By MELISSA DRIER

BERLIN — It’s action time at Karstadt.A triple-header of major store events has seen

the German department store chain taking rapid strides towards modernizing and differentiating its business as outlined in the “Karstadt 2015” strategic plan. Reflecting the group’s multitiered structure, the moves have been made on both upper and midmarket levels. The consistent mes-sage, however, has been one of trading up and, to some extent, cleaning out.

Prior to the grand opening of KaDeWe’s new Luxury Boulevard, the store’s revamped beauty department and the third-floor The Loft with a 21,500-square-foot shoe salon, Karstadt chief ex-ecutive officer Andrew Jennings met with WWD in Berlin to outline where the group is — and where it’s going.

Jennings has been at the Karstadt helm for 20 months, brought in by investor Nicolas Berggruen, who rescued the group from Germany’s largest postwar insolvency in 2010. “He hired me to repo-sition three businesses: the premium group [three doors], the department store group [86 doors] and the sports division,” Jennings said.

Siren SongThink Greta Garbo. Not the reclusive one but the vamp

version, camera-ready in spring’s high-glam lingerie looks. Here, Josie Natori’s embroidered silk satin slipgown under Dennis Basso’s nylon organza and chinchilla bed jacket. Badgley Mischka earrings; Barbara Flood’s Closet belt.

For more, see pages 6 and 7.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00

WWD

LIQUIDITY ISSUES

HMX Under Pressure, Decision Expected Soon

By JEAN E. PALMIERI and VICKI M. YOUNG

THE OTHER SHOE is about to drop for HMX Group.

The company is running out of time as liquidity constraints are forcing it to decide as soon as this week whether to sell the firm or file for bankruptcy court protection.

The liquidity constraints are due to a lack of funding from its corpo-rate parent, Mumbai-based S. Kumars Nationwide Ltd.

Doug Williams, chief executive of-ficer, was traveling the past three days and could not be reached for comment.

While not a done deal, financial and market sources said the likely scenar-io is that HMX will voluntarily file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection for the second time in four years.

Since midsummer, HMX has been

fielding unsolicited offers from po-tential bidders. Interested buyers in-clude two brand management firms, Authentic Brands Group and Iconix Brand Group, and private equity firm Bluestar Alliance.

In a bankruptcy scenario, sources said one of those bidders would be chosen as the “stalking horse” for the firm’s intellectual property as-sets. Sources expect that, regardless of whom becomes the final owner of HMX, Williams and Joseph Abboud, president and chief creative officer, would continue with the firm. Both are considered the driving force behind the turnaround efforts at HMX and are re-spected for the operational and design changes they’ve made at the company.

Sources said the stalking horse was likely to be Authentic Brands. The so-called stalking horse agreement in a bankruptcy proceeding typically sets

PHOTO BY KYLE ERICKSEN; STYLED BY BOBBI QUEEN

Karstadt Keeps Pushing Ahead

SEE PAGE 8 SEE PAGE 12

WWDMILESTONESValentino at 50

SECTION II

WWD.COMWWD MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 20122

By JOELLE DIDERICH

PARIS — The Paris prosecu-tor’s office has opened a prelimi-nary inquiry into a complaint by Hermès International concern-ing LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s acquisition of a portion of its capital, French media re-ported on Friday.

The probe will determine whether the prosecutor drops the case or hands it over to an investi-gating judge.

In its complaint, Hermès ac-cused the world’s largest luxury conglomerate of insider trading,

collusion and manipulating stock prices, according to a source famil-iar with the issue.

LVMH in turn has filed a suit against Hermès for “slander, black-mail and unfair competition.”

Spokespeople for LVMH and Hermès said they had no com-ment on the report, which ap-peared on the Web site of French business magazine Challenges. Officials at the Paris prosecutor’s office were not immediately avail-able to comment.

LVMH surprised markets by revealing in October 2010 that it had amassed a 17.1 percent stake in Hermès via cash-settled eq-

uity swaps that allowed it to cir-cumvent the usual market rules requiring firms to declare share purchases. It has since raised its stake to 22.3 percent.

French stock-market regulator AMF in November 2010 launched an investigation to determine if LVMH respected market rules, which it plans to refer to its sanc-tions commission early next year.

The Paris prosecutor’s office has also asked the AMF to weigh in separately on Hermès’ complaint. AMF president Gérard Rameix indicated in a recent TV interview that he did not think the company’s allegations were substantiated.

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. 79. MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 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

Liquidity constraints are forcing HMX Group to decide as soon as this week whether to sell the firm or file for bankruptcy court protection. PAGE 1 Three major store events have seen Karstadt taking rapid strides toward modernizing and differentiating its business as outlined in its strategic plan. PAGE 1 Monique Lhuillier has opened a New York flagship 12 years after she opened her first store in Los Angeles, and a second one four years after the one in Edina, Minn. PAGE 3 Advanstar Fashion Group has tapped Tommy Fazio president of its Project and Menswear shows, which encompasses S.L.A.T.E., Street and Mens/Wear. PAGE 3 Movado Group Inc. is relaunching the upscale women’s watch brand Ebel and adding a robust advertising campaign and e-commerce platform to its arsenal. PAGE 4 Mawi, hot off a 10-year anniversary celebration this summer, has introduced two new categories in the past month: handbags and men’s accessories. PAGE 4 A coterie of Hollywood A-listers came out to amfAR’s annual Inspiration Gala to honor Creative Artists Agency managing partner Kevin Huvane. PAGE 9 American Express Publishing chief executive officer Ed Kelly announced Friday that Departures publisher Steven DeLuca, will add Travel + Leisure to his portfolio. PAGE 9 An adorable crew of basketball and baseball offspring walked the runway in front of their parents at a grand opening celebration on Friday for Rookie USA. PAGE 11 Elin Kling talks about her five-year-old blog, Style by Kling, fashion week and the print magazine, that she launched last year, Style By. PAGE 11 Cotton Inc. has launched a new tool for the textile industry called Cotton University, a free, online resource positioned as part digital campus, part professional network. PAGE 12

A still from Maje’s campaign video for fall.

EYE: Maje feted its new advertising campaign starring Alexa Chung at the Hotel Americano in Chelsea. For more photos, see WWD.com/eye.

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Paris Prosecutor Examines Hermès Complaint

LONDON — Creative figures from the hairdressing, fashion, art, ar-chitecture, film and design worlds turned out in force on Friday for a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral here to celebrate the life of the late Vidal Sassoon, the go-getting and gracious hairdresser whose life was marked by family, soccer and his pioneering five-point cut.

“His two favorite topics were Chelsea soccer and beautiful women,” said his eldest son, Elan Sassoon, in a tribute that had the crowd of 1,500 laughing and, later, blinking away tears. “He was a great businessman, an honorable husband, and always faced up to his fears.”

Other speakers and partici-pants at the hour-long service, which wove together elements of the Jewish and Christian faiths, in-cluded Jeremy Irons, Zaha Hadid, John Frieda and David Puttnam, Sassoon’s childhood friend and the producer of films, including “Chariots of Fire.”

Among the guests were Michael Caine, who was inun-dated with autograph seekers on his way up the steps of St. Paul’s, Peter Blake, Anish Kapoor, John Pawson, Zandra Rhodes, Charles Worthington, David Sassoon, Louise Wilson, Sue Webster, Ashley and Allegra Hicks and Sassoon’s widow, Ronnie Sassoon.

The London-born Sassoon, who lived in Los Angeles, died in May, of leukemia, at 84.

Puttnam remembered Sassoon as “uniquely comfortable in his own skin” — despite the fact that his family was poor and he had been placed in an orphanage as a child after his father deserted his mother. He also talked about Sassoon’s first job as a shampoo boy working at Cohen’s Beauty &

Barber Shop — one that his mother helped him to secure.

“He was a lifetime ambassador for his craft, and wore his celebrity lightly and with enormous grace,” said Puttnam. He added that de-spite Sassoon’s talents and com-mercial success — including salons worldwide and branded hair-treat-ment products — “He retained that very Sixties quality of not going into denial about his background.”

Irons said he met Sassoon “late in life, sadly” but remembered “white hair and a pair of spectacles concealing a boyish face. He was a man who needed to win and who never grew old,” said Irons, before reading aloud the A.E. Housman poem “To an Athlete Dying Young.”

Hadid admitted that Sassoon’s influence stretched as far as Baghdad, Iraq, where, as a teen-ager, she became inspired to cut her friends’ hair in the spirit of Sassoon. The experiment was not a success, the architect admitted, but her admiration for Sassoon has never died.

“I loved him for his modesty. He was a combination of pure genius and modesty, and that’s what made him special,” she said.

And while the service took place in a Church of England land-mark — Sir Christopher Wren’s domed cathedral — there was a powerful sense of Sassoon’s roots and faith. “He was a proud Jew,” said Rabbi Julia Neuberger, who admitted to being a regular at one of Sassoon’s London salons. “He wanted to make the world a better place. He had a tough start, and his strong sense of Jewishness never left him.”

In his youth, Sassoon was fa-mously a member of an under-ground Jewish antifascist organi-zation, and he fought in the 1948

Arab-Israeli war as part of what was to become the Israeli Defense Forces. He would later return to hairdressing in London, developing geometric, wash-and-wear styles — radical for their time — including the five-point bob famously worn by Mary Quant.

Elan Sassoon said his father’s mantra was “Get on with it!” and that he was a health freak, break-fasting daily on carrots, celery and apple juice; swimming a mile a day, and practicing Pilates. His love of English football knew no bounds, and the younger Sassoon recalled his father waking him up at 5:00 a.m. Los Angeles time on Saturdays to watch the Chelsea games.

The British hairdresser Charles Worthington, a guest at the service, said afterward that Sassoon inspired him — and countless others. “He was a bea-con for the industry — radical, brave, exciting and creative. And he was interested in everything and everybody around him.”

— SAMANTHA CONTI

A Tribute to Sassoon

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Allegra Hicks

WWD.COMWWD monday, october 15, 2012 3

By Jessica iredale

Within five minutes of opening her first new York store — a two-story brownstone on east 71st street — on Oct. 5, monique lhuillier made her first sale: a fur and lace jacket from her fall ready-to-wear collection. “hopefully it’s a sign of wonderful things to come,” said lhuillier on Wednesday, while prepping for her fall 2013 bridal show in her new York showroom. “the next day we were completely booked. We had 43 brides that had appointments for the second floor. so we feel like this is a good time for us to be here.”

lhuillier has waited patiently for a boutique in new York, where her flag-ship comes 12 years after she opened her first store in los angeles, and a sec-ond one four years after the one in edina, minn. “We are very strategic in how we grow, and we grow within our means,” said lhuillier, who owns the business with her husband tom Bugbee, the company’s chief executive officer. “there was never really a rush to [open the new York store]. it’s just when it feels right.”

lhuillier and Bugbee knew they wanted a space on the upper east side — “that’s where are our customer base is,” she said — and were close to signing a lease on a different spot in new York in 2008, but issues arose with the landlord and they walked away. “tom said, ‘this doesn’t feel right,’” said lhuillier. a few days later, Bear stearns went under.

they started scouting again in 2010 and found the current location, which initially was lim-ited to the ground floor, formerly occupied by sigerson morrison. the second-floor gallery be-came available soon after, followed by a one-bed-room apartment also on the second floor, which is how lhuillier ended up with the 3,000-square-foot townhouse in which all of the label’s collec-tions — rtw, bridal, tabletop, shoes and chande-liers done with Waterford — are housed.

designed with a+i architecture, the space has been restored to its original high ceilings and outfitted with an open staircase framed by 22-foot-high glass walls. lhuillier worked with interior designer Jennie abbott, who also de-signed lhuillier’s los angeles home and store. her signature gray color scheme is consistent across all stores.

in new York there are gray suede walls, chairs from the sixties and seventies cov-ered in gray velvet and banquettes. artwork includes pieces by hervé van der straeten, daniel Gluck, neal small, nancy lorenz and two commissioned pieces by new York sculptor silas seandel. from the ceilings hang monique lhuillier Waterford chandeliers designed with tiers of multifaceted crystal baguettes to imitate the layers of fabric and beadwork of her gowns.

the first floor houses rtw, with the bridal salon upstairs. lhuillier said having everything under one roof was the idea from the beginning, although if they couldn’t find a space to accom-modate both collections, they were open to sep-arating them, as other designers with big bridal businesses such as vera Wang have done. rtw

is on the ground level because lhuillier wants it to be more accessible to the customer. it’s also a category she and Bugbee see as prime for the most growth.

When lhuillier launched in 1996, the busi-ness was strictly bridal. she became one of the top designers in the category thanks to her celeb-rity bridal clientele, including Britney spears,

who wore lhuillier to her 2004 wedding to Kevin federline. “i was doing a lot of red carpet at the time and people started coming to trunk shows and saying my name right,” she said. “i think that was the turning point.”

Bridal has been a solid foundation for a flurry of recent licenses, including a capsule collection of eve-ning shoes, which launched for spring with a broader offer of boots and daytime styles for fall. lhuillier also recently announced her first jewelry license (bridal and fashion pieces) with Bluenile.com, which launches this month. “if we have the right partner, we li-cense,” said lhuillier of the past year’s brokering. in ad-dition, she also has licenses on tabletop, bridesmaids’ dresses, stationery, home fragrance and ml monique

lhuillier, a diffusion eveningwear collection.Yet rtw is a primary focus. “i feel like in

bridal we’re at the top of our game right now,” she said. “With that market, there is room for growth but i feel like we’ve kind of capped that. i always want to be known for bridal — the core of the company that started in there. But there’s just so much more. the customer gets married once in her life. i want her to think of monique lhuillier multiple times a year, to come in if she just wants something special.”

now that the doors to the new York store are open, lhuillier and Bugbee are looking for more real estate in the Philippines, where the designer is from, and hong Kong. leases have not yet been signed but they’re in the works. establishing her own store network is key to the company’s expansion. “a lot of department stores or specialty boutiques that carry me buy me for wedding gowns or just solely evening gowns,” said lhuillier. “We really feel like the future for us is the ready-to-wear collection and housing the entire thing in our stores. now the customer has access to all of it.”

