Taking Shape

PHOTO BY ROBERT MITRA

JOSEPH ABBOUD JOINS MEN’S WEARHOUSE.

PAGE MW1

DESIGNER MOVE

THE DEAL IS DONE

Rosso’s Only the Brave Takes Stake in Marni

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — After months of speculation, Diesel chief Renzo Rosso is expected to confi rm today that he has taken a stake in Marni through his holding company, Only the Brave Srl. It is understood the deal will help Marni’s expansion around the world.

In October, Marni’s chief executive offi cer Gianni Castiglioni told WWD he was seeking a fi nancial partner to support the company’s growth and retail development. Castiglioni and his wife and creative director, Consuelo, have been at the helm of the com-pany since they founded it in 1994. Through its quirky designs, fi lled with artistic references and innovative fabrics, Marni has garnered a cult following.

This is not the fi rst such venture for Rosso. While growing Diesel into a global sportswear brand over the years, the innovative entrepreneur has been build-ing a diversifi ed fashion group under the Only the Brave moniker, which comprises the Viktor & Rolf and Maison Martin Margiela labels, and top manufacturing arm Staff International, based in Italy’s Veneto region. Staff, which was bought by Rosso in 2000, last year se-cured the Just Cavalli license, and also produces and distributes collections for Dsquared2, among others.

Considered a marketing wiz and an astute talent scout, Rosso oversees and supports a talent search in Italy’s Trieste. Sources say the affable entrepreneur knows how to deal with the demanding personalities of designers.

Rosso has also made hefty gains through invest-ments in Italian e-tailer Yoox and eyewear maker Marcolin, among others.

Rumors about his interest in Marni fi rst emerged last summer, but Castiglioni attributed the ongoing speculation to a long-standing friendship with Rosso. According to a well-placed source, the Castiglionis are keen to maintain Marni’s status quo in terms of design and management. There is no generational issue, as the couple are committed to their roles and

SEE PAGE 3

Macy’s Extended Season

SEE PAGE 8

By DAVID MOIN

MACY’S WILL BE wooing the post-Christmas shopper like never before.

The department store has devised an unusually ag-gressive and comprehensive campaign, dubbed “The Week of Wonderful,” which will be launched national-ly the day after Christmas, and conclude New Year’s Day, WWD has learned.

“Over the last couple of years, the week after Christmas has become really, really important, large-ly due to the fact that people take vacation, schools are off, and there’s no more pressure to get a gift for grandma or Aunt Tilly. We are trying to make the week even more important,” said Martine Reardon, Macy’s Inc.’s chief marketing offi cer.

It’s also a busy and somewhat sloppy period on the selling fl oors of virtually all retailers, marked by the steepest clearances of the year and picked-over as-sortments leaving the odd items on the shelves. There are also massive returns of unwanted holiday gifts, as well as some gift-card redemptions, challenging re-tailers to keep their service levels high.

Generally, retailers don’t approach the post-Christ-mas week very creatively or wrap a campaign around it. It could be a missed opportunity for many. But Macy’s Week of Wonderful appears strategic. Planning started in the spring and centered on arranging much earlier deliveries of certain spring fashions from private brands and national brands. Deliveries, Reardon said, were ac-celerated four to six weeks ahead of the normal cycle.

There is also TV advertising and two catalogues: a 56-page book conveying the new arrivals, and a 36-page book of sale items, mostly 25 to 50 percent off,

WWD“Every seam and dart is about fi t and contour, not decoration,” said Ralph

Rucci about his fi rst pre-fall collection for Chado Ralph Rucci. The lineup featured some beautifully sculpted outerwear such as this gently fl ared

coat in silk faille bonded to wool. For more on the

collection, see wwd.com/runway. For more pre-fall, see page 6.PRE-FALL

2013

COLLECTIONS

FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT

GALERIES LAFAYETTE MAY HAVE EYE ON PRINTEMPS.

PAGE 2

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012 ■ $3.00 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

By Jennifer Weil

PAriS — it’s no secret Galeries lafayette has been on an acquisi-tions drive — and its next target may be a prime department store competitor: Printemps.

Galeries lafayette already purchased french jewelry chain Didier Guérin in July and pub-licly stated ambitions to snap up mid- to high-end brands in the ready-to-wear and accessories categories. A department store appears to be on that list as well.

Speculation escalated here Wednesday that the firm is prepar-ing a buyout offer for Printemps, even though there appears to be little evidence Printemps’ owners are interested in selling.

Galeries lafayette and Printemps combined would cre-ate a worldwide retail power with annual sales of 6.5 billion euros, or $8.61 billion.

Printemps belongs to the Borletti Group and Deutsche Bank’s rreef real-estate asset management division.

A Borletti Group spokeswom-an denied a new owner might be on the horizon. “Borletti Group has no intention at all to sell,” she maintained.

executives at Deutsche Bank and Galeries lafayette had no comment on the rumors.

There is little doubt Galeries lafayette has the financial ammo in its war chest to make such a bid. in 2011, the company posted revenues of 2.9 billion euros, or $4.04 billion at average exchange,

a 7 percent gain versus 2010 de-spite general weakness in the ap-parel segment.

in a move to focus more on its core department-store activ-ity, Galeries lafayette in June agreed to sell french retail group Casino its 50 percent stake in their joint venture Monoprix for 1.18 billion euros, or $1.56 bil-lion at current exchange, ending a long-running dispute over the value of the store. The transac-tion is expected to take place before Oct. 30, 2013. Then, in September, Galeries lafayette sold its 50 percent stake in con-sumer credit company laSer/Cofinoga. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.

Ginette Moulin, who heads the supervisory board of Galeries

lafayette and is the granddaugh-ter of the group’s founder, is reportedly preparing a bid for Printemps. An item appearing on the Web site of french business magazine Challenges speculated that the family-owned company could spend 1.6 billion euros, or $2.12 billion at current exchange, to acquire the retailer.

Galeries lafayette has been making a significant interna-tional push that includes plans to open between five and seven new overseas locations before 2015, including Jakarta, indonesia, Beijing, and Doha, Qatar. it is also looking for locations in Saudi Arabia and europe. The firm said it would open a de-partment store in istanbul — in partnership with Turkish firm DeMSA Group — in the first half

of 2015. Galeries currently oper-ates 59 locations in france and three abroad, in Casablanca, Berlin and Dubai.

Still, its home turf is a pri-mary focus for the retailer. its 710,000-square-foot Paris flagship is undergoing a three-year renovation to the tune of 85 million euros, or $112.6 million at current exchange, to make sure it remains one of the city’s top tourist attractions. last year, Galeries lafayette drew more than 30 million visitors, and part of the revamp will include extra room for services geared to foreigners, who represent a little less than half its customers.

indeed, tourists flock to the store on Boulevard Haussmann, which is also home to Printemps’ flagship. That retailer has 15 other stores in france and plans — for the first time in more than 30 years — to open two new lo-cations in 2014. One would be a smaller-format department store in Paris’ Carrousel du louvre shopping mall and another in the Terrasses du Port mall in the southern french city of Marseille.

An acquisition of Printemps by Galeries lafayette would sig-nificantly bolster the retailer’s muscle in france with a french iconic name, which would be key strategically.

