TheBloombergEffect

WWD

PHOTO BY STEVE EICHNER

SEE PAGE 4

By DAVID LIPKE

LAST WEDNESDAY MORNING, a small clique of New York’s reigning power players gathered in the Meatpacking District offi ces of Diane von Furstenberg for the type of breakfast meeting that shapes cities, literally and fi guratively. Terry J. Lundgren of Macy’s and Lew Frankfort of Coach were there, along with Andrew Rosen of Theory, Vera Wang, Anna Wintour, Hearst Magazine’s Michael Clinton and the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Steven Kolb.

Presiding over the elegant conclave was New York’s head macher-in-charge — at least for the next 37 days, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He had brought along his cultural affairs commissioner, Kate Levin, as well as Daniel Doctoroff, chief executive offi cer of Bloomberg LP.

The high-powered powwow was engineered to discuss plans — and build support — for the Culture Shed, the ballyhooed arts center meant to become the new home of New York Fashion Week once it’s completed around 2017. The striking structure will serve as an anchor of the ambitious Hudson Yards development on the West Side of Manhattan, current-ly under construction and set to become a marquee capstone of Bloomberg’s 12-year tenure at City Hall, which comes to a close next month.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013 ■ $3.00 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

STRONG STARTVINCE’S STOCK SURGED AFTER ITS IPO,

VALUING THE COMPANY AT $1 BILLION. PAGE 2

THE FASHION INDUSTRY IS HELPING TO DRUM UP AID FOR

TYPHOON HAIYAN VICTIMS. PAGE 8

SENDING RELIEF

FASHION AND THE MAYOR

UNDERNEATH IT ALL DEREK JETER DODGED CONTROVERSY AND TALKED BRIEFS AT A FRIGO OPENING.PAGE 11

WWD.COM2 WWD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

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 ©2013 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 206, NO. 109. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in March, May, June, August, October and December, and two additional issues in February, April, 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 6356, Harlan, IA 51593. FOR SUBSCRIPTION, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, LA 51593, call 866-401-7801, or email customer service at wwdPrint@cdsfulfillment.com. Please include 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.wwd.com/subscriptions. 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 6356, Harlan, IA 51593 or call 866-401-7801. 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.

Forum Begins Profiling TalksBy Lisa Lockwood

NEw YoRk — several dozen retailers, city offi-cials and civil rights leaders convened at The Fifth avenue Presbyterian church here Friday morning to start a dialogue about racial profiling and loss prevention at stores.

among the retailers that sent representatives were Barneys New York, Macy’s, saks Fifth avenue, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom and Gap inc.

Rev. al sharpton; scott M. stringer, Manhattan Borough president; Marc H. Morial, chief executive officer of the National Urban League; alphonso david, deputy secretary for civil rights for Governor andrew cuomo; donna Lieberman, executive di-rector of the New York civil Liberties Union; Hazel dukes, president of the NaacP New York state conference, and kirsten John Foy, president of the Brooklyn chapter of the National action Network, also participated in the forum.

organized by the Retail council of New York state and the New York Metropolitan Retailing association, the meeting was a result of recent allegations of racial profiling against Macy’s and Barneys. These “shop and frisk” incidents have led to an investigation by New York attorney General Eric T. schneiderman, and lawsuits filed against Macy’s, Barneys, the city and the New York Police department.

Mark Lee, ceo of Barneys, attended the meet-ing with Marc Perlowitz, general counsel; Tony Mauro, executive vice president, store operations, and charlotte Blechman, executive vice presi-dent, marketing and communications. The Macy’s team consisted of John Harper, president of stores; Edward Jay Goldberg, senior vice president of gov-ernment and consumer affairs; Bill Hawthorne, se-nior vice president of diversity strategies and legal affairs, and two other public affairs executives. Two vice presidents of loss prevention attended from Neiman Marcus Group, and two senior vice presi-dents from Hudson’s Bay co., representing saks and Lord & Taylor, one over stores and the other over asset protection and operations, attended.

according to a statement from Macy’s, “we were very happy to have had a seat and voice at today’s meeting. it was an important step in openly and honestly discussing loss prevention in the industry and policies for retail establishments, large and small. The forum accomplished its goal of bringing together many key players in the retail community to the table, and starting a healthy dialogue with

community leaders.“we commend the leadership role by the Retail

council of New York state and the New York Metropolitan Retailing association in steering the discussions to move forward and emerge collective-ly with agreed-upon actionable plans. Macy’s looks forward to being an active participant in the ongo-ing discussions so that we mutually identify and adopt best practices for the industry while main-taining a pleasant shopping experience for all cus-tomers,” according to Macy’s.

National action Network’s Foy termed the meet-ing, which was closed to the press, “productive, honest and candid.”

“it’s just the start of a dialogue, and we’re form-ing a task force which will be charged with work-ing on industry-wide policies and standards,” said Foy. The task force is set to have its first meeting on Monday. “There are things retailers can do to fur-ther engage the communities of color, which their customer base is about,” he said. He noted that there were about a dozen retailers in attendance and “everyone acknowledged there are issues that have to be dealt with, sooner, rather than later.”

The NYcLU’s Lieberman added: “it was good to have the retailers and civil rights leaders sitting around the table together with a shared commit-ment to figure out how to really put an end to racial profiling. There’s hard work to do. The missing link is the New York Police department. They’re miss-ing in action.” she added that the task force will set its agenda and start to move forward, but she is concerned about how forthcoming the retailers will be about their relationship with the NYPd.

“This is an important time for business in our city,” said stringer upon arrival at the meeting. “we want people of all backgrounds to come into our retail stores and have a very positive experi-ence. This [the meeting] is not about a dog and pony show. it’s about creating a real dialogue.”

sanford Moore, a community activist, said, during the meeting they decided to create various committees such as those for community reinvestment and econom-ic development; improving protocols for racial profil-ing, and security training. He questioned during the meeting why pension funds purchase shares in com-panies that are inhospitable to black citizens. “scott stringer said he wanted to explore that,” said Moore.

“i must commend Rev. sharpton. He’s trying to take a constructive yet critical approach. if they don’t do the right thing, he may take another ap-proach. i think something positive will come out of it,” said Moore.

By Vicki M. YoUNG

NEw YoRk — Vince is now a $1 billion brand.

That is the valuation the stock market gave the contemporary brand Friday as it became the first U.s. apparel firm to go public since Michael kors Holdings Ltd. in december 2011. Vince’s initial public offering raised $200 million.

The brand late Thursday night priced 10 million shares at $20 each, higher than the original expected range of $17 to $19 a share. on Friday morning the shares surged 47 percent to $29.50 at the open of trading. The shares climbed as high as $30.48 before settling back to the $28 trading range for the day. Vince shares closed at $28.66.

Private equity firm sun capital Partners picked up its owner-ship of Vince when it acquired kellwood co. in 2008, which al-ready had the brand under its umbrella. Following the iPo, sun still retains a 68.1 percent stake, or 24.7 million shares, in Vince.

although the opening bell at the New York stock Exchange trading floor was at 9:30 a.m., it took nearly an hour before Vince shares actually traded on the Big Board as brokers were trying to find the proper opening point. during that waiting period, the

expected range kept rising, first to $24 to $26, and then to between $28 and $30. when the range finally narrowed to between $29 and $30, excitement began to rise among the Vince management team as NYsE officials said the shares were getting close to their debut. That drew a thumbs-up from Vince chief executive officer Jill Granoff.

Granoff said afterward that the shares priced at $20 because of significant interest in the stock from investors during the just-completed, two-week road show. as for her thoughts during that nearly one-hour wait, Granoff said, “Lisa kept saying, ‘it’s going to go up.’ i’ve run a public com-pany, but i’ve never taken one public. it was exciting to see the price going up.”

Lisa klinger became Vince’s chief financial officer in december 2012, and earned high marks for her handling of The Fresh Market inc.’s 2010 stock market listing, where she was cfo. she and karin Gregersen, president and chief creative officer, were also on the trading floor Friday.

The public listing marked the end of a yearlong process for Vince. There was one hiccup when the federal government shut down on oct. 1. “i didn’t know if the securities and Exchange commission would be able to ap-prove our s-1 filings. That was a

nail biter,” Granoff said.Now the task is to build out

Vince’s business. according to Granoff, the vision to optimize growth for Vince across each channel of distribution includes “evolving the brand from a U.s. wholesale business to a global, dual-gender lifestyle brand.”