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People started coming to trunk shows and

saying my name right. I think that was the

turning point.— Monique LhuiLLier

neW YOrK — aron Goldfarb, a holocaust survivor and founder of G-iii apparel Group, died on Oct. 8 following a long illness. he was 88.

Born feb. 10, 1924, in Bialobrzegi, Poland, Goldfarb’s family got caught up in the hor-rors of the holocaust, and he later wrote a book about his struggle and time spent in the treblinka concentration camp.

Goldfarb escaped the camp and survived the war, living in a bunker not far from a German gunnery position near his home-town. While in a displaced-per-sons camp in Germany following the end of the war, Goldfarb saw esther disman and immediately asked her to a movie. they were soon married and moved to israel, where Goldfarb was a farmer and

served in the israeli army.Goldfarb came to the u.s.

in 1956 and founded G&n sportswear. his son morris joined the company, now called G-iii apparel Group, in 1972 and serves as its chief executive officer.

G-iii is a leading designer and manufacturer of outerwear, dresses, women’s suits and sportswear, as well as handbags and luggage for brands such as calvin Klein, tommy hilfiger, Jessica simpson, vince camuto, andrew marc and Guess, with sales of $1.2 billion in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31.

Goldfarb is survived by his wife, esther; sons morris and ira; grandchildren laura, Jeffrey, scott, samantha and Brett, and six great-grandchildren.

— ARTHUR FRIEDMAN

Obituary

Aron Goldfarb, G-III Founder

Lhuillier Opens First New York Store

Monique Lhuillier inside her Manhattan flagship.

The store is housed in a two-story brownstone.

Monique Lhuillier Opens First New York Store

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lOndOn — alfred dunhill, the compagnie financière richemont-owned luxury men’s wear and leather-goods label, has named eraldo Poletto as chief executive officer, the firm announced today.

Poletto’s appointment is effec-tive as of nov. 5, and he replaces christopher colfer in the role. as reported earlier this month, colfer stepped down as ceo of alfred dunhill after seven years to take up a group position at compagnie financière richemont.

Poletto, who will re-port to marty Wikstrom, ceo

of richemont fashion and accessories, joins dunhill from furla, where he has served as ceo. Prior to that appointment, Poletto also held a number of roles at retail Brand alliance, including president of strategic development and international business and global chief mer-chandising officer at Brooks Brothers international inc.

Wikstrom said of Poletto’s ap-pointment: “eraldo brings with him a distinguished career in men’s wear and leather goods, with expertise in merchandising and retail.” — NINA JoNEs

By david liPKe

advanstar fashiOn GrOuP has tapped tommy fazio presi-dent of its Project and menswear shows, which encompasses s.l.a.t.e., street and mens/Wear. fazio, who is exiting his role as men’s trend director at nordstrom inc. to take the new position, will re-port to tom florio, chief executive of-ficer of advanstar fashion Group, a di-vision of advanstar communications inc.

fazio will depart nordstrom on Oct. 25 and his first day at Project and the menswear shows will be Oct. 29. he will relocate from seattle to be based out of advanstar’s new York office.

“it’s such an exciting time in men’s wear right now,” said fazio. “american designers need the support of an orga-nization like ours to unify the market and outreach on their behalf. the opportunity to do so with tom florio is an extraordi-nary one.”

fazio replaces andrew Pollard, who exited as presi-dent of Project in may. Pollard in June was named president of POP-market, an online business-to-business fashion marketplace.

“there has never been a better time for men’s fash-ion in america,” said florio. “however, america does not have a place on the world’s stage, as milan, Paris and london do, to showcase our men’s designers. With tommy on board, we hope to create

par tnerships that reestablish men’s fashion week in new York and con-tinue to create new business opportunities for our commu-nity of retailers and brands at Project.”

fazio joined nordstrom last s e p t e m b e r , prior to which he was presi-dent of simon spurr and men’s fashion director

at Bergdorf Goodman and later neiman marcus Group. earlier in his career, he held sales po-sitions at hickey freeman and calvin Klein.

nordstrom plans to name a new men’s trend director. “We’re grateful for tommy’s many contributions to our men’s wear business. he did a great job and we wish him much success in his new role,” said david Witman, general merchandise manager for men’s wear at nordstrom.

Tommy Fazio Named As Project Show Pres.

Alfred Dunhill Taps Poletto

Tommy Fazio

w15a003a.indd 3 10/14/12 2:28 PM10142012143011

WWD.COMWWD monday, october 15, 20124

By ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

EIGhT yEARS AfTER it bought Ebel, Movado Group Inc. is re-launching the upscale women’s watch brand and adding a robust advertising campaign and e-com-merce platform to its arsenal.

Two new collections, as well as the new Web site and ad push, will hit the market on Oct. 15.

While plans to revamp the women’s watch line have been in the pipeline for some time, Movado has been waiting for the right time to introduce the collec-tions, according to Movado Group chairman and chief executive offi-cer Efraim Grinberg.

“These watches are geared to-wards a younger, more fashion-conscious consumer,” Grinberg said from the company’s bright and tidy offices in New york.

“Ebel is one of the only brands founded by women,” he noted, motioning to the back of the room where the shiny, new collections were on display. “We’ve involved a lot of women in the design process.”

founded in 1911 by Eugene Blum and Alice Levy, Ebel was ac-quired by LVMh Moët hennessy Louis Vuitton in 1999 and then sold to Movado in 2004 for $47.3 million in cash. Since that acquisition, how-ever, Ebel’s design has remained traditional and somewhat staid.

“We got a little complacent and a little boring,” Grinberg admit-ted. “We wanted to freshen-up the brand. The recession has been an opportunity to inno-vate and evolve.”

Part of that evolution has been modernizing the brand to include different materials such as ceramic and rose gold, while also riffing on Ebel’s “wave” de-sign, which refers to the shape of the metal bands in the watches’ bracelets.

With the introduction of the X1, a sporty flagship model, and the luxe collection called the Onde (which means “wave” in french), Ebel expects the second-half of 2012 to experience 20 percent growth over last year.

founded in La Chaux-de-fonds, Switzerland, the Paramus, N.J.-based Movado, has a robust licensing busi-ness, making watches for the likes of Coach, Tommy hilfiger, Lacoste and hugo Boss. Although the firm doesn’t break down financials by brand, it posted $32 million in net income on sales of $468.1 million in 2011. A year earlier, Movado had registered a net loss of $44.9 million on sales of $382.2 million. That reversal of fortune was due in part to the introduction of the Movado Bold collection last year.

Now the company is setting its sights on making over Ebel.

According to Movado, Ebel’s X1 line is a “dressier” women’s sports watch, which includes a chrono-graph with diamond bezels, mother-of-pearl dials and white ceramic and rose gold bracelets. Onde is a more classic collection that is an updated version of Ebel’s signature look. While the dials tend to be larger and include different designs on the watch face, Onde incorporates a tra-ditional aesthetic using diamonds, gold and steel. Both collections have six models, respectively.

Targeting women ages 25 years and up, Ebel is gunning to scoop up market share from competitors such as Cartier and Chanel, accord-ing to Grinberg, who said the collec-

tions start at $2,500 and can reach up to $28,500. Typically, Ebel’s price range spans from $1,800 to $60,000, while Movado watches hover in the $500 to $2,000 range. The sweet spot for Ebel’s new collections will reside around $4,000 to $5,000, which the ceo calls “accessible luxury.”

Grinberg, along with Movado chief marketing officer Mary Leach and president of Ebel Americas and world-

wide merchandising director Karen Bradbury, said Ebel is going full-force to attract women as primary shoppers of the brand. While targeting women for a women’s brand may seem like a no brainer, some watch brands tend to ap-proach the consumer by also appealing to their significant other, usually her husband, who will buy a watch as a gift for his wife. Watch brands also tend to use famous athletes or brand ambassadors to appeal to the consumer. Ebel is using an unknown model and focusing instead on messaging.

“We didn’t want to use a spokesperson,” said Leach, who underscored that the hope is that Ebel will be viewed as a self-purchase for female consumers. “The muse is a modern, chic woman from a psychographic standpoint.”

According to Bradbury, the campaign, whose tag line is “for Me,” concentrates on the individual, not a personality.

“It’s really a 360-degree approach,” she said, point-ing to the brand’s e-commerce rollout in the fall, as well as October’s print and digital campaigns.

With the addition of X1 and Onde, Ebel will have five collections in total. It will develop its men’s timepieces down the line. Currently, women’s watches make up 80 percent of Ebel’s offering, with the other 20 percent de-voted to men’s timepieces. Grinberg said Movado also hopes to introduce more men’s product that, like the women’s watches, will focus more on fashion than on technical capabilities such as souped up movements.

“We’re very focused on design and the feel of the product, not complications,” Grinberg said of Ebel’s up-dated look. “Postrecession, we’re looking to innovate by amplifying its design quotient.”

Ebel’s updated homepage.

accessories

By RAChEL STRuGATz

Mawi — hot off a 10-year anniversary cel-ebration this summer — has introduced two new categories in the past month: handbags and men’s accessories.

The line, known for richly colored crystals paired with spikes or panthers, has seen healthy organic growth the past decade, founder and designer Mawi Keivom said, but the year ahead will be an important one for the brand.

Distribution has seen a 25 percent increase, according to cofounder and Keivom’s husband, Tim Awan, who noted that the line will go from 120 doors in 70 countries this season to about 150 doors for spring deliveries. The brand is al-ready carried at harrods, harvey Nichols and Selfridges. Awan also projects 40 to 50 percent growth on overall volume for 2013 due to the addition of the new categories.

Mawi’s first flagship opened in Shoreditch in East London last year, and the brand has plans to pen-etrate emerging markets in the spring.

“We are currently talking to franchise partners in Russia, the Middle East and

Brazil, and anticipate opening the first franchise in the next six months. This is

in addition to our existing joint ven-ture in Porto Montenegro,” Awan

said of the global strategy, adding that although Europe and the Middle East are the largest markets for the line, Korea, Eastern Europe, South

America and Australia are the fastest growing.

A fully realized men’s accesso-ries collection, Sir by Mawi, re-launched exclusively with Lane Crawford last week, and Keivom calls the 15-piece collection

“very clean” and based on traditional men’s jewelry. The brand tried its hand at men’s several years ago but didn’t feel

the market was right at the time. “What we were doing was too fashion.

Although we got tons of press, it was dif-ficult to introduce into the market. In the last five to six years, the men’s market has really changed and men are much more open to accessorizing. We were very early, and we took a step back to relaunch when it was right,” Keivom said. “There’s a huge demand for it — and by waiting and look-ing at what men’s needs are and doing a lot of research, the product has changed.”

A very “punky” rock ’n’ roll approach gave way to a more streamlined selection of signet rings, cuff links, bracelets and necklaces fashioned from gunmetal with dark crystal detailing that retail from $300 to $800.

Keivom sees an opportunity in men’s “because women’s [jewelry] is so saturat-ed” and intends to concentrate on growing this portion of the business. Within a few years, she anticipates that Sir by Mawi can comprise 30 to 40 percent of the business.

A capsule collection of 12 handbags made its debut during London fashion Week in September for spring. The Perspex silver glitter clutch with pink spikes retails for $778 and more elaborate versions can go for up to $1,200 — but the focus is always on incorporating jewelry elements.

for Indian-born Keivom, working with a lot of vibrant colors and embellish-ments is innate.

“Pink is the navy blue of India. how can I possibly be minimal?” she said. “We’ve never been about minimal — ev-erything but the kitchen sink has been thrown in there. It’s a juxtaposition of so many elements, but the overall look that we do is clean and strong.”

She does, however, want to keep the direction really niche, likening the ap-proach to what Judith Leiber has done for evening bags.

4

Ebel Elevates Collection, Takes to the Web

Men’s Line, Handbags to Propel Mawi

A Sir by Mawi ring.

A necklace from Mawi’s spring

collection.

Mawi’s Perspex clutch.

’’’’

We wanted to freshen-up

the brand. The recession has been an opportunity to

innovate and evolve.— Efraim GrinbErG, mOVaDO GrOup inc.

A gold Ebel Onde watch.

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6 WWD MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Mary Green’s silk and lace nightgown. Barbara Flood’s Closet earrings; Ben-Amun bracelet.

Flora Nikrooz’s polyester and French lace gown. Badgley Mischka earrings.

Christine Vancouver’s silk and lace gown over Fleur of England’s silk gown. Lulu Frost earrings; Manolo Blahnik shoes.

Myla London’s silk polyamide and lace gown. Barbara Flood’s Closet earrings.

The Lady Is aVamp

Old Hollywood films and their femme-fatale stars never dim. And when it comes to lingerie,

what could be more inspiring than Twenties cinema?

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and spandex slip. Barbara Flood’s Closet hair clip, ring and brooch.

pHOtOS By kyLE EriCkSEN; StyLEd By BOBBi quEEN

w15a006(7)a.indd 7 10/12/12 6:23 PM10122012182452

WWD.COMWWD MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 201288

While the core department stores clearly required the most attention, even the group’s jewel — the premium flagship KaDeWe — needed to sharpen its profile.

“If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing,” Jennings declared.

The second-largest department store in Europe, “KaDeWe has an unbelievable loca-tion and great traffic flow with 200,000 peo-ple coming through the doors weekly,” he said. Despite a 2004 upgrade that installed a boulevard of luxury accessories shop, he contended, “It was still a provincial store. Our focus now is to be international.”

Making KaDeWe the shoe destination “not only in Berlin but in Germany,” was a top priority for Jennings, who introduced Saks Fifth Avenue’s eighth-floor shoe de-partment during his tenure there. Points of reference were Barneys New York, Selfridges and Harrods. While the business in Berlin might not be as large as those ex-amples, KaDeWe’s new footwear setup is uncommonly spacious in design, and takes up more than 30 percent of The Loft, as KaDeWe’s entire third floor is now called.