“Variety stores and depart-ment stores in france are domi-nated by domestic companies,” said euromonitor international in its recent report titled “Mixed retailers in france.” “Historically, they benefit from a strong image among french con-sumers and tourists, something of a significant barrier to the pen-etration of multinational players.”

in france among mixed re-tailers — which are defined as the aggregation of depart-ment stores, variety stores, mass merchandisers and warehouse clubs — Galeries lafayette and Printemps ranked second and third, respectively, behind Monoprix in terms of percentage of retail value they generated, ex-cluding sales tax, in 2011.

in terms of square footage, Printemps would add about 2 million square feet to Galeries lafayette’s 6.1 million square feet of selling space, according to euromonitor research, reflecting 2011 data.

Printemps operates 16 stores in France.

Galeries Lafayette Said Eyeing Printemps

2 WWD THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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. 128. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 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. For New York Hand Delivery Service address changes or inquiries, please contact Mitchell’s NY at 1-800-662-2275, option 7. 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

Diesel chief Renzo Rosso is expected to confirm today that he has taken a stake in Marni through his holding company, Only the Brave Srl. PAGE 1 Macy’s “The Week of Wonderful” campaign will be launched the day after Christmas and conclude New Year’s Day. PAGE 1 Chloé’s just-opened Paris flagship is all about the brand’s new “attitude,” proposing an approach to service that aims to make the experience like a fun day out with friends. PAGE 3 Tengram Partners has acquired a stake in Laura Geller Beauty, a brand know for its “baked” color cosmetics. PAGE 6 Shelby Bryan, the longtime beau of Anna Wintour, told The Daily Telegraph in London this week that she would make a great ambassador. PAGE 6 LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has tapped Pauline Brown, an adviser to emerging luxury brands for the past two years, as chairman of its North American arm, LVMH Inc. PAGE 7 Consumers are putting smartphones and other devices to greater use this year and across a variety of shopping behaviors. PAGE 7 Joseph Abboud, who resigned as president and chief creative officer of HMX Group late last month, has been named chief creative director of Men’s Wearhouse. PAGE MW1 Tim Bergling, aka Avicii, discusses his career as one of the world’s most popular electronic dance music DJs. PAGE MW2 Three-time Ironman World Champion triathlete Craig Alexander is on a book tour through the U.S., a project that requires “another kind of endurance.” PAGE MW4

Pre-fall looks from Erdem.

PRE-FALL: See the latest pre-fall collections, including Erdem, VPL and Chado Ralph Rucci, at WWD.com/runway.

CorreCtion

Chloé designer Clare Waight Keller’s name was misspelled on page one, Wednesday.

By SAMAnTHA COnTi

lOnDOn — Tom ford will show his first on-schedule runway show during london fashion Week in february, the British fashion Council confirmed on Wednesday.

ford, whose show will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, feb. 18, joins another newcomer to the schedule, l’Wren Scott, whose show will take place on Sunday, feb. 17, as reported in WWD.

Julien Macdonald will return to the london cat-walk schedule for the fall 2013 season, with a show set for friday, feb. 15.

in other news, the BfC said Manolo Blahnik has designed the cre-ative marketing campaign for the fall ready-to-wear shows. His original images will be used across all

print, marketing, digital and social-media plat-forms for the season.

“english women and their style inspire me tre-mendously,” said Blahnik, who was given an open brief and a blank canvas, and whose illustrations include women in fashion who have inspired him.

“This series of drawings represents some of the fig-ures i adore and who have influenced my life and work. i like extreme girls, and the combination of the poise, the grandeur and the beauty of english women,” he added.

Caroline rush, chief executive officer of the British fashion Council, added: “Manolo’s sketch-

es are world famous, and it will be both great fun and inspirational to see these displayed across london fashion Week in february 2013.”

Manolo Blahnik designed the creative marketing campaign for the fall ready-to-wear shows.

Tom Ford Sets Runway Show for London

w20a002a;9.indd 1 12/19/12 8:11 PM12192012201153

WWD.COM3WWD THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

By KATYA FOREMAN

PARIS — Beyond its prime retail location and beautiful interior, Chloé’s just-opened 5,000-square-foot flagship on the Rue Saint-Honoré is all about the brand’s new “attitude,” pro-posing a personal-shopper-like approach to service that aims to make the experience like a fun day out with friends.

Tightening bonds with the customer, a team of “stylists” is on hand to help compose looks and share broader style tips, such as which hairstyles or lipsticks to wear with outfits. “From Day One, the mission of our stylists will be to create a relationship with customers that is unseen in the market in Paris,” said Chloé chief ex-ecutive officer Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye. “With Chloé, it’s all about the attitude….We want it to be natural, totally effortless but extremely sophisticated.”

Stretching far back off the street, the airy two-story site has a town-house feel, with grand stair-cases at either end and natural light flowing in through a series of arched white windows. Customers can take refreshments — includ-ing Chloé-pink Champagne — in lounge areas with Seventies-looking mustard mohair-velvet sofas and shaggy cream rugs. The first floor boasts a terrace and pri-vate salon with roomy changing areas fitted with iPod docks.

De la Bourdonnaye, who credits the recent 60th anniver-sary “Chloé. Attitudes” exhibit here with having helped repo-sition the brand at the center of Paris fashion, sees the event as a symbolic moment in the

“young history” of the house. “This really is the start of a new period for us.…Our horizon is far in the distance. We feel we are still a mademoiselle. We are looking to the future.”

The store is a hop away from Rue Cambon and Place Vendôme and counts Tom Ford, Jimmy Choo and Roberto Cavalli among neighbors.

Chloé, which owns around 100 stores worldwide, counts only four other directly oper-ated stores in Europe: two in Paris, one in London and an-other in Marbella, Spain. Japan is the brand’s biggest market in terms of single countries, fol-lowed by France.

With its romantic palette of ivory, light pinks, rose gold, gray and beige, the new design is both

pure and architectural, soft and feminine, with paneled walls lending a rectilinear contrast to the gentle, rounded lines of the furniture, such as a marble cash counter, brass clothing racks and retro paneled mirrors.

The store was designed by architect Joseph Dirand in col-laboration with Chloé creative director Clare Waight Keller, who helped pick out features such as a vintage chair by Oscar Niemeyer and brass lights by Louis Weisdorf.

“It’s a beautiful canvas for showing the collections of Clare,” commented de la Bourdonnaye. Waight Keller, who joined Chloé in mid-2011, now also helms the See by Chloé line, he said, following the de-parture of former design direc-

tor Laure de Sade in November. “It’s an organic evolution to make sure whatever we do, we get the benefit of Clare’s amaz-ing taste and [high standards]. Whether for Chloé or See by Chloé, women will recognize the elegance, femininity, grace and effortlessness of what we do.”

In the new store’s windows and first room a group of man-nequins showcasing the Chloé “attitude of the moment” are playfully positioned among spe-cial Dirand-designed wooden installations framed with light bulbs that resemble oversized dressing room mirrors. The ground floor tour continues past the first staircase and along a courtyard-level passage car-rying accessories, ending in a salon area housing Chloé’s big-

gest footwear space to date. The upper level, which has

wide parquet flooring, carries ready-to-wear, which generates almost as much as bags and shoes combined, in value terms, de la Bourdonnaye said. Beauty is of growing importance. With a See by Chloé scent due for launch this spring with fragrance licensee Coty Inc., Chloé in the first half of 2013 will introduce a skin-care line in Japan. There, its signature fragrance, Chloé Eau de Parfum, has held a number-one rank-ing since its 2007 introduction. Developed with Coty’s Lancaster brand’s laboratories, the treat-ment line will then be rolled out in Asia “as a first step.”