The apparel mix is still domi-nated by women’s at 85 percent and men’s at just 15 percent. categories outside of apparel in-clude footwear. Gregersen noted that accessories, such as hand-bags and small leather goods, are set to launch in 2015. and there’s the store expansion ahead, with a goal of 100 freestanding stores in the U.s., up from the current store count of 27, according to klinger. The company is planning seven to eight store openings a year over the next 10 years.

klinger said the company will file its first quarterly filing as a public firm with the sEc in mid-december, but won’t hold a con-ference call until March, when it reports fourth-quarter and year-end results.

on WWD.CoM

the Briefing Boxin Today’s WWd

As Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s time in office winds down, he talks about the important role the fashion industry has played in New York’s vitality. PAGE 1 The fashion industry is stepping up efforts to aid victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. PAGE 8 New shoes, novelty styles and appealing store sets overall — powered Ann Inc. through a strong third quarter and has raised prospects for healthy holiday gains. PAGE 8 Italian Luxury brand Moncler SpA received the green light from the Italian Stock Exchange to move forward with its public listing. PAGE 9 The U.S. and Bangladesh are set to sign a Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement today said to aid the countries in trade and investment discussions. PAGE 9 Investments in technology and stores lifted Belk Inc.’s third-quarter sales while chipping away at its profits. PAGE 9 Public offering documents for Time Inc. didn’t provide a valuation for the publisher or a timing of its spin-off from Time Warner, but did reveal salaries of key executives. PAGE 9 Naomie Harris divulged details of “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” and what it was like to play the character of Nelson Mandela’s wife Winnie. PAGE 10 Pierre Cardin plans to mark the 60th anniversary of his first fashion show by parading a high-fashion collection at Maxim’s on Tuesday. PAGE 11 Pirelli provided a jolt of glamour and star power to Milan as it presented its calendar for 2014. PAGE 12 Destination XL Group Inc. reported a broader loss for the third quarter, but saw strong response to its growing fleet of DXL big and tall superstores. PAGE 12

Lydia Fenet at the American Museum of Natural History gala.

EYE: Karlie Kloss and SNL veterans Tina Fey and Seth Meyers were among attendees at the American Museum of Natural History gala. For more, see page 10 and WWD.com.

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Vince IPO Raises $200M

image in PAGE TWO folder to be scanned - from the AMNH gala -

Lydia Fenet

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Vince IPO Raises $200M

Vince shares closed at $28.66 on Friday.

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WHERE TITANS OF INDUSTRY TALKFeaturing videos from each event, Fairchild Summits On-Demand offers you the opportunity to watch as the

titans of industry inform, inspire, and offer valuable insight for navigating the ever-changing business landscape.

4 WWD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Bloomberg’s presence at the huddle and his lobbying to move fashion week to the Culture Shed — to which he has dedi-cated $50 million in city funds — were emblematic of the cozy relationship he has cultivated with certain factions of the fashion industry during his time as mayor. More broadly, through the city’s Economic Development Corporation, he has launched numerous initiatives to boost the fashion sector and he’s been front-and-center at countless industry events over the years, from kicking off the very first Fashion’s Night Out in a Queens mall with Michael Kors to rubbing el-bows with Miley Cyrus at Fashion Group International’s most recent Night of Stars.

“Oscar de la Renta — who campaigned for me in the Dominican community three times in a row — he was at my house last night. He and his wife are very close per-sonal friends,” recounted Bloomberg in a valedictory interview with WWD. “I have lots of friends in the fashion business. The guy who just retired from running Saks, Steve Sadove, is a really good guy. Terry Lundgren and his wife [Tina] are golfing partners of my girlfriend [Diana Taylor] and I. We will sit with them at the [Macy’s Thanksgiving Day] parade. But the night before, we will [see] all the balloons and then we always go out together to dinner and he brings his daughters along and I bring my daughters.”

As he talked, Bloomberg nibbled on what looked like potato chips that he had placed neatly in a small mound on a drab conference table, which was situated on a small stage overlooking his open-plan “bullpen” at City Hall. The mayor, with an estimated fortune of $31 billion, works here in a cramped cubicle amongst his top lieutenants, including all the deputy mayors of New York. An aide later in-sisted the alleged potato chips must have been some kind of healthy snack — no doubt without saturated fats.

Bloomberg’s embrace of the fashion in-dustry is predicated on the personal and practical, economic and aesthetic, he ex-plained. “Fashion has a number of things. One, there’s a business answer: $72 bil-lion worth of [wholesale] business, it gen-erates a couple of billion dollars worth of tax revenue, employs 180,000 people in the city,” rattled off the mayor. “Then there is the psychological contribution. People want to be in fashion. Not work-ing in it, but to be au courant, if you will. They take great pride in it. They envision themselves. You see yourself in a wom-an’s magazine and you think that if you bought that dress you’ll look like her. No you won’t, I hate to break that to you, but nevertheless. So I think the fashion indus-try’s contribution — everyone focuses on the economics — but to me it has always been more that it provides the pizzazz and interest [to a city]. It’s like cultural institu-tions and parks — these are all things that differentiate a city from cement. And the fashion industry has done that. Fashion is

an expression of culture.”In at least that respect, even Paris has

nothing on New York, in Bloomberg’s esti-mation. “We have 900 fashion houses here. Double the number of Paris,” he boasted — and that fashionable sheen to the hustle and bustle of New York is what attracts all sorts of people to this megalopolis, and keeps them here. “If we are ahead in fash-ion, that’s going to get a bunch of people to move here and stay here and who will then contribute in whatever their specialties are, whether it’s philanthropists that help or doctors who treat or businesspeople that create jobs or publishers that inform. It all fits together.”

Fashion is a crucial element in the life of the city, enmeshed with, and com-plementing, the worlds of finance, media, technology and diplomacy. Together they create the seductive complexion of New York that beckons strivers the world over. “In each of these industries, New York has some real advantages — scale. And if you are ahead in one, you help the oth-ers,” observed Bloomberg. “If intellec-tual capital is what your business needs

to survive, or what turns you on in terms of day-to-day living, then New York is where you want to be. We aren’t the low-est-priced place, we aren’t the place with the greatest space, we aren’t the place that has the least regulation. But if you need the best and the brightest to work in your business, or to be your friends and neighbors, this is where it is.”

As the founder and former chief execu-tive officer of the money-minting financial information firm Bloomberg LP, the mayor is especially sympathetic and attuned to the entrepreneurial spirit, said observ-ers. Under his administration, New York has made a concerted effort to support new fashion businesses and attract tal-ent here. In 2010, the city’s EDC launched an initiative under the banner “Fashion NYC 2020.” The effort includes a number of separate programs, with various part-ners, aimed at fostering fashion talent, in both design and management, and jump-starting independent fashion firms.

“The Economic Development Corporation, they deserve the real credit for all the economic stuff, reducing the impediments to get going and finding out

how to get through the permitting process if you want to do a store — or connecting you to other people,” said Bloomberg of the city agency’s initiatives.

For example, the EDC’s “Fashion Campus” program, in partnership with Parsons The New School for Design, has drawn more than 550 participants to its educational forums over the past three years. In the “Fashion Draft” program, also operated with Parsons, 46 students have been selected from more than 500 applicants in the past two years to partic-ipate in high-level coaching through the recruitment process with leading New York-based fashion and retail companies.

Other components of Fashion NYC 2020 include the “Fashion Fellows” mentorship program for young professionals; “Design Entrepreneurs NYC,” which is a mini-MBA boot camp for independent fashion firms, and “Project Pop-Up,” a series of in-novative, temporary retail concepts.

The EDC is close to unveiling a part-nership with a financial firm that will launch its NYC Fashion Production Fund by the end of the year, said Eric Johnson,

director of the EDC’s fashion and arts division. Seeded with $1 million from the EDC, matched by another $1 million from the corporate partner, the Fashion Production Fund will make loans of $50,000 to $300,000 to small designers to help cover the costs of fulfilling produc-tion orders. Those orders must be made by New York-based facilities, with the aim of growing young design businesses as well as the manufacturing base in the city.

“Especially under this administra-tion, we have worked to come up with programs that aren’t just one-off fixes but rather an holistic, forward-looking strategy to help the fashion industry,” said Johnson.

Nurturing New York apparel mak-ers is also the goal of the new Fashion Manufacturing Initiative, which was launched by the EDC and the CFDA in September. Spearheaded by Theory’s Rosen and with financial support from Ralph Lauren, Rag & Bone and Rue La La, the program will offer matching grants to factories that invest in upgrad-ed equipment, new technology and work-er training with the goal of modernizing

New York’s production capabilities.Additionally, the EDC is a partner

with the CFDA in its Fashion Incubator program, which gives young designers a subsidized space to work from and pro-fessional development for two years to help grow their businesses. Bloomberg himself has visited the Incubator space in the Garment District.

For a former Republican and now Independent, Bloomberg has been large-ly protective of the zoning and regula-tions that protect apparel and acces-sories manufacturing in the “Special Garment Center District” on the West Side of Manhattan — although some ob-servers say enforcement has been lax for area landlords that try to skirt the rules in order to bring in nonmanufacturing tenants. At one point, Bloomberg and the city considered amending the zoning laws, which led to protests in 2009 and 2010, with designers like Elie Tahari, Nanette Lepore and Yeohlee Teng taking to the streets along with public officials and garment workers. In the end, the city backed off and kept the laws, which date back to 1987, in place.

“You can’t just let unfettered capital-ism decide who is going to use a piece of land. There are other things that you want to somehow or other include in it,” explained Bloomberg of his approach to zoning regulations. “If you don’t, you will not have certain industries here. Those seamstresses make Oscar de la Renta able to manufacture here and to be the fashion guru and to work with his cus-tomers. And if you didn’t, you’d start to see other places do that.”

He illustrated the point via his own wardrobe, opening his suit jacket to show off the label of Brooklyn’s own Martin Greenfield tailors, which operates in a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Bushwick that dates back more than 100 years. (It was previously the William P. Goldman suit company before Greenfield bought it in 1977 and changed the name.)

