CONSUMER CAUTION

Fashion World FeelsEuro-Zone’s Woes

By JEAN E. PALMIERI

NEW YORK — Bergdorf Goodman is preparing to throw itself a big birthday bash this fall.

The luxury retailer turns 111 years old this year and will celebrate with a series of special events in-cluding a documentary film, a book and an anniversa-ry collection of more than 100 exclusive products. The theme of the event will play off the numbers of its age — 111 — and is being touted as “one store, one city, one experience.” This is the first birthday Bergdorf has marked since 1951; its centennial fell in 2001, the year of the terrorist attacks on New York City, and was not commemorated.

The celebration will kick off Sept. 6 during the fourth annual Fashion’s Night Out with designer appearances and the debut at retail of the anniversary collection.

Among the brands that are creating special mer-chandise are Alexander McQueen, which designed a ruched velvet dress; Christian Louboutin, which is doing pyramid-studded platforms; evening looks from Oscar de la Renta and Akris, and even an exclusive perfume called 754 from Maison Francis Kurkdjian.

In men’s, Giorgio Armani has re-created a mod-ern version of the “American Gigolo” suit as well as a midnight blue dinner jacket. Isaia has pro-duced an exploded plaid peacoat, Brioni offered a gray velvet dinner jacket with a lining inspired by Bergdorf ’s packaging, Ermenegildo Zegna in-corporated the store’s signature lavender color into the chalkstripe of a navy suit, Michael Bastian screen-printed the Sherman Monument from New York’s Grand Army Plaza onto a white oxford shirt and Ferragamo produced ties that incorporate an illustration of the store along with the Statue of Liberty and other iconic images from the city. Other participants include Loro Piana, Kiton, Moncler, Paul Smith, Deakin and Francis, Jan Leslie, Lois Sasson, Jimmy Choo, Magnanni and Prada.

Ginny Hershey-Lambert, executive vice president of merchandising, stressed that the merchandise cre-ated for the anniversary is more than just tweaks of existing product. “When we approached our vendors,

SEE PAGE 4

SEE PAGE 12

By SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — It’s sure no fun being a European these days.Political upheaval in France and Greece, renewed

worries over the future of the euro, a welter of de-pressing economic news, rising unemployment and no clear exit from the Europe-wide financial crisis are all taking their toll on retail — and the consumer psyche — from London to Frankfurt, Paris to Athens.

Even before the French elected François Hollande, a tax-the-rich Socialist, as their presi-dent, and before talks to form a new Greek govern-ment collapsed Sunday — adding to concerns that the austerity-weary country could exit the euro zone — Hermès chief executive officer Patrick Thomas, summed up what he thinks the future holds for European brands.

“It is going to be a very difficult year,” he said, even as he reported a 21.9 percent spike in first-quarter revenues to $1.02 billion. “The beginning was easy…but the trend is not good.”

The most recent economic projections in Europe back him up: On Friday, the European Commission confirmed its projection of a 0.3 percent contraction in the economies of the 17 euro-zone countries this year. Growth of 1 percent is expected in 2013.

Last Thursday, the Bank of France projected zero growth for the country in the first six months of the year, compared with 0.2 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2011.

PHOTO BY DOMINIQUE MAITRE

Bergdorf’s to Fete Birthday

WWD

Romeo ReturnsMILAN — The Italian designer, best known for his Eighties collections of chic clothes with a controlled sense of exotica, is back for fall. Romeo Gigli has teamed with the influential retailer Joyce for a men’s and women’s collection that, in his words, is “timeless and season-less.” Here, a look from the new line, photographed in Gigli’s Milan apartment. For more, including an interview with the designer, see pages 6 and 7.

MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012 $3.00 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

ALEXANDER WANG OPENS A FLAGSHIP IN THE CHINESE

CAPITAL AND IT’S HIS BIGGEST STORE YET. PAGE 4

BIG IN BEIJINGOLYMPIAN

EFFORTTHE DUKE AND

DUCHESS OF

CAMBRIDGE

PUMP UP

THE LONDON

GAMES.

PAGE 11

2

By Lisa Lockwood

NEw YoRk — PPR, Parsons The New school for design and The Fancy have joined forces to give Parsons students the chance to win an internship within one of the luxury group’s 16 brands.

students’ work will be featured on The Fancy, a web site that’s part magazine, part shopping guide and part social net-work. The two winners of the competi-tion will also be showcased at Barneys New York’s Madison avenue store in september. The competition is focused on PPR’s defining theme, “Empowering imagination,” and is designed to stimu-late new ideas at the PPR brands.

among PPR’s divisions are Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Yves saint Laurent, alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, stella Mccartney, sergio Rossi, Boucheron, Girard-Perregaux, JeanRichard, Puma, Volcom, cobra, Electric and Tretorn.

“PPR seeks to build bridges between the education and business communi-ties within the fashion industry, and highlight its brands as drivers of creativ-ity,” said Laurent claquin, head of PPR in the americas. “The Fancy and PPR’s partnership with the school of Fashion at Parsons will help to inspire and foster the world’s future design generations by empowering imagination.”

The competition is open to the current senior class of Parsons BFa Fashion design program. students in the areas of women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and accessories will compete for internships based on the quality and conceptual vision of their thesis collections, from the garments themselves to their portfolios and visual collateral.

simon collins, dean of the school of Fashion at Parsons, said the internship, which will run for one to two months, could take place in London, Paris, New York, Boston, Rome or Milan.“it’s flexible. They’ll be working with the brand to figure out the

best time,” said collins. it’s conceivable that the winners could do the internship before starting their full-time job. He said one student will win for ready-to-wear and one student will win for accessories.

“The opportunity for our students to work with such an esteemed roster of premier brands in both the luxury and sport and lifestyle sectors will pro-vide these students with the additional experience

that will all but guarantee them a strong start to their careers,” said collins. “Partnering with PPR and The Fancy will provide our students with an interna-tional perspective, thus positioning them as design thinkers poised to lead fashion globally”

Joseph Einhorn, found-er of TheFancy.com, said, “we are looking forward to seeing what the bright-est young designers in the world are dreaming up at Parsons.”

The top 20 candidates selected by Parsons will present their work today to a panel of fashion-industry insiders, including collins, claquin and Einhorn, as well as dennis Freedman of Barneys, candy Pratts Price of Vogue and dree Hemingway, model and actress. The panelists will review the students’ work and select five finalists who best exemplify the theme. in mid-June, the finalists will have their collections

featured on The Fancy, and the winning look and accessory, voted on by the public, will be awarded an expense-paid internship of up to $10,000 with the PPR brand of their choice. The winners will be re-vealed at the end of June. The partnership will be celebrated with a private event hosted by The Fancy during Fashion’s Night out in september.

Parsons’ seniors, whose work is shown

here, will compete for a PPR internship.

WWD MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

Parsons, PPR Link for Contest

Avon Weighing Coty Request to See Books

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 203, NO. 100. MONDAY, MAY 14, 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

Political upheaval in France and Greece renewed worries over the future of the euro. PAGE 1 Bergdorf Goodman turns 111 years old this year and will celebrate with a documentary film, a book and a collection of more than 100 exclusive products. PAGE 1 The men’s and women’s Joyce by Romeo Gigli collection for fall will be unveiled on Joyce’s online store on July 1. PAGE 1 PPR, Parsons The New School for Design and The Fancy have joined forces to give Parsons students the chance for an internship within one of PPR’s 16 brands. PAGE 2 Manolo Blahnik has inked a long-term deal with Kurt Geiger to sell the brand at Harrods and Liberty in London. PAGE 3 Camuto Group, the master licensee of the Jessica Simpson Collection, has signed a deal with Destination Maternity to design, produce and distribute maternity apparel bearing Simpson’s name. PAGE 3 Ray-Ban will quietly fete its 75th birthday this year with a new collection and advertising campaign that nods to its storied history. PAGE 8 The New York City Ballet Spring Gala was a “one-time-only salute to France” titled A La Française. PAGE 9 Italy’s weekly magazine Il Mondo last week speculated that Giorgio Armani is looking into creating a social and cultural Armani Foundation. PAGE 9 Writer Leonard S. Bernstein honors the Garment District of his youth with a new short story collection. PAGE 10 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge began 2012 Olympic celebrations in London by attending a dinner at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday to honor British athletes. PAGE 11

A spring 1986 look from Romeo Gigli.

FASHION: Romeo Gigli is making a comeback. A new collection for fall will be unveiled on Joyce’s e-commerce site on July 1. For more, see WWD.com/fashion-news.

