LUXURY 101

Arnault Preaches A Long-Term View

By MILES SOCHA

PARIS — Fifty years from now, will people still be using iPhones? Who knows, but luxury titan Bernard Arnault is certain they’ll still be sipping Dom Perignon.

Addressing back-to-back shareholders’ meetings for LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior SA, Arnault lobbed that analogy as he discussed the importance of taking a long-term perspective in business — and innovating constantly — especially amidst foggy economic circumstances.

“It is we who create the future of our business,” Arnault said in an upbeat, at times professorial ad-dress that held an audience numbering more than 1,000 rapt in a vast hall at the Carrousel du Louvre here. “It’s not what we will do today, but what we will do in 10 to 15 years.”

Arnault trumpeted that 2011 was another “vintage” year for LVMH, with profits from continuing opera-tions advancing 22 percent to 5.26 billion euros, or $7.1 billion, outpacing the growth in sales, up 16 percent to 23.66 billion euros, or $32.94 billion, as reported.

LVMH’s chairman and chief executive officer said he expects the good times to continue rolling, noting that business in the first quarter was better than the fourth quarter of 2011, when sales advanced 20.4 per-cent to 7.35 billion euros, or $9.92 billion.

“We are relatively confident for the development of our business in 2012,” he said, flashing a graph show-ing LVMH’s stock rising 165 percent since Jan. 1, 2009, versus only 5 percent for the CAC 40.

Again turning to the burgeoning Internet industry to illustrate dramatic reversals of fortune, he noted that Apple Inc., a company once on the verge of bank-ruptcy, has roared back to become one of the most highly valued companies on the planet. By compari-son, Yahoo Inc. finds its once rosy business withering, while search-engine rival Google Inc. roars ahead.

Arnault reminded shareholders that LVMH, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate, grew out of a troubled textile group called Boussac that he ac-quired back in the late Eighties.

France’s richest man acknowledged the debt woes

On the DotMarc Jacobs is seeing spots with the launch of his newest

women’s fragrance, Dot. Out in July in the U.S., the scent evokes the designer’s love of polka dots and adds a third pillar to his

fragrance house with Coty Prestige. For more, see page 5.

SEE PAGE 2

Penney’s Cuts 900 Jobs

SEE PAGE 8

By DAVID MOIN

J.C. PENNEY CO. INC.’S REINVENTION is impact-ing its head count.

About 600 associates are being let go at Penney’s Plano, Tex., headquarters, primarily in merchandising, planning and allocation and marketing, according to the company. The headquarters has 5,900 employees.

In addition, the company’s call center in Pittsburgh will shut down on July 1, affecting another 300 employees.

The $17.3 billion, 1,100-unit chain on Thursday said the price simplification, re-merchandising on monthly cycles, marketing and cost-cutting initiatives — all at the core of the four-year reinvention strategy — enabled the personnel cuts. There was no word on whether there would be personnel reductions at stores.

“Often in business, companies must streamline in order to leap forward,” said Ron Johnson, Penney’s chairman and chief executive officer. “In our case, this has involved some very difficult decisions that have had an impact on many of our associates, but these changes are essential to help us achieve our long-term goals and, ultimately, grow our associate base as we grow our business.”

Mike Kramer, chief operating officer, said, “We are on the cutting edge of a new approach to retail. Even this early on in our transformation, it’s clear that many of the processes required under the old busi-ness model are no longer needed. We are putting in

PHOTO BY THOMAS IANNACCONE; STYLED BY AMY LOMACCHIO

WWDFRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00

APPLAUDING ALBER

UMA THURMAN AND

GIAMBATTISTA VALLI WERE AMONG

THOSE SALUTING ALBER ELBAZ

AT BARNEYS NEW YORK ON HIS

10TH ANNIVERSARY AT LANVIN.

PAGE 9

FERRAGAMO EXPANDS ON FIFTH.PAGE 12

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and austerity measures that con-tinue to hobble Europe’s out-look, but stressed that LVMH, which exports roughly 80 per-cent of its production, is well-positioned to take advantage of global growth, projected to tally 4 percent this year.

Just back from a trip to Vietnam, he marveled at the capitalist nature of the commu-nist nation. “French products are particularly appreciated there,” he related, smiling broadly. “There is a dynamism in this country I can foresee for the next 10 years. It has a very interesting growth potential.”

Indeed, he noted Dior would be the next of his brands — which range from Givenchy and Fendi to Zenith and Bulgari —to

plant stores in the country, which has a population of about 90 mil-lion people, and a pair of Louis Vuitton boutiques: one in Ho Chi Minh City and one in Hanoi.

Arnault said LVMH took market share “everywhere” in 2011, buoyed by sustained de-mand for luxury, particularly in emerging markets.

Yet he also highlighted victo-ries in mature markets, boasting that Dior’s J’adore remains the best-selling perfume in France for the second year running. He also touted a vigorous rebound in disaster-stricken Japan and noted that it remains a “very

important market for us,” albeit “less dynamic than China.”

He cited “remarkable growth” at DFS in Asia, marveling at not only the number of shoppers at its locations, but their increasing-ly sophisticated selections. While such duty free outlets have a rep-utation for selling mainly liquor and cigarettes, he said Chinese clients in Macau, for example, come in search of perfumes, jew-elry and leather goods.

Arnault recalled that a de-cade ago, financial analysts were urging LVMH to off-load its “selective distribution” di-vision, particularly DFS and

Sephora, now both thriving and profitable businesses. (Last year, the business group saw sales increase 20 percent.)

“In this business, you have to be patient,” he stressed, also noting that some of the group’s medium-sized fashion brands, in-cluding Loewe, are now showing strong growth potential.

The Dior meeting was a brisk affair, given the Dior fashion house’s equally strong perfor-mance last year: Profits more than doubled to 85 million euros, or $118.4 million, as sales in its own stores advanced 28 percent.

Dior noted that it keeps trimming back its wholesale business: It represented only 12 percent of revenues last year, down from 15 percent in 2010. Last year, 84 percent of Dior sales were generated in its own boutiques.

The weight of fast-growing Asia also continues to grow, ac-counting for 45 percent of Dior’s sales last year. Europe and the Middle East represented 46 per-cent, while the Americas only 9 percent, down 1 percentage point from 2010.

WWD FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 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 203, NO. 71. FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 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

Luxury titan Bernard Arnault addressed back-to-back shareholders’ meetings for LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior SA. PAGE 1 About 600 associates are being let go at J.C. Penney’s Plano, Tex., headquarters, while its Pittsburgh call center will close on July 1, affecting another 300 jobs. PAGE 1 Guess chief executive officer Paul Marciano took the stand for the last time in the Gucci versus Guess trial. PAGE 2 As a growing number of beauty retailers cross the threshold with their own proprietary skin care brands, it is clear that this is not the time to play copycat. PAGE 4 Marc Jacobs is launching Dot, his latest women’s fragrance, which follows Daisy and Lola. PAGE 5 Many retailers reported high-single digit or low double-digit comparable-store sales gains for March. PAGE 8 This year’s finalists for the National Magazine Award’s Magazine of the Year are Esquire, New York, The New Yorker, Popular Mechanics and Time. PAGE 9 AgustaWestland has tapped Karl Lagerfeld to design VIP helicopters, both the interiors and exteriors. PAGE 11 Cotton Incorporated is doing its own take on “A Tale of Two Cities” with the launch of two new television spots, featuring Emmy Rossum and Camilla Belle. PAGE 11 The AFL-CIO and 12 Honduran labor organization have petitioned the U.S. Department of Labor over alleged labor violations. PAGE 12 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched a program to empower 60,000 women who work in the factories it uses. PAGE 12 Ferragamo today unveils its newly renovated Fifth Avenue flagship which, at 20,000 square feet, is its largest store in the world. PAGE 12

A look from Lanvin’s fall

collection marking Alber

Elbaz’s 10 years at the label.

Barneys Fetes Alber: The retailer and Uma Thurman co-hosted a presentation of Lanvin’s fall collection with Alber Elbaz to celebrate his 10 years at the label. For more, see WWD.com/eye.

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Arnault Touts Strong Future for LVMH

It is we who create the future of our business. It’s not what we will do today, but what we

will do in 10 to 15 years.— BERNARD ARNAULT,

LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON

Bernard Arnault in Paris Thursday.

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By ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

NEW YORK — Before catch-ing a plane to California, Guess Inc. chief executive officer Paul Marciano spent several more hours in a federal court here trying to clear his company’s name of al-legations that it has been knocking off Gucci’s trademarks for decades.

Guess attorney Daniel Petrocelli of O’Melveny & Myers LLP spent two hours question-ing his client about the origin of his brand’s designs in response to claims made by Gucci’s legal team, which grilled Marciano Wednesday for roughly four hours.

