interview with WWD. “I remain positive that this will be a very successful project within the next three to five years. We believe in this business, and we believe in a great collaboration

with a family business. Our val-ues are aligned — passion, com-mitment, vision.”

“For us, [the acquisition] was an important step in the evolution of our fragrance busi-ness,” said Gabai-Pinsky. “We’ve worked very diligently to find our own model, which is a model that focuses on and is fully com-mitted to prestige, that focuses on the high end of the category…we need newness in the catego-ry, but to also protect the clas-sics, which are the fundamental

basis of everything we do. The way that we look at our business model is establishing relation-ships for the long term, from an equity and brand-building stand-point. When you look at the fu-ture, you see how important this collaboration becomes. Over the next three years, we want to de-velop and expand the business and become an engine of growth for the corporation. To do that, we needed to accelerate some of our existing brands, and bring in new brands that would help

us gain scale in the segment and areas of the world that are very important for us. Men’s is a very important piece of the business today; it’s 40 percent of the fra-grance business, and we hardly play in it.”

That will change, she empha-sized, with the Zegna scents. “We didn’t want to play in a masstige way,” said Gabai-Pinsky. “We want-ed to play in a luxury way, and we want to expand in Europe and emerging markets. We fully expect this business to become one of the

biggest in our portfolio.”Gabai-Pinsky said she sees “a

multitier distribution strategy” for the overall Zegna fragrance and grooming business. “We will start with the equivalent of cou-ture, Essenze, because we want to establish the brand in its po-sitioning and understanding,” said Gabai-Pinsky, noting that the brand will also offer a ser-vice where customers can work with perfumers to create their own unique scent (with an ac-companying huge price tag, that

is, which Gabai-Pinsky declined to elaborate on). Existing scents Z Zegna and Zegna Intenso are more widely distributed — to 12,000 worldwide, to department and specialty stores such as Sephora, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, she noted.

In April 2013, the Essenze col-lection will roll out to Zegna bou-tiques in Beverly Hills; Chicago; Boston; Atlanta; Manhasset, N.Y.; Bal Harbour, Fla.; Short Hills, N.J.; Costa Mesa, Calif., and The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas in the U.S. and additional global doors for about 70 to 100 stores globally within the first 12 months, with travel retail expect-ed to be in the mix. Eventually, worldwide distribution could reach 500 doors, including ad-ditional and future freestanding Zegna stores.

Firmenich’s Pierre Negrin, Frank Voelkl, Harry Fremont and Jacques Cavallier worked with Zegna and Trudi Loren, vice president of corporate fragrance development world-wide for the Estée Lauder Cos., to concoct the Essenze scents, which share one com-mon ingredient, Calabrian ber-gamot, which is used in vary-ing strengths in each formula. Zegna owns the bergamot har-vest used in this collection.

“Searching for the best raw materials is in our DNA,” said Zegna. As such, each fragrance is intended to showcase a signature raw material. Italian Bergamot, the collection’s lead scent, fea-tures Calabrian bergamot oil surrounded by neroli, rosemary and vetiver. Sicilian Mandarin features mandarin with notes of bergamot, spearmint, petitgrain and moss. Javanese Patchouli highlights patchouli, combined with bergamot, pink pepper, tonka bean and cedar wood. Indonesian Oud is built around

rare oud wood, with notes of rose, amber, patchouli and ber-gamot. Florentine Iris blends three different iris notes, paired with bergamot, jasmine, violet and musk. The rare nature of the scents will be called out in packaging inserts and in store. Additional scents are expected to join the collection going forward.

Each scent will retail for $195 for a 4.2-oz. bottle. Glass bottles feature a fabric label with a corresponding colored border that reflects the key notes in each scent.

While executives declined comment on projected sales, in-dustry sources estimated that the collection could do upwards of $5 million at retail globally in its first year on counter. Industry sources estimated that within three years, the total Zegna beau-ty universe could generate sales of $200 million at retail.

Zegna remains a men’s-only apparel brand and that won’t be changing in the foreseeable future, he said. Currently, it is an approximately 1.13 billion euro, or $1.41 billion at cur-rent exchange, business that is two-thirds retail and one-third wholesale, he said. “Today, Asia is about 50 percent of the busi-ness and is a 100 percent retail business,” Zegna noted, naming Japan and China — the latter of which Zegna entered in 1991 — as bright spots. Two-thirds of the 557 Zegna stores (the corporation owns 311 of the Zegna stores) are in Asia. In total, Zegna products can be found in about 1,000 points of sale globally. The U.S. business — which, like Europe, is 50 per-cent retail and 50 percent whole-sale — continues to gain steam, Zegna added. Overall, 50 percent of Zegna’s business is done in Asia, with the Americas account-ing for 20 percent and Europe 30 percent of overall sales.

6 WWD FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012

Ermenegildo Zegna and Veronique Gabai-Pinsky

Zegna to Launch Fragrance Quintetbeauty

By PETE BORN

MAKEUP ARTIST Laura Mercier and Claudia Poccia have teamed up to fight ovarian cancer by setting up a founda-tion, The Laura Mercier Ovarian Cancer Fund, and developing two new products to raise money for the effort.

“Laura and I have a very personal connection to the disease, and we felt that we came together for a reason and that we are meant to be on this mis-sion together because it has touched us both so deeply and personally,” said Poccia, who is chief executive officer of Gurwitch Products, parent company of Mercier’s beauty brand. “We want to make a difference.”

Poccia was referring to her sister, Laura Murray, who died of the disease more than a year ago at age 39. In addi-tion, Mercier’s close friend, Ranee Flynn, who works at the company as a cosmetics design consultant, has been

battling the disease for three years. “We felt like this is a cancer which really needs more education, more awareness, more time in the forefront,” Poccia con-tinued. “We felt that we should do our part to raise the awareness, fund re-search and support those people who are battling the disease every single day.”

Awareness is a critical issue because in the past the disease has been difficult to detect at an early stage. “Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among American women,” she continued,

quoting American Cancer Society estimates that 22,280 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year and 15,500 women will die of the disease. The high mortality rate is appar-ently caused, in part, by the lateness of detection.

The organization is being launched now to coincide with the start of Ovarian Cancer Month on Saturday. Mercier created two makeup prod-ucts — a Bonne Mine Healthy Glow for Face & Cheeks

Crème Colour Palette, priced at $48, and a Lip Glacé in Rose Hope for $24.