Miu Miu, Prada, Ferragamo, Tory Burch, Mulberry, Dior, Chloé, Jimmy Choo and Yves Saint Laurent are among the brands whose boutiques create an airy network of individu-alized living room environments. Diane von Furstenberg, Kurt Geiger (a German exclu-sive), Repetto, Unützer, and Fendi are among the other new shoe collections introduced at KaDeWe this season, and also in the pipeline are Giuseppe Zanotti, Rachel Zoe, United Nude and Nine West, to name a few. “I think we’ll quadruple our shoe business. We will be a force to be reckoned with,” Jennings said.

Handbags are The Loft’s second main emphasis, with shops from Aigner, Burberry, Chloé, MCM, Michael Kors and Ferragamo, as well as selections from Alexander Wang,

Anya Hindmarch, Loewe, Kate Spade (anoth-er German exclusive) and Victoria Beckham, among many other labels. Also to be found on the floor: a concentrated lingerie as-sortment, including a new shop from Agent Provocateur, and high-end children’s wear.

Long a work in progress, KaDeWe’s main floor has been fully upgraded, the traffic flow streamlined in the process. Joining shops from Bulgari, Chopard, Gucci, Hermès, Montblanc, Omega, Prada, Rolex, Tiffany and Wellendorff on the 43,000-square-foot Luxury Boulevard are refurbished and, in some cases, expanded spaces from Chanel, Dior, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu and Tod’s, plus new entries by Celine, Longchamp, Vertu and Yves Saint Laurent.

The 32,400-square-foot beauty depart-ment was rearranged and slimmed down

by about 1,075 square feet, but gained a host of new luxury and niche brands, many exclusive, and 80 counters got new furnishings. Some notable newcomers: By Kilian, Byredo, Agonist and Blood Concept fragrances; Bare Mineral, Eve Lom and By Terry skin care; Deborah Lippmann and Spa Ritual, and premium hair care brands Philip B. Truffle by Fuente and MiriamQuevedo.

The main focal points, however, are the first (and only) full Tom Ford cos-metics counter in Germany, and Chanel and Dior’s mega-counters, each with a gross floor space of 1,200 square feet. Located adjacent to their brand’s shops in the Luxury Boulevard, they provide a fluid segue between beauty and fashion.

KaDeWe has renovated over 172,000 square feet of floor space in 40 weeks, and there’s more to come. Karstadt hasn’t released sales figures since the insolvency proceedings, but Jennings acknowledged, “We’re absolutely making money there [at KaDeWe]. Premium is a major focus for Nicolas [Berggruen], and the rumors about selling off the [premi-um] business are totally incorrect.”

In the next two years, KaDeWe’s women’s and men’s departments will be revamped. “We’ll be bringing fashion to a new level, looking at brands like Donna Karan, Armani Black Label, Caroline Herrera, and will probably edit out some lower brands,” he said. In men’s, Jennings aims to add Ralph Lauren Purple Label and Ermenegildo Zegna.

New brands already added include The Kooples, Rena Lange, Rag & Bone, Helmut Lang, Theory and Alexander Wang in women’s, and Bruno Cucinelli, Etro, Porsche Design, Ted Baker, Drykorn, Stone Island and Closed for men.

The store’s famous food department will also be upgraded, as well as the rooftop restaurant, and Karstadt’s pre-mium door in Hamburg, Alsterhaus, will be getting a revamp in 2013.

Regarding the 83-door Karstadt divi-sion, 30 stores have been refurbished to date, and this week, the Düsseldorf branch will reopen as the chain’s model store. As reported, Jennings gathered to-gether some 50 new international labels to update and distinguish the chain’s brand portfolio, both in-store and on-line. Selected stores, including Berlin Kurfürstendamm, linked fall’s multiple debuts from brands such as Andrew Marc, Calvin Klein Jeans, Denim & Supply, In Wear, Jessica Howard, Jessica

Simpson, Juicy Couture, Penny Black, Rachel Rachel Roy, Ted Baker and Wallis to a new easy-to-navigate and un-cluttered sales floor setup.

“It’s about clarity, space and ed-iting,” Jennings said. Plus making some “big statements and stories” as provided by concession partners, which include Gerard Darel, French Connection, New Look, Karen Millen, Phase Eight and Reiss. At the same time, Karstadt is further developing and updating its own brands such as Adagio, currently a 60 million euros, or $78 mil-lion at current exchange, business that Jennings said could grow to about 100 million euros, or $129.6 million.

The ceo’s map for the next few years sees 10 national Karstadt stores going more upmarket, the rest residing midmar-ket. “But over time, there could be 30 up-market stores like this [Berlin Ku’damm] appealing to a modern customer.”

The second K Town, Karstadt’s young fashion lifestyle store-in-store for-mat, opened in Cologne in September. The pilot was introduced in Göttingen last year. The new 21,500-square-foot K-Town is housed on the main floor of the Cologne Karstadt, and indicative of the group’s directional changes, re-places the floor’s former bargain cen-ter and stationery departments. “It’s our answer to Barneys Co-Op, but at a different price point,” Jennings said. Featured brands, many of them unique to this store, include Republic, Blue Ink, One Green Elephant, Gestuz, G-Star and Scotch & Soda, plus accessories from Pieces, Liebeskind, George, Gina & Lucy, and Lacoste, Camper and Ugg shoes.

Jennings can envision rolling out an-other three K-Towns next year, and a total of 10 in the next decade. “And if it has legs, we could probably do 30 in our stores across Germany. I intend to own

this segment of the market,” he said. To get the word out, Karstadt is making use of all social media, viral marketing, asso-ciations with universities, in-store DJs, a coffee shop and is establishing a K Town club with a specific app, he said.

Karstadt.de has also gotten a make-over. “Our e-business is small, but we’re working on it,” he said. “We used to focus on washing machines. Now it’s fashion, jewelry and modern living.”

Last in the Karstadt equation: active sportswear at Karstadt Sports, where two new stores in prime locations in Kiel and Cologne are in the works.

“What we do in our [26] freestanding stores is good,” Jennings said, “but we need to get it to great,” adding Karstadt is reviewing a strategy to “literally pole vault the sports business to another level.”

Though he couldn’t reveal details, he said a stepped-up use of technology and more benchmarks would be key, as would raising service levels and exper-tise. “Come learn how to surf or ski, and if you’re a runner, [get] a full assessment through an assessment center we’re look-ing at,” he said. “[Karstadt Sports] needs to become a haven for sports fanatics.”

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONSFROM SUSAN STONE

Jennings Pushing Karstadt to the Next Level{Continued from page one}

Chanel’s counter at KaDeWe.

The boulevard of luxury.

If you don’t stand for something, you stand

for nothing.— ANDREW JENNINGS,

KARSTADT

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HANESBRANDS INC.Jerry Cook

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WWDSTYLEIn Good

CompanyA coterie of Hollywood A-listers, including a Prabal Gurung-clad

Kate Hudson, came out to amfAR’s annual Inspiration Gala to honor

Creative Artists Agency managing partner and AIDS research proponent Kevin Huvane. For more, see page 10.

Face Time: alexa chung talks about her role in the new maje campaign. Page 10

leiSUre Time FOr DelUca: What do you give the publisher on a two-year hot streak? At American Express Publishing, he gets a promotion. Chief executive officer ed Kelly announced Friday he’d created a new position for Departures publisher Steven Deluca, senior vice president, that adds Travel + Leisure to his portfolio.

That brings the number of magazines under DeLuca’s watch to three. He also oversees Black Ink, Amex’s biannual magazine for Centurion cardholders.

T+L, a middle-market sister to the more posh Departures, lost its publisher, J.P. Kyrillos, in August. Jay meyer, Food & Wine’s associate publisher, has been kicked up as Kyrillos’ replacement, reporting to DeLuca.

Departures is a 23-year-old magazine, but has grown as luxury advertisers have doubled down on their spending in recent years.

Since DeLuca got to the magazine in 2010, ad pages have increased 44 percent, according to in-house figures and Media Industry Newsletter. The magazine is up 20 percent in ad revenue in the first half of the year, after reporting a 45 percent increase in 2011, according to Amex.

In September, Departures also announced it increased its rate base to 900,000, up from the 840,000 it guaranteed advertisers in 2010.

DeLuca’s two-year run has coincided with more competition in the luxury market, as new and revived titles like ForbesLife, Bloomberg Pursuits, and DuJour have all tried to muscle in on Departures’ turf.

With Dow Jones’ WSJ. magazine and The New York Times’ T: The New York Times Style Magazine gearing up for major changes, the race for those premium ad dollars will only get more heated. — eriK maza

TraDe TalKS: Joanna coles and anne Fulenwider are spending their first months at their new magazines playing a game of swap-the-editor. Coles is grabbing three staffers from her old team at Marie Claire for Cosmopolitan: site director abby gardner, executive editor Joyce chang and entertainment director Dana Stern-Schwartz. Coles must have taken a quick liking to Chang — the former deputy editor at People StyleWatch had only been at MC for a little more than a year.

Meanwhile, Fulenwider is taking Tracy Shaffer, who booked many of Cosmo’s celebrity covers, to replace Schwartz as entertainment director. And riza cruz, a senior editor at Vogue, is the magazine’s new executive editor. lea goldman, who’d been MC’s features director, will now also oversee the ad-boosting quarterly supplement @Work, which added 20 pages of ads to its September issue. Both EICs will make their debut atop their new mastheads in December. — e.m.

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10 WWD MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Change Agent

Pretty MajeFRONTING AN ad campaign is nothing new for Alexa Chung. The television-host-slash-DJ-slash-model has done turns for a number of brands in recent years (Superga, Pepe Jeans, Vero Moda, among them), but for Chung, it’s still a bit odd seeing herself in the role. “I’m such a poser,” Chung said between drags of her cigarette on the back patio of Chelsea’s Hotel Americano on Thursday night. The Brit was there to fete Maje, the latest brand to enlist her for their advertising campaign. “It looks a bit like a ‘SNL’ spoof, doesn’t it?,” she asked.

Partygoers lingered at the entrance to take in the black-and-white campaign video — which looked nothing like a “Saturday Night Live” spoof — projected on the wall of the sleekly outfitted hotel bar. In the video (along with

the accompanying photography lensed by Glen Luchford), Chung meanders blithely through a subway car parked in the Porte des Lilas station in Paris. “It was shot in this closed-off subway. It was actually quite creepy down there at that hour,” Chung, in a cherry-red silk blouse and black tuxedo trousers, said. “We shot it very early, like crack-of-dawn type sh-t.”

Later, guests began amassing around the stage stationed at the back of the bar where alt-folk sibling duo Wild Belle was about to take the stage. Ombré-locked lead singer Natalie Bergman began to croon, and Chung got the dance party started while her Strokes guitarist beau, Albert Hammond Jr., chatted with friends nearby. Chung took to Twitter to convey her sentiments: “party in full swing!” — TAYLOR HARRIS

WHILE AMFAR’S annual Inspiration Gala is traditionally a boys’ night out, one man managed to draw leading ladies such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Hudson and Octavia Spencer to the event. Creative Artists Agency managing partner and AIDS research advocate Kevin Huvane was honored with the Piaget Award of Inspiration for his longtime commitment to the organization, and, naturally, his A-list Rolodex entries attended, as host Chelsea Handler put it, “to honor the man whose calendar knows more beautiful women than anybody and [who] has no idea what to do with it.”

Parker presented the award to her agent of 26 years. “I don’t know who turned it down first, but I’m really tickled,” she teased, later telling the crowd: “I’m his oldest client. I mean, not his oldest client, but.…” (Huvane clarified that she was his first client.) She was in good company. Friends who couldn’t attend (Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman) paid tribute via heartfelt and humorous videos (one featured Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep singing to him), which prompted Huvane to joke, “I hope they got SAG scale for that.”

On a more serious note, Huvane told the crowd, “Please, make the cure for HIV/AIDS part of your every-day conversation. Have that

conversation at your dinner parties, at restaurants with your kids. Remind them that the Eighties and Nineties were not that long ago, as hard as that might be for them to believe.”

The evening, held at Hollywood’s Milk Studios, was presented by MAC Viva Glam and featured sports-inspired fashion presentations from Thom Browne, Hugo Boss and Tumi. Beth Behrs, Alessandra Ambrosio, amfAR chairman Kenneth Cole, Jennifer Coolidge, Rose McGowan, Mark Salling and Rumer Willis were among the attendees.

Of course, it was Katy Perry who got the crowd revved up before she even set foot onstage. For the live auction, the singer donated an autographed guitar with a bonus. “I will take you and your friend out for one night at the Abbey!” she called out from the audience, referencing one of West Hollywood’s legendary gay bars. The package sold for $32,000 — contributing to the $1.3 million raised at the event.

Perry kept the party going with a five-song set (her third in one week after performing at the Hammer Gala Saturday and the Obama fund-raiser Sunday) that included hits “Firework” and “Teenage Dream.” As she looked out at Huvane, she teased, “I even missed a Madonna concert for you. I know everybody thought about that, right?”

— LINDZI SCHARF

eye

FOR MORE PHOTOS, SEE

WWD.com/eye.

Rose McGowan in Jerome C. Rousseau.

Albert Hammond Jr.

A still from Maje’s fall ad campaign video.

Hilary Rhoda Wild Belle performing.

Rumer Willis in Alice + Olivia.

Katy Perry in Naeem Khan.

Alessandra Ambrosio in Zuhair Murad.

Shaun White

Sarah Jessica Parker in vintage Chanel with Kenneth Cole.

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WWD.COM11WWD Monday, october 15, 2012

Q & A

Elin KlingFashion scoops CHILD’S PLAY: An adorable crew of basketball and baseball offspring walked the runway in front of their cheering parents at a grand opening celebration on Friday for Rookie USA, a new 5,500-square-foot children’s athletic apparel and footwear store on Manhattan’s Upper West Side opened by The Haddad Apparel Group Ltd. Sashaying down the catwalk in various states of bravura and shyness were the children of Carmelo and LaLa Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Alexis Welch, and Tyson and Kimberly Chandler.