The court case, which began last week, involves allegations by Gucci that Guess and its exclu-sive licensee for footwear, Marc Fisher Footwear, devised a “mas-sive scheme” to knock off Gucci product. Gucci is seeking $221 million in damages, and a perma-nent injunction that would keep Guess from making and selling goods that include its diamond-shaped logoed pattern, square “G” design and tri-striped motif.

Guess, which denies Gucci’s claims, said it takes “inspiration” from a host of brands, including

Gucci, but that its designs differ. With his brother Maurice look-

ing on, Paul Marciano painstakingly detailed the evolution of the brand’s Quattro G logo, as well as its script logo, which, according to Gucci, might “confuse” consumers as it has similar trademarks. Material to Guess’ case is either proving it de-veloped the design first, or demon-strating that other brands have used similar designs as well.

When the topic of the square “G” arose, Marciano, who was unable the previous day to prove that fashion house Givenchy used the square “G” before both Gucci and Guess, had an epiphany.

“This morning, at the court-house, we saw the square G on a handbag,” an excited Marciano said, as his lawyers displayed a photo of what appeared to be a logoed Givenchy clutch.

Gucci’s lawyer looked flus-tered as the Guess team ex-plained that they had snapped a photo of the purse of a woman they met that morning.

“We asked permission first,” said a Guess lawyer, replying to presiding Judge Shira Scheindlin’s inquiry of the photo’s origin.

“It’s a counterfeit,” said Gucci’s attorney, Louis Ederer

of Arnold & Porter LLP, after inspecting the placement of the logos on the photo of the clutch.

“But we asked the lady,” Marciano said. “She said it was real.”

“Of course she told you that,” the judge said with a chuckle.

The matter was dropped. Despite the lighter moments, the judge’s patience was running thin as lunchtime approached.

Petrocelli wrapped up his exam-ination by asking why Guess hadn’t terminated its partnership with Marc Fisher Footwear, which, in 2008, created Guess sneakers that Marciano said looked so similar to Gucci sneakers that he was “embar-rassed.” Guess quickly pulled those shoes from the market.

“You have to put it in perspec-tive. Marc Fisher was a new li-censee at the time,” Marciano said. “There was a learning curve…but we acted within weeks of a mistake.”

Much of Marciano’s testimony centered on the history of the Guess brand, its retail locations and its iconic marketing and ad-vertising campaigns.

The case was adjourned until Monday and the trial is slated to end next week.

Marciano Testimony Wraps Up

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By BELISA SILVA

AS A GROWING NUMBER of beauty retailers cross the threshold with their own proprietary skin care brands, one thing is clear: This is not the time to play copycat.

“If you can create a new category, you win,” de-clared Bluemercury co-founder and chief execu-tive officer Marla Malcolm Beck, who in May will try her hand at product creation with the debut of her first skin care line, M-61, a nine-piece collec-tion said to bridge the gap between the high-tech and the natural.

“Customers love technology, but not the chemi-cals,” said Beck, whose product formulas contain a blend of “dermatologist-loved ingredients” like peptides, vitamins C and E and alpha hydroxy acids, paired with “heavily researched naturals,” like bil-berry extract, parsley-derived centella asiatica and gallic acid, which is found in blueberries, walnuts, apples, flaxseed and witch hazel. The Bluemercury-exclusive collection, named after one of the few re-solved (science that is understood) galaxies in our universe, ranges from $19 for a hand cream to $92 for a serum, and could generate up to $3 million in its first year, according to industry sources.

Beauty emporiums like Ulta, Sephora and CVS are similarly flexing their muscles in the skin care space. On April 22, Ulta Beauty will introduce a pro-prietary collection called Ulta Skincare, a follow up to the company’s first private label initiative phased out several years ago. The range, priced between $8 and $25, will be exclusive to Ulta’s 449 stores and ulta.com, and is being billed as afford-able, skin-improving and skin-protecting. It will fea-ture a proprietary complex called Advanced Protection Factor+, designed to fight free radicals and environ-mental factors, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and improve over-all skin tone and texture.

In March, during an in-vestors’ call, Ulta ceo Chuck Rubin singled out store ex-clusives as a driver behind increased market share across all major categories in the fourth quarter and fiscal year.

Some common ground among these newly emerging in-house brands? Products that offer simplicity of message, accessible price points and availability limited to the stores responsible for their creation. Beauty retailers, it seems, share the advantage of built-in consumer trust as well as access to customer feedback — including requests for products which do not yet exist. True to form, each retailer’s skin care brands are targeted to-wards its customers.

For her part, Beck said she designed M-61 to fill white space she observed within the highly edited merchandise in her 37 stores — the cus-tomer’s desire for natural ingredients, guaranteed results and non-bank-breaking prices.

“Our clients want truth and honesty and that’s where this line came from,” said Beck, who based her blends on new research — coming primarily out of Asia — centered on the efficacy of naturopathic-inspired healing plants. “Natural ingredients were always the stuff of home remedies and wives tales,” continued Beck, who, after perusing more than 500 articles on the topic, decided on nine formulas out of 175. Beck included only naturals with scientifical-ly proven results, including gallic acid, which is said to have cancer-combating and melasma-easing ben-efits and tamarind seed extract, said to be an effec-tive wound healer. “It was perfect storm of research on naturals and new research into technology.”

Bluemercury has doors on New York City’s

Broadway and Walnut Street in Philadelphia, and Beck plans to utilize Bluemercury’s physical outposts for M-61’s advertising. “We’re starting at home first,” she said.

Having an automatic brick-and-mortar component to the business is certainly an added benefit to the retailer-cum-skin-care-brand model. “We are able to capitalize on our in-store designs to showcase the col-lection with clear signage on a designated fixture in our stores,” said Catherine Gore, director of Sephora Collection, the chain’s namesake brand, which was launched in January 2011. “Additionally, the collec-tion is integrated into our seasonal catalogues and print advertising for further awareness.”

At stores like Sephora and Ulta, for example, advertising and selling ammunition comes mainly in the form of its arsenal of trained beauty consul-tants who can easily recommend the house brand. “It works well with their format of having so many choices, explained industry expert Allan Mottus. “Shoppers can buy a prestige foundation, a mass mascara and be shown Ulta’s own skin care.”

The Sephora Collection Skincare, introduced to all its 300 stand-alone doors in the U.S. and Canada as well as more than 300 Sephoras inside J.C. Penney locations, is expanding, with new items added every season.

Priced from $4 to $39, the range, whose hero ingredient is a proprietary plant-derived humec-

tant said to moisturize more effectively than hyal-uronic acid, is color-coded and boasts straightforward packaging and names, for an experience that is “easy to shop.”

To be sure, the history of private label skin care is one punctuated with successes and failures. A recent example of a partic-ularly fine-tuned introduc-tion is CVS’ exclusive cross-category range, Salma Hayek Nuance. A corner-stone of this 100-stockkeep-ing-unit collection, which contains color cosmet-ics and hair care, is skin care; and many formulas include local plants and herbs utilized by Hayek’s grandmother. Despite the

recent shut-down of all of CVS’ Beauty 360 loca-tions, the Salma Hayek line is far from shrinking. Insider executives say sales are growing and this past January seven new products — four of which were skin care — were added to the range.

“I’ve tried everything including $1,000 face creams,” said Hayek at the time of the launch. “I knew there was a way of making extraordinary products that make a difference, without spend-ing that kind of money,” she added of the price points, which range from $2.99 to $19.99. Nuance was targeted to produce sales of $35 million by in-dustry experts who believe current sales are on target and that at least 30 to 40 percent of that is generated by skin care items.

For many retailers, the creation of their own skin care ranges is also ignited by the confluence of aging Baby Boomers looking to do more with a smaller budget. According to Wendy Liebmann of WSL Strategic Retail, consumers are returning to stores, but shopping differently; while some will return to pampering, others like the value of private label. In fact, according to the Private Label Manufacturing Association, nearly one of every four mass products purchased is now a store brand. While consumers may have hesitated in the past to buy a moisturizer with a retailer’s logo on it, the trust retailers have built up has helped ease the trepidation. In fact, in 2011 in all mass outlets — supermarkets, drugstores and discount stores, including Wal-Mart — store brand sales advanced by 3.9 percent while national brands were up only by 0.6 percent.

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM F.B.

4 WWD FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012

An assortment of M-61 products.

Outside the Box: More Store Brands

beauty

By MOLLY PRIOR

DON’T LET Avon Products Inc.’s troubles fool you. The direct-selling business has evolved into a robust, tech-

nology-led distribution channel. A number of players — Mary Kay Inc., Rodan & Fields and Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. among them — have replaced the doorbell with e-mail, and the glossy brochure with an iPad app.