“I’ll tell you a great story,” said Bloomberg. “I get all my suits from [this] tailor in Brooklyn. Every suit. And they’re cheaper than Paul Stuart, where I used to get my clothing. [Bill] Clinton, Ray Kelly, Colin Powell, myself, Barack Obama, all get their suits there. You can get a cheaper suit, but my suits are all 10 years old. They last forever. I was out there the other day to get a new sport jacket and I come outside — and this is in a dumpy warehouse part of Brooklyn — and there’s a juice bar across the street and another fancy place. The whole neighborhood is changing. Now, someday someone’s going to come along and want to rip down that building. [Martin Greenfield] is going to have to have a loft building to make his clothing in. We want to protect that.”

In fact, Greenfield and his sons, Jay and Tod, own the manufacturing facility so they’re safe from the threat of gentri-fication that could potentially squeeze

Bloomberg: Man of Fashion

Fashion and the Mayor

s 2003: With Oscar de la Renta at the CFDA Awards.

s 2009: Unveiling Giorgio Armani’s Fifth Avenue flagship with Caroline Kennedy, Joel Klein and the designer.

t 2005: With Anna Wintour at the New Yorkers For Children benefit.

s 2006: Greeting Ralph Lauren after the designer’s fall men’s wear show.

t 2007: With Terry Lundgren at the annual Parsons benefit and fashion show.

t 2009: Kicking off Fashion’s Night Out at Macy’s.

{Continued from page one}

Mayor Bloomberg has launched numerous initiatives to boost the fashion sector and he’s been front-and-center at

countless industry events over the years, from kicking off the very first Fashion’s Night Out

in a Queens mall with Michael Kors to rubbing elbows with Miley Cyrus.

By DAVID LIPKE

LAST WEDNESDAY MORNING, a small clique of New York’s reigning power players gathered in the Meatpacking District offices of Diane von Furstenberg for the type of breakfast meeting that shapes cities, literally and figuratively. Terry J. Lundgren of Macy’s and Lew Frankfort of Coach were there, along with Andrew Rosen of Theory, Vera Wang, Anna Wintour, Hearst Magazine’s Michael Clinton and the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Steven Kolb.

Presiding over the elegant little conclave was New York’s head macher-in-charge — at least for the next 37 days, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He had brought along his cultural affairs commissioner, Kate Levin, as well as Daniel Doctoroff, ceo of Bloomberg LP.

The high-powered powwow was engineered to discuss plans — and build support — for the Culture Shed, the ballyhooed arts center that is meant to be-come the new home of New York Fashion Week once it’s completed around 2017. The striking structure will serve as an anchor of the ambitious Hudson Yards development on the West Side of Manhattan, currently under construction and set to become a marquee capstone of Bloomberg’s 12-year tenure at City Hall, which comes to a close next month.

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them out. The family employs 120 people there. “If we had to pay rent to be here, it would be a huge problem,” said Jay Greenfield. “It’s hugely important to have industry in the city. Job creation is key. It can’t all be real estate. Someone has to have a job and earn a living and pay taxes and raise children to make a city work.”

Nanette Lepore, who is execu-tive director of the Save the Garment Center trade association, applauded Bloomberg’s stance — even if he wasn’t always so amenable to the group’s con-cerns earlier in his administration. “It took a little while to get his attention. We did have to do a couple of rallies. But it feels like he gets it now,” said the design-er. “I do think he backed off the initial intention to develop the area into more commercial businesses.”

There are limits to what can be made in high-cost New York and it’s ad-vanced production that Bloomberg be-lieves is the most effective use of space here — hence efforts like the EDC and the CFDA’s Fashion Manufacturing Initiative. “If you were going to make 100,000 white T-shirts, you’re probably not going to do it in New York City,” said Bloomberg. “As a matter of fact, you’re probably not going to do it where you would have done it four or five years ago because that’s a business where low price is everything.…In places that compete on price, you always will find somebody who is willing to do it at a lower price. And you see that in China, things moving from there to Bangladesh and Indonesia. There will always be someone hungrier. But what New York brings is a quality. If you said to Oscar [de la Renta], ‘Do you sew things here or in Bangladesh?’ It isn’t even close. He wants to be where he can see the work. He wants to be where his customers can interact with the people that produce, the seamstresses. And he wants people who understand the diversity of New York and of the world.”

It’s that diversity, long one of the city’s most evident calling cards, which is an asset to multinational companies of all stripes, in Bloomberg’s view. “I’ve al-ways thought that New York will do phe-nomenally well in I.T. because if you are going to build an iPhone and want to sell it around the world, you’ve got to know about people around the world,” he rea-soned. He added a jab at the city’s cross-continental rival. “If you live in Silicon Valley, you don’t. It’s a great place — you play golf, lift weights, ride bicycles. And if every girl that you date is named Siri and that’s OK with you, then it’s OK. But it’s [New York’s] diversity that has built the fashion industry and everything else.”

Bloomberg takes great satisfaction touting New York’s standing as the safest big city in America. According to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics, he’s right — New York has the lowest per cap-ita rate of violent and property crimes in the country. That fact is a big part of the Bloomberg legacy, although it comes with a price — namely the controversial stop-and-frisk policy that critics and at least one court have found amounts to illegal racial profiling of minority men. On Friday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal denied a city motion to suspend

Fashion and the Mayor

s 2009: Unveiling Giorgio Armani’s Fifth Avenue flagship with Caroline Kennedy, Joel Klein and the designer.

s 2010: With Diana Taylor at the Met’s Costume Institute gala.

t

2012: Kisses from Diane von Furstenberg at a Fashion for Sandy Relief fund-raiser.

s 2013: With Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Kenneth Cole at amfAR’s New York Gala.

t 2009: Kicking off Fashion’s Night Out at Macy’s. t 2013: With Tilda Swinton at MoMA’s Film Benefit, hosted by Chanel.

’’

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{Continued on page 6}

People want to be in fashion. Not working in it, but

to be au courant, if you will. They take

great pride in it.

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WWD.COM6 WWD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

the lower-court ruling that the stop-and-frisk policy has been conducted in a dis-criminatory and unconstitutional manner.

It’s possible to see loose parallels to the stop-and-frisk controversy and the current firestorm surrounding Barneys New York and Macy’s. Two separate black customers have alleged they were stopped and questioned by police offi-cers after making big-ticket purchases at Barneys’ Madison Avenue flagship. Barneys has denied that any of its em-ployees were involved in the incidents. The NYPD has disputed that assertion, claiming the stops were made after Barneys employees raised suspicions about the purchases.

Asked about the cases, Bloomberg couldn’t resist the chance to defend the stop-and-frisk policy — and was gener-ally sympathetic to the plight of retailers fighting theft. “In the case of stop-and-frisk, the judge [Shira Scheindlin, who was removed last month from the case by the federal appeals court] keeps thinking that we should stop people in proportion to their representation in the popula-tion. By that argument, you would stop a bunch of little old ladies, which we don’t. We’re not going to find many guns with little old ladies. In stop-and-frisk, we do what we think the law allows.…We stop people if they act suspicious — and there is a definition that’s been vetted by the courts — or if they fit the description of a perp,” said Bloomberg.

“Now in the case of Barneys, I have no idea what really happened. All of these stores have a very big problem with theft. You look at clothing in stores, they have these tags you can’t take off which would buzz if you walk out the door. I don’t know much about the retail clothing business but I think it is a very big problem.”

Bloomberg sees his focus on safety and crime as having had a direct impact on the retail climate in the city. “If you make the streets safe, then people come out on the streets. If they come out on the streets, then you can have a store that people can walk into. It all feeds to-gether,” he said. “It’s interesting, when I ask Diane [von Furstenberg] or Oscar or Barry Diller or Ralph Lauren — he is a very old, personal friend — it’s not about fashion, it’s more about business. What’s the economy doing?”

Bloomberg gave his old friend Lauren’s business a boost when he handed the designer the keys to the city on the occa-sion of the opening of Lauren’s palatial Madison Avenue women’s flagship in 2010. “When we opened the doors of our new store on the corner of Madison and 72nd, the mayor was there not only to celebrate that accomplishment, but in a bigger sense to show his support and pride for our city’s all-important fashion industry,” recounted Lauren. “As someone who was raised in New York and having spent my whole life here, I’ve always felt that Mayor Bloomberg was looking out for all of us and for the good of the city. As a leader, he has maintained an openness, a receptivity to ideas and an accessibility that is rare.”

Macy’s Lundgren was emphatic that a continued focus on crime and safety by Bloomberg’s successor is of paramount concern for him and his colleagues on the Partnership for New York City, the influential organization of ceo’s that he cochairs. “The number-one thing that the Mayor-elect [Bill De Blasio] should indeed focus on is safety in our city. That is so in-credibly important,” said Lundgren. “We never can take for granted that this is a city that has been under attack, it is a city that once had significant violent crime and today this is considered the safest large city in America. And we should never take that for granted and know that it requires strong leadership from the mayor and the police commissioner. So, however that gets done in the next administration, I’m just counting on that being an extremely high priority for Mayor De Blasio.”