Phot

o by

WW

D Ar

chiv

e

aVoN PRoducTs iNc. every so slightly opened the door to coty inc. sunday, saying it would take a week to consider the compa-ny’s request for information that would help it firm up its $10.65 billion takeover offer.

“avon’s board of directors, in conjunction with management and the company’s financial and legal advisors, will consider coty’s letter dated May 9, 2012,” the com-pany said. “avon’s board expects to respond within a week.”

in coty’s letter, chairman Bart Becht, said, “we are prepared to sign a confidentiality agree-ment with standstill provisions that would restrict us from tak-ing further public steps in seek-ing to acquire avon so long as you agree in good faith to provide us with requested information on a timely basis.”

Becht, who in the letter gave avon a deadline of today, also said uberinvestor warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway inc. was backing the offer.

avon rejected coty’s initial $10

billion offer on april 2 and Becht has been appealing to the firm’s shareholders, saying that only with a look at the company’s books could he put his best price forward.

Not only is avon struggling to revamp its operations, the com-pany is dealing with a growing list of legal issues.

The securities and Exchange commission recently opened a third line of inquiry touching on the firm.

The government watchdog is looking into trading of avon stock that took place before coty’s offer became public. an avon spokes-woman said Friday the company was “cooperating in the matter” and declined to comment further. The sEc declined to comment and coty could not be reached.

it is illegal to use inside infor-mation while trading stocks, but it is unclear just what the sEc is exploring and what impact the in-quiry might have on avon, if any.

Even one brush with the sEc is usually seen as a distraction for a company, and avon already has a very full plate. sheri Mccoy,

a former Johnson & Johnson ex-ecutive, recently took over as chief executive officer from andrea Jung and is reviewing the company’s operations.

and the sEc is already looking into whether the company violated the Foreign corrupt Practices act by paying bribes to open up the chinese market for direct selling in april 2005. Just the investigation into that matter cost avon nearly $250 million over three years. The company’s ultimate liability could equal three times the profits made possible by the bribes.

The regulatory body is also looking into the company’s deal-ing with wall street analysts.

Even with Buffett signaling he’s ready to charge in, share-holders have remained skeptical about the prospects of coty being able to acquire avon. shares of the company fell 3.4 percent to $20.19 Friday. That’s well below the $24.75 coty has proposed, al-though the company wants a look at avon’s books before it can firm up its offer. — EVAN CLARK

Phot

o by

DAN

Lec

cA

w14a002a.indd 2 5/13/12 3:43 PM05132012154425

WWD. Available on iPad.®

ACCESS IT* NOW AT WWD.COM/APP

*Included with existing print and online subscriptions

WWD.COM3WWD MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

By MARCY MEDINA

BEVERLY HILLS — David Yurman and his new chief executive officer, Glen Senk, capped off a week of West Coast events by celebrating the brand’s renovated and expanded boutique here, which opened Thursday at 371 North Rodeo Drive.

“The store is all about relaxed American luxu-ry, which is perfect for California,” said Yurman, adding, “We think of ourselves as Californians even though I was born and raised in New York.” Yurman lived in the Golden State from age 19 to 25 when he minored in art at Santa Monica Community College and rode horses in Big Sur.

Architecture firm Gabellini Sheppard Associates conceptualized the 2,700-square-foot West Coast flagship, which is three times the size of the previous boutique, as an artist’s studio sim-ilar to the New York space where Yurman works.

The store features classically modern architec-ture, organic materials like walnut countertops and stone floors and, for the first time, Yurman and his wife Sybil’s own paintings and sculptures.

Fabric wall coverings and silk area rugs soft-en the space and define areas designated for women’s signature and high-jewelry collections, as well as men’s, bridal and watches.

The 45-piece high-jewelry collection, which debuted last year, is priced from $10,000 to $1.2 million and is only available in Yurman’s New York studio and the Beverly Hills store.

Last week the brand hosted a slew of art ben-efits and a party Tuesday at its recently expand-ed South Coast Plaza store in Costa Mesa, which doubled in size to 2,400 square feet in February. A San Jose store is slated to open this fall.

Senk, nine weeks into his tenure as ceo, said, “I’d like to take credit for all of the recent developments.”

He described the switch from Urban Outfitters Inc., a company he worked at for nearly two decades, to fine jewelry as “like starting back in first grade — exciting, overwhelming, and fun to be put in a situa-tion where there’s such a steep learning curve.”

Senk assured that there are no surprises up his sleeve. “What I’m doing here is not any sort of revolution,” he said. “It’s about taking the brilliance of what David and Sybil do and con-tinuing to build it out. I’ve known them for a long time so if there are any surprises, it’s how good the good is.”

With 26 retail stores, worldwide distribution in 450 doors and retail sales topping $500 million, Senk said the plan is to expand the buys rather than the number of stores. “We’re very protective of our wholesale so I do not expect to see anything significant with respect to the number of doors.”

Instead, he plans to focus on the recent ex-pansions in men’s watches and bridal, the two fastest-growing segments of the company.

“We’re very excited by the timepiece busi-ness, and we see ourselves as the only American luxury watch brand. There’s a real opportunity to capitalize on that,” said Senk. The brand will unveil a new sports watch at the Couture jew-elry show in Las Vegas at the end of the month.

As for bridal, “It’s been a sleeper for us and our wholesale partners would be anxious for us to get more aggressive with it.”

The company does plan to harness social media to its advantage. “We could be doing more because there’s so much story there. It’s a ques-tion of pulling it together and finding the right medium,” said Senk. Yurman recently tweeted for the first time during the fall ad campaign shoot with Gisele Bündchen in Malibu.

While Yurman declined to give sales-per-square-foot estimates for the two California stores, Senk estimated the company’s productiv-ity as “higher than anyone’s other than Apple.” The computer retailer has estimated sales per square foot of more than $2,000.

JESSICA SIMPSON, who fi-nally gave birth to a baby girl, Maxwell Drew, on May 1, is still in expansion mode.

Camuto Group, the master licensee of the Jessica Simpson Collection, has signed a deal with Destination Maternity to design, produce and distrib-ute maternity apparel bearing Simpson’s name. The deal marks the 24th product classification for Simpson, whose fashion em-pire is headed toward $1 bil-lion in retail sales by the end of this year, and includes foot-wear, outerwear, sunglass-es, handbags, dresses, jeanswear, jewelry and sportswear.

“I’m [pleased] to part-ner with Destination Maternity to design a collection of fashion-able styles that make you look and feel great,” said Simpson. “You want to wear clothes that are flattering to your baby bump; you want to show your bump off.”

Chris Daniel, presi-dent of Destination Maternity, told WWD, that as soon as they heard Simpson was pregnant, they were eager to do a deal. “It was a natural for us. She’s very well known for style and fashion and the great work she’s been doing

growing her brand with the Camuto Group.”

The collection is designed with a vintage Seventies feel. It contains signature denim in a variety of washes and leggings, as well as vintage print tops, flowing maxis and form-fitting jersey knit dresses. Jackets, blaz-ers and chunky relaxed sweaters and knits round out the offering. Bottoms retail from $36 to $59

for printed and sateen denim. Knit tops are $36, dresses and blouses are $59 and sweaters and capes are $69. The collection hits stores this fall and will be available in over 700 re-

tail locations, including Motherhood Maternity, Destination Maternity,

as well as Destination Maternity shop-in-shops within Macy’s.

Celebrity tie-ins are a growing part of the busi-ness at Destination Maternity. The retail-er recently signed a

deal with Rosie Pope, the pregnancy guru with the Bravo show

“Pregnant in Heels” and has an ongoing collabora-tion with Heidi Klum.

In recent years, Destination Maternity has been faced with the dual challenges of the recession and an 8 percent decrease in births in the U.S. since 2007. — LISA LOCKWOOD

Simpson Apparel Headed

To Destination Maternity

David Yurman Goes Bigger on Rodeo

Inside the renovated store.

A look from the

line.

PHOT

O BY

DON

ATO

SARD

ELLA

PHOT

O BY

MAR

COS

CULL

EN

VERONICA ETRO stayed in her comfort zone for her Etro resort col-lection, opting for “bright, vibrant colors for a tribal-paisley, jungle jour-ney,” she said. The bold ethnic prints were balanced by clean, functional shapes, such as a short-sleeve tunic dress, or a V-neck caftan worn with ankle-length pants. There were also fitted dresses in stretch silk with asymmetric, horizontal flat pleats.

Resort 2013: Etro

By SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — Manolo Blahnik is raising his pro-file in London.

Blahnik, who until recently had just one point of sale in the U.K. — a shop on a quiet street in London’s Chelsea — has inked a long-term deal with Kurt Geiger to sell the brand at Harrods and Liberty. Under the terms of the deal, Geiger will manage and create boutiques within the shoe de-partments at the two London department stores.