Chloé’s new flagship concept, meanwhile, will also be reflect-ed in a store due to open in the coming weeks in New York’s SoHo district, as well new stores in Asia, where the brand’s growth is rapid. New locations are planned for Shanghai, Hong Kong and Japan.

De la Bourdonnaye declined to disclose projections for the Paris flagship or comment on the general outlook for 2013, as parent Compagnie Financière Richemont — which also owns Cartier, Dunhill, Lancel and other brands — does not give such breakdowns. “The fiscal year 2012 [March 2011 to 2012] was a record year, and we’re hop-ing this one will be, too,” he said.

Chloé’s anniversary festivi-ties will run into 2013, mean-while, with a capsule collection of reedition styles due to enter the flagship and other Chloé stores in January. It will also be carried by exclusive partners in-ternationally, such as Printemps in Paris and Barneys New York.

Chloé Amps Up the Service at Paris FlagshipA look inside Chloé’s Paris flagship.

By ARNOLD J. KARR

T’WAS THE SEASON of procrastination.That might very well be the takeaway for

many when they recall holiday 2012, a period in which even relatively modest expectations for retail sales might not be realized. With just five days to go before Christmas, the holiday forecasts of a few months ago are beginning to appear a bit more hopeful than realistic, even allowing for the usual optimism that works its way into retailers’ consciences when the subject turns to the fourth quarter.

ShopperTrak Inc., the Chicago-based retail traffic counter, considered a variety of factors Wednesday when it reduced its projection for holi-day retail sales growth to 2.5 percent from its ini-tial projection, issued in September, of 3.3 percent.

With more stores open for more hours on Thanksgiving in advance of Black Friday, and with the 32 shopping days between Black Friday and Christmas the maximum possible, consum-ers hit the stores early and then pulled back, a shopping hiatus that will be tough to make up in the remaining days before the holiday.

“Those extra Thanksgiving hours may have taken some money off the table,” said Chris Angell, ShopperTrak’s director of global mar-keting. “People figured they got an early start and had a lot of time to finish. The more people delay buying the sweater, the more pressure the merchant has to get them to not delay, typically leading to discounts. And with Christmas on a Tuesday, people are reasoning they have ‘three whole days’ to shop.”

The ShopperTrak revision didn’t extend to its expectations for foot traffic, still expected to move up 2.8 percent from a year ago, implying consumers, assisted by their own thrift and the promotional orientation of the retailers woo-ing them, will spend less per store visit. The ShopperTrak executive noted that the increase

in foot traffic, if realized, would be the first in four years, dating back to the recession.

During the week ended Dec. 15, foot traffic was up 15.1 percent from the prior week, while retail sales rose 16.4 percent, but the increases repre-sented respective declines of 4.4 percent and 4.3 percent from the comparable periods in 2011, ShopperTrak said. It continues to expect a healthy rush in the season’s final days, with the week ended Dec. 22 the busiest of the year and Dec. 22 itself “one of the five busiest days of the season,” according to Bill Martin, ShopperTrak’s founder.

The National Retail Federation continues to expect 4.1 percent growth in holiday sales, with e-commerce expanding about 12 percent. IHS Insight projected 3.9 percent growth.

Of the many groups that project holiday re-sults, none was more upbeat, or closer to the mark, about 2011 than Customer Growth Partners Inc. Craig Johnson, president, expected sales to grow 6.5 percent, in excess of the actual growth rate of 5.8 percent. The International Council of Shopping Centers projected growth of 3 percent, while Alix Partners, figuring on a 4.5 percent spurt, provided the highest estimate of any group other than CGP.

Citing the challenge of beating last year’s strong numbers as well as lingering worries about the economy, Johnson was decidedly more cau-tious this year. On Oct. 26, he projected 2.8 per-cent growth in holiday spending, which would bring sales for the season to about $557 billion.

With previous concerns recently exacerbated by factors ranging from Hurricane Sandy and the Newtown killings to fears about the fiscal cliff, he sees no reason to move from that con-servative estimate. “We happen to think that this weekend coming up will be pretty good but not great,” he told WWD. “It’s too close to the holiday, and there aren’t significant e-commerce sales to be had. The real wild card is the week between Christmas and New Year’s. With slower sales than most people anticipated, there could be a lot of good deals available.”

have no desire to pass the baton. Their daughter Carolina is 31 and is in charge of develop-ing the brand’s online business and special projects, such as its first fragrance, licensed to the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., due to launch in January. Her brother Giovanni, 25, is in charge of the group’s outlets.

Previous talks with private-equity funds fell through as Castiglioni resisted pressure to grow the company at the expense of the brand’s in-tegrity and niche position-ing. Private-equity funds can be less appealing as their interest is short term and they often de-mand growth, whether or not the certain growth vehicles fit the company’s profile.

“We would like to double our sales in five years through a further development of retail but without drastically overturn-ing our company,” Castiglioni told WWD in October. “I would be open to consider a partner only if he would share my vision in managing the company. We are looking at industrial partners that can provide competence and long-term vision,” in addition to finan-cial support, he said.

Castiglioni, who also heads the family-owned fur company Ciwi Furs, said an investor would help Marni expand in countries such as China, where

hefty expenditures in brand boutiques are required.

The company is ex-pected to close 2012 with sales of 130 mil-lion euros, or $167.1 million at current exchange, up 10

percent compared with last year.

Handbags, Marni’s Edition line and men’s wear, especially in Asia, are potential growth ve-hicles for the brand. Accessories account for 35 percent of sales, and men’s only 5 percent.

Marni is available at 300 multibrand stores,

while the company has 100 boutiques, of which 80 are directly operated, in addition to 10 outlets.

Rosso Takes Stake in Marni ShopperTrak Trims Down Forecast P

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4 WWD THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

a clean sweep

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delpozo’s cotton, silk and viscose jacket and cotton blouse and trousers. delpozo shoes.

A.l.c.’s cotton, linen and lycra spandex blazer and embroidered wool and lycra shorts with peter som’s viscose and polyamide lace t-shirt over his cotton shirt. manolo blahnik shoes.

barbara bui’s leather vest with raffia and leather embroidery over theyskens’ theory’s polyamide sweater and elizabeth and James’ cotton, polyamide and metal pants.

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WWD.COM5WWD THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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karolina Zmarlak’s cotton and silk dress with cotton organdy and leather accents.

w20a004(5)a;7.indd 2 12/19/12 7:52 PM12192012195305

DIPLOMATIC TALKS: Shelby Bryan, the longtime beau of Anna Wintour, has come out in support of his gal.

Bryan — who rarely speaks on the record about Wintour — told The Daily Telegraph in London this week that she would make a great ambassador, and that she’s been unfairly maligned by the media.

Wintour, who raised a big pile of cash for the Obama Victory Fund, has been widely tipped to be on the short list for the American ambassadorship to either Britain or France.

“It’s a little bit of male chauvinism,” Bryan said in a brief interview with The Telegraph in Washington, about dismissive press reports. “It’s not just Anna — I see powerful women who really get slammed for being too forthright, or running their business in a very determined way.

“If Jack Welch were being named as a potential ambassador, people wouldn’t be saying, ‘Oh, but hang on, Jack’s a little strict in the way he runs his companies,’ ” he added.

Bryan noted that while Wintour “would do a great job [as ambassador].…I’m not expecting it to happen. She has a great job at Vogue that she loves very much. So I don’t know about that.” — SAMANTHA CONTI

CINDY UOMO: Art exhibition “Cindy Sherman: Early Works” will be unveiled at the Gucci Museo in Florence on Jan. 10, during men’s international trade show Pitti Uomo. The exhibit, to run until June 9, is curated by Francesca Amfitheatrof.