Von Furstenberg and Kolb, the presi-dent and the ceo of the CFDA, respec-tively, have yet to meet with De Blasio. “I can’t wait to meet him. Bloomberg has set an incredible example,” said von Furstenberg. “The most incredible thing is that the mayor was always available to any conversation. He knows how impor-tant an industry we are to the city. All we really need to know is that [De Blasio] will recognize how valuable we are.”

De Blasio has stayed mostly under the radar since his election victory and of the 60 prominent New Yorkers appointed to his official transition committee, just one comes from the fashion world: Kevin Ryan, founder and chairman of Gilt.

As could be expected of a close friend and frequent dinner companion of the mayor’s, de la Renta was effusive in his praise of Bloomberg. “I remember when I came to New York, when I was afraid of leaving my office at 550 Seventh Avenue. I was afraid that people would come and break the glass of my car. All of that has disappeared from the city,” said de la Renta, speaking by phone from his home in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

“The whole city should be in mourn-ing about the fact that Mayor Bloomberg is leaving. He is, by far, the best mayor the city has ever had. What Mayor Bloomberg created for the people in this city and the legacy he has left behind is extraordi-nary. Today, New York City is, by far, the capital of the world and we owe that to the work of all of us, but mainly to Mayor Bloomberg,” gushed de la Renta.

The designer and his wife, Annette, along with von Furstenberg and husband Diller, are planning a glitzy celebratory dinner for Bloomberg in early December. “It’s not a farewell dinner. It’s a thank you dinner,” insisted von Furstenberg.

De la Renta reminisced about the many meals he and his wife have en-joyed with the mayor and Diana Taylor over the years. “At least a couple of times a month, we will have dinner quietly. Never, ever in a fancy restaurant. Always in all parts of the city. We’ve had rice and beans in Washington Heights,” recalled the designer. “He was so proud because so many people would come up to him and say, ‘Mayor Bloomberg we are so proud of you.’”

During de la Renta’s long bout with cancer — he is in remission now, he said — and extended hospitalizations over the past years, Bloomberg was a constant source of comfort. “When you are not well, you realize who your friends are and who are those people who are not your friends,” said de la Renta. “Mayor Bloomberg called me on the telephone at Memorial [Sloan-Kettering] hospital almost every single day and came to see me in the hospital almost twice a week. That is called loving friendship.”

Wintour has built a fruitful relation-ship with Bloomberg over the years. A decade ago, the mayor hosted a dinner at his house for the launch of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, for example. More recently, he was a key supporter of the Vogue-sponsored Fashion’s Night Out pro-

gramming that ran from 2009 to 2012. The CFDA recognized Bloomberg’s contribu-tions to the fashion industry in 2008 with a Board of Directors’ Special Tribute, the only mayor to ever receive that award.

“He’s been an incredible partner and he’s really understood what a huge part of the New York economy the fashion busi-ness is and every time one reached out to him, whether personally or through the auspices of the CFDA, he totally has stepped up to the plate,” said Wintour. “He realizes that fashion is the heartbeat of this city and it’s been an extraordinary experience working with him.”

Bloomberg returned Wintour’s senti-ments, praising the Vogue editor in chief and Condé Nast artistic director’s lead-ership in the industry and its related philanthropic efforts. He said Fashion’s Night Out helped revitalize the city fol-lowing the 2008 recession — although he added it had lost much of its mojo by the time it went on “hiatus” this year.

“You have to give some credit to Anna Wintour.…She’s very smart and she’s done a good job,” he said. “They started this Fashion’s Night Out. Each of these things, they run their course, they be-come blasé. Everybody else starts doing it. And that’s when you got to learn, drop it and do the next thing.”

While discussing Wintour, Bloomberg made a point of singling out one of her editor peers. “Joanna Coles, who runs Cosmo, is a dynamo. She is the future of fashion,” he enthused, unprompted. “She’s got a pizazz about her and an edge that is exactly what you need in that busi-ness. I’m a big fan.”

Bloomberg is less of a fan of youthful, experimental fashion — the city’s efforts to aid emerging designers notwithstand-ing. “You have all these new fashion peo-ple that you and I have never heard of, doing things that I don’t like. I don’t think they are real fashion,” he scoffed, prof-fering his preference for Establishment labels like Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera and Ralph Lauren. “But that’s what our parents said about our stuff and what these people will say about the next generation,” he allowed philosophically.

What does he hope people will say about his three-term mayoralty? On the topic of his legacy, Bloomberg laid out a manifold response, encompassing a range of achievements.

“Life expectancy in New York City today is two-and-a-half years greater than the national average and three years greater than when I came in. And if that isn’t an accomplishment for our ad-ministration, of making 8.4 million peo-ple live three years longer, then I don’t know what is,” said Bloomberg. “That [increase] includes fighting crime, that includes faster response times with am-bulances and fire trucks and police cars. That includes the smoking ban and get-ting rid of trans fats and ratings of res-taurants, it’s all of that.”

While it’s unlikely that restaurant rat-ings have had a huge impact on life expec-tancy, it’s true newborn New Yorkers now live an average of 80.9 years, compared to the national average of 78.7 years.

“The second thing I would say is educa-tion. We’ve made an enormous difference in education — hopefully it doesn’t get rolled back,” continued Bloomberg. “But today, minority kids, 70 percent more are graduating than did when we came into of-fice. Crime in schools has gone away. When I came into office, not one of the 25 best schools in New York State were in New York City. This year, 22 out of 25 [elementa-ry and middle schools, ranked by standard-ized tests] were in New York City.

“And the third thing is, honesty in government — nobody has ever thought they could bribe their way in,” concluded Bloomberg. “We do whatever we think is right. You can question whether that is what’s right. But nobody questions the motives. And I think it showed a new way of bringing people in, where you attract great people. You delegate and you give them the authority to go along with re-sponsibility, which is the real key to man-agement. And the results are there.”

Fashion and the Mayor

’’’’

{Continued from page 5}

If intellectual capital is what your business needs to survive, or what turns you on in terms of day-to-day living, then

New York is where you want to be.

For more images, see

WWD.com/fashion-news.

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8 WWD monday, november 25, 2013

8: Ann Inc. (stat if needed); Typhoon (2 pics)

By DaviD Moin

HavinG THE RiGHT STUFF — new shoes, novelty styles and appealing store sets overall — powered ann inc. through a strong third quarter and has raised prospects for healthy holiday gains.

“Things that we offer that are unex-pected and really emotional — that’s what customers are responding to,” Kay Krill, ann inc.’s president and chief ex-ecutive officer, told WWD. “it’s continu-ing into the fourth quarter.”

For the three months ended nov. 2, ann posted net income of $41.2 million, or 89 cents a diluted share, which was 1.1 percent above the $40.7 million, or 84 cents, recorded in the third quarter of 2012. analysts had expected earnings per share of 86 cents in the quarter.

also beating estimates were sales, which in the quarter rose 7.3 percent to $657.5 mil-lion, from $612.5 million a year ago. Sales rose 3.7 percent on a comparable basis.

Revenues at Loft were up 11 percent, to $408.4 million, and at ann Taylor were

ahead 1.9 percent to $249.2 million. Loft comps excelled, rising 5.6 percent, with 6.3 percent growth at Loft stores and Web site, and 1.8 percent growth in the outlets.

at ann Taylor, comps were up 0.6 per-cent, with a 4.4 percent increase at stores and online, which was offset by a 6.9 per-cent decline at outlets.

in fourth-quarter guidance, the firm projected sales of $640 million, below Wall Street’s expectation, with comps up in the midsingle digits.

Displaying confidence that the compa-ny’s performance will transcend the highly competitive, promotional and uncertain retail market, Krill said the “goal is to gain share in the fourth quarter in both brands.”

“We have a planned promotional strat-egy this year that’s more proactive than reactive. We have a strong marketing strategy and strong promotional strategy and we are more balanced in color and novelty and emotional pieces.”

Krill said holiday shopping “might be starting earlier” and that ann inc. is “al-ready off to a strong start” in the fourth quarter. “We are marketing those holi-

day products for sure. You will see us get more and more into the gifting aspect around Thanksgiving and going forward.”

For the longer term, Krill cited four key strategic initiatives: becoming more om-nichannel oriented; continuing to update the ann Taylor store fleet with 80 percent seen done by yearend; increased personal-ization and CRM, or customer relationship management, and international growth.

Krill said the omni strategy launched a year ago when the company started shipping online orders from store in-ventories to better meet demand. By late 2014 or early 2015, the company hopes to be able to ship items requested by cus-tomers in the stores but not available on premises from the online inventory.

online sales are increasing at a double-digit rate and are boosted by online exclu-sives at both brands, including additional colors, extended sizes, petites, wedding and event dressing, Krill said.

With international, “our expansion into Canada has continued to be a home run. our stores are experiencing out-standing results and we look forward to

continued expansion in this market,” where there are currently six Lofts and four ann Taylor units. “The game plan is to have 35 Lofts and 15 ann Taylor stores,” Krill said. in a conference call, franchising was cited as a possibility to further the international strategy. “We are absolutely looking at that right now,” Krill said. “More to come on our March call.”

although there are six fewer shop-ping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, “i think the custom-er goes into the season with a set amount to buy gifts,” Krill observed. “We are hopeful that having six fewer days won’t mean she is not going to shop that much.”