The products will be merchandised on a coun-tertop display unit that will be used throughout Mercier’s retail distribution of 764 doors in the U.S. and Canada, including Sephora Canada and Holt Renfrew.

The founders say 100 per-cent of the profits from the sale of the products will be donated. Two partner orga-nizations have been selected as recipients: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, which has received an initial $100,000 do-nation, and Cancer and Careers, a program run by Cosmetic Executive Women that helps patients carry on with their work while fighting the disease. That program was given an initial $25,000.

The company donated an initial $100,000 to the fund. Ultimately, the goal is to raise $500,000. “One day we hope to do for ovarian cancer what our industry colleagues have done for breast cancer,” Poccia noted.

To promote the effort, 800,000 ribbons colored in teal, the symbol of the ovarian cancer fight, will be distributed. Laura

Mercier will maintain a teal-emblazoned micro Web site that will convey information, provide dona-tion instructions and sell the merchandise that ben-efits the fund. A QR code, printed on a public service ad, will enable consumers to find the fund’s mobile app, which is also meant to educate and encourage donations. Mercier worked with Patrick Demarchelier to produce the public ser-

vice print ad that will appear in 11 wom-en’s publications.

Douglas A. Levine, head of the Gynecology Research Laboratory at Sloan-Kettering, said “a game changer” of a breakthrough has been made in the last 10 years in terms of being able to detect the disease earlier. Scientists have uncov-ered evidence that the cancer originates from the fallopian tubes, not the ovaries, as originally thought. It is easier to spot tu-mors in the fallopian tubes, and the tubes can be removed without endangering the patient, robbing the disease of a home site. “I am an optimist,” he said, adding that there are now improved treatments to pro-long the lives of women with the illness.

Taking Aim at Ovarian Cancer

The public service ad.

The products on counter.

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WWD.COM7WWD FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012

By JULIE NAUGHTON

TO OSCAR DE LA RENTA, fragrance is not much different from fashion. Now, with Essential Luxuries, a new sextet of wom-en’s scents launching in September, he has created a collection which references his most loved people, places and things.

Why six, as opposed to one? “We don’t change the way we look on a daily basis, but we may want to change the way we smell,” said de la Renta during an exclu-sive interview at his Manhattan offices this week. “A woman now wants to represent herself in many different ways, at different times. There is a world that is wide open to women, with a lot of choices. I no longer think a woman is married to one fragrance.”

Over the years, the charismatic design-er’s name has certainly had staying power in the beauty space as well as the fashion space. De la Renta’s original women’s scent, Oscar, was launched in 1977 and is considered an American classic. Over the years, his fragrance license has been held by a series of licensees, culminating in a court fight with L’Oréal, and an arbitration, which de la Renta won. He and Alexander Bolen, chief executive officer at Oscar de la Renta, took the license back in house and immediately set out to reinforce the brand’s high-end luxury positioning.

In 2011, de la Renta made his reentry into the business prior to Mother’s Day with the introduction of an updated eau de parfum version of his Oscar scent called Esprit d’Oscar Eau de Parfum. “We’ve been very pleased with our progress,” said Bolen. “Our intention with this is to contin-ue the rehabilitation and elevation of our [beauty] brand, which had lost its way a lit-tle bit over the last decade or so. It’s a very personal collection that tells the consumer not only are we a prestigious fragrance house, but what that means. Who better to tell that story than Oscar?”

Each of the Essential Luxuries fra-grances have important meanings to de la Renta. Santo Domingo, a tabac-based scent named for the designer’s birthplace in the Dominican Republic, opens with citrus notes, which blend into notes of sweet and spicy mandarin, coriander, pa-tchouli and tobacco.

Granada, inspired by the gardens of the Alhambra in Spain, is what the designer calls a romantic citrus floral, with key notes of bigarade and bergamot, supported by jasmine, orange and rose. “It’s a magical place that has great romantic memories for me,” de la Renta said, adding that he pro-posed marriage to his wife there privately, after the gardens were closed for the day. The neck of the fragrance bottles have a in-tertwined symbol which is based on a tile at the Alhambra, he added, and it is used throughout the de la Renta design universe.

Oriental Lace, a dark oriental with gourmand elements, references his ready-to-wear collection. It has notes of hoya carnosa, a chocolate-scented vine which de la Renta grows in his Punta Cana

home, as well as honey, bitter almond, dark cacao, clove and patchouli notes.

Mi Corazon, inspired by the designer’s daughter Eliza (the company’s creative di-rector of licensing) and their shared love of ylang ylang, is a floral juice with a lush accord of tuberose, hand-picked ylang ylang and peach.

Sargasso, named for the deep blue-green sea surrounding the beach of the designer’s Punta Cana home, has juniper, lemon and cucumber notes, referencing the beachy scent of the abundant marine vegetation which washes up on his beach there. “You can extract a lot of different, really good things out of it,” he said, sug-gesting it could form the base of a future skin-care line.

Coralina is a ladylike floral named for a coral-colored stone indigenous to the Dominican Republic, which is used in abundance in the designer’s home there and in his boutiques. It is a blend of violet, mimosa and orris, with woody green notes.

All six were concocted by Givaudan’s Calice Becker working with de la Renta. A digital quiz, Scent Stylist, is intended to lead consumers to their perfect de la Renta scent match.

Each scent will retail for $150 for 3.4-oz. bottles. All are eaux de parfum except Sargasso, which is an eau de cologne. The scents, which will launch on Sept. 6 at Fashion’s Night Out, will be exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue’s Fifth Avenue flag-ship, saks.com, Oscar de la Renta bou-tiques and oscardelarenta.com to start.

“We want to launch a truly prestige product and we want to launch it in impor-tant wholesale accounts around the world, but not a broad distribution,” said Bolen, adding that additional scents are likely to join the collection going forward. It will enter additional Saks doors next year. “This is by design a niche product,” said Bolen.

While executives declined comment on projected sales, industry sources estimat-ed that the collection could do between $500,000 and $1 million at retail in its first year on counter.

Eventually, Bolen and de la Renta plan to branch out into additional beauty categories. “We have a little nail lacquer experiment right now,” said Bolen of the limited-edition collection of three shades — which were shown on models at de la Renta’s rtw show in February — with Who What Wear, a fashion Web site and blog.