“Over the years, I have greatly admired Cindy Sherman’s body of work, especially the manner in which she uses feminine

instruments to create her characters and her wit,” said Gucci creative director Frida Giannini. “It is an honor to present this exhibition at the Gucci Museo, bringing our visitors her unique style and creativity.”

Using photography as an art form, Sherman works alone, acting both as actor and director, transforming herself and portraying different characters with the use of makeup and clothes. — LUISA ZARGANI

CH GOES IN-HOUSE: Jenny Friedman has taken on the role of public-relations director for CH Carolina Herrera, handling all aspects of the U.S. brand communications and special projects for Carolina Herrera’s lifestyle collection. Her responsibilities cover CH Carolina Herrera women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, children’s wear and accessories.

Friedman was most recently marketing and communications manager at Roberta Freymann, and prior to that she held the same position at Akris, the Swiss-based luxury fashion house. She reports to Emilie Rubinfeld, vice president, global marketing and communications for Carolina Herrera.

— ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

BOTTEGA MOVES: There’s been activity in the Bottega Veneta communications department. Billy Daley — formerly worldwide director of media and advertising, as well as U.S. communications director — was named worldwide director of advertising and digital media. Josh Gaynor, who served as associate U.S. director of communications, is now U.S. director of communications and will oversee the brand’s public relations, advertising and events in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico. — MARC KARIMZADEH

PAINTED LADIES: Miu Miu’s spring ad campaign highlights a group of models in a series of “mise-en-scènes and still lifes, in a mysterious domestic setting,” with “muted tones” and a “painterly light,” said the company.

Photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in New York, models Malgosia Bela, Bette Franke, Martha Hunt, Doutzen Kroes, Adriana Lima, Arizona Muse and Tamara Weijenberg are captured posing in intimate groups or leisurely reclining on satin sheets and bleached-wood paneling, clad in the brand’s spring ladylike denim jackets cut with Sixties couture volumes, pencil skirts and luxurious furs. — L.Z.

6 WWD thursday, december 20, 2012

Pre-Fall 2013

▲ VPL: Victoria Bartlett got in an elegant mood at VPL. Wonderfully draped, soft jersey dresses highlighted the collection, along with a more sporty choice of fabrics and surprising texture mixes (linen and elastane, alpaca and silk). Her shapes were sometimes cut closer to the body, i.e., lean skirts and bra-topped dresses. Her bra-based looks and swimsuits were still included, but it was the chic loosening up that looked freshest this season.

Erdem: Erdem Moralioglu was inspired by the saturated colors of film stills from Nagisa Oshima’s rather confronting 1965 film, “Pleasures of the Flesh.”

“That was the starting point for the palette and the mood, and the idea of mixing things that don’t really go together, of things that are a little bit wrong,” Moralioglu said. This wrongish-right approach resulted in a collection full of surprising textures and bright hues. He also explored different shapes, “like tailored dresses or frock coats,” as well as new fabric variations. Lace, for instance, was heat-fused onto a crepe coat.

For more pre-Fall coverage, see

WWD.com/runway.

beauty beat

Tengram Buys Stake in Laura Geller

Cole Scent License Going to ParluxAFTER SPENDING 10 years with Coty Inc., Kenneth Cole has switched horses in his fragrance business by signing a licensing deal with Parlux Ltd.

The new relationship with Parlux will begin Jan. 1 and both partners are looking forward to it. Parlux is — according to the company — plan-ning on adding “several new brand concepts while continuing to support Kenneth Cole’s ex-isting portfolio of scents.”

Michael DeVirgilio, president of licens-ing and international at Kenneth Cole Productions Inc., noted that Parlux is enter-ing its 30th year with a focus on international expansion. “We believe they [Parlux] are the perfect partner to develop a new scent direc-tion and their strength in the international fragrance market further supports our strate-gic marketing initiatives,” he said. — P.B.

TENGRAM CAPITAL Partners, a Connecticut-based private equity firm, has acquired a stake in professional makeup artist Laura Geller’s color cosmetics brand.

Financial details were not disclosed. Laura Geller Beauty, which Geller founded 20 years ago, generates $75 million in retail sales annu-ally, according to estimates by industry sources.

The New York-based brand has been sold on the QVC direct-selling TV network for 15 years. In addition to also being retailed on qvc.com, the brand’s brick-and-mortar distribution consists of 600 Ulta doors. Plans call for adding another 600 doors throughout the specialty store chain in the spring. In an interview, Geller said Ulta plans to expand the brand’s merchandising space from its present three-foot gondola to a six-foot size.

The company is known for pioneering its “baked” makeup and being among the first to market “primer” category of products, under the Spackle brand name.

Geller said Tengram’s participation will allow the company to invest in marketing and adver-tising for the first time. “Marketing will enable the brand to have a bigger presence,” she said, noting that it also will allow her “to look at other retail opportunities,” as long as present relation-ships are not harmed.

She noted that the company also will be look-ing at expanding its distribution footprint overseas. The brand is now sold outside the U.S. only through QVC in the U.K., Italy and Germany. Geller also ac-knowledged that eventually the company will deal with the question of going into department stores. “We are going to get to it,” she said.

Richard Gersten, a partner of TCP, praised Ulta as “a nice launch pad” and platform for the brand. But the goal is to grow the company. “We are going to find ways of growing it beyond the U.S., beyond QVC and beyond the product cat-egory,” he said, adding that Geller will be kept within the prestige sphere. — Pete Born

MeMo pad

Cindy Sherman’s“Untitled #382.”

Miu Miu’s spring ad campaign, shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

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WWD.COM7WWD THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Survey Shows Mobile’s MomentumBy Sharon EdElSon

holiday ShoppErS arE plugged into their digital devices.

according to GfK roper/Sapientnitro’s consumer shopping sur-vey about the in-store versus mobile-tablet shopping experience, smartphone owners are putting smartphones and other devices to greater use this year and across a variety of shopping behaviors.

Consumers who bought something using a digital device rose to 74 per-cent this year, compared with 55 per-cent last year.

The 2012 holiday season marked a fundamental shift where retailers not only recognized digital shoppers, but accommodated them with everything from GpS-enabled store maps to up-dated mobile shopping apps for smart-phones and tablets.

according to the GfK roper/Sapientnitro survey, retailers could do more. Seven in 10 consumers agreed with the statement “retailers could do more to enhance the in-store shopping experience.” Some upgrades shoppers would like to see include the ability to buy products in-store and have them shipped home at no cost, cited by 79 per-

cent. Free Wi-Fi was cited by 63 percent; interactive displays or kiosks were rec-ommended by 57 percent, and exclusive in-store mobile offers, 56 percent.

according to the GfK roper/Sapientnitro survey, the number of con-sumers who researched and browsed for products rose to 82 percent this year, from 67 percent in 2011, and 62 percent used an e-mail offer from a retailer, up from 45 percent last year.

Sapientnitro also said consumers are using physical stores differently. a majority of digital users, 51 percent, re-ported that they engage in showrooming, or using stores to browse products while planning to buy products online.

Four in 10 consumers, up from 33 per-cent last year, said they purchased a prod-uct in a store after researching the prod-uct online. about 27 percent said they purchased a product online after shop-ping for a similar item in a physical store.

Twenty-four percent of shoppers had the impression of there being more deals offered this holiday season. an increasing number are using digital de-vices to help navigate and find the best bargains. Forty-three percent said they are relying more on their smartphone, tablet or computer compared to last year’s holiday shopping season.