The Liberty space opened earlier this year and also carries tote bags, scarves and statio-nery adorned with Blahnik’s watercolor draw-ings. In July, a boutique will open at Harrods featuring the fall collection. The new space will span 300 square feet and be located in the Boudoir on the first floor.

“I am very excited that my shoes will reach an even broader audience through Kurt Geiger in Liberty and Harrods,” said Blahnik.

“The Liberty opening in February has been very successful, and with Harrods being a breathtakingly beautiful store full of incredible heritage, seeing my shoes there in the next cou-ple of months will be a special moment.”

Marigay McKee, Harrods’ chief merchant, said she was pleased to have Blahnik in store. “Creations from this legendary shoemaker have redefined the role of the shoe in fashion and are coveted by opinion formers and fashion moguls throughout the world,” she said.

Kristina Blahnik, Manolo’s niece, who runs the business, said it is the right time to build out the brand in the U.K.

“I think it all started with the Liberty collabo-ration. We wanted to dip our toe into the water. In the past, we never had a growth strategy as such — we were always about organic growth. And change can be scary. But we do want to reach out to more customers. With Liberty, and with Marigay at Harrods, it all fell into place. We still want to keep things small and exclusive, and we don’t want to be everywhere. We won’t be looking at any further locations in the U.K.”

The U.K. isn’t the only region where the brand is expanding. Blahnik made a personal appearance at Excelsior Milano last Thursday to fete his brand’s first trunk show at the Milanese luxury department store.

“It’s my first time in a place like this, very young, with all this music,” said the footwear de-signer, who was shod in his trademark eccentric hot-pink slippers with striped socks, referring to the glam, festive mood of the Excelsior store. “But I really like the idea that young women make an economic effort to buy the shoes of their dreams.”

Blahnik, who said he will fly to Madrid in a few days for a photo shoot with Pedro Almodóvar by Mario Testino for Vogue Spain, also revealed that he is “doing a collaboration for an American-European movie.”

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALESSANDRA TURRA, MILAN

Manolo Blahnik Inks Deal With Geiger for Expansion

WWD.COM4 WWD MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

By CAROLYNNE WHEELER

BEIJING — As a child, China was the last place Alexander Wang wanted to be.

Uprooted from his San Francisco home at the age of 12, when his Taiwanese-American mother moved to Shanghai, the budding fashion designer spent a year in China’s financial capital — and hated it, rejecting an exclusive private school there to return to boarding school in the U.S. the following year.

“I missed my friends and everything back home,” he recalled Friday in an in-terview here, perched on the fur-lined concrete sofa that is a centerpiece of his second flagship in the world.

“It didn’t look like this at all,” Wang said, gesturing toward the modern con-crete-and-glass storefronts outside. “If there was something like this then, I might have changed my mind.

“It’s very surreal to see my name on a building in Beijing.”

Wang’s journey to the Chinese Mainland to open his flagship has felt like a homecoming of sorts for the New York-based designer. Wang, who speaks Mandarin, has traveled frequently over the years to Shanghai, where his mother still lives; his father is based in Hong Kong.

“My mom is so excited,” Wang said. “She was the first one who told me, back in the day, ‘One day China is going to be a fashion capital and you will be back here.’”

On Friday night he was, with a modest red-carpet event followed by a thumping underground parking lot party featur-ing DJ Diplo and rapper A$AP Rocky. Actress Zoe Kravitz — a friend of Wang’s — and her boyfriend, actor Penn Badgley, flew to Beijing to join him for the open-ing, along with a collection of Chinese models and stars.

“It’s amazing, this is where he’s from, it’s amazing that he is opening the store here now,” Kravitz said.

“He is so young,” said Sun Li, 29, the Chinese actress best known for her role in

Jet Li’s “Fearless,” who made Wang’s open-ing her first major event since giving birth six months ago. She said a designer friend introduced her to the clothes two years ago. “They are very simple but very fash-ionable and very comfortable to wear,” she said, speaking in Mandarin after exchang-ing a few words with Wang during photos. “I think he is the most famous here among these young American designers.”

The brand has had limited exposure in China so far, carried by the Hong Kong-based Lane Crawford department store and multibrand boutique Shine in Beijing, and in the multibrand boutique Joyce in Shanghai. The designer and his team fly next to Hong Kong, where on Wednesday they have an event with a pop-up shop connected to the Joyce boutique in Kowloon’s Harbour City.

This year will see the opening of three shops on the Mainland — the flagship in Beijing and two others later this year in Shanghai. By the end of the year, there will be 14 locations across Asia, including shops-in-shop in Seoul, Bangkok and Singapore.

Key to Wang’s marketing strategy in China, as back home, is online presence. With both Facebook and Twitter blocked by Chinese censors, Wang has launched a Sina Weibo account — the leading Chinese Web portal — to draw in Chinese followers, and is expanding the company’s e-commerce reach to include a Mandarin-language site and shipping to Mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan.

“We are careful to do things organi-cally, we do check how we perform, we check what the potential is to be,” said Rodrigo Bazan, president of Alexander Wang, who is managing the designer’s expansion while insisting that the brand build one shop at a time and not succumb

to the lure of big profits by expanding too fast. “You have to take it very seriously, one step at a time.”

Clouding some of the excitement of this grand opening is the ongoing lawsuit in New York launched by a former em-ployee, alleging sweatshop conditions in operations there. Wang’s animated face fell at the mention, and his people are tight-lipped. “There is nothing to say,” his spokeswoman said firmly.

Still, the young designer’s excite-ment over the 5,000-square-foot, two-floor Beijing flagship space is palpable. “We had so much more real estate here, so it really allowed us to experiment more than we did in New York,” Wang said.

Unlike the New York store, where the focus is on natural light and preserving some of the building’s heritage features, the Beijing store includes more experi-mentation in design and display. Working with architect and designer Joseph Dirand, they have emphasized marble and bronze, including a marble wall cut from one stone that the designer likens to a Rorschach inkblot test.

The New York fur-covered hammock has morphed into a goat-hair-covered cement sofa. Customers are greeted at the ground-floor entrance by a vintage black leather de Sede sofa flown in from

California and a grand marble staircase leads shoppers from the entrance up to second-floor displays.

While Wang concedes he has “cherry-picked” from his collection for this market, there are no exclusive designs for his Asian clientele, and he pauses when asked if his heritage influences his design.

“I never really think about my de-sign approach as something that’s re-ally trapped down by my nationality or my background, and although we are an American brand, I think that is more to the sense of what is American sportswear, and things that feel very accessible and easy to wear,” he said. “But at the same time we re-ally see our audience and our consumer as a global citizen, someone who isn’t defined by where they live or what kind of music they listen to, things like that. It’s a sensi-bility that is much more individual.”

4

Wang Celebrates Beijing Opening

Alexander Wang and Rodrigo Bazan in the Beijing store.

PHOT

OS B

Y SI

M C

HI Y

IN

we asked them, ‘What does Bergdorf mean to you?’” she said.

As part of the celebration, the men’s and women’s stores and their windows will highlight archival images from the retailer’s history. In addition, a special documentary, titled “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf ’s,” will make its debut during New York Fashion Week in September. There will be a private gala in October.

The film is being directed by Matthew Miele and takes the audience “behind the scenes into the inner sanctum” of the store, Bergdorf ’s said. It will feature de-signers and celebrities including Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Kors, Joan Rivers and others sharing personal stories about their experiences with Bergdorf Goodman.

A companion to the film will be a book with the same title, written by Sara James Mnookin with an introduction by Holly Brubach. It will be an anthology of

personal recollections from designers, celebrities, customers and employees in-cluding Candice Bergen, Carol Burnett, Manolo Blahnik, Alber Elbaz, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Rachel Zoe and Bergdorf ’s fashion director Linda Fargo. It will also feature original sketches commissioned by Bergdorf ’s of the work of designers ranging from Balmain and Chanel to Lanvin, examples of the store’s advertising campaigns through the years and vintage images of the store and its window displays.

In addition to the birthday planning, Bergdorf ’s is scrambling to complete a significant renovation of the third-floor contemporary designer space in its men’s store before the celebration begins. This is the first comprehensive revamp of the floor since it opened in 1990.