“It’s a way for us to really see how cus-tomers think of the Oscar de la Renta name in beauty products,” said Bolen. “We think color is a natural — Oscar is so known for his use of color. I expect that for the run-way in September that we will have more shades, as well as some lip shades. The great thing about the digital world is that it does allow for some experimentation, if one is not afraid to have something not work out. I think that a full color cosmetics line is complicated, but the idea of lip and nail is tremendously appealing. It’s a com-petitive world, but it seems to us a logical fit for our brand.”

De la Renta’s New Essentials

Nest to Add Fine Fragrance

Oscar de la Renta’s Essential Luxuries lineup.

By BELISA SILVA

NEST FRAGRANCES is evolving.Moving from a primarily candle

and home fragrance-focused business to a “luxury fragrance and lifestyle brand,” according to its founder and chief executive officer, Laura Slatkin, Nest is poised for 50 to 70 percent growth over the next 24 months.

For this year’s fall and holiday sea-sons, the brand will introduce no less than 52 new stockkeeping units across its home, private-label and licensing divisions, and will enter unchartered categories, namely fine fragrance. In the coming months, Nest will also re-vamp its digital presence, increase distribution and implement aggressive marketing strategies.

“[Nest] is in the early stages of blooming,” said Slatkin. “We’ve been gaining a lot of momentum and now is the time to let the brand break out.”

Nest’s first fine fragrance collec-tion — which bows in mid-September — is a trio of botanically based scents, inspired by the work of 18th-century British artist Mary Delany.

A fan of Delany’s work for years, Slatkin said she realized the artist’s intricate, botanically accurate “paper mosaics” would be the perfect compli-ment for Nest’s first fine scent collec-tion, which will also include three body creams and three roller balls.

Slatkin tapped Russian artist Alexander “Sasha” Solodukho to in-terpret Delany’s work for the fragranc-es’ soft touch, black glass flacons and outer packaging.

The Nest Fine Fragrance collec-tion includes three scents: Amazon Lily, a blend of lilies, Brazilian lime, tangerine, bergamot and driftwood; Midnight Fleur, infused with exotic woods, patchouli, black amber, night-blooming jasmine and vanilla orchid, and Passiflora, which features pas-sion flower, hyacinth, lily of the valley and an “overdose of green notes,” said Slatkin of her personal favorite in the range. “It’s an overwhelming sense of different florals. It’s like you are walk-ing into a flower shop.”

Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel

created Amazon Lily and Passiflora, while Jerome Epinette of Robertet imagined Midnight Fleur.

To market the debut collection — which will launch exclusively at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman for the first year — Slatkin said sampling will be key. Nest plans to implement an “aggressive public relations and social media initiative” and will provide training for all store employees on the collection. In addi-tion, Neiman Marcus will send full-size bottles to its top 250 clients along with information about the collection, and feature the range in a full-page spread in the retailer’s holiday catalogue.

Although the brand declined to break out sales figures, industry sourc-es estimate Nest will generate $60 mil-lion in wholesale sales in the coming year. Insiders say the personal care and fine fragrance categories will account for 20 percent of the total Nest business

for the first 12 months and will grow to 50 percent after three years.

To that end, in August, the brand launched bath and body products in its six best-selling home fragrance scents: Bamboo, Grapefruit, Moroccan Amber, Moss & Mint, Orange Blossom and Wasabi Pear. Those same scents will also be featured in a few new fall of-

ferings, including Nest’s 3-Wick Tin Candles and its Body and Soul Sprays. In October, Nest will introduce the After Midnight Collection, a range of three candles — Orchid Noir, Suede Noir and Santal Noir — meant to illuminate late-night evenings, as well as its new

Birchwood Pine holiday can-dle collection.

“The gift business is a very big business for us,”

said Slatkin, who named some of the brand’s key mar-

kets as Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Greenwich, Conn. In May, the brand launched in Harrods and Selfridges doors in London. Since then, Nest has expanded into specialty stores

across the U.K. and will enter John Lewis in spring 2013. The brand is in talks with Fenwick for a possi-ble holiday launch and has “aggres-sive plans to expand” across Europe in the coming months.

“Nest Fragrances is developing a strong international following,” said Slatkin, who said the brand is current-ly distributed in more than 20 coun-tries. “[We] are building our plans for further international expansion into Russia and other markets that thrive on luxury brands.”

When it comes to its private-li-censing business, in October, Nest will introduce its Aerin Lauder Home Collection, a range of six na-ture-inspired candles, housed in hand-blown, color-coded glass ves-sels. Also in October, the brand will launch a line of home fragrances for Calvin Klein.

Slatkin said she is similarly fo-cused on growing the brand’s e-com-merce business, with a revamped Web site — which will be aimed at better engaging customers through social networking platforms — to be intro-duced in fall 2013.

For Slatkin, this is just the begin-ning. “I launched Nest in September 2009 during an extremely tough and volatile economic climate, and we were a big hit right out of the gate,” she said. “We are poised for tremen-dous growth in the next several years and we’re just getting started.”

An assortment from Nest Fragrances.

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WWD.COMWWD friday, august 31, 20128

Retail Chains Head Back to School

By Rachel BRown

The BcBG Max azRia GRoup is building a fra-grance franchise.

a little more than a year after launching its signa-ture fragrance with new wave Fragrances llc, BcBG is back with another fragrance, BcBG Max azria Bon chic, with new licensee elizabeth arden to solidify its role as a serious fragrance player. Rolling out to Dillard’s and BcBG stores in September, Bon chic, which means “good style” in French and is what the first two letters in BcBG stand for, is priced at $55 for a 1.7-oz. eau de parfum and $75 for a 3.4-oz. edp.

“we were very excited about our first fragrance. it was such a successful launch,” said lubov azria, chief creative officer of the BcBG Max azria Group and wife of Max azria. “we wanted to partner up again with [Givaudan perfumer] Stephen nilsen, and we wanted to create a fragrance that was obviously different, but still with the feeling of the BcBG lifestyle brand.”

Bon chic has top notes of black raspberry, asian pear and mango; middle notes of pink peony, violet and or-ange blossom, and base notes of soft woods, vanilla and cashmere musk. like BcBG’s last fragrance, Bon chic’s faceted bottle is capped off with the brand’s butterfly logo blossoming into a flower, but Bon chic’s bottle is gold, a change from the earlier fragrance’s pink bottle.