Coty Inc., which this week unveiled a $10 billion bid to take over Avon, might well be motivated by the success of these other direct merchants.

Last month, Mary Kay launched one of its most popular on-line tools, Virtual Makeover, for mobile devices ranging from the iPad to Android smartphones and tablets, said Patricia Wanderley, vice president of corporate digital marketing. Also, in March the company introduced an app called Show and Sell, designed to provide visual selling tools at parties hosted by its sales consultants, said Jamie Schott, Mary Kay’s director of digi-tal marketing. These initiatives are now rolling out globally.

The skin care range Rodan & Fields has been steadily build-ing a direct-selling network in the U.S. since leaving the de-partment store channel in 2008. Thousands of Rodan & Fields’ 20,000 representatives are armed with iPads and nearly 100 percent of its orders are placed online, said a company spokes-

woman. She added that the company has an incentive program where reps can earn iPads. With products such as the 60-day regimen Anti-Age Amp MD, priced at $200, Rodan & Fields plays in the premium tier, along with Nu Skin, a company that many on Wall Street point to as the bell-wether of beauty di-rect selling with its luxury price points and multilevel selling model. Nu Skin’s flag-

ship skin care range, AgeLoc, sells for between $50 to $450 for a monthly regimen. The spoils of those double- and triple-digit price points help attracted and retain representatives.

Several Wall Street analysts contend that Avon’s low price points and heavy-handed promotions make its business model more labor-intensive for its representatives. As Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Mark Astrachan pointed out, “You want Avon to be a business where you can earn a living, not supplement a living. It takes an awful lot of lipstick [sales] to equal a $200 skin cream.” Avon does offer reps online tools and an iPhone app.

Nu Skin said it funnels 43 percent of its sales back to its rep-resentatives through incentive programs, and Rodan & Fields distributes more than 30 percent of revenue to its sales force, ac-cording to industry sources. A source with knowledge of Avon’s business said the company’s U.S. business allotted roughly 20 percent of sales to its representatives.

NEW YORK — Parfums de Coeur is the latest company said to be looking for a poten-tial suitor as the pace of beau-ty deals kicks up.

Parfums de Coeur president James Stammer, reached at the company’s Darien, Conn. head-quarters, would not comment on the market reports. The firm is said to have hired Houlihan Lokey to explore a sale.

Several industry observers suggested it’s prime time for the privately held company — which is credited with creating the entire alternative designer fragrance market — to look for a buyer. Some sources suggest-ed that the company’s founder, Mark Laracy, is nearing retire-ment and noted that fragrance market is becoming increas-ingly difficult to do business in.

One source said the com-pany has been on the hunt for a buyer for a year.

The concept that helped push PDC to sales stardom — underscored by its tag line, “If you like [designer brand], you’ll love [alternative]” — is now an obstacle to international growth. European standards

dictate competitive brands can’t be named in marketing efforts.

While some estimates peg PDC at over $100 million, oth-ers calculated the most a suit-or would pay would be in the $40 million range.

PDC was launched in 1984 by fragrance expert Laracy. He spent 10 years at Prince Matchabelli, a subsidiary of Chesebrough-Pond’s Inc., dur-ing a time when the company was among the hottest perfume purveyors around. Between 1965 and 1975, annual sales ballooned from $7 million to $80 million.

With his knowledge that fragrance formulas couldn’t be patented, he created less ex-pensive options of well-known premium scents including Giorgio and Opium priced at a fraction of the cost. He set mass fragrance sales on fire when he launched Primo — a mimic of Giorgio. As designer and ce-lebrity scents filtered into the market, PDC knocked them off and rushed them to market to a receptive audience.

— FAYE BROOKMAN, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS

FROM EVAN CLARK

Direct Sellers’ Technology Push

Parfums de Coeur Said In Play

A visual of Mary Kay’s selling tools for its representation.

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By JULIE NAUGHTON

MARC JACOBS HAS BUILT a fragrance empire by fo-cusing on what he calls “his girls” — Daisy, launched in 2007, and Lola, which bowed in 2009.

Move over, ladies: There’s a new upstart in town, and her name is Dot. According to her creator, she’s charming, spirited and energetic and driven by a fanciful red bottle.

“We keep calling them sisters. Lola is Daisy’s sister, and now Dot is their sister,” said Jacobs, speaking with WWD during an interview in his SoHo studio earlier this week. “There’s beginning to be a sort of vocabulary [within the fragrance collection]; even within the variety, there’s a similar handwriting — something that just feels like us.”

Dot’s fanciful red bottle, which resembles a ladybug with butterflies alighting on it, “just seemed right to me,” said Jacobs. “I asked myself, What would this Dot be? And for me, it would be something that was chic, something that was charming. A dot is timeless and a pattern I always love, and round shapes are always beautiful. I liked the idea of these hybrid butterfly-lady-bugs, which suggest a sort of free spirit and femininity and playfulness. And, of course, ladybugs mean good luck.” As well, Jacobs said he has long felt strongly about the classicism and elegance of a polka-dot motif, a recurring pattern in his collections and a major focus of his fall 2011 ready-to-wear line. “One design that I always go back to in some way is the dot,” he said. “I felt like this was something I’d never get tired of, and I’ll always find a new way to interpret.”

He’s practical enough to have flankers (stepsisters?) in mind, too: “I felt this bottle would open itself up to

many, many permutations and we can have a lot of fun with it. The vi-sual is always very important.”

Jacobs wanted the scent, which he created with Firmenich’s Annie Buzantian and consultant Ann Gottlieb, “to feel like it was com-ing out of this bottle,” he said, not-ing that the juice was intended to be, like the bottle, charming and spirited. It has top notes of red berries, dragon fruit and honey-suckle; a heart of jasmine, coconut water and orange blossom and a drydown of vanilla, driftwood and musk. “There’s a juicy, lush quality to it because it felt

like the right spirit for this bottle,” he said. “It’s almost like a butterfly or a ladybug landing on a leaf.”

The collection includes eaux de par-fum in three sizes — 1 oz. for $48, 1.7 oz. for $69 and 3.4 oz. for $89 — as well as a 5-oz. body lotion, $45, and a 5-oz. shower gel, $40. All are priced on par with Jacobs’ Lola franchise.

In the U.S., Dot will be carried at about 3,300 department and specialty store doors beginning in July, and it will also launch in the U.K. in July. The remainder of global markets will get the scent beginning in August, said Lori Singer, group vice president of global marketing for Coty Prestige.

Print advertising, featuring Codie Young and shot by Juergen Teller, will break in September fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazines,

noted Claire Fermont Langlais, senior marketing director for Marc Jacobs fragrances. Shot in the Maldives, the image is of a wide-eyed Young in a field of lush greenery. “It’s suggestive of a young, contemporary spirit which is still open to interpretation by the person who would buy it,” said Jacobs.

While Jacobs and Coty ex-ecutives declined comment on projected sales and advertising spending, industry sources esti-mated that Dot could do as much as $100 million at retail globally in its first year, with about $40 mil-lion of that figure expected to be generated in the U.S. The advertis-ing war chest globally is expected to be about $50 million, with about $20 million of that expected to be spent in the U.S.

As first revealed by WWD earlier this week, Jacobs is also working with Sephora to do a color cosmetics collection with a yet-to-be-determined launch date. “Sephora has such a modern sensibility,” said Jacobs, adding that the retailer’s approach to mak-ing a luxury product that is appealing to a young and con-temporary market is a match with his own philosophy. “It was an inspiring first meeting, and that gets me excited — when their enthusiasm matches my own.”

Jacobs said he sees his endeavors as “another oppor-tunity for design; it’s another opportunity to make a series of choices and to project a spirit,” said Jacobs. “But it will be women out there who decide if it’s good or not. I just put all my heart and soul and all my energy into basically everything that I work on, and I always feel that the prod-uct has integrity because there is that energy and passion in it. I’m not a perfectionist — I don’t think we ever get anything perfect. But I do believe, within the time we have to do something, that we get things as best as we possibly can, and by the time I’m ready to let them go I’m really proud of what it is that we’re putting out there.”

The designer noted that he’s not yet done build-ing his fragrance empire with Coty, welcome news to Singer, who noted that Jacobs’ stable of fragrances grew 37 percent in the U.S. in 2011 alone. But give Jacobs a breather first.

“For now, my head is in my next [rtw] collection, and the wonderful and colorful world of cosmetics,” he said. Any previews of the rtw collection? Jacobs laughed. “I never know what it’s going to be until the first girl’s on the runway,” he deadpanned. “It changes up until the last minute. It’s a process, not a recipe. It starts some-where and ends up somewhere else.”