The first phase of the renovation in-cluded the unveiling of new Lanvin and Prada Men’s boutiques at the end of last

year. Phase two will include an area for European collections including Givenchy, Rick Owens and Alexander McQueen. There will be shops for Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Etro, along with Yves Saint Laurent, Dries Van Noten and Thom Browne, which will be the first men’s bou-tiques in the U.S. for those brands. Chrome Hearts will also have a significant presence. The restaurant has been removed and will be replaced by a Dolce & Gabbana shop and there will be distinct presentations for jewelry and leather goods. The Gucci, YSL, D&G and Chrome Hearts projects are ex-pected to be completed by the end of June.

The final phase will center around American and international sportswear and denim and will include brands such as Paul Smith, Michael Bastian, Todd Snyder and Billy Reid.

The entire project is slated to be com-pleted by Labor Day, as Bottega Veneta, Dries Van Noten, Thom Browne and Etro

will all be finished in September.The design of the floor was con-

ceived by Fargo and includes weathered European oak parquet floors and cas-cade coil metal drapery. Ceiling tiles are also consistent throughout. Beyond that, Bergdorf ’s worked with each designer to individualize their area. In addition, the windows to the street are being exposed.

“Men’s is having a massive moment,” said Hershey-Lambert.

On the main floor of the men’s store, Bergdorf ’s is creating a “shoe library,” which is inspired by the Villa Necchi in Milan. “It will have a 1930s-1940s in-fluence with a touch of Sixties ‘Mad Men,’” said Matthew Singer, men’s fash-ion director. “It will be the destination for shoes for men in New York City.” The shoe department will include brands that are carried in areas throughout the store and will include designer labels. “We just want you to take your shoes off once,” Singer said. This department is also slated for a Sept. 1 completion.

Bergdorf’s Big Year: Retailer Sets Events to Mark 111th{Continued from page one}

Zoe Kravitz and Penn Badgley

Sun Li

2012 NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARD WINNER General Excellence, General-Interest Magazines

We’re proud to be the winner among such distinguished titles as New York, The New Yorker, Vice and GQ – and the only business magazine on ASME’s list.

Congratulations to the entire team for making Bloomberg Businessweek an industry standout.

©2012 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved.

Honored.

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Romeo Gigli is making a comeback in a col-laboration with influential retailer Joyce.

The men’s and women’s Joyce by Romeo Gigli collection for fall will be unveiled on Joyce’s online store on July 1. It will then be presented at the chain’s Hong Kong and Beijing venues on July 24, followed by Shanghai and Venice, where Joyce will open its first pop-up store in the Italian city at the end of August. Gigli is expected to make personal appearances, and special window installations, combining the new line and archival pieces, will highlight the project.

In an exclusive preview, the intellectual designer, one of the hottest names around in the Eighties, showed an enduring fas-cination with fashion, unfazed by his ongoing legal battles with different previous owners and his short-lived collections with complicated names, such as Io Ipse Idem and XII XII XLIX par Romeo Gigli.

The designer, still sporting a Peter Pan-like frame clad in one of his form-hugging looks and reveling in the project with Joyce, shunned nostalgia and dismissed any thought of draw-ing inspiration from his past. “I look ahead and behind me, but I live my own times, my daily life, marked by the engagements with my wife and my daughter,” said Gigli, while styling the looks on the models in his Milanese apartment, filled with rugs and tables he designed himself; countless books, and a colorful and

6 WWD MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

Romeo Returns

Looks from the new Joyce by Romeo Gigli collection.

WWD.COM

assorted range of furniture, including a Moroccan cabinet, a Franco Albini chaise longue from the Fifties, and a Hans J. Wegner chair from the Forties. Gigli explained that he readily agreed to work with Joyce, “one of his first clients in the Eighties,” indulging in “the pleasure” of designing, with “the same attention” as in the past.

To that end, the clothes illustrate Gigli’s way with delivering chic infused with a sense of controlled ex-otica. He defined the collection as “timeless and season-less,” as his wish “has always been for designs to last for a long time.” The items can stand independently, but also can be combined easily. “I cannot imagine seeing a woman wearing my clothes the same way I put them on the runway,” said Gigli.

The collection features 35 women’s and 20 men’s looks for fall, and the designer is already at work on the spring 2013 season.

Andrew Keith, president of Joyce, said the project ful-fills a long-standing dream, since the company worked with Gigli for the launch of his very first collection. Keith defined Gigli as “an amazing creative force” and praised “his use of sumptuous fabrics and the finesse with which he layers the different textures of fine silks, velvets, bro-cades.” Many of these fabrics were developed exclusively for this collection, made even more special, he said, by Gigli’s unique “artist’s sensitivity to color.”

The executive said “there is a luxurious sensuality to Romeo’s work that combines a romantic fragility togeth-er with architectural and form-defining silhouettes that we believe is unique and is why he has remained such an influential and creative fashion force throughout his remarkable career.”

Asked why Joyce deemed this the best moment to work with Gigli again, Keith said the project is in response to requests from those customers who have known the de-signer over the years. “But I think what is exciting about this collection is that it sees Romeo’s signature evolving and he is speaking to a whole new generation of custom-ers who will be experiencing his creative vision for the first time,” said Keith, adding that Joyce is expecting “very positive results” based on the “extremely complimentary and excited feedback” it has already received.

For fall, Gigli said he did not want an Asia-centric col-lection, but that he did wish to emphasize “the face of Asian women and their gestures.” He also took into con-sideration the region’s weather and opted for lightness of weight and textures, as seen on a purple, feather-light silk and mohair coat or on a beaver fur coat with a cape. Silhouettes are slim and elongated, often with asym-metric necklines; there are also ruched skirts and shirts embellished with rose buds or bubble sleeves, as well as one of his favorites, cocoon jackets. There are touches of color, such as orange and dark red, or blue-greens, as

well as gold, for a sand and powder “palette that is not too light,” noted the designer, who is working with Italian factories to produce the collection.

Prices range from 16,500 and 39,500 Hong Kong dol-lars, or $2,126 and $5,090 at current exchange, for a coat; between 5,500 and 17,500 Hong Kong dollars, or $708.8 and $2,255, for dresses and skirts, and 9,500 Hong Kong dollars, or $1,224, for capes.

Keith said Gigli “was always very clear that he wanted to design a collection that was inspired by the grace and beauty of Asian women. He shared wonderful stories with us about traveling in China in the early Eighties and about how inspirational he found it. But this collection is not a Chinese-referenced collection.” It is, he added,

a collection for “strong, modern, confident yet graceful women who appreciate quality and luxury.”

The men’s collection includes fitted and extralong jackets and creased heavy cotton pants, reversible coats with silver fox-fur collars and comfortable tweed and flannel jackets. Colorful shirts come with high collars and bow ties. Fitted mohair pullovers are worn as vests, decorated with stripes and floral patterns. A men’s coat retails for between 14,500 and 48,900 Hong Kong dollars, or $1,868 and $6,302.

Born in 1949, Gigli launched his own brand in 1983, and, strongly passionate about architecture and travel, the designer infused his looks with architectural shapes combined with romantic, Renaissance touches, as well as punk street-style and ethnic looks. Gigli became in-fluential, but his brand suffered through several chang-es of ownership, beginning with a bitter dispute in the early Nineties with former partners Carla Sozzani and Donato Maino. He was then left empty-handed after the brand’s ensuing parent company, the now-defunct IT Holding, sold the Gigli business in a complicated deal involving the separation of the company and the li-cense for the brand, to the Luxembourg-based company Euroholding, Italian real estate company Immobiliare Esse and Mood Srl. It led to the designer being shoul-dered out of fashion in 2004, and producing the brand without his creative input. For fall 2009, Gigli launched the short-lived Io Ipse Idem line, which was shuttered after financial backers pulled the plug, followed in 2010 by the XII XII XLIX par Romeo Gigli (the numerals stand for his birth date of Dec. 12, 1949) in a partnership with Fuzzi, which was also a fleeting project.

LOOKING BACK…

7WWD MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

PHOT

OS B

Y DO

MIN

IQUE

MAI

TRE

PHOT

OS B

Y DO

NATO

SAR

DELL

A, M

ICHE

AL B

OUTE

FEU

AND

DAN

ASHB

Y

What is exciting about this collection is that it sees Romeo’s signature evolving and

he is speaking to a whole new generation of customers who will be experiencing his

creative vision for the first time.— ANDREW KEITH, JOYCE

The designer in his Milan apartment.

Romeo Gigli, spring 1987.

Spring 1988

Spring 1990

Fall 1991

FOR MORE IMAGES, SEE

WWD.com/fashion-news.

WWD.COM8 WWD monday, may 14, 2012

By Rachel StRugatz

NeW YORK — the neon trend is finally fading, and for fall, the latest crop of accessories are embracing their wild side.