The only downside last quarter was the outlet business, which did not meet expec-tations due to weak traffic and fall prod-ucts, “a little heavier in nature,” that did not sell well.

ann inc.’s inventory was up 8 percent at the end of the third quarter, consistent with the industry trend of increased inventories. But Krill said 90 percent of the inventory entering the fourth quarter is fresh, and that the increase reflects a change in timing merchandise receipts. Loft is seen as less promotional in the fourth quarter, while ann Taylor will be more so. — With contributions by Arnold J. KArr

Fashion Industry Increases Haiyan Relief Efforts

New and Unexpected Items Power Ann Inc.

By KaRYn MonGET and BaMBina WiSE

THE FaSHion inDUSTRY is stepping up efforts to aid victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

a key manufacturing area for ap-parel, innerwear, accessories and lace and embroideries, the death toll in the Philippines rose to 5,209 and the number of injured was at 23,404 as of Friday. Some 1,582 are still missing, according to the Philippine news agency.

among the champions in raising much-needed donations for typhoon victims is Josie natori, chief executive officer of natori Co., who is galvanizing individuals and companies to aid people and areas impacted by the devastation in her native country. natori, who was in Manila a few days after the typhoon hit, has been working closely with the Philippine fashion industry as well as Dick Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross. Her initiative through a link on natori.com has helped bolster dona-tions for relief efforts to charities that in-clude UniCEF, Doctors Without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, World vision, Save the Children, international Rescue Committee and the american Red Cross.

“The Rockefeller Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund have do-nated $250,000, and Philip Morris international along with their partner in the Philippines, the Tan Yan Kee Foundation, has pledged $2.5 million over the next three years,” said natori.

“it’s been a real humbling thing to see…the images on Tv were horrendous.…But it’s really heartwarming to see how many people from around the world are help-ing relief efforts. Even the Japanese have brought in tents that look like hospitals with updated technology, and doctors are coming in from Europe, as well as local doctors from all over the Philippines.

“But it’s going to be a long haul, and when the news dies down, we have to keep things going,” said natori, who will be attending a one-night benefit concert this evening titled “Here Lies Love,” a musical based on the life of flamboyant former First Lady of the Philippines imelda Marcos. all proceeds from the event will go to Doctors Without Borders.

Former Talking Heads front man David Byrne is reviving the acclaimed musical he cowrote with Fatboy Slim, which com-pleted a successful Broadway run in July. in a statement, Byrne said the event “is about the resiliency of the Filipino people — it couldn’t be more timely. Upon hearing about this tragedy, the cast contacted me

about doing a show to raise money. Most of our cast is Filipino, and all of us feel the same way. it’s personal for all of us.”

natori noted that she has embarked on two other initiatives to bolster aid to typhoon victims: an open letter to be published in the January issue of Departures magazine, and a collabora-tion with Colin McDowell, a former fash-ion critic for the London Sunday Times and founder of Fashion Fringe, on an initiative that supports young designers.

a number of major U.S. compa-nies have joined the fund-raising cause, including Macy’s inc., which pledged $50,000, as well as oscar de la Renta, Saks Fifth avenue, Dillard’s inc., Barneys new York, nordstrom inc., neiman Marcus Group, Charming Shoppes inc., Lane Bryant, Gilt, Tianhai Lace and Rustan’s of Manila. Personal donations have been made by Stephen i. and Karin Sadove, Ron and Georgia Frasch and employees of the natori Co.

others in the fashion industry are also raising funds.

The roster — which is growing by the day — includes the Council of Fashion Designers of america, Fashion Girls for Humanity, the Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation, Jones, Kids in Distressed Situations, Fashion Delivers, Kara Ross new York and Hanesbrands inc.

Steven Kolb, ceo of the CFDa, said the organization has “committed to supporting Fashion Girls for Humanity’s ‘Fashion for the Philippines’ auction on Charitybuzz.com.” The auction will be staged in tan-dem with the charity’s cofounders Julie Gilhart, Kikka Hanazawa, Miki Higasa and Tomoko ogura. Fashion Girls for Humanity, formerly Fashion Girls for Japan, was founded in the wake of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Details of “Fashion for the Philippines” auction had not been finalized at press time.

Regarding other charitable efforts from the fashion industry, Kolb said the Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation made a direct donation on behalf of all Ralph Lauren employees to the american Red Cross spe-cifically for the Typhoon appeal Fund, and in addition, will match employee contribu-tions on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

He further noted that Kara Ross began working with a group of artisans in the Philippines on woven handbags and her company will be donating 25 percent of the retail price of each bag to organizations that are coordinating relief efforts. The handbags, which include clutches and day bags, are priced from $670 to $1,170, and will be sold exclusively at kararossny.com.

K.i.D.S. and Fashion Delivers have collected $6.3 million in product dona-tions since the two charities — which are expected to merge in December — sent out an e-mail blast to manufacturers and retailers a week ago, said Denise Durham Williams, president of K.i.D.S. Key items are T-shirts, jeans, underwear, socks, rub-ber-soled shoes, blankets and towels.

“We are not first responders.…But operation Compassion, which has a wide network throughout the Philippines with 600 churches and parishes, got clearance through the Philippine government, so we are part-nering with them,” explained Williams.

Donations have been made by aéropostale, Jones, Dakota Grizzly, Balboa Baby, Evy of California, Kissy Kissy, Shirise, University Co-operative Society, orbit 7, a Head and Tharanco Lifestyles, a donation of Dunning Golfwear.

“it will be a six- to eight-week process for the goods being donated, from the consolidation to containment, and then shipping. it was a very successful process for us with Haiti after the earthquake, where we sent between $35 million and

$40 million in goods,” said allan Ellinger, chairman of Fashion Delivers. “operation Compassion has agreed to handle freight and shipping costs from the U.S. to the Philippines — that’s very expensive.”

Ex-pats of the Philippines in Manhattan are also pitching in.

Custom rug and textile designer inigo Elizalde launched a special sample sale in his studio offering a selection of signa-ture embroidered throw pillow covers, all hand-made in the Philippines. Suggested retail is $75 to $100. all proceeds will go to the Philippine Red Cross, said Elizalde.

in the global manufacturing arena, Matt Hall, chief communications officer for Hanesbrands, said donations to vic-tims of natural disasters has long been a Hanes hallmark.

“We donated $20,000 to the american Red Cross for relief efforts in the Philippines. We have approximately 20 em-ployees in the Philippines who manage our commercial selling business there. all are safe, accounted for and unharmed by the ty-phoon. We have a tradition of aiding coun-tries and communities affected by natural disasters when we have employees in those places. Past assistance has gone to China and Haiti after earthquakes, Japan after the tsunami and the U.S. after hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and oil spills,” said Hall.

The celebrity connection to raise do-nations in England for the Philippines is going full throttle.

Jamie oliver, alan Rickman, Stephen Merchant, Lisa Snowdon, nigel Havers and new Direction were among the big names manning the phones at the BT Tower in London on Monday for the DEC Philippines Typhoon appeal. Public re-sponse has been significant, and the DEC has so far raised 35 million pounds, or $56 million, which will go toward providing food to the 2.5 million people who have gone hungry, as well as shelter for 900,000 people who have lost their homes.

in Hong Kong, Tina Leung, the stylist and blogger, joined the likes of Dee Poon, olivia Buckingham, Divia Harilela and victoria Tang in donating “funky fab items” for the Haiyan Relief Charity Sale, with all proceeds to benefit typhoon victims.

“There’s no reason not to help,” said Leung. “There has been so much devastation, and as neighbors to the Philippines, we want to do what we can to help out. We in the fashion world have so much to give, really, with lots of things to donate. i’m still editing what i’ll be do-nating, but i’m thinking lots of clutches and bags, some iconic Fendi clutches, perhaps. i’m hoping the event will gen-erate enough interest to make everyone want to come and do their part.”

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Aid making its way to the victims.

The rebuilding process will be a long one.

w25a008a;12.indd 8 11/22/13 7:04 PM11222013190533

WWD.COM9

ON DECK: The public offering documents for Time Inc. didn’t provide a valuation for the publisher or a timing of its spin-off from Time Warner, but it did reveal things much more interesting: salaries of key executives and the division’s financial information.

Time Warner filed its initial public offering documents for the widely anticipated spin-off of its publishing division Time Inc. after the stock market closed Friday.

For the year ended Dec. 31, 2012, the publishing business saw its net income fall 28.5 percent to $263 million from year-ago income of $368 million. Operating income fell 25.4 percent to $420 million from $563 million. Revenues slid 6.6 percent to $3.44 billion from $3.68 billion. The filing said that last year Time Inc. held $36 million in long-term debt.

While the struggles of print aren’t new, the filing did reveal that People magazine accounted for almost 20 percent of Time Inc.’s revenues.

As for those salaries, former Time Inc. chief executive officer Laura Lang, who lasted on the job for nearly two years, had total compensation for fiscal 2012 of $7.6 million, which included a base salary of $961,539. She accrued $2.9 million in stock and options and $659,362 in other compensation — the bulk of that sum relating to “relocation-related expenses.”

Lang will continue to receive her base salary, as well as an annual bonus of $1.8 million, until Nov. 2, 2015.