By CYNTHIA MARTENS

MILAN — The artisanal fragrance move-ment is steadily gaining steam with re-tailers. Attendance at Esxence, an an-nual four-day niche perfume salon held here, was up this year by 12.86 percent, with a total of 5,572 visitors. The fair wrapped up its fourth edition on Sunday at La Permanente museum, where 155 in-ternational brands — a third of them new to the fair — showcased their wares.

Christophe Cervasel and partner Sylvie Ganter, founders of Atelier Cologne, a Paris- and New York-based brand with a Mediterranean flavor, devised a line of ab-solute colognes that each evoke a highly specific moment, such as a summer gath-ering of friends sharing breakfast and fresh oranges, or a man feeling lucky as he strides confidently across wet grass. The newest scent, Vanille Insensée, ($170 for a 6.7-oz. spray) relies on vanilla, jasmine, fresh lime, oak moss, woods and spicy coriander to conjure the image of a man who suddenly realizes his former flame is standing before him, wearing his perfume. Atelier Cologne is available in 150 doors worldwide and two new stores, in Paris and Los Angeles, are slated to open this year and in 2013.

Cervasel, who was at Esxence for the second time, said there is growing interest among retailers for more individualistic products, noting that Galeries Lafayette in Paris had recently set up an “exceptional perfumes” area. Mirella Siciliano, buying manager at La Rinascente in Milan, spoke

highly of Esxence, noting that most major niche labels were present, in addition to “a pretty good number of new brands.”

Romano Ricci, founder of Juliette Has a Gun, said customers are feeling “in-creasingly lost” in commercial chains and are looking for more-personal prod-ucts. Describing perfume as “a seductive weapon,” and himself as “a lover of singu-larities,” Ricci said he creates fragrances around olfactory portraits of different types of femininity. Italian distributor Beauty San showcased Ricci’s latest fragrances, including the musky, breezy Romantina with orange blossom and vanilla, which starts at 69 euros, or $90, for the 1.7-oz. version, and the patchouli, Bulgarian rose and vanilla-inflected Vengeance Extrême, which retails for 103 euros, or about $135, for 3.3 oz.

Andrea Maack, the Icelandic visual art-ist who launched her fragrance line in 2011, was showing a colorful cashmere scarf printed with her artwork. “Not everyone likes to wear perfume,” on the skin, Maack said, explaining that the scarf could be sprayed instead. Her fragrances are avail-able at roughly 60 doors worldwide, and the scarf will be sold in select locations for approximately 180 pounds, or $288.

The artist was also showing Coal, a fragrance that will hit stores in June. While working on coal sketches, Maack became interested in the mineral, and created a unisex fragrance that contains both coal and paper, connecting her art with her perfume.

Also promoting a bridge to the art world were Christine Gustafsson and Niclas

Lydeen, founders of the Swedish brand Agonist. Launched in 2008, the brand be-came known for its natural fragrances con-tained in intricate handblown glass sculp-tures. But the bottles’ 1,000 euro, or $1,330, price tag was out of reach for many con-sumers. All six fragrances will be in stores as of May in a spray version that will retail at about 120 euros, or $160, each. With a broad smile, Lydeen compared the sculp-ture and spray bottles to “haute couture and ready-to-wear.” He said that by the end of the year Agonist will be at between 50 and 100 doors worldwide.

Ben Gorham, founder and owner of Stockholm-based brand Byredo, was pre-senting new leather travel cases, avail-

able in a variety of colors, for his line of 15 fragrances. He said business

has been especially good in the U.S., France and the U.K., and he is cur-rently considering expansion in Asia, following Byredo’s recent Japanese launch. “I’m going to Korea in a few weeks,” Gorham noted.

Celso Fadelli, co-founder of Esxence and chief executive officer

of Intertrade Europe Group, said this year’s exhibition had a noticeable Asian presence. “Already last year there were many Russian and Eastern European visi-tors, but there were not necessarily many Asians. Now there are people from Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and China,” he said.

Japanese brand Nippon Kodo, which specializes in high-quality incense at a wide price range (3 euros to 2,000 euros, or about $4 to $2,630), was showing its brand KOJU for the first time in Europe at Esxence, said Pierre-Yves Colombel, marketing manager.

“Perfume is also linked to smoke,” he said, emphasizing the ritual element of fragrances. The new KOJU 15/75 incense, named for a 16th-century Japanese per-fume master, offers five notes, each rep-resenting a different life phase, and will sell in Europe at about 35 euros, or $46, at approximately 50 concept and depart-ment stores, such as Printemps in Paris.

Thai brand Pañpuri was also at Esxence for the first time, presenting its line of certified organic bath, body and home products, including candles hand-poured into handblown glass tum-blers. Marketing director Coelio Jamet described the company as inspired by Buddhist philosophy and the idea that “beauty comes from within.”

5WWD FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012

One design that I always go back to in some way is the dot.

— MARC JACOBS

Marc Jacobs’ New Girl:Dot Fragrance Unveiled

Esxence Celebrates Niche Scents

The Dot ad features Codie Young.

An offering from Atelier Cologne.

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WWD.COM8 WWD friday, april 6 2012

By DaviD Moin

RETaiLERS GoT an early spring break.Propelled by the warm weather, colorful, fresh

spring apparel and accessories, and Easter falling on april 8 this year versus april 24 in 2011, many retailers on Thursday reported high-single-digit or low-double-digit comparable store sales gains for March.

Macy’s rose 7.3 percent; Saks Fifth avenue was ahead 6.3 percent; nordstrom was up 8.6 percent; TJX Cos. and Ross Stores both rose 10 percent; and Limited Stores grew 8 percent.

Gap inc. posted a surpris-ing 8 percent gain, spurred by redesigned assortments and better traffic trends. “We deliv-ered solid sales performance in March and are pleased with cus-tomer response to product across all brands,” said Glenn Murphy, Gap’s chairman and chief ex-ecutive officer. However, the San Francisco-based chain was com-ing off a low base of volume from March a year ago when comps were down double digits.

Retail experts said stores would have done well in March even without the benefits of warm weather and the calen-dar shift. Consumers have been more prone to spending since Christmas and are feeling se-curer in their jobs this year with the economy and employment slowly improving. at this point, gas prices hovering around an average of $4 a gallon have not hampered spending much.

“There is some underly-ing strength in the business,” observed Laura Gurski, part-ner and global head of a.T. Kearney’s retail practice. “We don’t have the big shocking news that would destabilize spend-ing. Even if the weather had not been so nice, we would have ex-pected an uptick, maybe more gradual than it was.”

She expects that april and May will also yield good results, based on trends since Christmas. “in 2010, we had a really strong holiday that did not continue into the first quarter. This year, we had another strong holiday and it did continue. apparel sales have been very strong.”

“Stores were up against weaker numbers last year, but there is no question they did well in March. Easter is significant and a lot of the business is done at regular price,” said arnold aronson, managing director of retail strategy at Kurt Salmon associates.

Though the economy is improving, “we’re not com-pletely out of the woods,” aronson said. “There are still issues like gas prices and declining home equity and weakness in Europe and the unknown volatility that could set in. Certainly, a good many stores exceeded plans for March, but we have to wait to see what the give back will be in april.”

“There was strength across all sectors — luxury, mid-tier and value. March was a sign that the consumer is get-

ting a little bit more confident and that is good for everybody,” said Joel Bines, managing director at alixPartners’ global retail practice.

But Bines and the other analysts cautioned that March probably took a bite out of april sales, due to the earlier Easter. Ross Stores, for ex-ample, sees only a 1 to 2 percent gain for april. and Macy’s, expects the combined increase for the two months to be between 4.3 and 4.5 percent, lower than the March fig-ure but above the 3 to 3.5 percent increase originally forecast.

The analysts also said that soar-ing gas prices could have a greater impact on shopping in the summer when families go on road trips and buy back-to-school clothes.

The numbers are also distort-ed by some stores blending their online sales into the comp-store sales, which hikes the results. american apparel, for example, said it was up 21 percent last March, including online sales.

“March sales exceeded our expectations beyond the benefits we anticipated from an earlier Easter and a shift in a cosmet-ics event from april last year to March this year,” said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and ceo of Macy’s, which had a 7.3 percent gain in comparable sales, including e-commerce revenues. “once again, our strength in per-formance was balanced across Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, stores and online, geographies and families of business.”

Target Corp. reported 7.3 per-cent growth, versus an estimate of 5.4 percent, reflecting what Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and ceo of the mass merchandiser, described as a “healthy underly-

ing trend” in business to go with the advantageous Easter timing and the weather last month.

one possible factor behind that healthy underlying trend could be how an increasing number of retailers are operating. “They’ve become much more scientific in their approach to inventory management and flow,” aronson said. “it’s much more analytic and process-driven.”