“it is a little bit more sensual and sweeter, and i think it is sexier, almost,” said azria, who noted custom-ers might wear the scents together or choose one de-pending on their preference at the moment. “we have different moods, and i think that sometimes we feel one way, sometimes we feel another way. i usually change perfumes. on hotter days, i wear different ones from the cooler days. it all depends on my mood, where i am going and how i want to be perceived.”

elizabeth arden became BcBG’s fragrance licensee earlier this year when it acquired the global licenses and related assets for the ed hardy, True Religion and BcBG Max azria brands from new wave. “we are thrilled with our recent acquisition of the BcBG Max

azria fragrance brands. it strengthens our fragrance presence in north america, offers growth potential in international and is a critical component of expanding our designer fragrance portfolio,” said Kathy widmer, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at elizabeth arden.

it’s the international clout of elizabeth arden that has Sophie Rietdyk, president of licensing for BcBG Max azria, excited about BcBG’s relationship with the new York-based company, which also has Britney Spears, elizabeth Taylor, Mariah carey, Taylor Swift, halston, Juicy couture, Kate Spade and lucky Brand in its fragrance portfolio. “what is very interesting about elizabeth arden is their strength in distribution and the power they put behind these two fragrances. They have a very strong international business,” she said.

Bon chic is set to make its way into international markets by the middle of next year. in the u.S., it is slat-ed to enter around 1,500 doors, including select prestige department stores and specialty retailers, in october. industry sources estimate the fragrance will generate $15 million in first-year sales, comparable to the amount previously projected for BcBG’s original fragrance with new wave.

BcBG expects to spend $5 million to $8 million to ad-vertise its fragrances, and Bon chic ads will break in the november issues of Vogue, inStyle, allure, lucky and Glamour. The Bon chic ad imagery is the same as what was used for BcBG’s prior perfume, with model Theres alexandersson photographed by camilla akrans, but it mimics the shift in the bottle color by employing gold instead of pink. “i like consistency,” explained azria. “i like that you are not always surprised by a new image. it is a family of perfumes. it is a brand.”

certainly, BcBG’s goal is to establish itself as a long-term brand in the fragrance segment that can support many launches. “our first fragrance is really continuing to sell at retail, so no one wants to drop it, which is per-fect,” said Rietdyk. “we are getting more space on the counter because instead of one fragrance, now we have two. Strategically, it is good to have several launches and a certain cadence in launching your products.”

widmer added, “our goal is to innovate alongside the creative mind of lubov azria, building a BcBG Max azria fragrance house in much the same way she has built the fashion house. we want to address the fra-grance needs of the sophisticated woman for work, play, night or day.”

new YoRK — School bells are ringing and so are mass merchants’ cash registers.

a spate of hot beauty items across the nail polish, mascara and skin-care categories promise to boost back-to-school beauty sales by an estimated 8 to 10 percent, according to a survey of drugstore buyers and mass beauty brands.

This year’s forecast increase fol-lows a disappointing b-t-s season in 2011, when consumers along the east coast flocked to stores for batter-ies, water and flashlights in advance of hurricane irene, leaving beauty shelves untouched, said mass merchants.

This year, the average person with children in kindergarten through 12th grade will spend $688.62 on b-t-s purchas-es, up from $603.63 last year, according to the national Retail Federation’s 2012 Back-to-School and college Surveys, con-ducted by Biginsight. overall, school and college shoppers this year are expected to spend a total of $83.8 billion, making b-t-s the second-largest selling season fol-lowing the December holidays.

The nail-care category is expected to be particularly robust this season. “all of my nail brands, except one, are up double digits,” said one drugstore beauty buyer, who asked not to be named.

“nail is incredible — from sales of nail colors in stores to appointments in our stores with salons, especially [in] puerto Rico,” said Joe Magnacca, president of daily living products and solutions for walgreens. women, he added, are making nails a fashion statement, and some are even painting each nail a different color, which is fueling sales of multiple colors.

Stephanie harris, a freshman at Syracuse university, said, “i might wait to see what backpack people have, but i bought six new nail colors because that’s easy to change and less expensive if i don’t pick what’s in style.”

The fastest-growing segment within nail is at-home nail gels, a market esti-mated to total $2.6 billion across salons and retail. at retail, the kits include Red carpet Manicure, pacific world’s Sensationail and two offerings from Sally hansen, Salon instaGel Strips and Salon Gelpolish. Kiss products will soon introduce an at-home gel polish called everlasting Gel polish. in general, the starter kits can retail for as much as $80.

Beyond gel manicures, buyers said

shoppers can’t get enough of nail art and fresh polish colors. Jesse lawrence, president of cRl Marketing, which re-cently introduced the JulieG line at Rite aid, said that brand’s sales are up 18 per-cent as girls discover the on-trend colors created by video blogger Julie Gutierrez.

Retailers also singled out mascaras and skin care as strong categories this season.

The fastest movers in mascara, said re-tailers, are Maybelline’s Great lash and Mega plush, Rimmel’s Scandaleyes and cover Girl’s lashblast. in the skin-care category, the strongest performers in-clude olay, Jergens natural Glow, Roc and l’oréal Youth code.

Retail chains that court young con-sumers are also seeing volume gains. at

ulta, a new line called cheer chics is catching on with young shoppers due in part to clever names, such as cheers 2 u Shampoo and Bring it on Body lotion.

Despite the rosy outlook, retailers ex-pressed concern that rampant promotions — ranging from buy one, get one at 50 per-cent off to free gas — could put a crimp in profits. Most retailers have tried to wean shoppers off such promotions, but the b-t-s season is rife with them. cVS pharmacy offered free gas with the purchase of $30 or more on specific items. Target gave away $5 gift cards with the pur-chase of three pantene hair-care items. walgreens made use of its SaturDate with Beauty specials to promote the new essie Metallics nail polish. walgreens is also of-fering $8 and $10 off select fragrances.

“The goal is to get shoppers in so they buy more of their needs at your store, since wholesale clubs like BJ’s are at-tracting more back-to-school sales by of-fering more apparel and supplies,” said allan Mottus, industry consultant.

The season is still young, and last-minute shoppers could push sales gains even higher once September sales are tallied. “These next two weeks are of utmost importance when it comes to at-tracting families who still have apparel, electronics and school supplies to stock up on,” said nRF president and chief executive officer Matthew Shay. “Given how much of an impact the economy is having on consumers’ buying decisions, retailers will remain competitive up through the final sale after labor Day, rolling out web, in-store and even mobile promotions to entice children and their parents.”