“My oldest two did a phenomenal job. My youngest was a little nervous but that’s to be expected,” said Stoudemire, a veteran of New York Fashion Week shows. “It’s their first show. It’s awesome.”

Derek Jeter’s nephew Jalen walked in the show, but Jeter himself was absent due to the fifth game of the Yankees’ American League Division series against the Orioles that night. Teammate C.C. Sabathia, who was the starting pitcher in the game, was also a few miles north at Yankee Stadium as his kids worked their Nike, Jordan, Converse and Levi’s looks on the runway.

The Haddad Apparel Group is the children’s apparel licensee for those four brands, among others. The company opened Rookie USA at 808 Columbus Avenue in August, along with locations in Beijing, Shanghai and Melbourne, Australia. “We felt that there was nobody doing an exclusive, premium shopping experience for kids,” said Sam Haddad, a principal at the family-owned company. The store features photo booths, a virtual basketball court, video games and a projected hologram image of Carmelo Anthony that explains the store’s interactive features to shoppers. — DAVID LIPKE

BuCCELLATI EYEIng CLESSIDrA: Following a speculative report in Italy’s weekly magazine Il Mondo on Friday, Milan-based private equity firm Clessidra SGR SpA confirmed it is in talks with Buccellati Group to acquire a stake in the high-end fine jeweler and watchmaker. While a Clessidra spokesman did not provide any details on the negotiation, he highlighted that the talks are still at an initial stage. Buccellati declined to comment.

— ALESSAnDrA TurrA

nOrDSTrOM WEIgHS In: It’s rare for retailers to take a stand on politics or social issues, yet Nordstrom Inc. is officially supporting the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Blake nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Inc., said in an e-mail to employees that he and his brothers Pete, president of merchandising, and Erik, president of stores, believe that their gay and lesbian employ-ees are entitled to the same rights and protections marriage provides

under the law to other employees. Nordstrom also said that he believes supporting gay rights will help make the store a more attractive place to work, draw additional talent and possibly bring in new customers, though it also could alienate some consumers who oppose gay and les-bian marriage.

The Seattle-based Nordstrom has a history of supporting gay and lesbian employees with its antidiscrimination policies and by extending benefits to life partners. — DAVID MOIn

STEWArT TAKES OVEr: Martha Stewart is transforming Grand Central Terminal into an event hall on Wednesday and Thursday celebrating “American Made” artists, artisans and small entrepreneurs

engaged in fashion, food, gardening, crafts and technology. As part of the two-day blitz of activities, Calvin Klein, who rarely speaks publicly, will join J. Crew’s Mickey Drexler, Diane von Furstenberg, ralph rucci and Tory Burch on a panel themed “The Masters of American Fashion” moderated by Stewart, on Wednesday in Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall, at 9:30 am.

These individuals are expected to discuss having U.S. based-companies with products designed in America though to a great extent manufactured abroad. American Made is open to the public and will include master classes, seminars, symposiums, panel discussions, even a yoga class. The kickoff is Tuesday evening in Vanderbilt Hall with Stewart, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and television personality Willie geist. — D.M.

JEnnEr gIrLS In JunIOrS FASHIOn: Watch out, Kim, Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian. Little sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner are breaking into teen fashion with a line to be produced under license by Canada’s Majestic Mills. Launching for spring with T-shirts, pants, shorts and accessories, the deal is the first foray into the juniors world for Montreal-based Majestic, a textile and apparel manufacturer that also holds the licenses for House of Harlow 1960 by nicole richie and Heidi Klum for New Balance. The venture also helps the teenaged Jenners catch up in the fashion business with their older Kardashian half-siblings, who have sold their branded fashion at Sears and QVC. — KHAnH T.L. TrAn STArrY nIgHT: Fashion Group International’s Oct. 25 Night of Stars gala will live up to its name this year as details of the presenters have started to emerge. They include renée Zellweger for Carolina Herrera’s Superstar Award; Sarah Jessica Parker for L’Wren Scott’s Lord & Taylor Fashion Oracle Award, and Viola Davis, who is giving the night’s Brand Heritage Award to nicola Maramotti for Max Mara. Other presenters include glenda Bailey and John Demsey for Star honorees Derek Lam and gareth Pugh, respectively; Sonja rubin and Kip Chapelle for Annabelle Selldorf’s architecture nod, and Kim Hastreiter for James gager in beauty. In addition, rose Marie Bravo will bestow the Sustainability Award to Jon King for Tiffany & Co., and Efraim grinberg will give Wynton Marsalis his Humanitarian Award. — MArC KArIMZADEH

MODeL-TURNeD-blogger-turned-fashion-editor elin Kling’s latest project is a cloth-ing line with Marciano. Called elin Kling for Marciano, it launches online Oct. 22 and hit stores worldwide Nov. 1. The 34-piece collection retails from $58 for a T-shirt to $898 for leather pants, and is Kling’s second design project (her first was with H&M in 2011). The line is based on her personal style, which Kling calls “typical Scandanavian,” even though she has lived in New York for the past year and a half. Kling talked to WWD about her five-year-old blog, Style by Kling, fashion week and the print magazine, Style By, that she launched last year.

— Rachel StRugatz

WWD: Describe the collection in three sentences.Elin Kling: I would say it’s wearable. It’s a col-lection 100 percent made by my instincts because I never had time to overthink any-thing — you know, to not actually think it through two or three of four times. I only had two days to do the first 14 sketches.

WWD: What’s your favorite piece? E.K.: The maxidress. It goes right below the knees, and it has mesh detailing on the front, back and sides. It’s sophisticated.

WWD: What are you doing when you’re not blogging?E.K.: I run my own paper magazine called Style By. It comes out eight times a year. It’s doing great. It’s my little baby. It has a staff of five, four of them in Sweden — so there’s a lot of Skype in my life. I am working on a new project, but I can’t share it yet.

WWD: How has your style evolved since be-coming a blogger?E.K.: I can look back in my archives from two weeks ago and think, “What was I wearing?” But I’ve always had this denim girl, minimalistic, typical Scandinavian style. even if I try and add a little more fun to it, I’ve always had a simple style.

WWD: What’s your favorite part of the job?E.K.: There is definitely a special feeling

with producing my magazine. It takes so long, and it’s so much work and it’s such a good feeling when I get the new issue. Besides that, the blog has been impor-tant. I can always talk with my readers about the projects I’m working on, and I like that you can have a direct connection with readers.

WWD: Is there a kind of project that you would never take on?E.K.: Yes. I would never do anything that I don’t feel strongly about. I wouldn’t do something just for the money — unless it was a lot of money [laughs]. I’m very involved in everything I do. It might be tricky to work with me sometimes because I want to be involved in every step.

WWD: What’s been your best purchase so far for the fall season?E.K.: I bought this washed-out black sleeve-less vest by Wayne at Barneys that you can also zip and wear it as a top. I’m [also] on the hunt for perfect ankle boots with a heel that I can walk in.

WWD: What were your top favorite shows from fashion week?E.K: Phillip Lim, Balmain was very here and now, and Acne — I’ve really been fol-lowing their journey and it’s so fun to see where they’re going.

Elin Kling in an ad for the new line.

LaLa and Carmelo Anthony

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the base value for a sale, and a court-sanctioned auction usually provides for additional bids in set increments. James “Jamie” Salter, ceo of Authentic, did not return calls for comment on Friday. One individual said Bluestar did not want to be the stalking horse, and another said Iconix, while interested, was expected to come back into the bidding in a bank-ruptcy court auction. All three entities have experience with fashion and ap-parel firms.

Authentic’s most recent deal was in June when it acquired the IP assets of Sportcraft Ltd., through which Authentic said it planned to reenergize the recre-ational sports industry. The company, which seems to favor the action sports and entertainment and celebrity li-censing sphere, owns the IP assets of Marilyn Monroe, Silverstar and Tapout. Authentic, which has the backing of Leonard Green & Partners, includes on its board Kenny Finkelstein, the ceo of Knight’s Bridge Capital Partners, a Toronto-based private equity firm.

Iconix, headed by Neil Cole, has a portfolio of consumer brands in which it either owns or has an interest, including Candie’s, Badgley Mischka, Joe Boxer, Rampage, Mudd, Mossimo, London Fog, Ocean Pacific, Bongo, Starter, Marc Ecko, Ed Hardy, Rocawear, Danskin and Material Girl, among others.

Bluestar, founded in 2007 by Joseph Gabbay and Ralph Gindi, typically buys consumer branded firms and then con-verts the operations into licensing en-tities. Its current portfolio of brands include Joan Vass, Kooba, Yak Pak, Kensie, Mac & Jac, English Laundry, Harvé Benard, Hot Kiss and Ron Chereskin. Bluestar, which acquired a majority stake in Liz Lange Maternity in November 2007, sold its investment last month to Cherokee Inc.

As reported, HMX closed on a new financing facility with Salus Capital Partners in August, but it was contingent on cash infusions from SKNL, which has been in business since 1948 and is one of India’s largest apparel and textile com-panies, on an installment basis. That con-tingency was required because the Salus financing had been set to close in June, but had hit a roadblock due to a required funding by SKNL that never materialized.

There were concerns last month that SKNL might not be able to meet the first installment requirement, so HMX began an unofficial sale process and held talks with potential bidders at the same time that it weighed its bankruptcy option. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Salus would also provide debtor-in-possession financing should the Chapter 11 filing materialize, although there are also other available options for DIP financing.

HMX is best known for its Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx clothing labels, the latter being a favor-ite of President Obama. The company also owns Coppley, Bobby Jones and Palm Beach, which was recently rein-

troduced. It also holds the license for Argyle Culture, the preppy-themed line from Russell Simmons that relaunched at Macy’s this fall and is codesigned by Abboud and Simmons. In a bankruptcy, HMX is expected to keep the Argyle Culture license.

Glen Ferraye, president of Simmons Design Group, said despite HMX’s prob-lems, “Business is normal.” He said HMX is “in the process of delivering fall” and has “delivered on the custom shop build out at Macy’s.” He said spring orders for the line have been placed and HMX has begun “developing fall and holiday 2013.”

Although he is not privy to HMX’s sale discussions, Ferraye said he’s certain that Argyleculture, a men’s line targeted to the “urban graduate,” is “being pre-sented as a valuable property with tre-mendous upside potential that is an asset to the company.”

HMX’s history originated from the now-defunct Hartmarx Corp., which was acquired out of bankruptcy by SKNL in August 2009 and renamed HMX. London-based Emerisque Brands holds a minor-ity stake in HMX. The transaction was a $105 million debt and assumed liability deal. Since the 2009 acquisition, HMX has paid down over $35 million of debt.

SKNL had grand plans for HMX. Since then, the Indian firm has run into problems of its own.

In late 2011, the Indian economy forced SKNL to delay its planned initial public offering for the Indian operations of Reid & Taylor. Last month, SKNL had to delay its annual shareholders meet-ing. Also last month, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office received a complaint regarding corporate governance viola-tions alleged against SKNL, which the Mumbai Registrar of Companies is re-viewing. In a regulatory filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange, SKNL said, “The matters raised by the individual are frivolous and baseless.”

Donna Karan International last month pulled back its license for its DKNY men’s wear from SKNL, a five-year deal that was inked in 2010. Patti Cohen, exec-utive vice president of global marketing and communications for Donna Karan, confirmed that the association has been terminated and said the license has not yet been reassigned.

When SKNL took a 90 percent stake in HMX, its plans were grand and far-reach-ing in scope. Nitin Kasliwal, vice chair-man and managing director of SKNL, hired Williams to run the company, Abboud to head its design and proceeded to put an aggressive plan into motion to help the company regain a top position within the men’s wear arena.

Kasliwal said shortly after the purchase that within five years he expected to grow HMX into a “multibillion-dollar enterprise with various categories of product.”

The first steps were to reorganize the company and revamp the product offer-ing. Headquarters shifted from Chicago to 125 Park Avenue in New York City. Back-office duties for the brands, pre-

viously separate, were consolidated in Rochester, N.Y., where the Hickey Freeman factory is located.

HMX then embarked on a frenzied drive to upgrade and revamp its prod-uct offering. Under Abboud’s tutelage, silhouettes were modernized, a dose of fashion was injected into the offerings and lifestyle collections were created for each label.

Plans included exporting the Hickey Freeman, Hart Schaffner Marx and Bobby Jones lines internationally; initi-ating a retail rollout for Hickey Freeman and the launch of a new concept called Streets that would house all the compa-ny’s labels, and the hiring of powerhouse ad executive David Lipman to handle the firm’s marketing initiatives.

Observers wondered if it was a case of too much, too soon, a problem that came to a head when SKNL’s issues surfaced.

“Things are unraveling for SKNL and Nitin has become basically invisible,” said one source close to the company. “And that’s really put HMX in dire straits.”

In recent weeks, HMX lost the license for the Ivanka Trump women’s line, which sources said was a blow to the company. “They lost a fortune on that,” said one source. “But they never should have been in that business to begin with.”

Another differentiating factor — as well as a major stumbling block to any ac-quisition — is HMX’s North American fac-tories. In addition to the Rochester plant, HMX also owns a facility in Chicago and one in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

The company is proud of its American roots and during the controversy that arose this summer when it was discov-ered that the U.S. Olympic uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren were made in China, Williams joined forces with Senator Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) to approach the U.S. Olympic Committee to say HMX “stands ready” to produce the uniforms in its American factories.

Despite the flag-waving, the facto-ries — and their unionized workforce — have been a sticking point for the com-pany since its Hartmarx days. While the brands produced by HMX, particularly Hickey Freeman, are seen as an area of

strength, the cost of maintaining manu-facturing facilities in America has been a barrier to any company interested in acquiring the company.

Market sources believe the unions are on board with a sale of the company, as long as that sale ensures the factories continue to operate. That can’t be guar-anteed in a bankruptcy filing since the priority in any sale of assets is obtaining the best offer to satisfy creditors’ claims against the bankrupt estate.