Joe Ripp, Lang’s successor, who officially took the reins in September, has an employment agreement that includes an annual base salary of $1 million, and a discretionary annual cash bonus with a target of $1.5 million,

among other things. Ripp is also guaranteed a minimum of $750,000 for his 2013 cash bonus.

Ripp’s hire was just one of many moves at the company. In September, the company acquired American Express Co.’s publishing unit, which included Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine and Departures. It also reorganized its editorial structure, which has managing editors reporting to group presidents of Time Inc.’s magazine divisions. The reorganization caused editor in chief Martha Nelson to leave. The company brought back Norman Pearlstine, who departed Bloomberg LP, as chief content officer, a new yet somewhat amorphous role. Neither Pearlstine’s nor Nelson’s salaries were revealed in the filing.

Time Warner said the spin-off of Time Inc. would create “strategic clarity and flexibility,” “focused management” and “management incentives” for the cable company and the publishing division, which includes more than 20 titles.

The move will allow Time Warner to focus instead on its cable properties, such as its lucrative HBO business, and disentangle itself from Time Inc., which has been its worst-performing division.

According to media reports, analysts put Time Inc.’s enterprise value as a public company at between $2.7 billion and $4.9 billion. — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

WET AND WILD: Sometimes the best frame of a photo shoot arrives after it’s wrapped. That was the case for Berluti, which tapped cheeky Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan to front its latest spots, slated to

break in Interview magazine on Dec. 4.After posing by a swimming pool in

suburban Paris for Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Cattelan decided to jump in fully clothed, leaving his Berluti loafers high and dry on the diving board. The French brand’s “Initiated by” tag line reads “Buster Keaton,” referring to the silent film star whose masculine elegance and stoic expressions are echoed in Cattelan’s natty shirt-and-tie, off-camera gaze — and impromptu stunt.

Adding an extra artistic layer, Cattelan tapped one of his favorite video artists, Yuri Ancarani, to film the making-of, which is to be unveiled on social media at the end of the month.

As Berluti’s campaigns focus on personalities rather than particular fashion seasons, the Cattelan spots are to run alongside earlier ads featuring Jeremy

Irons and Pierre Casiraghi.Berluti creative director

Alessandro Sartori said Cattelan — like Irons and Casiraghi — is “in a league of his own,” having spent “30 years provoking the art world with his unique satire. This, and his unfailing elegance, make him the perfect Berluti man.” — MILES SOCHA

DIGITAL MERGER: European Web site Aufeminin.com, owned by Axel Springer AG, is taking a 60 percent stake in MyLittleParis.com, effective Jan. 1. Financial terms were not disclosed. Aufeminin said the acquisition would give it “access to a peer base through which it can grow its readership, and a footing in the high-value-added e-shopping universe.”

MyLittleParis, often likened to the American site DailyCandy, is known for its shopping, trend and food recommendations, as well as its sample sales and MyLittleBoxes, an e-shopping offer through monthly subscription. Fany Péchiodat, who previously worked at Beauté Prestige International, founded the site in 2008.

She said the merger would allow MyLittleParis to speed up its growth and international expansion.

Initially a newsletter between friends, in French and English, MyLittleParis has accrued an online community of about a million visitors and is expanding into other French cities, weddings and the men’s market via the site Merci Alfred.

Aufeminin.com counts 44.4 million monthly visitors. — LAuRE GuILBAuLT

WWD monday, november 25, 2013

By ARTHUR FRIEDMAN

THE U.S. and Bangladesh are set to sign a Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement today that is said to provide an important mechanism for the two countries to discuss bilateral trade and investment issues, as well as be a forum to pursue cooperative activities.

Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler and Bangladesh Secretary of Commerce Mahbub Ahmed are expected to sign the TICFA in Washington.

In July, the U.S. and Bangladesh agreed to a Bangladesh Action Plan, along with a statement by the U.S. on “Labor Rights and Factory Safety in Ban-gladesh.” The USTR said at the time that the implementation of the actions out-lined in the plan could provide a basis for the President to consider reinstate-ment of the Generalized System of Pref-erences trade benefits for Bangladesh that were suspended in June, which went into effect in September. Apparel

and textiles were not covered by GSP, which included imports such as tobacco, sports equipment, porcelain china and plastic products.

In dropping GSP benefits, the U.S. cited the severity of Bangladesh’s gar-ment factory safety problems and the inability of Bangladeshi workers to ex-ercise their full range of labor rights.

The Action Plan provides a list of measures related to fire and building safety, as well as worker rights in the garment industry, export processing zones and the shrimp sector. The TICFA is seen as a structure for both countries to work toward these goals, as well as improve investment and other trade opportunities.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) and committee Democrats released a report Friday calling on global brands and retail-ers, factory owners and the Bangladeshi government to work to ensure the safety of garment workers by giving organized labor a stronger foothold in Bangladesh. The committee said the U.S. should pressure the Bangladeshi government enact labor law reform and the freedom of association to bargain collectively in implementing the action plan to reinstate GSP benefits, while also calling on the U.S. to increase funding for programs in Bangladesh to im-prove union organizing and bargaining.

On Friday, U.K.-based Edinburgh Woolen Mill, which also owns high-street chains Peacocks and Jane Norman, be-came the latest company to join the Ban-gladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety. The accord is a legally binding agreement that now includes 115 compa-nies and trade unions from 19 countries across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia created to help prevent future factory catastrophes in Bangladesh.

— WITH CONTRIBUTION FROM KRISTI ELLIS

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Moncler SpA on Friday received the green light from the Italian Stock Exchange to proceed with its public listing.

The Italian luxury brand still needs to wait for approval from Consob, Italy’s equivalent of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is expected next week, before it kicks off its two-week road show. Following Consob’s approval, Moncler will reveal the number of shares it plans to put on the market and the price range and it will publish its prospectus.

After months of speculation and a shelved initial public offering in 2011, Moncler on Oct. 14 filed documents to

list on Italy’s Bourse. Sources indicate that the IPO is expect-

ed to take place in mid-December and that the company will float around 30 percent of its total shares. Industry sources said Moncler’s IPO could value the company at around 2 or 2.4 billion euros, or $2.68 to $3.22 billion at current exchange.

Moncler’s selling partners are ECIP M., controlled by Eurazeo SA; CEP III, controlled by The Carlyle Group, and Brand Partners 2, controlled by Progressio Investimenti. Eurazeo holds 45 percent of the firm; Carlyle, 17.8 percent, and Progressio Investimenti, 4.9 percent.

Chairman and creative director Remo Ruffini will maintain his 32 per-cent stake.

MeMo pad

u.S., Bangladesh to Sign Accord

By ARNOLD J. KARR

INVESTMENTS in technology and stores lifted Belk Inc.’s third-quarter sales while chipping away at its profits.

Net income for the Charlotte, N.C.-based department store chain dropped 67.6 percent to $3.6 million from $11.1 million in the 2012 quarter. Excluding asset impairment charges and gains on assets, profits were off 53.1 percent to $4.6 million.

Revenues rose 2.8 percent to $860.7 mil-lion, from $837.5 million, and were up 3.5 percent on a comparable basis, with same-store sales ahead 2 percent and a 44.8 percent increase in e-commerce account-ing for the remainder of the comp growth. Gross margin ticked up to 31.5 percent of sales, from 31.4 percent a year ago.

Tim Belk, chairman and chief execu-tive officer of the company, said the top-

line improvement was “aided by colder weather and the investments we have made in the business, including store re-models, e-commerce and supply chain. November is the ‘go-live’ month for a new technology platform which includes re-placement of much of our IT infrastruc-ture and a new merchandising system.”

He added that new technology that will allow shipment of belk.com orders from stores is now being tested. “These invest-ments will add expense and impact earn-ings over the next 18 months,” Belk said.

Belk, the largest privately held depart-ment store group in the U.S., singled out contemporary sportswear, shoes, acces-sories and men’s and children’s apparel as its strongest merchandise categories.

The company expanded or remodeled 16 of its 301 stores during the quarter.

For the year to date, net income was down 21.1 percent to $62.2 million, as rev-enues grew 3.9 percent to $2.72 billion.

Moncler IPO Gets the OK

The Action Plan provides a list of

measures related to fire and building

safety, as well as worker rights in the garment industry.

Investments Weigh on Belk Profit

Maurizio Cattelan in the Berluti campaign.

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“I ONLY LOOK this put-together because our hair and makeup people are magicians,” Nasim Pedrad said on Thursday night. The “Saturday Night Live” veteran was among the coterie of castmates who were orbiting the towering Tyrannosaurus vertebrae at the center of the American Museum of Natural History’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, where cocktails were being clinked for the museum’s annual gala. Show-runner Lorne Michaels and wife Alice are gala chairmen. “Thissss,” Pedrad said, looking down at her black billowy mini dress, searching for the fashion credit. “This is Gucci. From our lovely wardrobe department.”

The “SNL” crew — Pedrad,

Cecily Strong, Taran Killam, Vanessa Bayer, Jay Pharoah, Bobby Moynihan and Seth Meyers among them — piled into the museum en masse, most of them coming straight from 30 Rock. “Yeah, yeah,” Moynihan said with a tired smile. “We’re coming just straight from rehearsal.”