U.S. retail stocks perked up 0.7 percent on the comp

results, but the market continued to slide as economic worries lingered from earlier in the week and investors looked ahead to today’s employment report.

The S&P Retail index rose 4.19 points to 624.72, as the Dow Jones industrial average fell 14.61 points to 13,060.14. Fashion’s gainers included Ross Stores inc., up 2.5 percent to $59.81; The TJX Cos. inc., 2.4 per-cent to $40.29; Lululemon athletica inc., 2.3 percent to $77.06, and Ralph Lauren Corp., 2.3 percent to $178.06.

� —�with�contributions�from�� Arnold�J.�KArr�And�EvAn�clArK

March coMparable SaleS

March 2012 March 2011 February January % change % change % change % change

DeParTMenT STOreS

Bon-Ton -0.1 -6.1 0.7 -3.5

Kohl’s 3.6 -6.5 -0.8 0.6

Macy’s 7.3 0.9 4.6 2.4

nordsTroM 8.6 5.1 10.2 5.0

saKs 6.3 11.1 6.6 10.5

sTagesTores 4.7 -5.3 3.7 -0.1

average: 5.1 -0.1 4.2 2.5

SPecIaLTy chaInS

BananarepuBlic 5.0 -8.0 12.0 6.0

BaTh&BodyWorKs 6.0 8.0 7.0 -3.0

BucKle 6.4 8.4 14.8 7.4

caTo 5.0 -9.0 -5.0 -6.0

gap(u.s.sTores) 9.0 -9.0 1.0 -5.0

oldnavy 11.0 -12.0 5.0 -6.0

perfuMania 0.2 15.9 6.4 5.2

vicToria’ssecreT 10.0 19.0 10.0 17.0

WeTseal -7.8 4.7 -5.8 -13.0

ZuMieZ 14.1 8.9 14.2 10.8

average: 5.9 2.7 6.0 1.3

MaSS MerchanTS

cosTco* 6.0 8.0 7.0 8.0

rosssTores 10.0 -1.0 9.0 5.0

sTeinMarT -0.3 -3.9 0.7 -3.9

TargeT 7.3 -5.5 7.0 4.3

TJXcos. 10.0 -1.0 9.0 7.0

average: 6.6 -0.7 6.5 4.1

TaLLy:

up 18 10 18 13

flaT 0 0 0 0

doWn 3 11 3 8

TOTaL 21 21 21 21

source:coMpanyreporTs*eXcludesfuelsales

March Comps Outpace Estimates

place a new operating structure that cre-ates a winning organization built on ef-ficiency. For instance, we’re rebuilding our merchandising and planning and allocation teams to continually curate our product offering, edit brands and assortments as appropriate.”

Kramer also cited the plan to refor-mat Penney’s selling floors into a mix of “stores,” “shops” and “boutiques” and re-imagine the main aisles into The Street for better activities and new kinds of ac-tivities, as first reported Wednesday by WWD. The stores, shops and boutiques will be at least 2,000, 500 and 300 square feet, respectively, and feature “newness on a monthly basis in the rhythm of our customers’ lives,” Kramer said Thursday. “actions like this will enable us to quick-ly take advantage of a variety of expense savings opportunities while enhancing our profit formula for the long term.”

in January, as officials unveiled the reinvention strategy, they disclosed plans to reduce annual expenses by $900 mil-lion by the end of 2013. This includes $200 million in savings from the corpo-

rate headquarters, as well as $400 mil-lion in cost savings in store operations and $300 million in advertising expense savings. The changes are expected to reduce expenses to below 30 percent of sales by the end of 2013 and help Penney’s achieve an expense run rate of 27 percent by the completion of its rein-vent strategy in 2015.

a spokeswoman told WWD on Thursday that since Penney’s “fair and square” pricing strategy and liberalized returns policy began Feb. 1, call center volume has decreased more than 30 percent due to fewer cus-tomer concerns related to coupons, prices and returns. “This overwhelmingly demon-strates that customers are being taken care of either at the store or through jcp.com — without the need for further assistance,” the spokeswoman said. “as a result of this shift in demand, we made the strategic decision to reduce the number of call centers from three to two.” The other two call centers are in Columbus, ohio, and Milwaukee.

asked how many cuts will occur at the stores, the spokeswoman responded, “We did not announce any changes to stores today.”

Steve Lossing, president of the com-pany’s big & tall men’s concept, The Foundry Big & Tall Supply Co., was also a victim of the layoffs Thursday. His depar-ture could indicate Penney’s is ready to abandon the business that was launched last april. it was part of the company’s Growth Brands Division, a separate busi-ness that included Clad, a men’s Web site and Gifting Grace, an online gift site. Clad is being shuttered on april 27.

When The Foundry launched last year, the plan was to roll out the concept, which targets the big & tall customer, aggressively and was planning to have 300 stores within five years. However, according to The Foundry Web site, the business remains at 10 stores, the num-ber with which the concept launched. Sources said business at the stores has been less than stellar and there are ap-parently no plans to open additional freestanding units. The concept could, however, become one of the new lineup of shops within the Penney’s stores. a Penney’s spokeswoman confirmed Lossing’s departure and added, “We have not provided an update on The Foundry.”

on the management front, officials said new approaches to pricing, promo-tion, merchandising, and re-creating the customer experience requires “a more competitive operational structure, with fewer layers of management, wider spans of control and greater accountability throughout the organization.”

“Simplicity is one of the guiding prin-ciples of our transformation,” Johnson said. “in years past, we’ve motivated our customers with endless promotions and discounts, and that required a lot of pro-cess-oriented work. at the new J.C. Penney, we’re beginning to inspire customers with great merchandise, an exciting shopping environment and ‘fair and square’ pric-ing. Just 60 days into our transformation, we can see — more clearly than we even imagined — that this is a simpler way to do business and a better way to compete.

“We are also transitioning from a cul-ture based on management to one based on leadership,” Johnson added. “We are going to operate like a start-up. We are going to extend the reach and span of control of our very best talent. We are going to be nimble, quick to learn, quick-er to react and totally committed to re-alizing our vision to become america’s favorite store.”

Penney’s to Trim 900 Jobs as Firm Streamlines Operations{Continued from page one}

WEATHERING HEIGHTS: March didn’t just go out like a lamb but arrived like one, too, converting the whining about hard-to-sell cold-weather apparel into an energetic reaction to lighter-weight spring arrivals. Still, executives said there was more to the month’s strong showing than simply the meteorological, coming as it did against a backdrop of steady, if slow, economic improvement and despite gas prices poised to hit a new record. While not a high-volume month, April, deprived of last year’s “Easter benefit,” is expected to be a tougher test.

GAP SNAPBACK: With its 8 percent jump in comps last month, Gap Inc. put together back-to-back gains for the first time since it added 4 and 5 percent way back in October and November of 2010. The March numbers were especially encouraging as they included a double-digit advance of 11 percent at Old Navy North America and a 9 percent pickup at Gap North America. Banana Republic, up 12 percent in February, stayed positive with a 5 percent increase and international, expected by analysts to decline 6.8 percent, instead moved to 2 percent up from 9 percent down in February.

OFF-PRICE AND ON THE MARK: A few years ago, it might have been easy to attribute the strong numbers generated by the nation’s two largest off-price retailers, The TJX Cos. Inc. and Ross Stores Inc., to nervous shoppers for whom thrift had practically become a religion. Not anymore. The two reported matching comp increases of 10 percent last month and, like Target Corp., lifted first-quarter profit estimates.

—�Arnold�J.�KArr

March coMp crux

w06a008a;14.indd 8 4/5/12 7:52 PM04052012195328

ELLIE OF THE YEAR: This year’s finalists for the National Magazine Awards’ Magazine of the Year are Esquire, New York, The New Yorker, Popular Mechanics and Time. All the award winners will be revealed at the so-called Ellies on May 3 at the New York Marriott Marquis, with Brian Williams of NBC News hosting the event.

“This is a great category because it’s about how a publication performs as a brand, not just in print,” said Rick Stengel, managing editor of Time. He noted that big news events like the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the Arab Spring and the royal wedding provided rich material for the newsweekly’s print, online and video platforms last year.

A cadre of 345 judges from the magazine and journalism education fields select the finalists and winners of the various Ellies in both print and digital, with a panel of 13 judges adjudicating the Magazine of the Year prize — the winner of which has already been selected, said Sid Holt, chief executive of the

American Society of Magazine Editors. (There’s actually a secret sixth finalist selected by the judges, in case one of the top five is disqualified.)