BCBG’s ‘Chic’ New Offering

beauty

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The Bon Chic bottle.

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MEMO PAD

WWDSTYLE

V Is for Venice VENICE — Kasia Smutniak

shone in Valentino at a party thrown by the label as the

69th annual Venice Film Festival drew the jet set to the Italian city. For more, see page 10.

CALL GIRLS:

Lauren Miller’s

latest effort

draws upon the

adage “write

what you know.”

PAGE 10

IN THE GAME: Uniqlo is kicking off the fall season with the latest installment of its “People” campaign, featuring Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, choreographer Benjamin Millepied and Man Repeller blogger Leandra Medine. The ads will run in print this holiday season as well as on taxi tops and buses in New York and on bus shelters and double-decker tour buses in San Francisco. A Facebook and Twitter component made its debut Thursday.

“I like casual and comfortable clothes, and the technology they use is pretty interesting. It’s the type of place I would shop,” said Montana of the Japan-based chain, which will open a flagship in his hometown of San Francisco on Oct. 5. “My style is pretty basic. I wear jeans a lot and khakis on occasion. But I like little details like an interesting collar or a pocket that’s different. My wife loves fashion and she’ll keep an eye out for things for me.”

Montana, who won four Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers, has a lengthy résumé of commercial endorsements, ranging from Hanes underwear and Skechers shoes to Schick razors and McCormick spices. “You don’t prepare for the camera. You just hope you have a good day,” he said of his pitchman duties.

The Uniqlo campaign also features Mission Chinese Food cofounder Danny Bowien, tech entrepreneur Brit Morin, pro skater Zered Bassett and singers Goapele and Amanda Warner — all wearing Uniqlo’s Ultra Light Down Jackets, which are available this season in 100 colors and patterns. — DAVID LIPKE

WAKEFIELD’S ROLE: British curator and writer Neville Wakefield has been hired by Playboy to consult on special marketing projects. A few months ago, there were rumors that Wakefield was heading to the title in a different capacity, to head up a rebranding effort, but a spokeswoman said there are no planned changes to the magazine’s content or its masthead, headed up by editorial director Jimmy Jellinek. — AMY WICKS

DETAILS TO HOST MEN’S SHOWS: Details magazine will launch a dedicated men’s show space during New York Fashion Week, located at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. The venue will host runway shows and presentations for John Bartlett, Gilded Age, Mark McNairy, Bespoken and Marlon Gobel from Sept. 8 to 11.

The effort, dubbed the “Details Collections Gallery,” is meant to raise the profile of men’s designers, who have long been overshadowed by the emphasis on women’s collections during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Unlike Milan, Paris and, now, London, New York does not

Joe Montana

IT’S A TESTAMENT to the buzz around Lauren Miller’s latest movie, “For a Good Time, Call…,” that her career has taken such a quantum leap since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

“Until this movie, I never had more than two scenes in a row,” says the 30-year-old actress-writer-producer. “The biggest difference has been the auditions. The year leading up to Sundance I had five auditions in a year, and the week after, I had eight in one week.”

Miller not only shared practically every scene in “For a Good Time” with costar Ari Graynor, she also cowrote the script with her college roommate, Katie Anne Naylon. The film, which opens today, is loosely based on Naylon’s experience running a phone-sex line out of her freshman year dorm room.

“When we sat down to write the script three years ago, we did the writer thing of write what you know, and we knew female friendship and that dynamic when you hate someone for no reason and then [they] become your best friend,” says Miller,

who describes herself as “more reserved and a big planner, [while] Katie is more fly by the seat of her pants.”

Although the duo had written the script with Graynor in mind, they couldn’t get a studio to green-light it with an indie star, so they decided to produce it independently.

“Going into Sundance, our sales rep told us it’s a ‘discovery film.’ People will have certain notions going in, and by the end will think something else,” says Miller. “That’s what’s been so cool. You hear phone sex and automatically think that’s so raunchy. But it’s not about phone sex or the girl finding the guy; it’s about friendship.”

Miller has her own Hollywood love story, having met husband Seth Rogen seven years ago at a party thrown by a friend who was dating “50/50” writer Will Reiser.

“On our first date we got into a horrible car accident,” she says. “We were both fine, but it was a crazy night. Everyone was like, ‘Either you’ll get married or you’ll never see each other again.’”

Miller actually started out wanting to be a fashion designer.

She earned her associate’s degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology, but also took acting classes and auditioned while in school. Her parents insisted on a four-year degree, so she went to film school at Florida State University and then moved to Los Angeles to assist producer Steve Starkey.

Still, she says, “most of the stuff on my IMDb.com page has been a happy accident. With ‘Superbad’ I was on set and the girl who was supposed to play my part dropped out two days before and the producer asked if I’d do it. I was in a scene with Jonah Hill, so for ‘Observe and Report,’ he asked me to be in it.”

Now she and Naylon are working on a sitcom and another movie, and she’ll appear in the pilot episode of Fox’s “Ben and Kate” and the indie comedy “Someone Marry Barry.”

Looking back on her FIT years, Miller says it’s hard to imagine working on Seventh Avenue.

“In high school I was the girl who was into fashion,” she says. “But I was just so overcome by this other thing I wanted to do that it went away.” — MARCY MEDINA

10 WWD FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012

Lauren Miller Knows a Good Time

Venetian ShadesA TURQUOISE swimming pool lit with candles, lush gardens and a view of an old clock tower set the scene for Valentino and W magazine’s party Thursday night at the Hotel Cipriani to mark the 69th edition of the Venice Film Festival and the launch of a new eyewear collection designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli.

While eyewear was the reason, the city itself was the focus for Florence Welch, who was making her first-ever visit to Venice.

“I’m bowled over by its beauty,” she said with a smile. “It’s like coming to heaven.”

Kasia Smutniak talked more about her golden yellow Valentino dress. “I feel comfortable,” she said. “The designers make dresses that are elegant but that you can just as easily wear with flat shoes — I like the attitude.

“And I like the pockets,” she said, gesturing toward her own.

For Chiuri and Piccioli, the film festival was the ideal place to launch the new eyewear since they often look for inspiration to Italian cinema

from the Sixties — the heyday of voluptuous beauties such as Silvana Mangano and Monica Vitti. “We love cinema, and we love interesting women, be they divas from the past or modern women such as Kasia,” said Chiuri.