Fashion scoops LVMH HIRE: lVMh Moët hennessy louis Vuitton has tapped Pauline Brown as chairman of its north american arm, lVMh inc.

Brown, who will start in the new york-based position on Jan. 2, was an independent investor and adviser to emerging luxury brands for the past two years. Before that, she served as a managing director at The Carlyle Group, working on the private equity firm’s global consumer and retail team. She had previously held such roles as senior vice president of corporate strategy and global business development at avon products inc., and, prior to that, vice president of strategic planning and new business development at the Estée lauder Cos. inc. She started her career as a management consultant at Bain & Co.

as a top executive at lVMh inc., she is expected to represent the group in north america to both the business community and public authorities in the U.S. her mandate is to also help bring a coherence to the group and regional affiliates of its brands as well as encouraging shared services and lVMh’s overall values and culture. at lVMh, she succeeds Renaud Dutreil, who left the company earlier this year to pursue other interests.

— MaRc KaRIMzaDEH

FULL HOUSE: Marking the actual day it opened 50 years ago, charles Masson’s le Grenouille in Manhattan was packed Wednesday with stars, executives and politicians. Former new york Gov. George Pataki sat in a corner booth, which was taken by candice Bergen and Mike Nichols after pataki departed. across the way sat former Saks Fifth avenue chief executive officer Phil Miller, while Chanel buddies arie Kopelman and Barbara cirkva sat side by side in a fashion tête-à-tête. — WWD STaFF

POSH PRESENTS: There’s a leak among the elf colony: WWd was tipped off on at least one thing David Beckham has bought for his wife, Victoria, for Christmas. david put in a call this week to harrods to order two pairs of silk pajamas by Olivia von Halle.

newcastle, England-born von

halle was working in China as a trend forecaster when she was inspired by the lounging pajamas worn by Coco Chanel in the Twenties to create something luxurious and glamorous that she — and her friends — would want to relax in at home. She returned to london in 2010 with a bulging order book and launched her line, which is now stocked retailers including Bra Smyth, Faire Frou Frou and nancy Meyer in the U.S.; at harrods and Fenwick in the U.K., and at Brown Thomas in ireland. prices start at 260 pounds, or $422 at current exchange. — JULIa NEEL

SHOPPING WITH PURPOSE: The 26th annual Miracle on Madison avenue on Saturday will have 60 top brands donating 20 percent of sales on the day to benefit the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center pediatric Family housing initiative. among the brands participating are Gucci, ralph lauren, Fred leighton, Coach, Max Mara, Georg Jensen, ippolita, Tory Burch, derek lam, Etro, Bottega Veneta, Bally and la perla.

The event supports overnight stays at nearby accommodations for

children and their families who come for treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s pediatric department and are unable to afford the expense. as part of Miracle on Madison avenue, there will be live performances on 64th Street by Cobu, a Japanese traditional Taiko drumming and rhythmic tap dancing group; Come Together, a classic Sixties cover band, and the pipes of Christmas, a traditional Celtic dance celebration with holiday music by the Clan Currie Society. also, the italian Trade Commission has a Vip hospitality lounge set up at 33 East 67th Street. — DaVID MOIN

GREEN LIGHT: on Tuesday lVMh Moët hennessy louis Vuitton received a construction permit from the City of paris to start its renovation of la Samaritaine. The luxury giant had made the request in July 2011.

The new multiuse complex — spearheaded by Jean-Jacques Guiony, who is also chief financial officer of lVMh — will include a luxurious Cheval Blanc hotel, restaurants, shops, offices and affordable-housing units.

lVMh is to invest 450 million euros, or $595.4 million at current exchange, in the Samaritaine site, which will open at the end of 2015.

The Samaritaine department store, a stone’s throw from the louvre museum, was founded in 1870. lVMh acquired a majority stake in it in 2000. — LaURE GUILBaULT

cELEBRITY DRESSING 2.0: For the past few years, donna Karan took to its Twitter account in the voice of its popular dKny pr Girl to give followers a glimpse into the ups and downs of dressing celebrities during awards-show season. The brand is going a step further with the launch of its donna Karan atelier app, dubbed Celebrity dressing 2.0, just in time for the 70th annual Golden Globes next month. The app invites users to be a “fly

on the celebrity wall” in the design and production process, following the dress around the world to its final red-carpet destination.

“For years, i would document the trials and tribulations of award show dressing [on Twitter] and really let people know what was going on behind the scenes, without naming names or attaching photos,” said aliza Licht, senior vice president of global communications at donna Karan. “it was just conversational, and there were always so many questions about how it works, so we decided to take celebrity dressing to the next level in the visual sense.”

The brand teamed with We are Social on the app, which launched on Facebook. Users will be able to follow the brand’s journey visually and interactively through a series of teasers — from the inspiration behind the dress, to the sketch, to the celebrity fittings and finally, if all goes well, to the red carpet. Users simply need to “like” the brand on Facebook to use it, and can also join the conversation with the hashtag #donnakaranatelier on Twitter. — KRISTI GaRcED

NaSTY’S NEW HOME: nasty Gal is growing up and out. The hot e-tailer will be moving into 50,000 square feet of office space — five times the size of its current offices — in downtown los angeles’ pac Mutual Building the middle of next year. nasty Gal has been on a tear of late, increasing sales from $6.5 million in 2010 to $28 million last year, and as much as $115 million by the end of this year. The company also unveiled a Web site redesign and an in-house label this year. nasty Gal currently employs 150 people. — RacHEL BROWN

DEcaDES OF STYLE: The Cosmopolitan of las Vegas hotel and casino, vintage retailer decades and style concierge service The Style Contingent have teamed on a fashion installation running from dec. 27 to Jan. 6 at p3 Studio, an area at The Cosmopolitan that regularly features artists in limited engagements. at the installation, The Cosmopolitan fashion director and TheStyle Contingent creative director Emma Trask will style guests, who can walk away with a picture as a memento from the experience.

Guests can also book private styling consultation sessions with Trask and other stylists. as part of the installation, decades is providing an assortment of dresses, handbags, shoes, skirts and coats from the likes of Chanel, Gucci, prada, Christian louboutin and Manolo Blahnik. — R.B.

La Samaritaine

Phot

o by

Dom

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Olivia von Halle silk pajamas.

w20a007b;11.indd 7 12/19/12 8:21 PM12192012202225

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though some are as high as 80 percent off. Macy’s will also use the WOW acro-nym in its marketing and will simultane-ously promote “super savings and new must-haves items.”

Macy’s main 30-second Week of Wonderful television spot will start air-ing Monday at different times during the day, in an effort to “brand” the week. The commercial was directed by Adam Shankman, a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance” who also directed the remake of the movie “Hairspray” and directed and choreographed episodes of “Glee.” It stars Clinton Kelly, from the re-ality show “What Not to Wear” and a vet-eran of Macy’s ads, furthers the sitcom-themed format that Macy’s introduced this fall and concludes with a splashy Broadway-style song-and-dance num-ber. There are additional spots, Reardon said, that refer back to the original brand spot and spotlight promotions, like the denim event.

Reardon also said there will be make-overs, gifts-with-purchase on the beauty floor and mobile and social components, including a YouTube takeover page for the actual television spot. Macy’s stores will be open earlier than normal on the day after Christmas and subsequently resume normal hours. Other compo-nents of the week, along with the spate of discounts, include Macy’s biggest un-derwear sale of the year, a denim event involving $10 gift cards and a white sale for towels and bedding. “We have themed events within all the day-after-Christmas sales,” Reardon said.