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker — which is nominated for six other Ellies, as is New York — pointed out the diversity of finalists for the top honor and the attendant complexity of choosing a winner. “Because of the diversity of magazines, the radical differences in intent or subject matter or spirit, there’s an element of apples and oranges that’s inescapable,” he noted. “But that takes nothing away from the fact that it is, as all those Oscar nominations tell us every year, an honor just to be nominated.”

The award, won by National Geographic last year, honors the title that has most distinguished itself across the entire spectrum of publishing, including print, online and mobile devices. “This is what it means to run a magazine today, which is a much broader enterprise than just the print product,” said Jim Meigs, editor in chief of Popular Mechanics and editorial director of the men’s enthusiast group at Hearst Magazines. “We are

running little idea incubators and we’ve found that print people are actually good at this.”

Adam Moss, editor in chief of New York, took the nomina-tion in stride. “Well, everyone is very happy about it, of course,” he noted. “But we beat Popular Mechanics last week in the bowl-ing league, so really, the Magazine of the Year thing is just gravy.”

— DAVID LIPKE

ENTER BEAUTY: To mark Fab.com’s foray into the beauty world, a virtual pop-up shop, launched in collaboration with Glamour magazine, will go live on Monday. The site will feature a collection of curated beauty offerings, chosen by Glamour editors and the Fab.com team. According to Fab.com co-founder Bradford Shellhammer, the site will feature about 90 products and 13 brands. “This is just like a pop-up shop you’d find on a street corner in SoHo,” said Shellhammer, adding that the members-only e-commerce site launched less than a year ago and currently has 3.2 million members. Glamour’s May issue will feature a spotlight on a selection of the products to be highlighted on Fab.com. — BELISA SILVA

DIEGO SOUNDS OFF: Diego Della Valle has spoken his mind again, displeased with the decisions made by the main shareholders of RCS Mediagroup on the new governance of the company, which owns Italy’s daily Corriere della Sera. The chairman and chief executive officer of Tod’s SpA, who has a stake of more than 5 percent in the publishing group, slammed the proverbial door earlier this week and didn’t mince words with Fiat chairman John Elkann and the presidents of two of Italy’s main banks, Intesa Sanpaolo and Mediobanca. Dubbing Elkann, who is 36, as “just a kid” and “an amateur,” according to several Italian media reports, Della Valle accused them of wanting to control the newspaper and released his shares from the block voting shareholders’ agreement. “I am free now.…Nobody has ever gifted me with shares. And I never had them on behalf of a company, nor did I ever manage them for bank. Those are old-school methods that flounder easily. I can say that I will go on: as person who buys [shares]

where he goes, I will continue this way,” said Della Valle in Thursday’s daily La Repubblica.

It is understood Della Valle will continue to try and increase his stake in RCS and to form new alliances.

Last year, Della Valle, who sits on the board of giant insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA, initiated a shake-up of Italy’s financial world, a tightly knit clique, established and consolidated over the years, leading to the resignation of Cesare Geronzi as president of Generali.

— LUISA ZARGANI

UP AND OUT: Zoë Bruns is out the door as Harper’s Bazaar’s photography and bookings director. She is set to join J. Crew as vice president of brand design. Harper’s Bazaar plans to name Bruns’ successor shortly, according to a Hearst spokeswoman.

Bruns could not be reached for comment at press time, but Hearst and J. Crew confirmed her plans. J. Crew declined to provide more details of her new role. — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

WWDSTYLE

MEMO PAD

Call Me Alber

Alber Elbaz continued to celebrate his 10th anniversary with Lanvin

on Thursday at Barneys New York, where Uma Thurman co-hosted a luncheon in the designer’s honor.

When presenting the label’s fall collection, Elbaz used a 007-themed cardboard cutout to indulge in some

prop comedy: “Every time before I have a big show or presentation, I say I’m going to go on a diet and then I start tasting everything, so

you know what.…Here is James and here I am.” For more, see page 10.

PHOTO BY STEVE EICHNER

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE: Omar Sy was a big

attraction following a

Museum of Modern

Art screening of his

breakout film “The

Intouchables.” PAGE 10

10 WWD FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012

phot

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phot

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French TouchOn WEDnEsDay night at La Petite Maison, Omar Sy’s English translator was getting a workout. the Weinstein Co. and Chopard had just screened the French actor’s breakout film, “the intouchables,” across the street at the Museum of Modern art and sy had a number of enthusiastic cinemagoers to receive.

“We were all crying and laughing, and i wish they made more films like that because it had so much beauty,” a visibly excited Lucy Sykes gushed to the actor. “and i’m in love with you! i’m married. But i am in love with you.”

sy didn’t need to wait for his interpreter to translate sykes’ general sentiment to offer up a polite “thank you, thank you” in return. a few minutes later, Harvey Weinstein made his way up with Stanley Crouch, who wanted to know if sy read English. there was maybe a project they could work on.

in short, “the intouchables,” which has been a sensation at the French box office since its november release, was a hit with the new york crowd, which also included Valentino, Alexa Chung, Olivier Theyskens, Tamara Mellon and Eddie Borgo. in the feel-good, odd-couple story, sy deploys his comedic chops as the irrepressible caretaker of a wheelchair-bound aristocrat. though the film is in French,

sy’s humor transcends subtitles. Weinstein was likely banking on that charisma when he backed the film’s U.s. release, a move that furthered his recent trend of scooping up French productions such as “sarah’s Key” and “the artist.” (sy, it’s worth noting, beat out Jean Dujardin for this year’s best actor Cesar two days before the Oscars.)

“i think they’re making movies now because they’ve settled the internet,” Weinstein said when asked of his gallic tendencies. “there’s no piracy in France. if you pirate something, they will cut your internet service off. seriously. they made tough laws. they’re protecting the industry. the artists, actors, and musicians are all getting their share of royalties and business is booming over there, so they have the economics to make great movies.”

inevitably, there has been talk of an american remake of “the intouchables.” sy demurred when given the chance to pick his English-speaking successor.

“you know, i’ve been asked this question multiple times today,” sy said through his translator as he nudged his chin at Weinstein. “i really have no idea. you shouldn’t ask me. you should ask the person behind you.”

— MATTHEW LYNCH

For more photos, see

WWD.com/eye.

thErE Was a familial feel in the air at the Lanvin presentation at Barneys new york on thursday afternoon as the retailer feted Alber Elbaz’s 10th year at the label with a noontime luncheon.

“it’s a strange thing to look back on, 10 years,” Elbaz mused before the show near a chandelier bestrewn with some of the line’s jewelry and trademark loose velvet bows (echoing the black one tied around his neck). “in fashion, one year you’re in and the next you’re out. so 10 years is certainly something.”

a noticeably pregnant Uma Thurman co-hosted the event, largely to draw eyes to her charity room to grow, a nonprofit dedicated to enriching the lives of babies born into poverty through the first three years of development. ten percent of proceeds from Lanvin sales on thursday were

directed to the charity. “Everyone loves alber,”

thurman said upon arrival, turning to greet Elbaz, who quietly professed some nerves. “you’re nervous?” thurman grinned, incredulous.

“i have to speak, a little speech,” Elbaz explained. “We are not all as good at delivering lines.”

the presentation drew guests like Katie Lee, Adelina Wong Ettelson, Lisa Airan and Giambattista Valli. “there used to be a time in fashion when we all hated each other and would send nasty messages,” Elbaz later said of Valli. “now we all send flowers, well, i send a cake or macaroons, but there’s a great respect between all of us.”

the night before, Barneys chief executive officer Mark Lee had hosted an intimate dinner for Elbaz at his home, where no less than three miniature disasters had apparently taken place. “Oh, the wind knocked

a piece of art off the wall, a toilet overflowed, a cake with sparklers set the alarm off and a fireman came…but i was just so touched that Mark had us at his home,” Elbaz explained.

“Barneys is a very emotional place for me,” the designer said, addressing the room. “Eighteen years ago i met my partner here, on the third floor, and we’re still together.…in our first season, Barneys came and then left after 15 minutes and they said ‘We’re not able to buy Lanvin because you’re not prepared, you don’t have the prices, some dresses aren’t finished.’ When i heard that, i ran after them with a bouquet of flowers that had been on my table. i said, ‘i’m sorry, please come back, we’re not ready, it’s our first-ever show,’ and since then, family was Barneys and Barneys was family.”

introducing his collection, Elbaz said, “We took a lot of

tradition and know-how and it’s almost like California cuisine. We take the tradition, but we take off the butter and replace it with olive oil. the house of Lanvin is the oldest couture house in the world. and so i took some old pieces and remade them to be relevant: and that’s what it’s about. Being relevant, being comfortable and being beautiful. Because there’s nothing intellectual about a red dress, and there’s nothing intellectual about a roasted chicken. it’s just beautiful.”