The Venice limited-edition eyewear line, manufactured by Marchon, features rounded, tinted lenses inside apple green, fuchsia or powder frames adorned with Swarovski Elements, signaling a departure from the studs that have become a fixture on Valentino accessories the past few seasons.

Architect David Chipperfield, director of the 13th annual Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale museum and a frequent Valentino collaborator, said he appreciated the challenge of developing a fashion brand’s new identity through store design. “It was a very difficult project in some ways, but I have enjoyed working with [Chiuri and Piccioli] and finding what Valentino should look like now,” he said. “We’ve become good friends with a commitment to a good discussion.”

Earlier in the day, Miu Miu presented its “Women’s Tales,” a collection of four short films by four international female directors as part of the festival. “It’s fantastic. I’m so lucky to be in the presence of three other women directors here,” gushed Zoe Cassevetes, who directed the fashion-focused “The Powder Room.” “We’re having so much fun together.”

Massy Tadjedin, whose film “It’s Getting Late” was shown for the first time, described it as focused on “the anticipation” women experience when getting ready to go out. “It’s my first time at the Venice festival, and it’s so inspirational,” she said.

Lucrecia Martel’s dark, surreal “Muta” and Giada Colagrande’s “The Woman Dress” rounded out Miu Miu’s selection of films. Colagrande — whose husband, Willem Dafoe, was spotted in the audience — attended the showing with her protagonist, actress Maya Sansa. Miuccia Prada posed gamely with the four directors and actress before entering the theater.

— CYNTHIA MARTENSPH

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Domenico Procacci, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli.

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WWD.COM11WWD FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012

FASHION SCOOPS CHEAP IS CHIC: When it comes to politicians’ wives, it seems as though austerity is the new luxury. Paul Ryan’s wife, Janna, wore a $169 Talbots emerald brushed-back wool sheath for her husband’s debut on the national stage Wednesday night at the Republican convention. (Ryan wannabes can find the dress online and in the chain’s 580 stores.) The mother of three now calls Wisconsin home but she is in-the-know about what goes on in and beyond the Beltway. A Wellesley College graduate, Ryan was once a D.C. up-and-comer in her own right, working as a tax attorney and a lobbyist before relocating to Wisconsin with the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Her appearance Wednesday night wasn’t the first time she opted for moderate fashion: The fair-haired Oklahoma native wore a $70 printed Dana Buchman dress from Kohl’s when her husband’s candidacy was announced earlier this month. And during “a porch party,” she reportedly told a neighbor the sandals she was wearing were a $2 find from the local Goodwill.

Perhaps Ryan is taking a page from First Lady Michelle Obama, who is known to wear Talbots and J. Crew for TV appearances. Ryan even chose an off-the-rack dress for her daughter, Liza, to wear, when the family stepped into the spotlight Wednesday night. The youngster wore a $64 frock from My Michelle, a Kellwood label that is sold at Kohl’s and J.C. Penney.

Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, went considerably more upscale when addressing delegates Tuesday night in Tampa, wearing a $1,990 red silk taffeta Oscar de la Renta dress. Friendly as he is with Hillary and Bill Clinton, the designer has been a bipartisan favorite for years. But Romney, whose dress is from the designer’s pre-fall collection, was until recently an unfamiliar face. “She could not be a more charming or a nicer lady,” de la Renta said.

While it remains to be seen whether her husband’s campaign promises will

resonate with voters, Ann Romney’s fashion sense seems to have struck a chord with some women. The phone has been “ringing off the hook” at de la Renta’s office and in his boutiques, thanks to callers looking to buy the dress Romney wore, a company spokeswoman said. And that’s not the only outlet they are pursuing. A Saks Fifth Avenue salesman said Thursday, “Everybody wants that dress.”

— ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

BELSTAFF GETS BUSY: Belstaff will hold its first runway show in New York on Sept. 10 at IAC, after presenting creative director Martin Cooper’s collection last season in London. That same week, the British luxury brand will unveil its first U.S. store at 814 Madison Avenue, which has been designed by William Sofield. To help with all this activity, Belstaff chief executive officer Harry Slatkin is bolstering his team: Fiorenzo Schincaglia, most recently senior vice president at Giorgio Armani, has been brought on as president and commercial director for Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Jeff Lasota was recently hired to oversee wholesale and retail as president of U.S. sales. Lasota joins Belstaff from Stella McCartney, where he was president of the U.S. — WWD STAFF

MATERIALWRLD, FASHION’S NEW EBAY?: Material Wrld wants to sell the designer clothes that their owners no longer wear via a carefully curated shopping community that launches today at materialwrld.com. Harvard Business School grads and cofounders Rie Yano and Jie Zheng wanted to give users access to shoppable personal closets around the world. Unlike other sites that are purely purchase-based, Yano said users can engage before they even decide to sell.

“They can humble brag about their favorite not-for-sale purchases onto their personalized closet pages, and fashion enthusiasts can show off their style just the way they would on Instagram to gain influence on the site and maximum exposure when they want to sell these item,” said Yano, who has worked at Coach, J. Crew and Ralph Lauren. At Material Wrld, which will launch with tastemakers such as Dannijo’s Jodie and Danielle Snyder, Steven Alan and Samantha Lim (and introduce new influencers each week), the site takes a 15 percent cut.

The site, which has closed half of its angel round of investments, has raised about $250,000 and hopes to double this shortly. In April and May, the site hosted two online pop-up stores to test the concept with New York-based designers and bloggers, and in just one week, captured more than 6,000 new registered user e-mails, more than 13,000 unique visitors and a sell-through rate of 35 percent. — RACHEL STRUGATZ

ROYALS HEAD OUT: After lending their support to a slew of Olympic events, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge got into the swing of the first day of London’s Paralympic Games Thursday, as they attended a cycling event held at the velodrome venue in east London. The duo joined Sophie, the Duchess of Wessex and her daughter Lady Louise Windsor to watch individual pursuit cycling, a track cycling discipline. Kate donned a red Team GB T-shirt, red sneakers and skinny jeans, while William wore a blue Team GB polo shirt and navy pants. Earlier that day the couple had also caught a goalball match, a game played by visually impaired athletes, which saw Lithuania beat Great Britain.

— LORELEI MARFIl

host a men’s fashion week. “We thought, ‘What if we could have a concentrated series of collections solely focused on men’s?’” said Dan Peres, editor in chief of Details.