“We’ve always had very good post-Christmas sales,” Reardon said. “It’s re-ally important to give customers the op-portunity to get great bargains.” That’s still the case this year, though with the campaign, there are a few additional layers to the proposition, Reardon ex-plained. “We’re giving the customer al-ternatives to new products she has not seen before. She’s really been seeing the fourth-quarter holiday product. Now it will be brand-new product. We are call-

ing it transition product — all fresh new receipts, all of those must-have items, and not necessarily spring merchandise. It’s new colorations of strong-selling trends and silhouettes.…If you think about holiday product being all red and green, think of the transition merchan-dise as having real fashion colors, vi-brant colors, blues, salmons and red — really spring colorations.”

Early spring fashions are also a big part of the Week of Wonderful package, and particularly prevalent in stores in warm climates. The merchandise will be evident in women’s, the contemporary departments for Millennials, children’s and men’s categories, as well as in shoes, handbags and accessories. “You will absolutely see it all across the store,” Reardon said. A small amount of home products will also be noticeable.

Macy’s didn’t quantify how much new merchandise will be presented right after Christmas, but cited several items from its private brands including INC vintage chambray shirts; Bar III private-label printed tank dresses; Material Girl

Tiki studded wedge sneakers. The store also cited Nike Relay exercise tops, Kenneth Cole Reaction slub knit sweat-ers, Tommy Hilfiger slim-fit chinos and Adidas Climalite crewnecks. Home prod-ucts include Martha Stewart Collection Echo Pond nine-piece queen sets, KitchenAid Artisan mixers and Hotel Collection Pergola comforter covers.

Holiday business at stores nation-wide has so far been only fair, with the exception of the Thanksgiving period. The mood for holiday shopping just isn’t there, ac-cording to several retail executives and analysts. “Business is soft and I see more markdowns,” said re-tail analyst Walter Loeb, referring to retail-ers across the board. Macy’s fin-ished November with a 0.7 per-cent decline in comparable-store sales, impacted by Hurricane Sandy, and won’t comment on December sales until after the month.

Asked if the WOW campaign was a re-action to how the Christmas season was unfolding, Reardon flatly stated: “This has nothing to do with reacting. To do a big event like this, you have to plan this out. We’ve been planning it for nine months. We couldn’t execute something like this if we were just in reaction mode.

“I don’t want to say how other retail-ers approach the day after Christmas, but for us, this is strategic in that we have created this Week of Wonderful. It’s a week where most people do not work, have time to spend with families, go to a movie, shop leisurely and have time to do things you just really enjoy. There’s no pressure to buy for somebody else. It’s all about you now.” Macy’s officials

hope that the Week of Wonderful perme-ates the consumer conscience in years to come, similar to Cyber Monday and Black Friday.

“There is an overwhelming amount of returns the week after Christmas, and

Macy’s is trying to con-vert those returns into new sales,” Loeb said. “In many cases, people make a return and decide to go home without getting

anything new.” Loeb added that Allied Stores, a former re-tail conglomerate, “fought for the post-Christmas business. They called it the 13th

month. Macy’s is the first strategic plan for

this period that I have heard of in a long time.”

The post-Christ-mas week draws the

“superbargain hunters bottom-fishing for val-

ues,” said Arnold Aronson, managing director of re-

tail strategies at Kurt Salmon. “The customer has to compromise on what she can get with sizes and colors. Assortments are pretty inconsistent. The more inconsistent the assortment, the lower the price.”

The majority of people in the stores after Christmas have not come in pur-posely for newness, but if these early de-liveries are there in selected categories, they freshen up the floor and there’s a good chance people will purchase them, Aronson said. “It’s always an impulse sit-uation once you get people in the store.” The odds of impulse purchasing are even greater if the shopper has a gift card or a store credit, Aronson noted. In these situ-ations, he said, “People feel like they’re getting it for free.”

Macy’s Campaign Targets Post-Holiday Shopper{Continued from page one}

American Rag will give Macy's an early spring appeal. Here, a shirt for $59; tank, $45; jeans, $49; jacket, $65, and dress, $49.

Macy’s “The Week of

Wonderful” catalogue cover.

The finale of Macy's Week of Wonderful TV spot.

An Alfani outfit, new to Macy's next week: jacket, $99; pants, $69; blouse, $59.

Calvin Klein Saffiano leather totes, $198, among the new arrivals post-Christmas at Macy's.

December 20, 2012

Avicii, one of the world’s most popular DJs, took time out of his grueling travel schedule to stand still for a photo shoot earlier this fall. The Swedish native, who has sold out Radio City Music Hall and opened for Madonna, is wearing Balmain’s wool jacket, Jean Machine’s cotton T-shirt and Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren’s cotton denim jeans. For more on Avicii, see pages MW2 and MW3.

Mix & Match

pHoTo By eLi SCHMiDT

styl

ed b

y al

ex b

adia new marriage

{Continued on page MW4}

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

IT DIDN’T TAKE Joseph Abboud long to land another job.

The men’s wear designer, who resigned as president and chief creative officer of HMX Group at the end of November, has been named chief creative director of The Men’s Wearhouse Inc.

Doug Ewert, chief executive offi-cer of the $2.38 billion retail firm, said Abboud will “work with our merchants and sourcing teams to enhance and im-prove our offerings.” At the same time, Men’s Wearhouse has also acquired Abboud’s Jaz label and will be launching that brand exclusively within its Men’s Wearhouse and Moores stores in the U.S. and Canada.

“We’ll be working with Joseph to de-velop the Jaz line to fill a niche in our stores with his signature personal style,” Ewert said.

He added that Abboud is also expect-ed to work with the company to develop new brands.

“We currently manufacture a lot of prod-uct ourselves,” Ewert said, “and Joseph will improve and expand our private label offer-ing.” He said each of the company’s private brands, which include Pronto Uomo, Joseph & Feiss and Wilke Rodriguez, are spread across all categories of business, ranging from suits and sportswear to furnishings and shoes. “And we’re anticipating the same with Jaz,” he said.

Some 50 percent of Men’s Wearhouse’s mix is private brands. It also manufactures the Vera Wang Black formalwear collec-tion that is sold at its Men’s Wearhouse and Moores stores.

Abboud had conceived of the Jaz brand in 2007, shortly after leaving JA Apparel Corp., the company that bought the trade-marks for his name and the Joseph Abboud brand for $65 million in 2000. The line was produced for a short time and has been on hiatus since then.

Ewert said this newly created position is designed to “continue the forward evo-lution of Men’s Wearhouse. It’s the logical next step for us. Joseph is an authority on men’s apparel, understands tailored cloth-ing and is really a detail guy. He under-stands how product is built, packaging, merchandising. He’s a men’s designer and a men’s merchant. He will help us elevate our voice of authority and we will leverage that beyond just the creative director role, potentially in our stores and with our cus-tomers as well.”

For Abboud, it’s a return to retail-ing. The designer had worked for Louis Boston for 12 years, before joining Polo Ralph Lauren and then launching his own label in 1987.

“I feel like I’m a retailer trapped in a de-signer’s body,” he said Wednesday. “I love retail and being able to interact and get the message across to the end consumer.”

His appetite was whetted when he de-veloped the Black Brown 1826 brand for Lord & Taylor in 2008. That brand, which he will continue to design despite taking the role at Men’s Wearhouse, is carried at Lord & Taylor and its sister store, The Bay, as well as at Belk.