Designers exhibiting at eNK’s accessories circuit and Business Journal’s accessories the Show, held here from May 7 to 9 at the Show Piers and the Jacob K. Javits convention center, respectively, drew inspi-ration from animals such as pan-thers or cats depicted in ancient egyptian art, with more than 1,000 combined exhibitors pres-ent — including alexis Bittar, Janis by Janis Savitt, Botkier, elizabeth cole Jewelry, Nora Kogan, cc Skye, R+Y augousti, Paige Novick, Jana Feifer, Natalie Frigo and casa del Rio.

“May continues to be a mar-ket that serves a variety of needs for the accessories indus-try. the exhibitors who fare best are those who fully embrace the changes in the market. the May market is a great barometer of what is really going on at retail,” said Britton Jones, president and chief executive officer of Business Journals, Inc.

For Bittar, panthers were one

of the main themes present in his fall collection (and part of his long-standing “elements” line). the designer’s bangles, rings and pendants comprising brass and oversize gemstones were adorned with gunmetal-hued, crystal emblazoned panthers —

and among the most sought after of his pieces by retailers. he cited another selection of $195 to $595 lucite and mala-chite, art-Deco-looking pieces as also being popular for fall, but the panthers were the standout.

“It’s Old World, but contem-porary. It looks like estate jew-elry,” Bittar said, holding up the $395 gold “Siyabona Reliquary” pendant, containing a pan-

ther lounging in a golden tree branch and blanketed with vari-ous sized colored crystals and gemstones, encased in a hand-carved, and highly polished, oval-shaped lucite shell.

“there’s a trend toward a mod-ern twist on romantic fantasy and the overly embellished and en-crusted. there’s a swing towards quality and perceived value, and consumers are subconsciously de-manding more,” Bittar added.

cats, both wild and domes-ticated, have been an inspira-tion and part of lower east Side-based Frigo’s offerings since she introduced her col-lection in January 2010. her “Playing cat” ring, made from

recycled oxidized sterling silver with cognac diamond eyes, re-tails for $340, and varying styles of bangles employing the same motif retail from $270 for a re-cycled brass version with white sapphire to $600 for sterling sil-ver with black diamonds.

a less literal interpretation of the animal trend took form with exotic skin handbags — as evidenced by a plethora of faux, embossed styles and those com-prised of authentic Florida alli-gator or stingray.

cc Skye’s handbags are fash-

ioned from a combination of smooth leather and either py-thon or ostrich embossed leather to give the pieces the luxe look and feel of an exotic without hav-ing to pay the price of real skins. Messengers, cross-bodies, clutch-es and satchels incorporating these stamped leathers have be-come a mainstay for the designer since 2010, two years after she launched the category (her main jewelry collection launched in 2006), and the majority of the sil-houettes retail for under $600.

Feifer, who introduced her line in 2001 with striped and ini-tial bearing leather totes, has now relaunched with an expanded fall collection. She introduced $135 canvas totes with leather trim (her previous totes were all leather and cost almost $400), faux exot-ics that include python embossed

flexible PVc and leather totes and crocodile clutches in satu-rated reds and blues that retail for $165 to $265.

“I’ve found that you can buy so many great pieces from zara and h&M, but I just couldn’t find a lot of great accessories in the market at an affordable price point. When I was sourcing my leathers I came across this great skin that was not only approachably priced, but I realized that by combining the leather and the PVc I could make a product that was more affordable to the masses that was still very

chic,” Feifer said. her line is carried at Kitson in los

angeles, on her Web site and will be available at B.D. Jeffries in atlanta and New York look here come fall.

husband-and-wife design team R+Y augousti manage to produce mixed-material or en-tirely skin handbags made from authentic python, water snake, stingray, eel, ostrich or iguana at prices that range from about $495 for a combination python and stingray minaudière, to $665 for a zig-zag printed, struc-tured rectangular stingray and shell clutch, to more than $1,000 for a water snake tote.

Newcomer casa del Rio, whose handbags are all made from wild Florida alligator, offers classic silhouettes that include small pouchettes, wristlets, clutches with removable crossbody chains and two-toned briefcase styles that range from $400 to $1,800.

8

accessories

RaY-BaN WIll quIetlY fete its 75th birthday this year with a new collection and advertising campaign that nods to its storied history.

the ambermatic collection is in-spired by Ray-Ban’s first aviator sun-glasses, which were released in 1937. the capsule collection of four aviators incorporates a light-sensitive photochro-mic yellow lens that darkens depending on light and temperature conditions.

available shapes include a classic aviator with or without curved temple tips, the shooter silhouette and the out-doorsman. all styles are gold-rimmed except the black-framed classic aviator without curved temple tips.

“People may not realize that Ray-Ban first started out from a military request for pilot’s sunglasses. this aviator style is something that was developed long ago but that continues to be nur-tured by the brand with new frame materials and lens development,” said Sara Beneventi, Ray-Ban brand di-rector. “the relationship between Ray-Ban and the aviator is treated with rev-erence. the ambermatic is a testament to that commitment to craftsmanship and technical design.”

One of Ray-Ban’s older styles, the shooter includes a middle circle under the top bar, which doubled as a cigarette holder designed to free the hands of the wearer when hunting.

like the shooter, the outdoorsman has top bar and temple end pieces covered in nacre, but it does not include the circle.

Set to hit Sunglass hut, henri Bendel and upscale department stores in June, the collection will retail for $219.

Ray-Ban’s new “legends” ad campaign, which rolls out this month, will not only stage ambermatic’s arrival, but also be a curtain raiser for the brand’s private book.

the “legends” campaign tells the 75-year spirit of the brand’s “Never hide” motto. Shot by Mark Seliger in los

angeles, the campaign features seven im-ages styled by arianne Phillips. the pho-tos capture seven historic moments, one per decade, and span from the thirties to the Nineties. Images, some of them contro-versial, include a gay couple holding hands in the Fifties, a defiant, Ray-Ban wearing english socialite in the Sixties and white rapper performing in front of an african-american audience in the Nineties.

the limited edition private book, which will be available in September for VIP clients only, includes 18 rare photographs of historic figures wearing Ray-Bans, as well as a handful of 1,000-word essays by brand influencers such as

Iggy Pop, Pharrell and Jann Wenner. called

“legends: untold Stories,” the book in-cludes images of Ray-Ban wearing icons such as amelia earhart, humphrey Bogart and lauren Bacall, arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, John F. Kennedy, Patti Smith, andy Warhol and Michael Jackson.

“Beyond the public’s perception about Ray-Ban, whether they love wear-ing the Wayfarer or an aviator, it’s essen-tial to share the brand’s values, its history, really what defines it at its core, during this monumental anniversary,” said Fabio D’angelantonio, who is the chief marketing officer at luxottica, Ray-Ban’s parent company. “the pieces around this anniversary, the ad campaign, the ambermatic, and ‘untold Stories,’ are created to tell the brand story and serve as reminders of why consumers fell in love with the Ray-Ban in the first place.” — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

Ray-Ban Fetes 75th Anniversary

The shooter aviator from the Ambermatic collection.

A CC Skye bag.A Casa del Rio handbag.A R+Y Augousti handbag.A Natalie Frigo ring.A Jana Feifer tote.An Alexis Bittar bangle.An Alexis Bittar Necklace.Nora Kogan’s brass lips bracelet.

Bags and Baubles Go WildA CC Skye bag.

An Alexis Bittar bracelet.

w14a008a;8.indd 8 5/11/12 7:34 PM05112012193520

Fashion Institute of TechnologyWhere creativity gets down to business.

School of Continuing and Professional StudiesOver 3,000 courses in art, design, business, and technology.

THIS SUMMER YOU CAN:• Study evenings, weekends, and online• Enroll in a degree or certifi cate program• Take affordable credit and noncredit courses• Earn 3 credits in 3 weeks

Go to fi tnyc.edu/wwd today to view courses and register online now, or call 888-FIT-IS-NYC x7 to request a catalogue.

FIT is a State University of New York college.

For the truly creative mind, a good idea is just the beginning.

WWDSTYLETo the Pointe

MEMO PAD

PHOTO BY STEVE EICHNER

GARMENT TALES:

Leonard S.

Bernstein tells

Seventh Avenue

stories.. PAGE 10

OPENING CEREMONY IN PRINT: Opening Ceremony will launch a collectible fashion and culture magazine in August, called OC Annual, WWD has learned. Each issue will center on a theme, with the debut issue focused on sports in honor of the London Olympics. Opening Ceremony founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim have already lined up photographers Bruce Weber, Walter Pfeiffer, Todd Cole and Tim Barber for the issue, said a rep for the duo.