Elbaz continued, reflecting on his early years at the house: “i remember this woman came and told me, ‘Every time i wear Lanvin, men fall in love with me,’ and i said to her, ‘i want you to wear Lanvin and fall in love…be more active, don’t let go, don’t just be waiting for someone to fall in love with you, you have to do it.’ these

are the women i love.…Women today are not what they used to be. they’re not just beautiful creatures. i always used to say that women are strong and men are powerful. Power you can buy at the bank, you can lose it at the bank. But strength is internal. Women now are not only strong but also powerful, and this is a deadly combination. these are the women that we’re dressing. i ask day after day, ‘What is it that we want, that we need?’ What we’re looking for more than anything is to be loved, to be hugged, to be with people who we feel comfortable enough to sit and be silent with when we’re tired, and that’s what we’re trying to do at Lanvin. to bring you love.”

gauging by the crowd of friends and admirers who besieged the designer postshow, the feeling was mutual.

— ALESSANDRA CODINHA

Lunchtime Gush eye

Alexa Chung

Valentino

Omar Sy

Models in the Lanvin show.

Giambattista Valli

Uma Thurman in Lanvin.

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Cotton InCorporated is doing its own take on “a tale of two Cities,” with the launch of two television spots featur-ing singer-actress emmy rossum and ac-tress Camilla Belle. the spots will high-light their respective hometowns of new York and Los angeles and give their takes on the organization’s signature song.

Marking the fourth installment of Cotton Inc.’s “the Fabric of My Life” campaign, the aim of the commercials is to show the versatility of cotton apparel in the distinctive styles of the two cities.

the “new York tale,” featuring rossum, star of the Showtime series “Shameless,” will make its debut on Monday and run on Fox, aBC and the CW, as well as other cable networks. “the L.a. Story” with Belle is still in the edit-ing stage, but is slated to run on the same networks in the next two weeks. Belle has starred in such films as “From prada to nada,” “the Ballad of Jack and rose” and “push.”

“We partner with inspirational young celebrity ambassadors who resonate with our core demographic of women 18 to 34,” said Glenn Sciachitano, director of advertising at Cotton Inc. “they give us a great palette to showcase the versa-tility of cotton garments by showcasing their interests.”

Cotton Inc. has budgeted $20 million for the campaign, spread over television and the Internet, Sciachitano said.

the television commercials, created by ddB new York and styled by Hollywood fashion stylist anthony Franco, will show rossum exiting a black-tie event in a red cotton lace dress by Monique Lhuillier, riding the subway in a blue cotton jacket by elie tahari, hosting a dinner party in a black-and-white polka dot dress by oscar de la renta and recording the track wear-ing a bouclé sweater by phillip Lim.

Belle’s commercial touches on her Brazilian heritage and features the ac-tress walking through the lobby of the dorothy Chandler pavilion in Los angeles wearing a yellow and white cotton dress by thakoon, doing a tap routine in a blue prada dress, picking up fresh produce at an outdoor market in a cotton skirt by Marc Jacobs and lounging in a hammock wearing a botanical print dress from Milly.

In conjunction with the televi-sion commercials, Cotton Inc., on its theFabricofourLives.com Web site, will run a multimedia tour of rossum’s clos-et, a blog by Belle and behind-the-scenes footage and images from the shoots, in addition to celebrity bios and interviews and audio and lyric downloads of their new cotton songs. — KRISTI ELLIS

Cotton Inks New Faces for Campaign

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Fashion scoops FLYING HIGH: to spy Karl Lagerfeld’s latest surprising collaboration, listen to the skies. agustaWestland has tapped Lagerfeld to design VIp helicopters, both the interiors and exteriors. the anglo-Italian company, controlled by Italy’s Finmeccanica, is to initially focus on its aW139 twin-turbine helicopter, though the partnership may be extended to other commercial models. agustaWestland said Lagerfeld’s “creativity and sophisticated style” would allow it to “introduce a new, limited edition, customized solution” for its growing customer base. the company’s Web site notes that the aW139 is able to carry up to 15 passengers with plenty of luggage at “very high speed.” — MILes socHa

JoINING RYKIeL: eric Langon is leaving Lancel to join Sonia rykiel, where he will start work as managing director on april 16. Langon is currently chief operating officer of Lancel, owned by Compagnie Financière richemont. He has been heading the leather goods firm’s operations since chief executive officer Marc Lelandais left the company in January, as reported, and was believed by some to be tipped for the maison’s top post. at Sonia rykiel, he will work under ceo Jean-Marc Loubier, also ceo of Fung Brands, which acquired an 80 percent stake in the French fashion house in February. — aLeX WYNNe

aNDY’s RoaD TRIP: andy Hilfiger is taking his andrew Charles line on a West Coast road trip. the brand has already staged fashion shows and concerts featuring new York-based band the Click Clack Boom at Macy’s San diego and temecula, Calif., stores, and this weekend it will host an event at the Sherman oaks, Calif. store with steven Tyler, the face of its men’s collection, and his daughter chelsea, an aspiring model who is the face for the women’s campaign. the Saturday runway show will feature spring looks styled with Steven tyler’s own onstage costumes and music by Hilfiger’s own band. that evening, an invite-only crowd will take in the Click Clack Boom’s West Coast debut at the Viper room, where Mia Tyler’s photographs of the band will also be on display. the next stop will be a show at Macy’s Fashion Show Mall store in Las Vegas.

Hilfiger said he’s not sure who the brand will link with for its fall campaign (tyler’s contract expires this year), but he’s considering some “out-of-the-box” options. Up next for andrew Charles is a line of guitars, while extensions like tailored clothing and accessories are slated for future seasons. — MaRcY MeDINa

cHaNNeL sURFING: “Welcome to the country of the 35-hour work week,” Chloé chief executive officer Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye, a Frenchman, declared Wednesday night in paris as he hosted a dinner for the brand’s designer, clare Waight Keller, the fourth young englishwoman to helm the brand in recent years.

Speaking to about 30 journalists gathered at the 1728 restaurant, de la Bourdonnaye explained how Waight Keller, previously at pringle of Scotland, arrived in the job last august, when most employees were on vacation, maternity leave or using up rtts, the term for additional days employees can recoup for working extra hours.

Waight Keller proved she’s adapted to her new milieu, arriving at the dinner “fashionably late,” de la Bourdonnaye related approvingly. Waight Keller said she would soon take a two-week break and head back to the British Midlands, eager to reconnect with its green and pleasant land after working flat out in paris for months.

de la Bourdonnaye highlighted a coincidence: that Chloé’s 60th anniversary this year coincides with the Queen’s diamond Jubilee and the olympic Games in London. “May France win more gold medals than the english,” he teased.

French model and actress Marina Vacth said she just wrapped up a short film whose title translates to “the Man with the Golden Brain,” which is headed for the Cannes Film Festival. next up is a feature length film by director Philip Gröning. — M.s.

PURIsT DeLIGHT: John Pawson, the architect behind the Calvin Klein Collection Madison avenue flagship, returned to one of his most famous fashion spaces on Wednesday when the brand’s creative directors, Francisco costa and Italo Zucchelli, celebrated his new tome, “a Visual Inventory,” there. “amazing,” Costa said of the book. “In a way, it’s very John: very pure, but also very romantic.”

Zucchelli was equally full of praise for pawson’s collection of snapshots. “they are very evocative and very beautiful,” he said.

Nora Zehetner, amanda Brooks, Harold Koda and Ian schrager, as well as Calvin Klein Inc.’s Tom Murry and Kevin carrigan, came to tip their hat to the Brit, who was in his element in a gray Calvin Klein Collection suit and matching tie. “When my son got married, and he’s 26, the only people not wearing ties were the old guys,” pawson recalled. “now wearing a tie and a suit, I feel young and it’s rather nice.”

asked if there is room to update the 17-year-old flagship, pawson didn’t hesitate. “I don’t want to sound too confident,” he said with a smile, “but what’s really reassuring is that I wouldn’t.” — MaRc KaRIMZaDeH

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WWD.COM12

By Sharon EdElSon

nEW YorK — Ferragamo today unveils its newly reno-vated Fifth avenue flagship which, at 20,000 square feet, is its largest store in the world.