The Details Collections Gallery will accommodate 150 seated guests for runway shows and 250 standing guests for presentations. The Condé Nast-owned title is providing the venue free of charge for the participating designers. An adjacent lounge is sponsored by Crest Whitestrips.

Details branding will be minimal so the focus will remain on the designers — and so editors from competing magazines won’t be put off from attending. “I would hope that doesn’t happen,” said Peres. “This isn’t about Details. It’s about providing a space for designers who might not otherwise be able to put on a show. You won’t see ‘Details’ on a sparkling marquee.” — D.L.

MARTIN AMIS GOES GAY: On Tuesday night of the Republican National Convention, Martin Amis showed up at Homocon 2012, the party for gay conservatives. He walked into the venue, a club named the Honey Pot, ordered a glass of chardonnay and took in the scenery — go-go dancers, men in suits, furtive glances, a scattered dance floor.

He had reasons for being there. “Well, I’m gay and I’m a Republican,” he said, a glass of chardonnay in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

The event was one of several he’d attend while covering the convention for his former girlfriend Tina Brown’s Newsweek. Amis, graying, a little disheveled, with a faded navy shirt tucked into dark dad pants, held court by himself near the bar. No one bothered him. No one even recognized him; his name had to be pointed out to the party photographer for captions.

This was not his crowd. For one, he found the whole

convention dismaying. He had just left Ann Romney’s speech. “She spent half the time talking about those struggling people her husband intends to screw,” he said. “It’s a party for rich white men, and that’s a tiny demo that’s getting

smaller all the time. It’s time they compromise with reality.”

Christopher Barron, the cofounder of GOProud, the organization throwing the party, could not disagree more. “It’s clear the conservative movement is willing to embrace gay people. That’s why this nightclub is going to be filled on three floors,” he chirped of the party with the open bar.

He pointed out many personalities were there — MSNBC’s S.E. Cupp, CNN contributor Will Cain and Herbert Hoover’s great-granddaughter and cable pundit, Margaret Hoover.

“Grover Norquist just left, but he’s coming back,” Barron said.

GOProud is different from the more well-known Log Cabin Republicans in that it focuses more on jobs, the economy and retirement security, “issues that affect gay people on an everyday basis,” said Barron, a former political director with the Log Cabin Republicans. And “we’re the only gay group to endorse Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.”

Barron’s elation was surprising, seeing as his party took place hours after Rick Santorum had delivered a prime-time speech warning against “the assault on marriage and the family.”

“Obviously,” Barron said. “The party is not there yet — the conservative movement is not 100 percent there yet. But things are getting better every year.” He has set his hopes on the next generation of conservatives, not on the establishment. The Romneys and the Santorums weren’t welcome at Homocon. “We’re going to have the chairman of the Tea Party Express [Amy Kremer] here tonight,” he said. “Before us, there was no one talking to those people.”

Amis was not impressed by any of it. He was the only white straight reporter at the Honey Pot not seemingly fascinated by the novelty of gay Republicans.

“Gay people should be allowed to be conservative,” he said. “The whole move toward gay marriage is a conservative one.”

He drawled all this out, and when pressed for more, he demurred. After two nights in Tampa — his first time in the city, though not Florida — he felt exhausted, “talked out.” “That’s all I can give you,” he said, and walked away as Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Right, But It’s OK” played. — ERIK MAZA

MEMO PAD

Janna Ryan wore a $169 Talbots dress at the Republican convention Wednesday night.

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Penney’s Cleared to Move Ahead With Martha Stewart

Jeffrey Event Raises $600KBy Brenda LLoyd

aTLanTa — at the first Jeffrey Fashion Cares fashion show in 1992, Jeffrey Kalinsky carried his infant niece, Molly, out onto the stage with him. now she’s 20, and she was in the audience again on Monday night, said a proud Kalinsky, whose annual benefit for aIdS and breast cancer chari-ties has raised approximately $10 million over the last 19 years.

The amount raised Monday night for the atlanta aIdS Fund and the Susan B. Komen for the Cure Greater atlanta affiliate was probably a little over $600,000, Kalinsky said. Top sponsors included nordstrom, which contributed $35,000.

This year, Jeffrey Fashion Cares was held at the american Cancer Society Center, a John Portman-designed build-ing with high ceilings and marble floors in downtown atlanta. Guests crowded the large lobby for the evening, which began with a cocktail party, followed by the fashion show of designer looks car-ried by Jeffrey stores. Then partygoers moved on to opera, one of atlanta’s hot-test nightclubs.

Kalinsky said he wanted to do something special to celebrate 20 years, but wasn’t sure what that would be. Toward the end of the cocktail party, a large group of about 100 assembled and started dancing in unison. yes — a flash mob.

“I love flash mobs,” said Kalinsky. “They make me happy.” What made it even more special is that several members of his retail team were in it.

Videos showed many of Kalinsky’s friends, including designers Jason Wu and Joseph altuzarra, Spanx founder

Sara Blakely, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler and the Jeffrey atlanta staff, with con-gratulatory messages.

When he got onstage, Kalinsky thanked the people who “brought us to this mo-ment,” including Lila Hertz, a breast cancer survivor celebrating her 10th anniversary as cochair of Jeffrey Fashion Cares.

Kalinsky, dressed in jeans, a bespoke jacket made by antonio azzuolo and col-orful customized nikeid sneakers, intro-duced this year’s guest designer, the young and talented altuzarra. “This is not where he needs to be right now,” Kalinsky said. “He needs to be cutting and sewing and getting ready for his show in new york [for fashion week].”

Indeed, altuzarra, wearing a white polo shirt and Save Khaki slacks, planned to head back first thing Tuesday morning. His show will be at Industria Studio in the West Village, he said.

altuzarra launched his first altuzarra Collection about four years ago, and Kalinsky introduced it into his stores about a year and a half ago.

“Jeffrey was one of the first people I met, and he really helped grow the col-lection and mentored me,” altuzarra said. “He’s very supportive and encour-aging.” altuzarra’s designs were the first eight to come out onto the fashion stage on Monday evening.

His business is expanding, including his retail base, but altuzarra said: “nothing drastic is going on. We’ve always done things organically.”

This was his first trip to atlanta. “I’ve heard great things about atlanta, and I want to come back. I hear it’s a foodie town,” he said. Krupp Group Partners in Showroom

Moncler Takes Comic Approach to 60th

neW yorK — Cindy Krupp is expand-ing beyond public relations to launch a sales showroom here.