The partners, who also design the Kenzo label, were traveling outside the country and unavailable for comment. In an internal memo obtained by WWD, Lim wrote, “As magazine fanatics, O.C. founder Humberto Leon and myself are aiming to create a collectible publication for a new generation, something beautiful and special in the vein of Benetton’s ‘Colors,’ Comme des Garçons’ ‘Six’ and Joe McKenna’s ‘Joe.’ We want to make a magazine that will appeal to kids in Nebraska as much as industry people.”

Opening Ceremony will publish 30,000 copies of the title. The influential specialty store, which has locations in New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and will also publish a commemorative book from Rizzoli in September with contributors including Terry Richardson, Chloë Sevigny, Alexander Wang, Ryan McGinley, Sally Singer, M.I.A. and Terence Koh. — DAVID LIPKE

PLANNING AHEAD? Giorgio Armani has been open about his reluctance to publicly list his company or take on a business partner to ensure a future for the brands that bear his name, but details about his decisions going forward remain unavailable. Italy’s weekly magazine Il Mondo last week approached this subject with a new take, speculating that the designer, who turns 78 in July, is looking into creating a social and cultural Armani Foundation. The designer, said Il Mondo, would decide “the mechanisms to appoint members of the board” that would be “unalterable,” and he would place the company’s shares in the foundation. If this new entity will eventually take shape, “there will not be a hereditary succession,” said the magazine, concluding that in the future, the foundation’s administrators and arbitrators will be the ones “in command.” A spokeswoman for the Armani group said the designer had no comment on the story. — LUISA ZARGANI

NEXT PROJECT: Nancy Berger exited her role as vice president of marketing and communications at the Project trade show on Friday, and has joined Visuality as senior vice president of sales and marketing. In her new role, she reports to Joe Shohfi, chief executive officer of Visuality, a digital wholesale marketplace and communications platform. Berger’s exit comes on the heels of Project creative adviser Nick Wooster joining J.C. Penney last month as men’s creative director. The move led to the elimination of Project Wooster, which did not generate significant revenue but was meant to create buzz and a directional halo for the show. Project declined to comment on its future marketing efforts in the wake of shuttering Project Wooster. — D.L.

NEW YORK — A starry group of dance enthusiasts, led by a Chanel-sporting Drew Barrymore, turned out for the New York City Ballet Spring Gala. For more, see page 10.

THERE HAVE ALWAYS been plenty of characters on Seventh Avenue. People with bigger-than-life personalities abound. But there are hardly any literary characters from the Garment District — at least until now.

Leonard S. Bernstein — who took over Candlesticks Inc., his family’s children’s wear business, in 1953 — has penned a book of short stories, most of which weave in and out of small New York apparel manufacturers. In “The Man Who Wanted to Buy a Heart” (University of New Orleans Press), Bernstein, 80, remembers fondly the quirks and the failings and what he sees as the nobility of the Garment District of the Fifties and Sixties.

“It was nontech,” says Bernstein, who hammered out the manuscript on his old manual typewriter. “It was dirty. It was sloppy. Very often the manufacturers didn’t know exactly what they were doing or how to do it right, but it was a good time in New York, a good time in America. We hired, people worked, they earned a living. It was honest and, in fairness, the wind was in our sails.”

Many of the book’s 17 stories reach out for some sort of common decency. Characters,

even those who aren’t very good at their jobs, find a place for themselves in the warrens of the Garment District.

“You are forgetting what Shakespeare and Wordsworth said about the poetry of age,” says one of Bernstein’s creations, Simon Englehart, as he pitches for a job as a salesman. “You are forgetting about style, grace and nobility.”

Englehart gets the job, but his poetic soul doesn’t connect with the market, so

he occasionally steals a pen from a buyer to prove to his boss that he is out there, pounding the pavement, trying to sell. His collection of 29 pens becomes a touchstone for the manager, a reminder of the importance of a personal connection over a business decision.

As perhaps the lone writer of fiction centered on the Garment District, Bernstein opens a window on a world that in large part has passed.

“You can learn about our heritage, and even though this is fiction, everything is true, everything could have happened even if it didn’t,” the author says.

“That was a different world, the old world of the apparel industry,” Bernstein recalls. “It was easier. You didn’t have to be so brilliant. Everything was small and it was a little easier for somebody like me to get a grip on it and do OK, and so I did, and I had a good time.

“Maybe I’m overly nostalgic, but I kind of miss it,” he says. “There was a certain decency, a certain straightforwardness. Now the world, the New York commercial world, is a little bit extremely high tech, extremely sophisticated. A little shifty, if you will.”

— EVAN CLARK

10 WWD MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

Good TurnoutTHE NEW YORK City Ballet Spring Gala on Thursday night was a “one-time-only salute to France” titled A La Française, though it took place at the David Koch theater at Lincoln Center and everyone was far more interested in what was happening onstage than the recent French elections.

“It was incredible,” Carolyn Murphy said of the two-hour program, which featured three ballets and two world premieres: “Mes Oiseaux,” with choreography by Peter Martins and costumes created by J.Mendel, and “Two Hearts,” choreographed by Benjamin Millepied and costumed by Rodarte.

“Peter [Martins] told me that he wanted something very emotional [for ‘Mes Oiseaux’],” Gilles Mendel said of his three costume designs, which employed illusion netting and dark swirling slashes across the torsos, and ended in abbreviated flared black skirts with either red, fuchsia, or green underlay. “It’s hard to do something emotional with only three [dancers] — I wanted to make them seductive, though they are quite young looking, I wanted to give them a graphic moment, an elegant moment, to show off the beauty of their bodies and their dancing.”

The evening also marked the return, after a four year absence, of the much beloved “Symphony in C,” with original George Balanchine choreography and slightly amped-up costumes. Sticking to the original Balanchine

color palette of white tutus and black tunics, company costume designer Marc Happel was inspired by a Christian Dior gown from 1949 called “Junon,” which featured gradated beading of varying opacity. Swarovski had donated crystals to embellish the costumes: when the curtains rose on “Symphony in C,” the audience burst into applause at the sparkle alone.

Millepied drew inspiration from the Northern European folk song “Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor,” with vocalist Dawn Landes performing the ballad from the orchestra pit. Laura and Kate Mulleavy’s designs were black and white and rather athletic, off the shoulder and featuring cut out panels at the waist for some of the female dancers, with sheer black-striped skirts exposing white leotard bottoms that looked almost like tennis underpants. The men wore sleeveless white shirts and looser-fitting white pants with thick black stripes.

“There was definitely a sporty influence,” Kate Mulleavy nodded. The sisters designed the ballet costumes for 2010 film “Black Swan,” where their choreographer had met his wife, the evening’s honorary gala chair Natalie Portman, who was present but rather press shy.

“I’m not — ” she said of discussing her husband’s ballet, before heading for her dining companions amidst the French Garden inspired interior of the promenade. Portman is

the current face of Miss Dior Chérie perfume, the house was a cosponsor of the gala along with Swarovski. Deeda Blair, David and Julia Koch, Waris Ahluwalia and Fe Fendi were also among partygoers.

“It was insanely gorgeous,” said Jill Kargman, whose tablemates included her brother Will Kopelman and his fiancée Drew Barrymore.

“Oh, they’re the cutest,” Kargman sighed of the couple. “They’re just so happy. It makes us all happy.” Kargman was squired by her husband Harry, whose sister Bess Kargman had just premiered her directorial debut “First Position,” a documentary about young dancers preparing for the Youth America Grand Prix. Was he sick of ballet? “Not yet,” Kargman smiled.

— ALESSANDRA CODINHA

Weaving Narratives

PROPRIETOR OF PINK and paragon of all things girly, Barbie is back on the fashion scene. Mattel’s crown jewel is the subject of “Playing with Fashion,” a two-story installation at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, which opened Thursday night.

FIT seniors in the fashion design, interior design, jewelry design, photography and visual presentation programs were challenged to create clothes, accessories, photos, storefront

windows and model-size rooms (for Barbie’s Dream House, of course) inspired by the doll, with the top five submissions in each category showcased in the exhibition. The winners were unveiled in a ceremony following the opening and rewarded cash prizes. “I haven’t taken out a Barbie since I was 10, so it was so fun to get my hands on one again,” said Elyse Falato, who won first place, $5,000, in visual presentation for her storefront design, a hot pink and sparkly jewelry box, Barbie twirling in its center.

Along with Mattel executives Peter Helenek and Jim Holmes, Joe Zee, Elle’s creative director and an FIT alum, judged.

“I always say Barbie was my first styling client,” Zee said. “She was the first woman who let me dress her up any way that I wanted.” — TAYLOR HARRIS

eye

FOR MORE PHOTOS, SEE

WWD.com/eye.