Even so, HMX has stuck by its “Made in America” stance.

As Kasliwal said in 2010: “Hickey Freeman is an American icon and it would be foolish for it not to be made in America.”

HMX to Make DecisionOn Future This Week

By ARTHUR FRIEDMAN

NEW YORK — Cotton Incorporated has launched a new tool for the textile indus-try called Cotton University, a free online resource positioned as part digital cam-pus, part professional network.

Aimed at nurturing the next genera-tion of textile-industry professionals through education and engagement, the site is a project of the Cotton Board Importer Support Program and man-

aged by Cotton Inc.Mark Messura, senior vice president

for global supply chain marketing at Cotton Inc., the research and promotion company for cotton, said the program incorporates “the collective expertise of Cotton Incorporated into a 21st-cen-tury multimedia campus and a 24-7 net-working opportunity for students and professionals.”

The Cotton University curriculum is divided into nine subject-focused col-leges — Denim Manufacturing, Finishing,

Dyeing, Garment Manufacturing, Printing, Quality Assurance, Knitting, Yarn Manufacturing and Weaving — each offer-ing self-paced course work and certifica-tions of completion. The course work is guided by faculty comprised of technical experts from Cotton Inc. and instructors from well-respected educational institu-tions. The course work is supplemented with an online Library that includes a textile encyclopedia, a glossary of textile manufacturing and fabric terminology, and streaming videos. Cotton Inc. expects a number of design and textile technical schools will give classroom credit for stu-dent participation in the site’s courses.

Cotton University connects students with the cotton industry, and profes-sionals within the industry to one an-other, through discussion groups, topical Webinars and special online projects.

“The popularity of Cotton Incorporated workshops, seminars and conferences grows year after year,” said Messura. “The relevancy of their con-tent is the key driver for participation, but the opportunity to engage with oth-ers in the industry is also a factor. Cotton University merges these two functions into a Web-based platform that expands the reach of educational programs and expedites focused industry networking.”

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Inside the Rochester, N.Y., factory.

President Obama in a Hart Schaffner Marx suit.

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Valentino at 50A HALF-CENTURY OF GRACE AND GLAMOUR.

VALENTINO AND GIAMMETTI,

FIVE YEARS LATER

STEFANO SASSI BUILDS FOR THE FUTURE

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CHIURI & PICCIOLI:CARRYING THE

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Spring 2013 ready-to-wear.PHOTO BY STEPHANE FEUGERE

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1932Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani is born on May 11 in Voghera, in Northern Italy, to Mauro Garavani, director of an electrical supply business, and Teresa de Biaggi.

1959Valentino’s first couture studio opens at 11 Via Condotti in Rome. A second follows on Via Sant’Andrea in 1965.

1960The designer meets Giancarlo Giammetti, who would become his partner.

1962Valentino shows at the Pitti Palace in Florence. The collection is an instant hit.

1964The house presents the collection at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Jacqueline Kennedy becomes a client.

1967Valentino is honored in Dallas with the Neiman Marcus Award for most original dress designer.

1968The White Collection bows.

Jacqueline Kennedy chooses a Valentino-designed dress for her marriage to Aristotle Onassis.

The house’s first Paris boutique opens at 42 Avenue Montaigne.

1969Valentino Men’s launches and the company’s first shop in Milan opens.

1970Valentino launches a ready-to-wear collection.

1971A men’s shop opens in Rome.

1975Valentino ready-to-wear makes its Paris debut.

1976Valentino opens a store in Tokyo.

1978Valentino launches its first namesake fragrance.

1982Valentino, invited by Diana Vreeland and The Costume Institute, shows his

fall couture collection at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Valentino shows in Tokyo for the first time.

1983The Italian Olympic Committee selects Valentino to design uniforms for the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

1985The fragrance Valentino di Valentino launches.

Italian president Sandro Pertini honors the designer as Grande’Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito.

1986The designer earns Italy’s highest honor: Cavaliere di Gran Croce.

1989Valentino haute couture bows in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

A new line, Oliver (named for the designer’s favorite pug), shows for the first time in Milan.

The National Italian American Foundation honors Valentino with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

1990Valentino and Giammetti found AIDS-education organization L.I.F.E. (Lottare, Informare, Formare, Educare: To Fight,To Inform, To Form, To Educate”), with the support of Elizabeth Taylor.

Marking his 30th year in fashion, the Accademia Valentino center for the arts opens in Rome. The first show is the “Art

of Cartier.” The book

“Valentino: Trent’Anni di Magia” (“Valentino: Thirty Years of Magic”) is published.

1991The fragrance Vendetta launches, followed by Vendetta Pour Homme.

The city of Rome celebrates the house’s 30th anniversary with the exhibition “Valentino: Thirty Years of Magic,” held at the Capitole Museum; the Accademia Valentino presents a retrospective of his work.

1992“Valentino: Thirty Years of Magic” moves to New York.

More than 70,000 visitors attend the exhibition within two weeks.

1993Valentino makes its debut in China at CHIC ’93, the country’s first government-sponsored fashion event, at Beijing’s ancient Temple of Heaven.

1994The designer creates costumes for “The Dream of Valentino,” an opera about silent-movie star Rudolph Valentino.

1995More than 30 years after his first show at the Pitti Palace, Valentino returns to Florence and shows at the Stazione Leopolda. The city’s mayor awards him a special prize for Art in Fashion.

The house licenses Warnaco for lingerie.

1996The designer receives the distinction of Cavaliere del Lavoro.

1997Launch of Very Valentino fragrance; a men’s version follows in 1999.

Debut of the new sportswear line V Zone.

1998Italian firm Holding di Partecipazioni Industriali buys Valentino for an estimated $300 million.

Valentino signs a global eyewear license with Safilo.

2000Valentino marks 40 years in fashion showing 40 red dresses at Rome’s Piazza di Spagna.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America honors the designer with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

A new line, Valentino Roma, takes the place of Miss V.

2002Italian textile giant Marzotto Group acquires the Valentino fashion house from HdP for $210 million.

Valentino Gold fragrance launches.

2003Accessories directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli introduce the younger line Red Valentino.

The house signs a beauty license with Procter & Gamble, terminating its Unilever pact.

2005P&G launches the V fragrance, followed by the stronger V Absolu.

Valentino Fashion Group — valued at close to $1 billion — is listed on Italy’s stock exchange.

The designer garners the Superstar Award from Fashion Group International.

2006Three fragrances launch: V été, V Pour Homme and Rock ’n’ Rose.

French president Jacques Chirac honors Valentino with the distinction of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

2007In June, London-based private equity firm Permira acquires Valentino Fashion Group for an estimated $3.5 billion.

In July, celebrations for Valentino’s 45th anniversary include a couture show in Rome and the exhibition “Valentino in Rome: 45 Years of Style” at the Ara Pacis Museum, followed by a dinner at the Temple of Venus and an aerial ballet.

Valentino says he will retire in January. Alessandra Facchinetti, former Gucci

designer, is named creative director.

2008Valentino is delisted.

In January, Valentino holds his last couture show at the Musée Rodin in Paris, and retires from fashion. The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delano, honors him with the Grande Médaille de Vermeil de la Ville de Paris.

Facchinetti shows her first ready-to-wear collection in February.

Matteo Marzotto, president and chairman of Valentino SpA, resigns and is succeeded by Stefano Sassi.

Valentino launches Valentino Timeless watches in partnership with Timex Group.

“Valentino: Themes and Variations,” a major retrospective, opens at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

“The Red Thread: The Inspiration and Passion of Valentino Garavani,” an interactive exhibition, opens in New York and London.

“The Last Emperor,” a movie about the life and work of Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti hits theaters worldwide.

In October, after two seasons, Facchinetti and Valentino part ways. Chiuri and Piccioli are named creative directors.

2010The house licenses Puig for beauty, terminating its pact with P&G.

Dancers of the Vienna State Opera Ballet at Vienna’s annual New Year’s concert gala don costumes designed by Valentino.

“Valentino Retrospective: Past/Present/Future,” chronicling his early works, opens at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia.

2011Marchon wins the company’s global

eyewear license. Valentina fragrance is launched. A men’s store opens in Hong

Kong. The Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum, the first 3-D fashion virtual archive, launches at valentino-garavani-archives.org.

The Costume Council of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology honors Valentino

with an award for artistry.

2012Chiuri and Piccioli present their first men’s wear show as special guests at Pitti Uomo in Florence.

The revamped Via Montenapoleone store in Milan, designed by David Chipperfield, opens.

In July, Valentino SpA is sold to Mayhoola for Investments SPC, an investment firm controlled by the royal family of Qatar, for $858 million.

Valentino Garavani designs 30 costumes for the New York City Ballet to be worn at a special gala in September.

In October, Valentino Garavani is honored by French Minister of Culture with the distinction of Commandeur des Arts et de Lettres.

“Valentino: Master of Couture,” celebrating the house founder’s life and work, will run at Somerset House in London from Nov. 29 to March 3.

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Fabulous 50The fashion house’s storied history. Compiled by Fabiana Repaci

The White Collection, 1968.

Aristotle Onassis and Caroline Kennedy flank Jacqueline Kennedy in Valentino, 1968.

Elizabeth Taylor and Valentino, 1990.

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo

Piccioli, 2012.

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Valentino’s first fragrance

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STEFANO SASSI has high ambitions for the house of Valentino.

As chief executive officer of Valentino Fashion Group SpA, Sassi has over the past six years steered the brand back into the black, forged a successful fashion design team, streamlined the company’s structure and operations, helped restore the label’s global profile and, most recently, succeeded in the transition from its previous owners, pri-vate equity fund Permira, to new ones, Mayhoola for Investments.

The executive remains his usual un-derstated and reserved self, looking for-ward to Valentino’s new chapter and rel-ishing the challenges ahead.

Sitting in his sleek office at Valentino’s headquarters, a large photo of a glider stands out as a rare glimpse into Sassi’s personal life. Declining to take credit for any bravery in flying with no engines, he laughs, and says helming a fashion com-pany and facing this economy are infi-nitely more daring.

“And now, onto the next phase. The company has grown more than 60 percent over the past three years, with annual gains of 20 percent. I believe Valentino is surely a brand that can set an ambitious target and aim to double revenues in five years,” said Sassi, who was previously ceo of Marzotto SpA and started working at Valentino in 2006.

Sales in 2012 are expected to total about 370 million euros, or $476 million at current exchange, compared with 322 million euros ($414.2 million) last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depre-ciation and amortization in 2011 reached 22.1 million euros, ($28.4 million), com-pared with 7.5 million euros ($9.6 million) in 2010 and a loss of 9 million euros ($11.6 million)in 2009. Sassi said he expected EBITDA to reach about 30 million euros, or $38.6 million, in 2012.

“Our priority now is to bridge the gap with our competitors, in terms of visibil-ity and quality of distribution globally, through our new retail model and store concept,” said Sassi.

In February, Valentino unveiled its latest store concept, based on a Roman palazzo, on Milan’s Via Montenapoleone, the first flagship to reflect the design aesthetics of creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, who worked with architect David Chipperfield. Sassi and the designers be-lieve the store mirrors the new course of

the brand in terms of product, image and modernity and are focused on exporting it globally, through the renovation of ex-isting stores or new units.

The new concept also has a layout that supports the expansion of the acces-sories category, which now accounts for between 30 and 35 percent of sales.

Sassi underscored that, since the be-ginning of the year, sales at the Milan flagship jumped 70 percent compared with two years ago, before the renovation.

The New York flagship is currently being refurbished and is expected to open at the end of March, and the Paris venue on Avenue Montaigne is also slat-ed to be unveiled in early 2013.

In July, the new concept made its debut at the Hong Kong Landmark store, and on Oct. 5, a boutique in São Paulo opened via a partnership with developer JHSF at the Cidade Jardim mall.

“Our goal is to have redone 70 percent of our stores in three years,” said Sassi.

As of the end of September, there were 129 Valentino stores and 89 Red Valentino boutiques globally. Retail sales were up 27 percent year-to-date.

Sassi said business has grown in all geographic markets and that China is an obvious focus going forward. As per the plan defined before the sale to Mayhoola, the company was looking to open be-tween 40 and 50 stores over the next three years with investments of between 30 million and 40 million euros, or $38.6 million and $51.6 million, yearly.

“We may now even accelerate this development,” he said. “Our intention

is to strengthen and intensify our pres-ence around the world, either directly or through franchises, taking control of markets that are now handled by others or entering in partnerships with opera-tors that manage our business. This is our goal, to increasingly control the Valentino store network.”

The brand is already present in the Middle East and is expected to further develop the region, but Sassi was quick to point out that this is independent from the fact that the new owners are from Qatar.

“The Middle East is an important market, one where Valentino is very well-known,” said the executive, pointing to an agreement signed recently with the Dubai-based retailer Chalhoub Group.

The sale to Mayhoola, an invest-ment vehicle backed by a private group from Qatar that’s understood to be con-trolled by the royal family of that Middle Eastern nation, took place quickly, after recurring speculation that the previous owners, Red & Black Lux Sarl, a com-pany indirectly controlled by Permira Funds in partnership with the Marzotto family, was looking to cash out.

“It all happened very quickly, follow-ing a heightened interest in the brand from several potential buyers,” said Sassi.

(Sources in Milan say Diesel chief Renzo Rosso and the Ermenegildo Zegna group were also eyeing the label.)

Sassi praised the Mayhoola investors: “From our point of view, it’s surely very positive because we are dealing with a buyer with a long-term vision, and one that has great ambitions for the brand.”

The executive showed no concern about his own future within Valentino, claiming a “calm, happy and serene” dis-position throughout the transition.

“I believe, actually, that one of the reasons the investors bought Valentino is that they found a situation that con-vinced them, in terms of both creativity and management, one that has carved a path for the future in a time considered quick enough. This is a value.”