Goods and Services, as the showroom is called, will open for new york Fashion Week. Krupp is billing it as a sibling business to her p.r. agency, Krupp Group, which she launched in 2004. Prior to that, she had been public relations direc-tor at Barneys new york. Her partner in the showroom is Joey Laurenti, who left his post as director of sales at opening Ceremony to launch Goods and Services.

“For years, designers that we work with have asked us to do sales and I’ve always said p.r. is what we do,” said Krupp. “I felt that if I couldn’t do it at an expert level, I shouldn’t.”

When Laurenti decided he was

ready to run his own operation, he teamed with Krupp.

Goods and Services will cater to the upper contemporary and costume jewelry markets, which Krupp and Laurenti felt were lacking in showroom representation in new york. “There are a lot of good showrooms out there, but sometimes they’re full or they’re a very specific aesthetic,” said Laurenti.

Goods and Services will be a home for mostly Krupp Group p.r. clients, and is lo-cated in the same office building on West 28th Street. It will open with six design-ers: Jonathan Simkhai, Kaelen, Laveer, ryan roche and Tome — all women’s ready-to-wear lines — and Joomi Lim and Suzannah Wainhouse, who have costume jewelry collections. — Jessica iredale

MILan — Moncler will mark its 60th an-niversary this year with a series of com-ics featuring Monduck, the brand’s iconic duck character that appears on the label’s tags. The six-episode anniversary comics will be presented on the brand’s Web site starting Tuesday. each episode will be dedicated to a decade, with the last 10 years concluding the project on nov. 12.

“I, myself, don’t like my birthdays, but this is an important milestone for the brand,” Moncler’s president and creative director, remo ruffini, told WWd. “To mark it, we want to be close to our roots. We’ve always been connected to our his-tory, and this is one of the reasons for our success. We are a modern and contem-porary brand, but loyal to our history of explorations and technology.”

The comic strips, created by Christian Marra, take the reader through each de-cade. They begin in the Fifties, when the brand was born — produced in Grenoble, France — destined for climbs in alaska, the Himalayas, Karakorum and Makalu. The comics move into the Sixties, when the duvet feather was patented, through the naughts, which include ruffini and The Carlyle Group’s acquisition of Moncler in 2003, as well as the new luxury direction of the company with the launch-es of the Gamme rouge and Gamme Bleu collections. When ruffini took over the brand, it evolved from a collection of utili-tarian, down-filled apparel with mostly local distribution into a fashionable in-ternational label, and, to further sustain expansion, in 2008, a 48 percent stake in the company was sold to Carlyle.

“Monduck has been associated with us since the Seventies,” said ruffini. “It’s there with the washing instructions, it gives us energy and it’s an unusual refer-ence point — it’s inside your garments, so you see it yourself, it’s personal.”

as for the future, ruffini said he’s never abandoned the idea of an initial public offering. “We are always atten-tive to evaluate opportunities,” he said, while acknowledging the markets’ cur-rent instability.

Moncler sold a 48 percent stake to Paris-based investment firm eurazeo in June 2011, pulling the plug on plans to list it on the Milan Stock exchange that sum-mer. ruffini retained a 32 percent hold-ing, while The Carlyle Group owns 17.8 percent of Moncler. — lUisa ZarGaNi

the centerpiece of all these ac-tions,” the judge said. “It’s an-other thing to enjoin a retailer from doing business.”

oing said it was enough for Penney’s to agree not to sell any Martha Stewart-branded prod-ucts in the categories under dis-pute. He did note that any harm Macy’s suffers could be satisfied with “monetary relief” and that he would have “no trouble telling J.C. Penney to yank all the items off the shelf” at some later date.

“We have two retailers here trying to get a share of market,” oing said. “Macy’s consumers are different from JCP’s con-sumers. JCP is trying to increase the kinds of consumers that JCP has coming through their stores. That may or may not work. I don’t want to extend that [Martha Stewart] injunction any further and tie JCP’s hands.”

at the hearing, Penney’s argued that the contract with

Macy’s doesn’t cover designs by Martha Stewart that don’t bear the brand’s name.

The judge noted, “If you’re going to sell it in a store-within-store concept…it’s almost like putting a mark on the product.”

But Penney’s lawyer, epstein, said Macy’s was trying to get more than it got when it negotiat-ed its deal with Martha Stewart.

“The contract does not say that any idea that [Martha Stewart] comes up with in the middle of the night in flatware, that’s Macy’s,” epstein said. “Macy’s did not buy MSLo’s brand. They didn’t hire its design-ers. Macy’s bought the branding; they didn’t buy the brand.”

The judge pressed Macy’s attorney, Theodore Grossman of Jones day: “They want to sell a spoon….If it’s not branded with the trademark, it’s not an exclusive product” under the Macy’s agreement.

“It’s not an exclusive prod-

uct, but that doesn’t mean they can sell it,” Grossman replied.

Under the terms of the Macy’s contract, Martha Stewart is al-lowed to sell branded goods at its own stores, and lawyers for the home goods firm have argued that the Penney’s shop-in-shops qualify under that provision.

“It is the MSLo store provi-

sion that J.C. Penney is relying on to sell this item with a wink,” Grossman said for Macy’s.

Grossman also said Penney’s took steps to “double down” with Martha Stewart, agreeing on July 11 to add certain prod-uct categories. That boosted Penney’s 10-year payout to Martha Stewart by $110.5 mil-

lion to $282.9 million. Martha Stewart has also al-

ready given Penney’s designs for 900 products, which Grossman said the chain “illegally obtained.”

The judge said that it was up to Martha Stewart to adhere to his earlier injunction and that Penney’s was “on the sidelines waiting for someone to ask them to dance.”

a Penney’s spokeswoman said the firm was “pleased with the outcome” and a Macy’s spokes-woman said, “J.C. Penney has agreed that it won’t sell Martha Stewart-branded merchandise in our exclusive categories as long as the MSLo injunction is in ef-fect….We expect to continue to exclusively sell Martha Stewart-branded merchandise in catego-ries such as cookware, kitchen utensils, bed and bath for the term of our contract, which cur-rently extends to January 2018.”

a Martha Stewart spokes-woman declined to comment.

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Emergasdasdate Equity Emergasdasdate Equity

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On the runway at Jeffrey Fashion Cares.

Terry J. Lundgren

Ron Johnson

An image featuring MonDuck.

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