Think Pink

Barbie looks from the FIT

students.

Gilles Mendel with Kylie Case in J.Mendel.

Benjamin Millepied with Natalie Portman in Dior Couture.

Deeda Blair

Leonard S. Bernstein

PHOT

OS B

Y ST

EVE

EICH

NER

PHOT

O BY

JOH

N AQ

UINO

PHOT

O BY

JOH

N AQ

UINO

WWD.COM

jacket exclusive to the Paris store from Winter and Murphy’s limited-edition line for the brand. “I feel like I’m in New York,” enthused Charteris, adding that she loves mixing up Levi’s pieces with other stuff. “My aunt [Daphne Guinness] only wears white jeans, she never wears [blue] denim. She should, I’m sure she did when she was my age,” she said.

“We are taking more risks from a fashion viewpoint,” commented Erik Joule, the brand’s senior vice president of global merchandising and design. Levi’s intends to take a more refined point of view with a collection set to launch this summer made from Scottish Harris Tweed, he said. — KATYA FOREMAN

THE TRAVELING BOXER BAG: Reed Krakoff and Garance Doré, the fashion photographer, illustrator and blogger, had a meeting of the minds for their newest project, which involves the designer’s classic Boxer bag. Doré photographed the bag in a variety of different backdrops during her travels spanning New York, Paris, London, Milan and Marrakech, resulting in a visual play on fashion, geography and displacement. “It’s the kind of bag you get so attached to that you end up taking it everywhere you go,” she said. “The pictures came

naturally as I was living my life. Montauk on the beach, New York for fashion week, Paris with my love...so many great memories.” The portfolio will be online exclusively today on Reedkrakoff.com.

— KRISTI GARCED

TIPPER HONORED: Tonight, the Flawless Foundation will host its annual Perfection Party at Le Cirque restaurant recognizing Tipper Gore, former second lady of the U.S., author and mental health advocate as an honorary chair. Fashion model and philanthropic activist, Sara DeAnna, author of “Model Skinny” will be a special guest. Al Gore is expected to attend, as well as Karenna Gore, Kristen Gore, Agapi Stassinopoulos, Pierre Hauser, and the Hon. Patrick Kennedy, among others. A cocktail reception and dinner prepared by Chef Olivier Reginensi are on tap. The Flawless Foundation helps children living with brain-based, behavioral challenges.

— LISA LOCKWOOD

ROCK, SCISSORS AND...: Word has it that Louis Vuitton, which earlier this year confirmed it would extend its brand into perfume, is also plotting a move into sta-tionery. According to sources, the French leather goods powerhouse — which al-ready markets some pens, agendas, travel guides and notebooks — plans to pump up its writing category with paper goods and related paraphernalia. It is understood the product initiative is tied to the ambi-tious forthcoming expansion of its bou-tique at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, a neigh-borhood on the Left Bank whose famous cafes and booksellers have long been a magnet for famous writers. Vuitton offi-cials could not immediately be reached for comment. — WWD Staff

NEW CEO: YGM Trading, Aquascutum’s new Hong Kong-based owners, has named Tim Dally chief executive officer of the brand, which will remain based in London. YGM finalized its purchase of the U.K. arm of Aquascutum last week, buying the brand name and assets for 15 million pounds, or $24.2 million at current exchange.

The administrators for Aquascutum, FRP Advisory LLP, said they are continuing to deal with interested parties regarding a sale of the Aquascutum factory in Corby, England. They said discussions are also taking place in relation to the Aquascutum concessions in Spain and Canada. — S.C.

11WWD MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

All Hail the Bale

FASHION SCOOPS

OLYMPIAN EFFORTS: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge kicked off the 2012 Olympic celebrations in London, attending a black-tie gala at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night in honor of British athletes. The duchess wore a teal Jenny Packham dress to the event, where her husband told athletes: “Glory awaits you. You, our Olympians and Paralympians, will inspire people up and down this country, and far beyond its borders.” The event was called Our Greatest Team Rises, and featured performances by the dance group Spelbound, Take That singer Gary Barlow, and Will Young. — SAMANTHA CONTI

JLO’S GLOW DAY: “It’s a very emotional moment,” said Coty chief executive officer Bernd Beetz Thursday evening at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, where the beauty company marked the 10th anniversary of its partnership with Jennifer Lopez with an enormous

cake in the shape of her latest fragrance, Glowing. He had plenty to be emotional — perhaps, even giddy — about: Starting with Glow by JLo in 2002, the partnership has been one of the most successful in fragrance history, netting 18 fragrances sold in 25 countries and almost $2 billion in retail sales. And the money keeps rolling in. Glowing, which entered all 1,100 Kohl’s doors about four weeks ago, is performing 147 percent above plan, according to Lopez. “It’s really mind-blowing, but I’m very proud,” she said of her decade-long fragrance reign. — RACHEL BROWN

HIPSTERS SCENE: Levi’s on Thursday night transformed the basement of its new Champs-Elysées flagship into a nightclub, with French electro DJ-producer Pedro Winter and American musician James Murphy serving up thumping electro beats. Skinny jeans was the main dress code, with young guests roaming around the denim-stacked industrial space slurping beers and eating curry bagels and hotdogs. The tailor shop in the VIP area on the site’s second floor had been turned into a bar.

Guests included Lou Lesage, Jess Mills, Poppy and Cara Delevingne and Mary Charteris, who was dressed in a vintage floral print frock paired with a trucker

By DAVID MOIN

NEW YORK — As Pier Luigi Loro Piana sees it, the World Wool Record Challenge Cup determining the world’s finest wool is not simply for the sake of competition.

“We wouldn’t want to do a contest without building some real meaning into it,” the chief executive officer of Loro Piana said Thursday night at the Metropolitan Club here, scene of a lav-ish evening orchestrated by the Italian luxury label to honor the winner of its 2011 wool challenge. Though the com-pany has equally strong reputations in

cashmere, vicuna and the lotus flower fabric, last week the spotlight was on wool and how the Loro Piana contest spurs breeders to produce finer, higher-quality fiber each year.

He presented Susanne Triplett, who breeds sheep on her 120-acre farm in Tumbarumba, New South Wales, Australia, with the World Record Bale Award for a bale of wool with fiber mea-suring 11.1 microns in diameter. The thinner the diameter, the softer the wool. It also drapes better. “Breeding sheep is very hard work — seven days a week,” Triplett confided. “And every morning I have to give George a little scratch under his chin. If I don’t, he just keeps crying,” Triplett added, referring to one of her favorites in the flock.

The event included performances by tenor Piero Mazzocchetti, flau-tist Andrea Griminelli and the Matt Herskowitz jazz trio.

Loro Piana has been honoring breed-ers for 15 years with its award, decided by a jury of presidents of the Superfine Wool Growers’ Association and the di-rector of the New Zealand Merino Stud Breeders society. Loro Piana purchases the record bale and eventually manufac-tures it into 40 to 50 bespoke suits. The award ceremony is staged in different cities each year.

Millard “Mickey” Drexler and Pier Luigi Loro Piana examining the record bale fabrics.

Levi’s flagship gets a nightclub feel.

Cara and Poppy Delevingnge

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

PHOT

O BY

ALA

STAI

R GR

ANT/

PA W

IRE/

PRES

S AS

SOCI

ATIO

N IM

AGES

PHOT

O BY

FRA

NÇOI

S GO

IZÉ

PHOT

O BY

FRA

NÇOI

S GO

IZÉ

SpacesFor more career opportunities log on to WWDCareers.com.

(800) 423-3314, or email fpclassified@fairchildpub.com

Showrooms & LoftsBWAY 7TH AVE SIDE STREETS

Great ’New’ Office Space AvailADAMS & CO. 212-679-5500

PATTERNS, SAMPLES,PRODUCTIONS

Full service shop to the trade.Fine fast work. 212-869-2699

PRODUCTION MGR ............. $75-110KIntimates, Bra construction a must

Jennifer Glenn SRI Search 212 465 8300 jennifer@srisearch.com

SALES-PERSON WANTEDMODERATE MISSY SPORTSWEARIMPORTER SEEKS A HARDWORK-ING SHOWROOM SALESPERSON.SALARY & COMMISSION. EMAILRESUME. CCNY91@GMAIL.COM

MS. ASHLEY ACCESSORIESOnce in a while the perfect side linecomes along. Now is one of thosetimes. Short hot scarf line available inJune. 20% comm. Many areas availa-ble. Contact Bruce at 913 888 4086.

browning@kc.rr.com

COMMERCIALREAL ESTATE

Hermès’ Thomas warned that turmoil in Europe could weigh on revenues going forward, al-though he is still projecting a 10 percent to 11 percent rise in sales this year, thanks to emerg-ing markets such as China.