Sassi has always been a staunch sup-porter of Chiuri and Piccioli’s evolution of the Valentino product, as they opened the brand to a new category of consumers and developed the accessories, footwear and handbags divisions.

Asked to respond to media reports

concerned about the increasing number of foreign groups taking control of Italian companies, Sassi said people tend to for-get Permira is an English private equity fund, “so Valentino had already left Italy, as far as ownership goes.” In any case, he underscored that “this is an Italian proj-ect, the style, the management, the sup-pliers, the know-how and the essence of this brand are all Italian. These are fun-damental values that create employment, and they all remain Italian.

“Of course, we all agree that we would like to see a more active role of Italy at home, but we can’t dismiss foreign capital [investors] that support typical Italian companies and gener-ate employment in Italy, emphasizing Italian know-how. Foreign investors are more than welcome. I believe the current government also views foreign capital supporting Italian businesses in a positive way. If a foreign investor respects the past of a brand, maintain-ing its Italian essence, and is willing to support its future, I think that for Italy, it’s only good news.”

Sassi said he likes that the new owners are “important shareholders that have a presence in many other businesses, often with dimensions surely bigger that ours, with well-defined industrial plans.”

While Permira as a private equity fund by nature had a medium-term vi-sion, Sassi said it helped grow Valentino, despite “particular conditions,” such as the exit of the founder and a “devastat-ing [economic] crisis.” Permira’s “un-derstanding and strategies were always medium-to-long-term and it’s paid back.”

He said the long-term strategy of the new investors was a positive for a busi-ness that is being revitalized and ex-panded. The start of the journey was the brand, “unbelievably clean and credible in terms of the dreams it refers to, the messages it sends. This is a fundamen-tal starting point, and the credit goes to those who created it.”

The company had lost ground to its competitors, he said, because “more radical decisions” in terms of design, organization and distribution needed to be made. “What we and I take credit for, just a little, is that we stayed on track, be-cause such a change cannot be done in one or two years.”

IN JULY, Mayhoola for Investments, an investment vehicle backed by a private investor group from Qatar, agreed to acquire Valentino Fashion Group SpA. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Milan-based sources peg the price tag at around 700 million euros, or $907 million at current exchange.

The agreement was signed between Mayhoola and Red & Black Lux Sarl, a company indirectly controlled by Permira Funds in partnership with the Marzotto family.

Through the acquisition of VFG, Mayhoola acquires 100 percent of

Valentino SpA and the M Missoni li-censed business. The MCS Marlboro Classics is being carved out from VFG and will remain under the ownership of Red & Black, which will also continue its majority ownership of Hugo Boss.

It is understood Mayhoola is con-trolled by Qatar’s royal family. The new owners are keeping a low profile and declined to be interviewed for this article.

Various investment vehicles from the Arab state have been on a luxury and retail spending spree in the past few years. Qatar Holding LLC, which was established in 2006 and invests on behalf of the State of Qatar as it is linked to the Gulf nation’s royal family,

took control of Harrods for a reported $2.22 billion in 2010; it has a 1.03 per-cent stake in LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and a 5.2 percent share in Tiffany & Co. It also bought 26 percent of British supermarket J. Sainsbury in 2010. Last year, Qatar be-came the largest shareholder in French media group Lagardère SCA, with a 12.8 percent stake.

Valentino chief executive officer Stefano Sassi said this is just a first step. “There could be more ahead and surely they are entering the luxury world from the front door, taking con-trol of a brand with such fame. They, and we, will work together for this brand to be successful. This is funda-

mental.” Sassi remains at the helm of the company, along with creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli.

At the time of the acquisition, which will be finalized before yearend, Mayhoola issued a statement saying it was “impressed” by the work of Chiuri, Piccioli and Sassi.

“Their ability to blend the aes-thetic values of the founder, Valentino Garavani, with a contemporary and so-phisticated vision, has been instrumen-tal in enhancing the brand’s relevance and establishing a platform with sig-nificant potential. Our vision is to back management for the long term.”

— L.Z.

The Glider

The New Owners

Stefano Sassi has rebuilt a storied house and overseen the smooth transfer of ownership and design. By Luisa Zargani The renovated

flagship on Via Montenapoleone in Milan.

Stefano Sassi in his office.

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Etoile Group, the indisputable leader of luxury fashion in the Middle East would like to congratulate Valentino on shaping contemporary elegance for 50 years.

As the chosen partner in the region for more than 15 years, Etoile Group feels proud to be part of their success story.

www.etoilegroup.com

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The design team brings the heritage of the house forward with a modern spirit. By Luisa Zargani

DESPITE THEIR strong connection with the city of Rome, it was only fitting that WWD’s interview with Valentino’s creative directors took place during the Venice Film Festival and the city’s Architecture Biennale exhibition.

While more press shy and re-served than house founder Valentino Garavani, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli continue to dress Hollywood A-listers — many of whom walk the red carpet at the Venice Lido — and count the Architecture Biennale’s president, David Chipperfield, among their friends. Their conversation is peppered with references to Chipperfield, who de-signed their new — and first — store concept. In particular, they often cite the title the architect chose for the Biennale: “Common Ground.”

“Different worlds are our inspi-ration, not only fashion, but art and cinema, the spirit of the times,” said Chiuri, looking comfortable and at ease, relaxing poolside at the Hotel Cipriani. “Common ground makes us think about the foundations of the Made in Italy [movement].”

“Our collections have a cinemato-graphic aspect, a vision of a tale, and in Venice, we see the meeting of sev-eral different arts. We ourselves don’t work on a single project, but on an in-tegration of different elements,” added Piccioli. “We are well disposed toward this role of an architect at the service of

a principal. It’s the same as in fashion, which needs a consignor.”

Chiuri and Piccioli know about working for a commissioner. After 10 years at Fendi, where the pair met and were credited with the invention of the Baguette bag, Garavani person-ally wooed them to develop accessories based on his briefings for each sea-son. They were named creative direc-tors of accessories when Alessandra Facchinetti was assigned the same title for ready-to-wear after Garavani re-tired in 2008, and then succeeded her in rtw in October that year.

The company is now in transition again, under a new owner — Qatar-based Mayhoola for Investments — but they ap-pear unfazed and forward-looking.

“We are used to changes and they stim-ulate us,” said Chiuri. “We put ourselves on the line, and this is a very positive evo-lution. There is no stress. We are pleased that the company was sold because of the work that had been done. One of the goals [of former owner Permira] was to revamp the brand so that it would be appealing [to a new buyer].”

“The goal now is to grow the com-pany with a precise vision and busi-ness model, with an eye on the market. Valentino, as an Italian brand, can be like Chanel in France,” added Piccioli.

The designing duo — whose unity of intent, friendship and ease with each other is palpable — has been credited with rejuvenating the brand without

overturning or uprooting it, drawing in new customers with feminine and ro-mantic, yet also contemporary, designs.

Keeping elements of the past while maintaining and integrating them with more personal ones is also common ground with Chipperfield, according to Chiuri.

Chipperfield said that when he start-ed talking with the designers about the store project three years ago, they “took heritage into account but were thinking forward.”

“It’s difficult to do something new in retail. Everything has been tried,” the architect said. “We wanted to make a house, escape the feeling of a show-room, design a palazzo in the spirit of Valentino and bring architecture forward. We wanted to give a sense of permanence, which is counterintuitive and different because it responds more to architectural solidity rather than the ease of construction and notion of change” usually associated with fash-ion and retail.

Chipperfield added he was inspired by Italy’s “great design period” from the Fifties and Sixties, and architects such as Gio Ponti and Franco Albini. “The use of carbon fiber is an homage

to that,” he said.Piccioli noted, “It’s about memory,

not nostalgia, so it’s already selec-tive — and a foundation for the future, a source of inspiration. Everyone is aware of the past and chooses one par-ticular memory.”

Chiuri and Piccioli are family friends as well as colleagues. Each is married — Piccioli has three children and Chiuri has two.

The designers have elected to high-light Valentino’s couture, which, they claim was “not so visible” in its influ-ence on the ready-to-wear and other categories in the past.

They describe couture as “mul-tifaceted,” expressing knowledge, quality, execution, and service, and extend its superior elements to other product categories, and even to the store, meaning “care, and intimacy and personalization of timeless luxu-ry,” said Piccioli.

“Couture is synonymous with unique-ness,” he said. “Those who know the product well appreciate it the most.”

Chiuri said they were like “pioneers” when they started talking about couture, while “people would talk about a logo,

Carrying the Torch

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oPierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri in the gardens of the Hotel Cipriani during the Venice Film Festival.

Franco Rubartelli’s 1967 shot of Verushka inspired the 50th

anniversary capsule collection.

Looks from the 50th anniversary group.

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which is a synthesis and does not have those cultural layers, the workmanship and the intrinsic quality [of couture]. For the past 10 years, fashion seemed contained in a logo. A logo can be luxu-ry, but luxury has been abused as a term for the past 10 years. It’s a relative con-cept. Couture is more than luxury.”

The designers also frequently refer

to the Roman quality of the brand: “The Roman historical atelier makes it unique; cinema, history, beauty and art — again, common ground,” said Piccioli.

However, as part of the rejuvenation process, “it was important to understand that women have changed. The brand referred to a classic and validated beau-ty, according to an aesthetic scheme,” Chiuri explained. “We started talking to

women that don’t represent one single beauty model, but one that is multifac-eted and more personal, no longer one single aesthetic look.”

The designer pointed to actresses Laetitia Casta and Kasia Smutniak, who hosted the Venice Film Festival and wore Valentino on several occasions in the city. “They are so different, but have strong personalities, and they are independent.

We like multifaceted women.”To mark the store opening and

Valentino’s 50th anniversary this year, the designers created a capsule collection of capes, foulards and totes that resurrect historic prints from the house.

“These are simply prints that we liked but that others don’t really know,” said Chiuri, adding that they were less inspired by specific archival frocks and more by the iconic images taken, for ex-ample, by Franco Rubartelli of Veruschka wearing a Sixties-era creation. “There was a certain subversive nonchalance for the times that seems effortless today,” said Piccioli.

Piccioli said Garavani in the Sixties was “a great innovator,” and the women he dressed in those years, such as Jackie Kennedy — “more individual and three-dimensional” — are closer to him and Chiuri, rather than the “more bourgeois Valentino women” from the Eighties.

Chiuri and Piccioli have only words of praise for Garavani, whose story they clearly enjoy and appreciate, and who also has always supported them.

“I always admired his rigor and firm-ness,” said Chiuri. “He never had a doubt, and that is his strength.”

Piccioli pointed to Garavani’s “ability to dream and make others dream, what-ever happens. He’s remained untouch-able and unfazed through any phase.”

Piccioli underscored that neither he nor Chiuri “ever wanted to superimpose [their] face onto his.” Their ambition was to tell their stories, he said.

“Designs are simply born from the instinct of individuals. Our biggest suc-cesses were not expected. If there were a cocktail or a formula, everyone could be successful.”

Chiuri said they would like for “each single piece to be more visible and iconic, evocative of a reference world. The same as with Tiffany’s signature blue shopping bag or the [Apple] icon on the desktop. We would like to maintain the connection [Garavani] had and increase it. Valentino evokes a dream, and fashion must be a dream. That’s its motor.”

IN 2003, WHEN Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, then acces-sories directors, launched a younger diffusion line, they paid tribute to the house’s signature color and called the collection Red Valentino.

Despite the red theme obviously connecting the lower-priced line with the designer range — they are both well anchored in an idea of elegant, so-phisticated femininity — Red Valentino features a specific and defined individ-ual identity.

Chiuri and Piccioli imbue the Red Valentino collections with a dreamy atmosphere, designing girly clothes embellished with frills, ruffles and ro-mantic patterns.

“Red reflects the most playful part of the Valentino world,” Chiuri said. “It’s the part linked to a fairy-inspired imaginary [place]…mixing fantasy and reality.”

Previously licensed to Sinv SpA, Valentino brought the line’s production in-house in 2009 to boost the expansion of the brand, which Valentino chief ex-ecutive officer Stefano Sassi defined an “important driver of profitability and growth over the years.”

Red Valentino, which is available in 89 point of sales worldwide, accounts 20 percent of the company’s overall volume.

The lion’s share of international sales comes from Europe, but the line is well distributed worldwide. In 2011, the company opened a 2,475-square-foot flagship in Tokyo’s trendy Aoyama neighborhood. A boutique is located on the ground floor, while the second level holds a showroom and event space that’s connected to a rooftop terrace.

Red Valentino also counts flagships in Cannes, France, and in Rome, and is available at department stores includ-ing Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Harrods, Isetan and La Rinascente. The company is also set to open two more Red Valentino freestanding stores, in Milan and in São Paulo, Brazil.

“Red Valentino is performing well,” said Tiziana Cardini, fashion director at La Rinascente. “Maria Grazia and Pierpaolo succeeded in translating the image of the Valentino brand into a young, contemporary line.”

In 2011, Valentino also promoted its diffusion label, opening a series of pop-up stores in several cities, such as Florence and Taormina in Italy, Saint-Tropez in France and Knokke in Belgium. During spring 2012 fashion week, the company opened a temporary store in Milan’s Piazza San Babila, which for six days hosted the Red Valentino greenhouse. In

a fairy-inspired, botanical scenario, the label showcased and sold an exclusive fall collection designed just for the occa-sion, comprising princesslike tulle skirts, velvet shorts and frocks embellished with flowers and butterflies.

At the same time, to give a spin to Red Valentino image, Chiuri and Piccioli tapped Tim Walker to shoot

its fall 2011 ad campaign, shot in the dramatic setting of Copped Hall, a Georgian mansion in Southern England.

The London-based photographer, who is currently on his third campaign for the brand, injected a fantastical, dreamy mood into the pictures, which embody the its fresh, romantic spirit.

— AlessAndrA TurrA

The Red Valentino pop-up greenhouse in Milan.The Dreamy Side

Spring 2013 ready-to-wear.

Fall 2012 couture.

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FIFTY YEARS OF FABULOUS.