Abboud Named Men’s Wearhouse Creative DirectorDesigner joins $2.38 billion men’s wear retailer in new role.

w20b001b;11.indd 1 12/19/12 7:24 PM12192012192445

Men’s Week

photos by eli schmidtstyled by alex badia

MW2 WWD Thursday, december 20, 2012

Avicii hAs brought electronic dAnce music to the forefront.

Hey, dj....

Kris Van Assche’s cotton jacket, Marni’s cotton blazer, Dior Homme’s cotton shirt and Givenchy’s wool pants.

Burberry Prorsum’s nylon bomber jacket, Ralph Lauren Black Label’s wool and cashmere sweater and cotton shirt and Givenchy’s wool pants. Y-3 sneakers.

w20b002(3)a;15.indd 1 12/19/12 6:15 PM12192012181712

Men’s Week MW3WWD Thursday, december 20, 2012

by MATTHEW LYNCH

THE big bLACk LuxurY SuV is somewhere between its departure from the photo shoot and the entrance to the Holland Tunnel when Avicii and his tour manager realize that the trunk is open. it’s a warm October Sunday afternoon in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. The street is mostly empty now, but it is not hard to imagine it packed with club goers navigating its cobblestones in search of a cab home 12 hours earlier. The truck pulls to a stop, unbothered.

After a few moments of inspection, the driver slams the back door home. Avicii, a 23-year-old Stockholm native, whose given name is Tim bergling and who has slightly alien cheek-bones and pale skin that make him a fashion editor’s dream, gives a nervous exhale.

“Yeaaaaah,” he says in the accented English of his native Sweden, which adds a faint “J” sound to the word. “That woul-da sucked for sure.”

bergling, one of the world’s most popular DJs and an emerging production talent, is a busy man these days. He is among the vanguard of musicians loosely banded to-gether under the banner of electronic dance music, or EDM, a catchall term for a litany of subgenres (such as late model house and dubstep) that crank out the big throbby digital anthems currently popular among the adolescent and college sets, and with those charged with marketing everything from luxury coupes to their operating systems. bergling’s original single, “Levels,” released in late 2011, is one of the surest and viscerally pleasing anthems to come out of the scene, and he has played about 300 shows in each of the last several years.

Which is all to say, if the small collection of bags that con-tained his touring gear — most importantly his computer and

hard drives — had happened to spill out undetected onto a lower Manhattan street, his itinerary would have been thrown into disarray. Two nights earlier, bergling had played to 50,000 fans at the Austin City Limits Festival in Texas. in early September, he opened at a series of shows for Madonna at Yankee Stadium. in September, he sold out two consecutive nights at radio City Music Hall. Press materials at the time proudly declared that it was the first time an EDM act head-lined the storied venue.

“i’m just travelling around with a uSb stick and head-phones, like i can have two, three shows in one day if i want to, and i have,” he said.

bergling’s ascent has correlated pretty neatly with the rise of EDM in America. At one of the radio City shows, it was easy to read the appeal. The crowd, made up mostly of New York-area kids in their teens and early 20s, was a dancing mess of tennis ball-bright tones, face paint, torsos and glow sticks. bergling’s set consists mostly of big hits from his elec-tronic forbearers such as Swedish House Mafia and David guetta, pleasure-center-targeting classic rock samples and lots and lots of crescendo.

“The experience of going to an EDM show or house show is something that turns on a lot of people to house music, the kind of unity and energy of the crowd, you know i’ve been to all dif-ferent kinds of concerts like from rock to hip-hop and you don’t get that at any other genre,” bergling muses as his car makes its way to North Jersey. “Not even close to the energy level and unity and it’s different, you can get similar to what it’s like with really hard rock bands, but then it’s more aggressive.”

Surely the scene around such shows adds to the appeal. While in the concession line during Avicii’s set, a young man approached another concertgoer asking if he had any molly, the preferred slang for the drug MDMA in such

circles. When he explained he had none, he turned to two teenage boys behind him in line. The pair sadly informed him that they had just asked him the same thing in the bathroom. bergling, for his part, said he shies away from the chemically enabled side of the scene.

“When you do 300 shows a year, it’s just impossible,” he says. “You can keep it up for a while, but if you keep it up for too long you’ll just crash. You can’t do it.”

Extracurricular activities aside, bergling holds a unique appeal among his EDM contemporaries. While some peers favor style cues from the rock star playbook such as oversize masks and asymetric haircuts, bergling prefers a simple post-college style: jeans, untucked button down, backwards hat. His unassuming style surely had a hand in his gig fronting campaigns for ralph Lauren’s Denim & Supply line this fall. Staring at him atop the giant head from which he DJ’d on his latest tour, and upon which was projected a very impressive light show, he could have been any one of the kids doing their best to dance in between radio City’s rows. it is actually a fit-ting uniform in the barrier-to-entry-low world of EDM.

His presentation seemed to suggest that, with the right memory stick and a good enough ear, any of you kids could be him. And not so long ago, he was a kid in Stockholm studying the work of his own heroes like Swedish House Mafia.

“i always had wanted to make music and i always had melo-dies in my head, but i can’t sing and i can’t play guitar. i wasn’t that good,” he said as the SuV moves through North Jersey. “i wasn’t seriously thinking that i was going to be a guitar player in a band or anything, but this was an actual possibility.”

A short while later, the car arrives at the terminal curb. bergling pops out and is through the glass doors for a flight back to Stockholm. And then one to Dubai. And after that an-other to kiev, ukraine, bags and memory sticks in tow.

Hey, dj....

Neil Barrett’s leather bomber jacket and Kris Van Assche’s cotton sweatshirt.

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The British actor channels his Oscar-nominated role as Gandalf the wizard at the movie premiere for “The Hobbit.” From anyone else, the floor-length formal coat would look costumey and ridiculous, but because McKellen has a history of extravagance, he can pull it off.

Ian McKellen: b+

“I believe going direct to the consum-er is the way of the future,” said Abboud.

He said he will retain his office and design studio in Bedford, N.Y., and will also work out of Men’s Wearhouse’s Manhattan offices, where he is expect-ing to add a design studio as well.

Abboud said the Jaz collection will be “classic concepts with inno-vative design — a spin on traditional men’s wear.” The price points and exact launch date have not yet been determined. “We want to make sure the concept and product is right and not rush it,” he said. “But with Men’s Wearhouse’s sourcing ability and criti-cal mass, there should be a strong price-value relationship.”

In addition, he expects to provide the Men’s Wearhouse team with informa-tion on market trends and direction and hopes to be involved in the company’s move to go international as well as its long-expected entry into other concepts.

Men’s Wearhouse was founded in 1973 and operates 1,153 stores in North America under the Men’s Wearhouse, Moores and K&G nameplates. In the third quarter ended Oct. 27, net income grew 22.5 percent to $48.8 million, on a 7.9 percent rise in revenues to $631 million.

Men’s WeekMW4 WWD thursday, december 20, 2012

Man ofTHE WEEK

The tight, handmade bow-tie knot exudes men’s wear elegance.

He would benefit from a little trim or a wizard hat.

The feminine oversize gold-and-green stone pendant might have magical powers, but leads to questions: What is it and why is he wearing it?

contrasting silk lapels with the velvet is very appropriate for an evening red-carpet premiere.

after all the drama and traditional men’s wear detailing, please get the pants properly tailored.

The Dr. Who-length scarf adds one too many accessories to the look. lose it.

The flowy count Dracula coat adds a hint of humor and eccentricity to the evening ensemble.