Soon, the crowd moved into the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, where guests picked on plates of radicchio salad under the room’s massive blue whale. “It’s going to be weird actually having a Democratic mayor for the first time in 20 years or something. Well, after 12 years of hard-core right-wing [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg with his gay marriage and bike lanes. I hate those bike lanes,” said emcee

Tina Fey from the dais shortly after hopping onstage. “Bikers are so judge-y and angry. It’s like, ‘You’re not more green than me! I’m walking!’”

— TAYLOR HARRIS

MEETING Naomie Harris for the first time after seeing her new film, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” directed by Justin Chadwick, is a little intimidating. After all, her character of Nelson Mandela’s wife Winnie becomes a revolutionary firebrand who hates the government, believes in achieving freedom through vio-lence and executes party mem-bers she suspects of being spies by viciously “necklacing” them with tires full of gasoline set afire. Harris’ character in the film, which will open in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, undergoes a remarkable series of changes. She morphs from well-brought up, well-educated, pretty young lady who is a social worker — dressed carefully in stylish late Fifties-early Sixties suits, dresses and hats — to radicalized party leader wearing camouflage.

The change happens largely because of the harassment and cruelty the regime shows her as a proxy for her husband, who was in prison on isolated Robben Island at the time, an environ-ment that was re-created in the studio. Harris handles the chang-es in the character with great skill, and it seems likely that she will be nominated for an Oscar.

However, Harris is nothing like Winnie Mandela, at least the one at the end of the film. In person, she is an elegant beauty and highly articulate. Harris, who is British, went to St. Marylebone School and re-ceived a social and political sci-ences degree from Cambridge

University. After graduation, she began studying acting at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Her credits include the science-fiction TV series “The Tomorrow People,” the film “28 Days Later” and the TV adap-tation of Zadie Smith’s “White Teeth.” She was the first black actress to play Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond movies. It was her role in the film “The

First Grader,” directed by Chadwick, that helped her land the part in “Mandela.” In “The First Grader,” Harris is a school-teacher teaching a class of stu-dents in Kenya, something she actually did during the film.

“I had no idea she was so con-troversial,” says Harris of Winnie. The actress, who is 37, goes from being a woman in her 20s to one

in her late-50s in the film, and the makeup that ages her is handled with considerable subtlety, some-thing that’s not always the case in the movies. Harris says that stron-ger maquillage was tried, but didn’t work. She received a lot of advice about playing Winnie, and every-body had an opinion about her, but then she met the woman herself, who said, “All I am going to ask is that you portray me faithfully.”

Harris says that this state-ment freed her, enabling her to “take ownership of the part.” The political leader later said that she felt that Harris was the

only actress who has “truly cap-tured” her. “She had a really, really tough time,” Harris says. She was frequently interrogated or arrested, spending one long stretch in solitary confinement, and any employer who gave her a job received an intimidating visit from security forces, which meant that she would be fired.

Harris enjoyed working with

Idris Elba, who plays Nelson Mandela. “He is very good at diving into the darkest possible places but also having moments of lightness,” she says.

Chadwick, for his part, prais-es Harris for playing a “person-al and flawed” character, and says that he was impressed by her behavior and performance on the set of “The First Grader,”

too. “We were living in this very basic environment,” he says. But she took it in stride.

Harris lives in London near her family, to whom she is very close. As for her career, “I never had a plan,” she says. “I always just wanted to do great work.” Thus far, the serendipitous route seems to be unfolding just fine.

— LORNA KOSKI

Playing It Real

Funny Bones

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Naomie Harris in an Etro top and a Camilla

and Marc skirt.

A scene in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”

Tina Fey

Karlie Kloss

Josh Hutcherson

Florence Welch

Lorne Michaels

Nasim Pedrad, Seth Meyers,

Alexi Ashe and Will Forte.

WWD.COM11

BRING ON THE NIGHT: Next week is couture week in Paris — at least it is for Pierre Cardin. The French designer plans to mark the 60th anniversary since his first fashion show by parading a high-fashion collection at Maxim’s on Tuesday.

Under the label Maxim’s de Paris, the couture collection is to focus on evening attire: cocktail dresses and evening gowns for women, and creative black tie for men, according to a Cardin spokesman.

The last time the designer put couture on a Paris runway was in 1996, the spokesman said, acknowledging the house is “atypical” with its show schedule. — MILES SOCHA

MULBERRY OUT: As the search for a creative director to succeed Emma Hill continues at Mulberry, WWD has learned that the brand will not stage a runway show during the fall 2014 London collections in February. Hill showed her last collection for Mulberry in September, and while names including Erdem Moralioglu, Roland Mouret, Mary Katrantzou and Sophie Hulme have been whispered as possible replacements, a successor is yet to be named.

The company said it “has not finalized its creative director search and will therefore exceptionally not stage a catwalk show this February.” However, it added that it would “definitely be participating in London Fashion Week and details of this will be released in the near future.” — JULIA NEEL

BECKHAMS’ DONATIONS DRAW CROWD: A local British Red Cross store in London saw an unprecedented surge in shoppers on Friday after David and Victoria Beckham donated pieces from their wardrobe to the charity shop to help support victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The British Red Cross shop in Kensington and Chelsea, which specializes in second-hand designer clothing, had queues

of customers outside its doors long before it opened. They were hoping to purchase one of 500 pieces of designer wear from the celebrity couple.

By 5 p.m., it had sold out of all the items donated by the Beckhams.

Organizers were hoping that the Beckham donations, which included

100 pairs of the designer’s shoes, would raise around 500,000 pounds, or $805,605, for the Disasters Emergency Committee — an alliance of 14 charities that are working to provide aid to the devastated region. The

donation included dresses, tops, suits and shoes from labels including Dolce & Gabbana, Jimmy Choo and Roberto Cavalli. A pair of boots by Gina fetched 200 pounds, or about $322, the most for a single item.

— J.N.

HAPPY MEALS: Citymeals-on-Wheels hosted its 27th annual power lunch for women at The Plaza Friday afternoon.

The star attraction was Cyndi Lauper, who performed her hit “Time After Time” for a room that included Cynthia Nixon, Brooke

Shields, Katie Couric, Debra Messing, Norah O’Donnell, Padma Lakshmi, Bobbi Brown and Donna Hanover.

The organization was cofounded by the food critic Gael Greene to feed New York’s

homebound elderly. Silda Wall Spitzer has been involved for a number of years. “This is a fantastic event to be able to raise awareness as well as money

for an amazing cause, and I’m looking forward to volunteering on Thanksgiving and think they serve a really important need in this city,” she said, though she declined to say the neighborhood where she’d be volunteering for Citymeals.

Kathleen Turner, a 20-year veteran of the organization’s board, has been to many of these lunches over the years.

“You get 500 New York women in one room, the energy is amazing. It is a lot of sass,” she said. — ERIK MAZA

WWD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

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FASHION SCOOPS

No Drama Derek

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IT’S A GOOD TIME to be Derek Jeter. At the start of the month, the shortstop and Yankees’ captain re-signed with the team for $12 million. Two weeks ago, he signed a groundbreaking, cross-platform deal with Simon & Schuster for an undisclosed, but surely hefty, amount for his own publishing imprint, Jeter Publishing. Last Thursday, while his teammate Alex Rodriguez was weathering yet another spate of horrible press, this time over an arbitration hearing with Major League Baseball, Jeter was in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. He was looking at expensive underwear.

It was the opening of a pop-up store for the underwear line Frigo, whose claim to fame is a $100 pair of men’s undergarments.

There were other athletes there — Carmelo Anthony, uncharacteristically camera-shy, and former baseball great Darryl Strawberry — but the room orbited around Jeter, defiantly unretired, but already enjoying a preview of the goodwill that will come during his emeritus years. He was in an underground lounge overwhelmed by fans and Instagram selfie-seekers, a much more pleasant sight, for sure, than Bud Selig, no?

“I’m not gonna answer that,” Jeter said calmly. Behind him, guys tried on the pricey undies in a makeshift changing room. Jeter allowed, though, “I’m enjoying myself tonight, yes.”

The Rodriguez saga consumed the sports world last week with its high-drama hearing and picked up momentum when former Yankee Mariano Rivera threw his support behind the embattled third-baseman. Jeter was not willing to join the commentariat. He just wanted to discuss the boxer briefs.

“I’m supporting my man, Mathias Ingvarsson,” Jeter said, referring to an executive at Frigo. “He gave me this product and I fell in love with it.”

The briefs, which come in black, it should be noted, cost so much because they’re built with certain high-tech

fibers and “ultralight fabric on the crotch so you don’t feel constricted,” according to a description. Its “adjustable interior mesh pouch keeps you supported and prevents sweating and chafing.”

Upstairs, the model Tyson Beckford had walked into the pop-up by mistake — he came to see some friends — and was skeptical of the underwear’s price.

“I don’t know about buying no damn $100 underwear. I struggle to buy, like, $25 Calvin Kleins,” he said.

But Jeter would not be deterred. He has tried these $100 undergarments.

“It’s worth it,” he said. “They’re all worth it.” (He was referring to the line’s lower-price models.)

Any thoughts on Rivera’s words?“Tonight we’re going to keep it to

Frigo,” he said, politely rebuffing the question.

Jeter opened up when it came to his publishing venture, which effectively puts him in the same realm as Jay Z, a personality who has expanded his reach beyond his initial sphere of influence.