WE CELEBRATE THE IMPERIAL HOUSE OF VALENTINO.

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The Glam TeamFall 2011

Spring 2004

Fall couture 2011

Fall couture 1995

Spring 1967

Fall couture 2008

Fall 1988

Style, elegance, chic — and more than a few frills — have been hallmarks of Valentino for a half-century.

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Fall couture 1989

Spring 2009

Fall couture 2010

Fall 1988

Fall 2009 Fall couture 2004

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Valentino the designer and Valentino the house have long been celebrity favorites. By Luisa Zargani

VALENTINO GARAVANI’S childhood role as an chaperone might be ac-countable for one the most enduring love stories between a designer and Hollywood and La Dolce Vita.

“When I was a kid, I had to chaper-one my sister when she went out with her fiancé,” the designer reflected in the Nineties. “I used to go to the cin-ema with them to see those beautiful stars, and this made me start to think about design and fashion. Later on, of course, I met these people, but they were not as they were on the screen.”

No matter. The designer has over the years continued to fuel this dream as countless A-listers posed for the cameras wearing his creations.

In some cases, unique, special moments have become indelibly as-

sociated with a Valentino design. Julia Roberts accepted her Oscar for “Erin Brockovich” in a dra-matic vintage 1992 velvet-and-satin gown in 2001. Four years later, Cate Blanchett wore a yellow number ac-cented with burgundy as she took home the Academy Award for her supporting actress role as Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator.”

Last month, Anne Hathaway mar-ried Adam Shulman in an ivory silk tulle off-the-shoulder style with a pink hand-painted shaded train embroi-dered with satin flowers designed by the couturier.

From stately homes to artistic masterpieces, Valentino has always surrounded himself with beauty and the list of beautiful actresses he’s

been associated with is exceptional — Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Anjelica Huston, Brooke Shields, Nicole Kidman, Susan Sarandon, Halle Berry, Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Watts, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez and Kate Winslet, among others.

“I have learned so much about Hollywood working with actresses,” the designer has said. “They don’t have a normal woman’s expectations walking into a party. All they think about is a grand entrance.”

With his feminine gowns, Garavani surely succeeded in helping them achieve this. In the Seventies, he said: “I will continue to be criticized for making overly glamorous fashion. T h i s

very criticism gives me the validity of being called a chic designer. I prefer to remain in this domain.”

Hollywood’s fascination with the Valentino brand has not waned as current creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli continue to forge strong relation-ships with Tinseltown. Cases in point: Keira Knightley, Jessica Alba, Diane Kruger, Olivia Palermo, Elettra Wiedemann, Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Garner have all been photo-graphed wearing Valentino.

“We are the first to want to dream, and also the movies are a means to dream,” said Chiuri.

Added Piccioli: “There is a connec-tion between fashion and the movies, and women that make us dream.”

The Stars Are Out

Sarah Jessica Parker, 2012.

Lady Gaga, 2011.

Anne Hathaway, 2010.

Jennifer Aniston, 2009.

Claire Danes, 2007.

Brooke Shields, 1992.

Jane Fonda, 1982.

Gwyneth Paltrow,

2001.

Cate Blanchett, 2005.

Penélope Cruz,

2005.

Diane Kruger, 2012.

Julia Roberts

wears vintage

1992 in 2001.

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During half a century of dressing

cultural icons, Valentino became one itself.

Today, this house that defined couture

fashion continues, with characteristic

verve, to “make women beautiful.”

Congratulations, Valentino!

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Keeping busy is not a problem for the house founders. By Marc Karimzadeh

DON’T MENTION the “R” word.“Definitely, we’re not re-

tired people,” said Giancarlo Giammetti, sitting in his beau-tiful, art-filled penthouse with striking views of Manhattan and beyond. “We never thought we’d be retired and go bird-watching in the park. We never said, ‘Oh, now we’re going to smoke cigars and go on vacation.’ ”

Four years after Giammetti and Valentino Garavani de-parted from the house they founded half a century ago after a chance encounter at Rome’s Café de Paris in Rome in 1960, the duo’s vis-ibility is as high as ever. They go to fashion parties; sit in the front row of shows, by friends like Diane von Furstenberg and Oscar de la Renta, or, as was the case in Paris this month, take in the spring 2013 Valentino collection. They are clearly not fashion wallflow-ers, and have several high-profile projects in the works. In fact, almost immediately after leaving the house that bears their name, the duo embarked on creating the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum, which launched last December. It offers a digital archive of the designer’s life and work, rendered in a way so an online visit resembles a museum tour. The download-able desktop application, the first of its kind for a designer of this caliber, was an instant hit, receiving more than 30,000 downloads in just the first two weeks. “It was great,” Valentino said. “To work with people so far from fashion was refreshing and relaxing.”

Then, in mid-Sep-tember, the New York City Ballet celebrated the designer with a gala, and he created cos-tumes for three works of the ballet master in chief Peter Martins. It was not his only re-cent foray into design — he also created the gown Anne Hathaway wore when she walked down the aisle to marry Adam Shulman in late September.

Valent ino and Giammetti are also busy pre-paring for “Valentino: Master of Couture,” a major retro-spective opening at London’s Somerset House on Nov. 29.

“So no retirement,” Giammetti said, though admit-ting that life now is far less nerve-racking than it once was. “Any project that he and I have now is at a different pace. It’s not under the stress of ‘collection after collection after collection,’ and not with a calendar where you know exactly where you are in one

year and six months. Every project we have now is a bit more relaxed, I would say.”

Still, the two seem perpetu-ally in motion, more recently spending more time than usual in New York, because of their association with the bal-let (Valentino keeps a home in

New York). While Valentino still designs

for such special occasions, Giammetti is embracing new technology like Twitter, though he is somewhat reticent about it, and, perhaps deliberately, underplays the fabulousness of the jet-set existence.

“I don’t have a life that is so tweetable,” he said. “I don’t really tweet. I don’t know what to say. Sometimes I see what my friends do. They tweet, but it is so shameful. They put a plate on Instagram. I mean,

who cares? It’s not even on amazing china or a plate with a special design. It’s all just for the followers, and getting more followers than they al-ready have. I read something very interesting the other day: Followers don’t mean you are special, because Hitler had

millions of followers and Jesus had just 12.”

Yet their star rose significantly after Matt Tyrnauer’s 2008 hit docu-mentary “Valentino: The Last Emperor” — and not always in ways agreeable to Giammetti.

Case in point: a re-cent night at the the-ater when Giammetti was approached for a photo. “So I say, ‘Did you see the movie?’ ” he recalled. “And she says, ‘What movie, Mr.

Lauren?’ Imagine if people come and say, ‘I love you in the movie’ — but that was very depressing. It was even more depressing another time when someone said, ‘Can I have a picture with you?’ And I said of course, and the wife comes over and said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Cavalli.’ That was really insulting.”

As for Valentino, there’s no mistaking him. He has al-ways remained true to him-self, tan and all.

“I am proud to have been

myself my entire career, never listening to all the input, sug-gestions, critics,” the designer reflected. “It’s not true that you cannot just evolve and not revolutionize all the time.”

The business of fashion may have changed, but Valentino insists he takes no issue with how the industry is increas-ingly tuned in to branding.

“Branding a name is good,” he said, noting his products bearing the “V” became status symbols. “But design has to be at the basis of branding.”

Both Valentino and Giammetti still keep a close eye on the fashion house.

“We very much support the house of Valentino, not just because it carries his name but we love what they [de-signers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli] do,” Giammetti said. “We think they are great designers. They have been able to bring the Valentino style up to today, in a very modern way but respect-ful of the past of the house.”

Giammetti is equally con-fident about the house’s new Qatari owners.

“I feel great,” he said. “I think that the company was in a very difficult situation with the shareholders of the time. Permira didn’t understand the vision behind the fashion house. You cannot manage or run a company without under-standing the vision or having a vision yourself, and when you look at just the bottom line and you don’t have any per-sonal or private ambition, it’s a disaster. This was the situa-tion. They were closing shops, and they were doing every-thing in a modest way.

“I don’t consid-er what the Qatar people have done for Valentino, but also for what they do in Europe with the hotels, the res-taurants,” he added. “Everything they do has some qual-ity that can compete with a European luxury conglomer-ate. I think it’s in-teresting and that’s what I judge. I don’t judge religion, I don’t judge ethnicity. They are investors who know luxury.

Plus, he added with a touch of non-chalance, “Sheikha Mozah is our cli-ent for a long time. Valentino personally did two weddings for the family.”

M e a n w h i l e , Valentino is quite aware of the legacy

he wants his name to embody. “Precision, personality, cour-age,” he declared.

And while many would ex-pect him to cite the red dress a women should select could she choose just one Valentino look, he proves that after all these years, he is still full of surprises. As he puts it, she should go for something totally different: “A white lace shirt.”

The Founding Fathers

Giancarlo Giammetti and Valentino at the New York City Ballet in September.

Giammetti and Valentino in 1967.

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to all the input, suggestions, critics.

—Valentino

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Men’s wear gets a new, youthful spirit. By Alessandra Turra

AS HE HAS frankly admitted, Valentino Garavani was never hooked on men’s wear.

But that doesn’t mean he ignored the men’s business, which he started in 1969. Valentino, never sketched a male outfit, but over the years developed the image of an el-egant retro gentleman, who sometimes indulged in an ultra-glamorous lifestyle.

It’s no accident that the designer chose actor Rupert Everett to appear in his fall 1985 ad campaign, or that he decided to put a black sequined dinner jacket in the holiday window that Saks Fifth Avenue dedicated to him in 2006.

When Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli took the reins of the men’s division in 2009, succeeding Ferruccio Pozzoni, who designed only two collections for the house, they started a revolution that cul-minated in a runway presenta-tion staged at Pitti Uomo last January. It was the first time Valentino men’s was presented at Pitti, and the designers were special guests of the fair.

Staged in the Baroque rooms of Florence’s Palazzo Corsini, that fall 2012 show revealed a

new, fresh image of the Valentino man — who is definitely younger and trendier.

Chiuri and Piccioli put a new spin on Italian sartorial tradition with a combination of voluminous and fitted shapes and crisp fabrics featuring a high-tech finish. To underline the youthful attitude, they also designed a range of men’s ac-cessories, which included hy-per-cool, studded leather iPad clutches.

Last June’s show at Florence’s la Limonaia del Giardino di Boboli confirmed the new course paved for the Valentino man.

“Our goal is to revisit men’s staples, to turn them into icons,” Piccioli said during a preview a few hours before the show.

“Maria Grazia and Pierpaolo refreshed the Valentino men’s style while keeping its clas-sic attitude,” said Tiziana Cardini, fashion director at La Rinascente. “Now the collec-tions are more essential, modern and cool.”

Cases in point: an eye-catch-ing bomber jacket, crafted from panels of cotton, leather and nylon with khaki gabardine in-serts, and camouflage sneak-

ers with rubber studs from the spring 2013 range.

Piccioli said that at the base of Valentino men’s collections there is “an iconographic and sartorial vision, which shapes the contours of contemporary masculinity without making them formulaic.”

“Couture-inspired techniques and volumes are combined with those from sportswear for a con-temporary, modular wardrobe,” Chiuri added, noting that aes-thetics follow from technique, cut and constructions. “The goal is to reinvent men’s staples through the codes of an authen-tic and natural elegance.”

Even if the men’s division rep-resents a relatively small portion of Valentino’s overall business, it has been registering significant growth. In the first half of 2011 (the most recent figures made available), sales rose 33 percent, representing about 6 percent of the company’s total revenues.

I n S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 1 , Valentino also opened its first men’s flagship in Asia. Located in The Landmark mall in Hong Kong, the 2,166-square-foot space is exclusively dedicated to men’s ready-to-wear and ac-cessories collections.

Man Up

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VALENTINO GARAVANI’S gregarious nature and personal extravagance were initially the brand’s greatest advertise-ment. With a permanent tan evocative of yachting in the Mediterranean or ski trips to Gstaad, the designer was often seen with his troupe of tail-wagging pugs, or entertaining beautiful friends at his Château de Wideville outside Paris. His fondness for a particular shade of red, which he splashed across cocktail dresses and evening gowns, was also well-known.

Since creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli took the reins at the house in 2008, they have carefully channeled the Italian mai-son’s original glamour into collections with a modern sophistication, and the corresponding ad campaigns mirror this evolution. Absent is the heavy makeup favored in previous years; theirs is an understated beauty though still empha-sizing luxury.

“We reject the concept that there is a separation between the images and our products: what is in the stores is in the ads,” Chiuri said.

Decades after Marisa Berenson gazed doe-eyed at Vogue readers in a white dress with floral appliqués, Valentino remains a recognizable brand, thanks partly to the many celebrated photographers who have crafted its campaigns. Here’s a look at some of the names behind the lens. GIAN PAOLO BARBIERI In the Sixties, Barbieri shot a series of photos of model Mirella Petteni in vo-luminous dresses, vibrant coats and sparkly earrings against a startling des-ert studio backdrop. With her charcoal-smudged eyes and perfectly coiffed hair, Petteni was faithful to Valentino’s ideals.

In a 1965 interview with WWD, Garavani said, “Women of today have a duty to be soignée. They should be well made up, absolutely wear lipstick — I detest women without lipstick — and be well coiffured, not running around with [hair] dangling straight as if they just finished a home shampoo.”

OLIVIERO TOSCANIBest known as the envelope-pushing pho-tographer behind a series of politically sensitive Benetton campaigns, Toscani also worked for Valentino. A shot for the brand’s spring 1986 ready-to-wear collec-tion showed a playful young woman with cropped blonde hair jumping toward a young man with his lips puckered in a kiss, with the International Herald Tribune in one hand and his sweetheart’s in the other.

Toscani also produced a tongue-in-cheek picture of the same young woman with a polka-dotted Valentino skirt blow-ing up behind her, where a quintet of young men stood politely smiling.