{Continued from page MW1}

Men’s Wearhouse Taps Abboud, Acquires Designer’s Jaz Brand

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

CRAIG ALExANdER Is so good at rolling with the punches that he could be a prize fighter.

When he found out that a murder had been com-mitted outside the sBR triathlon store where he was supposed to do a book signing in New York City earlier this month, the champion triathlete just went to plan B, penning his name inside a couple of hundred books for the store to sell at a later date.

That flexibility and ability to adjust is just one rea-son Alexander has reached the pinnacle of his sport over the past 18 years. That, coupled with a rigorous and relentless training schedule — and a boatload of God-given talent.

The Australian, who also keeps a home in Boulder, Colo., is the most decorated Ironman triathlete of his generation with three wins at the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, including two con-secutive years in 2008 and 2009. Although he had a tough time this past October, coming in 12th, he had a good year overall, finishing second at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas and first at the Eagleman half-Iron-man shortly after smashing the Ironman record with a time of 7:57 at the Asia-Pacific championships in Melbourne, Australia, in March.

While his accomplishments in triathlon are too numerous to count, for Alexander, nicknamed “Crowie,” it’s all about his family. He and his wife, Nerida, have two children: Lucy and Austin, with a third on the way. The baby is due in March, just around the time he plans on jumping in the water to defend his title in Melbourne.

“With the way my wife spends money, I’ll be racing until there’s no cartilage left,” he said with a straight face.

Even so, he’ll turn 40 this summer — “Thanks for pointing that out,” he said with typical Australian dry wit — but Alexander believes there are a few more miles left in his legs. “As long as it doesn’t negatively impact my family, I’m committed to one more year,” he said. “Age is irrelevant. This sport has kept me young and I feel a lot of pressure and responsibility to the people who sacrifice for me. I still feel like I did 10 years ago. And I believe you can still be competitive in your 30s and 40s. I don’t think age is a barrier. And I was a late starter; I didn’t do my first triathlon until I was in my 20s.”

He plans to kick off the season with the Melbourne race again in 2013. “It’s near my home, it’s a major race; a regional championship and I won last year, so that’ll be my first race,” he said. “Then, I’ll definitely

be in Las Vegas, and Kona is on my radar,” he said. “I’m not interested in second-tier races.”

And he’s still having fun. On a foggy, misty day in New York City, he thought nothing of jumping into a wet suit for a photo during an interview at the Tyr of-fices in Manhattan.

And although his U.s. book tour involves visiting 11 cities in 12 days, he’s enjoying meeting his fans. “It re-quires a different kind of endurance,” he said.

The book, a coffee-table tome entitled “As the Crow Flies: My Journey to Ironman World Champion,” chronicles a year in the life of the athlete through a black-and-white photo essay by Paul K. Robbins.

“The idea was floated in January of last year and originally it was supposed to be more of a bi-ography style,” he said. “But that didn’t appeal to me. It seemed narcissistic and a lot of work.” so he opted instead for the pho-tographic journey. Robbins, who is also a triathlete and surfer, fol-lowed Alexander around for 12 months taking behind-the-scenes images of his life — everything from bike training rides and doc-tor’s visits to life at home and vis-its to his sponsors. “I’m a sports fan and like the inside-the-locker-room stuff,” he said. “And I was selfish, I wanted to include family photos and also give back to my sponsors.”

He said all the images are “au-thentic. There were no double

takes. I wasn’t going to ride up and down the same road for a shot. He just set up his camera and captured the shot when I went by.”

Alexander’s book follows one by Chrissie Wellington, the female Ironman World Champion triathlete who recently wrote her autobiography. Although the initial plan was for her to take a year off and then return to racing, Wellington recently an-nounced that she was retiring from triathlon. “The sport is going to be lesser off without her,” he said. “I wish her the best of luck, but she has other goals above and beyond triathlon.”

Alexander will start gearing up for 2013 when the book tour is over. As a three-time World Champion, he knows he’s got a target on his back whenever he races, but he tries not to get caught up in the drama.

“As defending champ, I know I’m on everybody’s radar,” he said. And although he admits that he does look at his competition, “I can’t control them under-performing. It’s just up to me to get in the best shape I can. I have the utmost respect for the other guys I race against, but I have to self focus and try to concentrate on my own training.”

Craig Alexander’s Iron Journey

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by LIsA LOCKWOOd

NEW YORK — Kate spade New York filed a complaint Wednesday in the U.s. district Court for the southern district of New York seeking a declara-tion that its new global women’s lifestyle brand, Kate spade saturday, doesn’t infringe on the trademark of saturdays surf NYC, a men’s wear company that sells casualwear, surfboards, wet suits and accessories.

The dispute started last month when saturdays surf LLC’s attor-neys demanded that Kate spade New York drop its plans to launch Kate spade saturday, an apparel, handbags, accessories and home line for young women. The clash escalated when saturdays surf NYC and its fans began posting disparaging comments accusing Kate spade saturday of trade-mark infringement on saturdays surf NYC’s Facebook page and on the Kate spade saturday Instagram and Twitter pages.

“In an effort to resolve this dispute amicably, we reached out to saturdays surf NYC’s lawyers when we heard of their concerns,” said Craig Leavitt, chief executive officer of Kate spade. “We explained our com-plete good faith in the selection of the name, described the Kate spade saturday concept to them and why consumers will not be confused and offered to answer any additional questions they may have. We are disappointed that, instead of responding to us directly, saturdays surf NYC has chosen to escalate this dis-pute via social media and other avenues, and we were left with no other option but our current action to set the record straight.”

Colin Tunstall, a partner in saturdays surf NYC, said he hadn’t seen the complaint yet, but his trademark attorney has been in talks with their legal team. He said that saturdays surf NYC, which operates three stores and a global

wholesale business in 13 coun-tries, has been in business three and a half years, “and we’ve slowly built this brand from scratch. It was brought to our attention that there was another brand called saturday with similar branding and similar aesthetic and reach. We’ve opened a store in Japan and we’re working in the Japanese market. Their first flagship store will be in Japan and there’s lots of overlap,” said Tunstall. He said friends were contacting them to see if they were doing a collabora-tion with Kate spade or were they purchased by Kate spade.

According to Kate spade, the Kate spade saturday name was conceived in 2009, “with no knowledge whatsoever of the saturday’s surf NYC name.” In 2010, Kate spade New York ap-plied to register the trademark; its application was approved by the U.s. Patent and Trademark Office later that year. At the time, saturdays surf NYC had no trademark registrations. It didn’t apply for its trademark until 2011. Tunstall confirmed that saturdays surf NYC didn’t have trademark registration then. “We were slowly figuring things out. It was very grassroots and it was an oversight on our part,” said Tunstall, noting his company was the first to use the name. He said they are looking to expand into more categories in the future “and this confusion could possi-bly be a problem for us.”

Kate spade saturday plans to open a store in Tokyo in March, followed by e-commerce sites in Japan, the U.s. and Brazil.

Kate spade is represented by david H. Bernstein and Jennifer Insley-Pruitt of debevoise & Plimpton LLP. saturdays surf NYC is represented by david Christopher Baker of Hart, King & Coldren. Baker has received the complaint and has been in touch with the Kate spade law-yers about resolving the dispute outside of court.

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Who Owns Saturday?

Joseph abboud

Doug ewert

The edgy shoe with zipper cap-toe detailing shows his wild side — at 73, he apparently still wants to party.

craig alexander at the Tyr offices

in Manhattan.

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