The store at 663 Fifth avenue and 53rd Street, is brighter and more open, with 22-foot ceilings on the ground floor and a walnut, steel and glass staircase that connects the first and second floors. Italian stone floors, Venetian plaster walls, wood veneers and glass etched with the house’s gros-grain pattern give the store a rich feel. Walls covered in walnut and divided into grid patterns by strips of stainless steel — the company calls them Mondrian walls — showcase products on recessed shelves. a new area was carved out for fine jewelry, which launched in the fall and features silver and gold designs with diamonds, in-cluding silk cord bracelets with silver charms and gold pen-dants encrusted with diamonds, priced from $250 to $15,000.

ready-to-wear, including runway designs, are show-cased on the left side of the store. In the flagship, rtw rep-resents 15 percent of total sales, Ferragamo president Vincent ottomanelli said. “rtw drives all of our categories,” he

added. “new York is a signifi-cant driver of our rtw.”

a red and black pinstripe suit is $2,140 for the jacket and $980 for the pants, a long halter dress with an enamel chain at the neck, $4,650, and a navy gown with diamondlike clasp, $5,900.

a Salvatore Ferragamo Creations room has antique mirror-covered walls and is filled with photos of the found-er and designer with celebrity clients such as Marilyn Monroe and rudolph Valentino. The room will showcase the 10 to 15 limited edition collections that are produced from Ferragamo’s archives each year.

a large shoe salon replete with leather couches and chairs features everything from suede wedge espadrilles for $395 to T-strap sandals with embroidered silver chains, $795. handbags include a red suede drawstring duffle with lizard trim, $2,200. The soft W handbag is $1,850, a pebbled leather tote, $1,800 and a chain-covered evening clutch, $2,250.

The second floor is devoted to men’s wear. It’s a darker variation on the first level, with dark stained oak floors and brown corduroy seating. Men’s shoes are displayed in fixtures along windows facing onto Fifth avenue. ottomanelli said men’s and women’s shoes and hand-bags are the company’s biggest

categories. The company’s busi-ness breaks down to 55 percent women’s and 45 percent men’s.

ottomanelli said the flag-ship’s store design will be used for future renovations and new openings. “We want to repli-cate this look in our stores,” he said. “after we renovate a store we’ve been seeing nice double-digit increases.”

ottomanelli said renovation work will begin next week at the Vancouver store. Ferragamo is unveiling a new store at the Fashion Valley Mall in San diego and there are plans to renovate the San Francisco unit. last year, stores in las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace and atlanta at the lenox Square Mall were renovated. Ferragamo plans to double the size of its existing Chicago flagship.

With 37 units in the U.S., ottomanelli said the compa-ny’s strategy is to renovate and expand existing stores while selectively adding new ones. In Florida, where Ferragamo operates three stores, the com-pany is eyeing Miami’s design district and is considering an additional store in houston. It also is eyeing Toronto and is looking at several locations on Madison avenue in Manhattan. “We believe it would have to be very special and different,” ottomanelli said. “We would like to create a little jewel box.”

WWD friday, april 6, 2012

By alEXandra STEIGrad

MaTT BErnSon keeps grow-ing his footprint.

The accessories designer, best known for handmade women’s gladiator sandals, is opening his first store in new York’s TriBeCa neighborhood on Monday. The news follows a flurry of expansion efforts, in-cluding a larger fall handbag of-fering, a new leather-based jew-elry collection and a men’s line of smoking-style shoes for fall.

Founded in 2005, Bernson’s label is also rolling out a five-piece collection of caged boots, mary janes and suede fringe boo-ties that it created with dannijo for fall. While the collaboration will retail for between $238 and $370, Bernson’s core offering of sandals, boots and flats ranges from $125 to $325.

“The idea was to make the highest-quality product possi-

ble but to keep the prices acces-sible,” Bernson told WWd from his new store on 20 harrison St. “The focus is on doing things well. It’s never to do things big-ger, bigger, bigger. It’s a focus on how well we can do it.”

That approach has paid dividends, according to the de-signer, who said that revenues

were up more than 90 percent in 2010, and in 2011, they grew 110 percent year over year. Since the recession, the brand has only grown, and has been profitable for the past three-and-a-half years. he declined to reveal total revenues.

With the bulk of his busi-ness coming from online, spe-cialty stores and select de-partment stores like Bergdorf Goodman, Bernson is now embarking on a new frontier with his 2,200-square-foot bou-tique. From the light fixtures to the furniture, all elements of the store, which overlooks the brand’s showroom, were select-ed or designed by Bernson to reflect the brand’s aesthetic of urban elegance and rustic ease.

“The goal is to open mul-tiple stores in the next three to five years,” he said, pinpoint-ing markets in los angeles, Chicago, Florida and Texas. “But first we want to test this store and see what works.”

12

WaShInGTon — The aFl-CIo and 12 honduran labor orga-nizations have filed a petition with the U.S. department of labor alleging labor violations by companies in apparel, tex-tiles and other industries.

The document accuses the government of honduras of fail-ing to enforce its labor laws under the Central american Free Trade agreement by not up-holding laws that enable workers to unionize, organize and bar-gain collectively or promoting acceptable working conditions.

Celeste drake, trade and glo-balization policy specialist at the aFl-CIo, who declined to release the petition because it is confidential, said it contains allegations of labor violations at apparel and textile factories in the maquila sector, which imports fabric from the U.S. and then exports finished ap-parel, in honduras. She said the charges primarily center around employers illegally firing the founding members of unioniza-tion drives and the honduran government’s failure to force the companies to reinstate the “illegally fired workers.”

“a big portion of it [the com-plaint] is in the maquila sector,” drake said. “of all of the cases

in the maquila sector, the vast majority are in the textile and garment industry.”

She stressed that the peti-tion is against the honduran government, “not the bad actor employers.

“What is happening is that when the government sees a pat-tern of this happening, they do not go to the employer and [en-force the law.],” she said.

The petition also cites alleged labor violations in the agricul-ture and port operations sector.

The labor department will investigate and issue a pub-lic report with its findings. If the agency finds sufficient evidence of violations and in-vestigations by the U.S. Trade representative’s office and State department find that honduras has failed to meet its labor obligations under CaFTa, the U.S. government can re-quest consultations with the honduran government. If those consultations fail to resolve the problem, the U.S. can request an arbitration panel.

Ultimately, if honduras fails to address the problem, its gov-ernment could be forced to pay $15 million into an annual fund to improve labor standards.

� —�KRISTI�ELLIS

Honduras Draws Union Ire

Wal-Mart’s Women Initiative

Lendrum Exits Gucci America

Matt Bernson Opens First Outpost

Wal-MarT STorES InC. on Thursday revealed the launch of a five-year program to empower 60,000 women who work in the fac-tories it uses, teaching them criti-cal life skills such as communica-tion, hygiene, reproductive health, occupational health and safety.

“Through this program, women in the supply chain will receive the education and training they need to achieve greater success in their jobs and live a better life,” said rajan Kamalanathan, vice president of Wal-Mart Ethical Sourcing.

Up to 8,000 women will also get leadership training. The pro-gram will help women identify personal strengths and under-stand gender sensitivity.

Wal-Mart said the initiative was innovative in the retail and apparel industry since it was designed to help women at home as well as work, teaches suppliers how to sustain the program permanently and will be shared with other retailers.

The program, which was put together with the help of aid groups, will be rolled out to Bangladesh and India this year, with China and Central america coming later.

The Women in Factories program is part of the Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative that Wal-Mart’s president

and chief executive officer Mike duke laid out in September. The retailer has been criticized in the past for its treatment of its female workforce, which has sparked a number of lawsuits alleging gender discrimination. The most famous is the Betty dukes v. Wal-Mart case, which went to the Supreme Court seeking class action but was de-nied and now has reverted back to cases at the local court level.

Wal-Mart, which chalked up $444 billion in sales last year, be-came the world’s largest retailer by squeezing cost out of the sup-ply chain and passing on much of the savings to shoppers in the form of low prices. Ultimately, Wal-Mart sees women’s issues as a bottom-line issue.

“By educating and empow-ering women in factories and creating a stronger supply chain, suppliers realize greater efficiencies in their factories, which should result in higher quality products, lower pric-es and more reliable product availability for customers,” said Michelle Gloeckler, senior vice president of home for Wal-Mart.

Through its women’s econom-ic empowerment program, Wal-Mart aims to source more from women-owned businesses, help women on farms and in facto-ries and supply job training and education. —�EVAN�CLARK

nEW YorK — laura lendrum, who served as president of Gucci america for nearly two years, has left the firm. lendrum resigned to pursue other opportunities.

The executive joined Gucci in 1997, and moved to Yves Saint laurent america as president in 2001. She was named Gucci america president in 2010, sup-porting the development of the business here. during that time, Gucci opened a number of stores,

including an 11,000-square-foot unit in Crystals at CityCenter in las Vegas and a 6,445-square-foot boutique at northPark Center in dallas.

at the end of 2011, north america accounted for 18 per-cent of total Gucci revenues.

Gucci president and chief ex-ecutive officer Patrizio di Marco will oversee the americas re-gion in the interim until the company names a successor.

� —�MARC�KARIMzAdEh

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Inside the revamped flagship.

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