Despite his gloomy outlook, Thomas will be one of retail’s winners this year as the gulf widens between strong, geo-graphically diversified compa-nies with cash on their balance sheets and the weak ones with debts and shrinking sales, be-tween the still-purring luxury and branded fashion ends of the market and the endangered middle market.

The average European is in no mood to shop, and would rather save: According to Eurostat, the European Commission’s statis-tics office, household savings increased by 13.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, while dis-posable income fell by 0.4 percent.

In March, unemployment in the euro zone reached a record high, hitting 10.9 percent for the first time in 15 years. But it’s not only the unemployed who have reined in spending.

“People who have jobs are worried about keeping them, and often they are supporting grown kids who may still be liv-ing at home, and who may never work,” said Nick Hood, an insol-vency expert and head of exter-nal affairs at the London-based Company Watch, which tracks firms’ financial health. “This is an issue right across Europe, and the fear is particularly per-nicious for midrange spenders and midmarket retailers.”

Italian consumers, in particu-lar, are feeling insecure about their financial situation, according to The Boston Consulting Group’s

Global Consumer Sentiment Survey, taken last month and set to be released today.

Fifty-one percent of the peo-ple taking the survey in Italy said they felt either “not finan-cially secure” or “in financial trouble.” The same held true for 45 percent of respondents in both the U.K. and Germany, 41 percent of respondents in Spain and 33 percent of those surveyed in France.

Armando Branchini, executive director of Italy’s luxury goods as-

sociation Fondazione Altagamma, said the market is looking in-creasingly like an hourglass, with luxury and the branded mass market at each end, and the mid-dle market shrinking.

According to research by Altagamma Consensus, luxury and accessories sales are ex-pected to grow 10 percent in 2012, and apparel is forecast to gain 6.5 percent. Luxury and accessories sales in the U.S. are expected to gain 7 percent; Latin America 14 percent; Japan 2 percent; Asia 16.5 per-cent; the Middle East 8.75 per-cent, and Europe 3.75 percent.

Branchini also said that “ab-solute luxury,” or brands such as Harry Winston, Hermès, Brioni and Loro Piana, are growing at an even faster rate than “aspira-tional luxury,” or brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

There is no greater illustra-tion of the hourglass metaphor than the PPR results last month: The retail-to-luxury reported that revenues rose 15.4 percent in the first quarter, powered by sales at brands including Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta. Puma and the retailer Fnac, however, registered disap-pointing performances.

Italy offered up a case study of its own, with Tod’s posting an 8 percent spike in first-quarter revenues, while the midmarket accessories maker Geox saw sales in the same period sink 4.4 percent due to a slowdown in demand in Italy, Europe and North America.

Luxury — and branded mass apparel — are also benefiting hugely from domestic Chinese consumers and Chinese tour-ists who love nothing more than spending their yuan on Western brand names and status sym-bols, and mixing and matching

high- and low-end labels. Last month, the Italian luxu-

ry men’s wear and textile label Ermenegildo Zegna posted re-cord sales of $1.47 billion, with nearly half coming from Asia, and China in particular. During China’s 2012 Spring Festival in January, the Chinese spent 6 billion euros, or $7.8 billion, on luxury goods, the bulk of which was purchased outside China.

Meanwhile, midmarket retail-ers in the U.K. and Continental Europe that depend on domestic

consumers — rather than flush foreigners from growing econo-mies — are suffering.

Over the past six months, U.K. retailers — including Argos, French Connection and Arcadia Group — have all reported they are ready to re-negotiate rental agreements or shutter unprofit-able stores in the wake of falling sales and profits.

And those U.K. companies are not alone: In April, euro-zone retail sales fell at their strongest pace since November 2008, according to the finan-cial information services firm Markit, which highlighted a “worryingly steep downturn on the high street.”

In a separate report pub-lished earlier this month, Markit’s chief economist Chris Williamson said, “Business and consumer confidence appears to have deteriorated markedly across the [European] region since the uplift seen at the start of the year, suggesting that stim-ulus measures implemented by the European Central Bank have not had a lasting impact on the real economy.”

While many countries in the euro zone are suffering the pain of austerity and unemploy-ment, others are still working — and consuming.

Lillian von Stauffenberg, managing director of the brand-ing, consulting and public rela-tions firm Finch & Partners in London, said luxury brands are investing heavily in China, but are also putting their marketing dollars into Germany.

“It’s not a new market, but it has a healthy economy — comparatively speaking — and has very little unemployment. People are still spending. And not all of Germany’s cities have been saturated with brands,” she said.

According to Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, the country’s exports grew for the third month in a row, rising 0.9 percent in March and helping to steer the country clear of reces-sion, which has blighted so many other European economies.

As for the longer-term impact of the euro-zone storms, the jury

is out. In France, it is unclear how much the fiscal policies of president-elect Hollande, who has vowed to slap a 75 percent tax rate on high earners and raise taxes on luxury goods, will damage the economy.

In London, the Evening Standard newspaper is already talking about an exodus of rich French to the British capital. In a recent story, “Paristocrats are Coming,” ES said real es-tate agents in London have seen a substantial uptick in French citizens hunting for high-priced homes in South Kensington, Wandsworth and Battersea Park in an attempt to get their money out of the country and avoid the dreaded tax increases.

Others are not so concerned about the left-leaning Hollande, who on Tuesday will meet German chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss their respec-tive views on how to lead Europe out of its crisis. Hollande favors growth and job creation, while Merkel continues to favor fiscal discipline and beat the austerity drum — although the Germans have begun showing signs they might be willing to compromise somewhat on their penny-pinch-ing ways in order to help boost the European economy.

“A lot of what we heard dur-ing the past months in France was electioneering,” said Hood of Company Watch. “I don’t think a luxury-goods tax hike is going to stop French women from buying gorgeous linge-rie. And even if Hollande does slacken off austerity and enact measures to boost growth, French businesses will do just fine. The French are very good,

very flexible businesspeople and they have always per-formed well despite deeply re-strictive labor laws.” He does not believe there will be a mass exodus of the rich, either: “The French love being in France,” he claimed.

Jamie Merriman, a re-search analyst who specializes in European general retail at Sanford C. Bernstein in London, is not fussed about the threat of a luxury goods tax either. “A tax could actually help value-ori-ented retailers if consumers de-cided to trade down,” she said.

Tax or no tax, Merriman and her team believe the branded mass market still has sub-stantial growth ahead of it. In a conference call earlier this month, Bernstein’s ana-lysts said they believe Inditex and Hennes & Mauritz will be “long-term winners, given su-perior business models, higher emerging-market exposure and sustainable space growth.”

Merriman also said she’s ex-pecting the 50 percent drop in cotton prices to filter through to retailers in the second half of the year, possibly driving retail prices down.

Other industry observers are less sure about the future of re-tail consumption in Europe.

“We learned that in 2008 the luxury market was not complete-ly insulated from turmoil in the financial markets,” said James Lawson, a director at Ledbury Research, the market research firm that tracks wealthy consum-ers’ behavior. “For the wealthy, it’s not simply about whether they can afford to buy, but whether they can be seen to be buying, whether they are comfortable consuming when there are cutbacks from austerity measures,” he said.

Paul Alger, director of in-ternational affairs at the U.K. Fashion and Textile Association, believes there are more hard times to come.

“There is still a lot of insecu-rity, and I don’t think we’ve seen the end of the contraction in the market,” he said. “People are hurting across the boards, and the political elite do not have the answers.”

WWD.COM12 WWD MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012

People who have jobs are worried about keeping

them, and often they are supporting grown kids who may still be living at home, and who may never work.

— NICK HOOD, COMPANY WATCH

No End in Sight for Euro-Zone Woes{Continued from page one}

Feeling Financially InsecureThe percentage of respondents who said they felt “in financial trouble” or “not

financially secure” in The Boston Consulting Group’s Global Consumer Sentiment Survey.

60%

30%

0%

CHINA

12%

4%

FRANCE

33%

24%

9%

GERMANY

45%

34%

11%

ITALY

51%

10%

41%

SPAIN

41%

14%

27%

U.K.

45%

16%

36%

9%14%

34%

48%

U.S.

NOT FINANCIALLY SECURE

IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE

RESPONDENTS

-0.3%THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S

PROJECTION FOR GROWTH IN THE ECONOMIES OF THE 17 EURO-ZONE COUNTRIES THIS YEAR.