HERB RITTSRitts’ contributions to Valentino in the mid-Nineties featured a statuesque Christy Turlington, occasionally sur-rounded by a throng of naked male ad-mirers. The images’ clean lines in black-and-white — a hallmark of Ritts’ no frills style — put the emphasis squarely on the power of female beauty.

SATOSHI SAIKUSAJapanese photographer Saikusa shot Laura Ponte and Chandra North for Valentino’s fall 1996 campaign, which depicted sexually confident career women. Also in 1996, he shot a sultry Astrid Muñoz — her hair piled high and interwoven with metallic leaves — in a sleek haute couture black dress with thin straps and delicate floral embroidery.

STEVEN MEISELIn the late Eighties, throughout the Nineties and onward, Meisel presented a colorful, decadent vision of Valentino, with models like Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Nadja Auermann and Gisele Bündchen in cinematic campaigns.

In 2000, the photographer shot a pack of models including Malgosia Bela and Karen Elson poolside at Stahl House overlooking the Los Angeles skyline.

▲ Turbeville’s shoot for fall 1977.

Sophisticated LadiesCampaigns that ooze chic. By Cynthia Martens

WWD MILESTONES

Fall 2012 by Deborah Turbeville.

▲ David Sims for spring 2011.

▲ Fall 1995 by Herb Ritts.

▲ Fall 2000 by Steven Meisel.

▲ Oliviero Toscani’s spring 1986 campaign.

The women were draped in jewel-toned gowns, their hair styled for Hollywood’s golden era, while a bevy of bare-chested guys sprawled across lounge chairs bran-dishing cocktails and cigars.

Mario TesTinoIn 2005, Testino shot Gisele in a golden strapless dress standing beside a baby zebra in the company of a chiseled Will Chalker. The image was one of a series that radiated sexiness and high living.

DaviD siMsValentino’s fall 2010 campaign juxtaposed naked and clothed shots of models Freja Beha Erichsen, Tati Cotliar and Monika “Jac” Jagaciak. Sims’ quiet, candid black-and-white images marked a departure from the brand’s usually outspoken lux-ury. When he shot the fall rtw collection the following season, Sims emphasized soft pastels and subdued lighting; Chiuri

and Piccioli said they wanted to convey a more delicate, individual beauty.

DeBoraH TurBevilleIn 1977, Turbeville shot a Valentino cam-paign in which a group of young women posed languidly by an old palazzo in long evening gowns.

Called back for the 2012 campaigns, the American photographer’s recent work for the brand offers the same dreamy atmo-sphere, with contemporary models includ-ing Caroline Brasch Nielsen, Fei Fei Sun, Ruby Aldridge and Frida Gustavsson. They appear lost in thought, draped across the tiled floor of Villa Parisi outside Rome; standing by a shadowy wall in Pozos, Mexico, or lounging at the baroque Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi in Palermo, Sicily.

Chiuri and Piccioli have praised Turbeville’s photography for its romance and “dark modern edge.”

Said Piccioli: “We sell through emotions.”

WWD.COM

Turbeville’s shoot for fall 1977. s satoshi saikusa for fall 1996 couture.

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Valentino on 50 years

of impeccable style.

Congratulations,

BAL HARBOUR SHOPS

®

www.balharbourshops.com

SECTION II WWD.COM

20

WWD Milestones

WWD monday, october 15, 2012

“ACCESSORIES ARE impor-tant, but we are not an acces-sories company, and the rule should be that you do what you know how to do at your best,” Giancarlo Giammetti told WWD in 2007.

Five years later, it can be said that while Valentino remains primarily an apparel label, it has also shown it can deliver successful, high-end accesso-ries, which, according to chief executive officer Stefano Sassi, currently account for 30 to 35 percent of sales.

The turning point in the evolution of the accessories division, created in 1967 when Valentino Garavani launched

bags with the gold-en V logo produced by Italian manu-facturer Coppola and Toppolo, was the appointment of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli as accesso-ries designers in 1999.

That year, Holding di Partecipazioni Industriali, which owned Valentino at the time, brought accessories pro-duction in-house, discontinu-ing the license with Gru.P.Italia. The exception was eyewear, which had been produced by Safilo since 1998 and yielded the best-selling aviator style em-bellished with metal butterflies.

Formerly accessories designers at Fendi, Chiuri and Piccioli offered a new Valentino collection filled with colorful beading, deli-cate embroideries, animal prints and sequins.

“We came to Valentino with a purpose: to create acces-sories that are as interesting as the designer’s clothes, but that are not mere accessories to his clothes,” Chiuri said in 1999. “They should have a sep-arate identity and make sense on their own.”

Chiuri and Piccioli created signature pieces and “It” bags, such as the Shopping Couture totes, launched in 2008, fea-turing 10 variations, including a black leather style showing numerous circular layers as-sembled to form a rose, or one completely covered with pea-cock feathers.

“Accessories are our passion and easily translate into [key] pieces,” Piccioli said. “They allow us to tell a story with one object, so that they become [signature], they are small pieces that encompass dreams.”

Immediately r e c o g n i z a b l e are the ele-ments of the Rockstud range, which was intro-duced for spring 2011. It was a se-ries of bags and shoes decorated with studs.

“Rockstud has made every woman a rock star on her own fash-ion stage,” said Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director for Neiman Marcus. “All day and all night, decorating her feet and held in her hand, women are ob-sessed with the femininity of Rockstuds’ polished chic, hit hard with an urban edge.”

For fall 2012, Chiuri and Piccioli revisited the “Rockstud” theme, launch-ing Noir, an all-black cap-

s u l e c o l l e c t i o n , which includes calf, python, ponyskin and patent leather bags and shoes fea-

turing black ru-thenium studs.

The duo’s sig-nature studded decorations also embellished some of the frames from the brand’s spring 2012 eye-wear, the first to be produced by Marchon, which inked a five-year

agreement with Valentino in 2011.

Last month, dur-ing the Venice Film

Festival, Valentino launched a special

eyewear collection called Venice Limited

Edition. The range, con-sisting of 300 pieces, fea-

tures rounded, oversize gold metal and acetate frames embellished with Swarovski Elements and matched with fuchsia, apple green and pow-der pink lenses.

Valentino also licensed Timex Group in 2008 for the production of watches, which were formerly made by Sector Group.

� —�AlessAndrA�TurrA

20

WHEN VALENTINO revealed a fra-grance licensing agreement with Barcelona-based Puig in 2010, the fash-ion house was in transition. Creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli had arrived less than two years prior, and they were develop-ing the brand’s identity for a new gen-eration of customers. It was essential to match the fragrances with the fashion.

But Valentino’s first foray into the beauty business dates back to the late Seventies — just after Yves Saint Laurent launched its spicy Opium perfume.

“I will always be criticized for my extremely glamorous fashion,” Valentino Garavani said in a 1978 WWD interview. That year, he and Giancarlo Giammetti invited hundreds of guests — including Lauren Bacall, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin — to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées for a performance by Roland Petit’s ballet starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, and gave away about 1,000 bottles of that first name-sake fragrance to the crowd.

Over the next four months, the eau de toilette hit stores throughout Europe and reached New York in spring 1979.

T h r o u g h o u t the Eighties and Nineties, the brand worked with Unilever, relaunching the original scent in 1985 and introduc-ing others such as Very Vendetta and Vendetta Pour Homme in 1993, and Very Valentino and Very

Valentino for Men in 1997. A TV ad fea-turing South African model Georgina Grenville, who used the tag line “I’m feeling very Valentino,” complemented a print campaign shot by Steven Meisel.

In 2002, Valentino Gold hit the market. Gabriele Pungerscheg, then president of Unilever Cosmetics International’s European designer fragrances division, told WWD the fra-grance was aimed at “women who are looking for a little luxury, who are buy-ing into the Valentino world.”

A year later, Valentino transferred its fragrance license to Procter & Gamble, which promptly revealed plans to ex-pand and bring beauty sales from 10 to 15 percent of the house’s total volume to 30 or 40 percent. Michele Norsa, chief executive officer of the fashion company at the time, spoke of the need to seduce a new generation of customers.

P&G’s first Valentino fragrance, V, was aimed at women who “want to have

it all,” said Markus Strobel, then-general manager of prestige products and fine fragrances. To keep the brand’s positioning high, V was priced 15 percent above the brand’s other scents.

In 2005 came V Absolu, a more concentrated version of V, and in 2006 V Pour Homme made its debut with a sexy ad

campaign featuring Eric Balfour shot by Steven Klein. In 2007, Rock

’n’ Rose targeted women discovering the Valentino label for the first time.

“The last cou-ple of years have signaled a lot of change and growth for the brand,” Strobel

said at the time. “We’ve rejuve-

nated the portfolio with Rock ’n’ Rose

to try to reach a new

Valentino customer.”He reported sevenfold growth for

the brand’s fragrance business over four years.

Rock ’n’ Rose Couture arrived in time for Valentino’s 45th anniversary that year. P&G remained the house’s licensee when Valentino retired and Chiuri and Piccioli became creative di-rectors in 2008.

With Valentino rapidly evolving, how-ever, ceo Stefano Sassi — who joined the company in 2006 — Chiuri and Piccioli felt it was time to find a new partner. Industry sources also suggested that Valentino was a smaller company than P&G’s other licensees, and as such it needed more one-on-one attention.

In January 2010, Valentino agreed to a long-term license with Puig that went into effect in February 2011.

“Although we’re talking about a large-scale product, we feel Puig is strongly committed toward the develop-ment of the product, favoring intuition and creativity over marketing,” Sassi told WWD at the time.

From the outset, the idea was to align Valentino’s scent business with its fashion activity, explained José Manuel Albesa, chief brand officer at Puig. He said it was important to work closely with Chiuri and Piccioli and “to extract the DNA” of the brand to project it in the world of fragrance.

Adjectives he used to describe Valentino included “contemporary,” “unconventional,” “feminine,” “elegant” and “sophisticated.”

Puig opted to discontinue Valentino’s older fragrances, and September 2011 marked the arrival of Valentina, the first Valentino scent developed under Chiuri and Piccioli’s creative direction. Conceived by Firmenich’s Olivier Cresp and Alberto Morillas, the eau de parfum contains Calabrian bergamot, white Alba truf-fles, jasmine and Amalfi orange blos-som, among other ingredients, and comes in a gently rounded bottle em-bellished with roses in ivory, nude

and white, in a nod to the house’s fashion collections.

The Valentina campaign features Freja Beha Erichsen, a frequent pick for Valentino’s fashion ads, as a young aristocrat skipping her parents’ party at a palazzo in favor of a night on the town with friends. Rome — the birthplace of the Valentino label, Chiuri and Piccioli — was its inspiration. Also at the fore was today’s trendsetting, young genera-tion of jet-setters, such as Sofia Coppola and Bianca Brandolini d’Adda.

The Valentina line has recently been extended with Valentina Assoluto, a chypre scent that will hit U.S. counters by April 2013.

“It’s more haute couture,” explained Albesa.

The new fragrance’s advertise-ment was shot in Rome, too, and shows Erichsen preparing for an evening out.

Today, Valentino has managed to at-tract the young consumers the company had been courting for years without los-ing the glamour its founder made famous.

Puig executives would not divulge numbers, but industry sources estimate Valentino’s fragrance business will gen-erate more than 100 million euros, or $129.3 million at current exchange, in retail sales worldwide this year.

Its main markets are the U.S., Italy, the Middle East, Spain, the Asia-Pacific region and Russia, according to Albesa. Elsewhere in Europe, key countries in-clude France, the U.K. and Germany.

“We are performing extremely well in all of them and see a lot of potential,” he said. “This is just the first chapter of a long-term adventure.”

Next up for the Valentina franchise is an offer slated for a 2013 launch. A men’s fragrance will also be explored.

“It is interesting what Pierpaolo and Maria Grazia are injecting into the men’s fashion arena,” said Albesa, “so for sure, our fragrances will follow their vision [for men] in the years to come.”

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V Is for Versatile

The Liquid Link

Valentino Garavani Rockstud shoes, 2011.

Valentino sunglasses from

the current collection.

The Valentina fragrance launched in 2011.

Valentino Garavani bag,

2000.

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VALENTINO

Congratulations.

Here’s to another 50 years of impeccable taste, incredible style and stunning fashion.

SECTION II WWD.COM

WWD monday, october 15, 2012

WWD MILESTONES

22

Inspiration comes in many forms and from myriad sources.

FOR THEIR SPRING ready-to-wear col-lection, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli looked for design cues in the Eternal City — their own hometown and headquarters of Valentino.

“We take a lot of inspiration from Rome,” said Chiuri during a preview of the collection this month. “In some ways, our idea of it is not so beautiful. But for us, the city and fashion are about dreams.”

The pair also saw an exhibition of work by Roman photographer Arturo Ghergo, known for his portraits in the Forties, his subjects ranging from Marella

Agnelli to the actresses of Cinecittà to women on the street. His signature was casting celebrities and civilians in the same glamorous light.

The designers were struck by the no-tion of a woman’s identity and the concept of personal beauty.

A recent Cindy Sherman show also had some influence — not her strange im-personations, but Sherman’s mastery of self-representation. A woman can choose whom she wants to be.

Here, the mood boards that inspired the season.

The mood board for the spring ready-to-wear season.

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In the Mood

w15b022a;6.indd 1 10/12/12 1:19 PM10122012132039

San Diego Fwy (405) at BriStol St., CoSta MeSa, Ca 800.782.8888 SouthCoaStplaza.CoM

South Coast plaza Celebrates

Congratulations on 50 years of legendary fashion, beauty and style.Visit Valentino along with 250 boutiques, 30 restaurants and

the Segerstrom Center for the arts at South Coast plaza.

W a l t e r N. M a r k s R e a l t y

C O N G R A T U L A T E S

VALENTINOo n i t s 5 0 t h A n n i v e r s a r y

and

Flagship Store on

Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills

VOGUE celebrates valentino For 50 years oF glamour, drama, and showstopping Fashion.

Happy anniversary

photogr aphed by arthur elgort,

VOGUE, october 2009.