“I’ve been always interested in content and I’ve always been interested in business. This ties the two together. This is an opportunity to publish some things that interest me. It doesn’t necessarily have to be sports,” he said.

He said he hasn’t planned for an autobiography yet, though it may happen eventually. He has been reading with interest, for instance, Andre Agassi’s memoir, “Open.”

“It tells you the story before he is successful,” Jeter said. “A lot of times people look at success stories and they automatically assume someone just started at point A and ended up at point B. You got a whole lot of levels — there’s levels of success, there’s levels of failures and I like to hear those stories,” he said.

Around him, fans waited, still hoping he would pose for more pictures. — ERIK MAZA

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Carmelo Anthony and Derek Jeter

Tyson BeckfordKelly Killoren Bensimon

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By BRIAN DUNN

MONTREAL — It seems only natural that New York-based French designer Catherine Malandrino would choose Montreal as the site of her first Canadian flagship in the heart of the Golden Square Mile on Sherbrooke Street West, so named for Canada’s business elite who lived there between the 1850s and 1930s.

The two-story graystone where she has set up shop once housed Zilli, the French luxury men’s wear brand that occupied the site for a short time. But Malandrino expects to be around for a long time.

“I find Montreal a natural link be-tween Europe and New York, and there are a lot of people from Montreal who shop at my stores in New York,” she said, explaining her decision to choose Montreal over the more affluent and larg-er Toronto for her 2,500-square-foot store.

Malandrino founded her brand in 1998, and it was acquired by Bluestar Alliance last August. There are three stores in the U.S. and a handful in the Middle East. Her financial backer in Montreal is Joe Hiess, president of CM Collections Inc., a licensee that owns and operates Malandrino boutiques. A Montreal native, Hiess brought Ralph Lauren and Yves Saint Laurent to this city decades ago, before leaving for New York — he returns home on weekends.

“My role is to build a distribution base, and we plan to add another store here before opening in Toronto,” said Hiess, who described the store as “the-ater retailing” with an emphasis on qual-ity, not quantity. “We don’t want to over-whelm customers with too many choices. Instead, we want to show them variety.”

The first floor is an open concept

similar to a New York art gallery, ex-plained Malandrino, long and narrow with a Parisian look of round sofas and yellow glass.

“It’s very spacious with white walls and high ceilings,” she said. “The second floor will house a showroom for whole-sale clients.”

The boutique, which opened Tuesday, carries 60 different styles, including items similar to those in her New York stores, but made for colder weather and at the same prices, said the designer. Silk jumpsuits start at $395, and a leather dress inset with tulle is priced at $495.

At the high end, there’s her Black Label line of tie-front gowns for $990 in an array of colors, including fuchsia, olive green and black. For the more daring shopper, there is a soft leather rocker biker jacket for $1,500. The store also carries shoes and accessories. The company did not offer a sales projection for the store.

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Pirelli provided a jolt of glamour and star power to Milan as it presented its calen-dar for 2014, which marked the 50th anniversary of the celebrat-ed marketing tool.

On Thursday, Italy’s giant tire manufacturer unveiled the calendar, known as “The Cal,” for the first time here with a retrospective exhibition at the HangarBicocca, the company’s contemporary art venue. The exhibition included more than 160 images by more than 30 pho-tographers who have worked on the calendar over the years, and was followed by a dinner for almost 900 guests, hosted by actor Kevin Spacey. In the 75,600-square-foot nave domi-nated by artist Anselm Kiefer’s

seven monumental towers, Pirelli guests included Miuccia Prada and her husband Patrizio Bertelli; Moncler chief Remo Ruffini; Italia Independent founder Lapo Elkann; Sophia Loren, a onetime model for “The Cal”; Franca Sozzani, and a number of past photographers of the calendar, including Steve McCurry, Peter Lindbergh and its first-ever lensman, Robert Freeman. Of course, there was no shortage of models, ranging from Karolina Kurkova, Bianca Balti and Alek Wek to Carmen Kass and Eva Herzigova.

Spacey enthused about the “biggest contemporary art” venue, pointing to Kiefer’s art-work. “Who would ever have imagined that someone like me coming from a small town in Sudan would one day be standing on a stage with you?”

marveled a starstruck Wek, surrounded by Spacey, Pirelli president Marco Tronchetti Provera, her peers and the pho-tographers to the tune of George Michael’s “Freedom.” Guests also watched performances by tenor Vittorio Grigolo, Gandini Juggling and VisionAria.

As it had earlier that morn-ing, Pirelli presented a video showing highlights of the cal-endar through the decades and the version for 2014, which is an unpublished 1986 calendar shot by Helmut Newton. As luck would have it, calendars for 1986 and 2014 are in sync. Next year’s calendar comprises 12 black-and-white images and 29 backstage photos, taken in Monte Carlo during the 1985 Grand Prix, and in Tuscany’s Chianti area, capturing the re-gion’s rolling hills, cypress tress and farmhouses or a small gas station and a medieval village. Newton worked with models Susie Bick, Antonia Dell’Atte and Betty Prado, harking back to a neorealist atmosphere and the imagery associated with actresses such as Loren or Silvana Mangano, juxtaposing “the rich woman and the poor one,” said Dell’Atte.

Tronchetti Provera waved away lingering questions about censorship or reasons behind Newton’s abrupt departure from the set, widely attributed to family demands, leaving styl-ist Manuela Pavesi and assistant Xavier Alloncle with precise and detailed instructions to help complete the task. “As in any mul-tinational corporation, there was

competition,” said Tronchetti Provera of the fact that the Milan and London branches in 1985 each worked on producing its own calendar — and London won out with Bert Stern’s pho-tos. “Newton was missing among the biggest photographers we’ve worked with, but his name was there, hidden as a treasure,” said Tronchetti Provera, adding that this was “the only case of a dou-ble calendar.”

McCurry, who shot the 2013 calendar, praised Newton’s “in-credible talent” and the timeless

images. “Photos are dated when the photographer relies on tech-nique” or is looking for “fashion-able” images. He said Newton worked with “an internal sense of balance and poetry,” telling “a

human story in each picture.”Kurkova said working for

“The Cal” is a “very creative” project,” as it’s “not selling clothes or trends, it’s about tell-ing stories about women’s lives.”

Destination XL Net Drops

Pirelli Fetes 50 Years of ‘The Cal’

Catherine Malandrino at the opening of her Montreal boutique.

The retrospective exhibit at HangarBicocca.

Karolina Kurkova, Lapo Elkann and Franca Sozzani.

By ARNOLD J. KARR and JEAN E. PALMIERI

DESTINATION XL Group Inc. report-ed a broader loss for the third quarter, but saw strong response to its growing fleet of DXL big and tall superstores.

In the three months ended Nov. 2, the company’s net loss expanded to $4.1 million, or 8 cents a diluted share, from a loss of $1.6 million, or 3 cents, in the 2012 period. Analysts expected a slightly deeper loss of 9 cents a share.

Revenues contracted 0.6 percent to $88.2 million from $88.7 million. Comparable sales rose 4.4 percent as a 6.4 percent comp increase in the com-pany’s stores was offset by a 4.5 percent decline in its direct channel, with e-commerce up 7.9 percent, but the firm’s discontinued catalogue business off 73.3 percent. Gross margin grew to 44.5 per-cent of sales from 44 percent a year ago.

Investors were drawn to the double-digit comp increases at the larger, more upscale DXL stores. The company is in the process of converting its portfo-lio to the new format, and the 36 stores open at least a year had a sales increase of 11.3 percent. With the addition of 38 stores that had been remodeled or re-located, revenues were up 17.7 percent.

The performance of the DXL concept helped lift shares of the Canton, Mass.-based retailer 61 cents, or 9.5 percent, to $7.06 in Nasdaq trading Friday.

DXL’s performance was also helped by its first national marketing campaign, No Man’s Land, which kicked off at the end of September and uses humor to address frustrations the larger customer faces.

David Levin, chief executive officer, said the company has seen “a dramatic

and positive effect from the campaign.” Comps in October for the company’s DXL stores rose 25.3 percent. “So you can see how well these stores per-formed with the strength of the cam-paign behind them,” he said.

Levin said average transaction size in the period also increased 17.4 percent, which he attributed in part to “a greater mix of high-priced main brands as well as tailored clothing.” He said every store has a Polo Ralph Lauren shop and carries such well-known brands as True Religion, Calvin Klein and Lacoste. “Some of these brands were not even available in big and tall sizes until we opened Destination XL,” he said. “We’re pleased with the early customers’ response to our name-brand offerings, which is reflected in our average transaction size.”

Levin said a higher mix of tailored clothing is also attracting shoppers.

“In every DXL store we offer sev-eral hundred square feet dedicated to clothing. Our custom made-to-measure offering, which includes a robust selec-tion of suits, sport coats, dress pants and shirts, is also progressing well. With all these wardrobe options avail-able, we’re attracting a new category of customer that we call the end-of-rack shopper. They would shop at depart-ment stores, but options are limited. These are younger, smaller-waisted and more brand-conscious. Attracting the end-of-rack customer, which repre-sents 65 percent of the total big and tall market and who tends to have a higher spend per transaction, increases our total available market.”

Levin said customers with waist sizes below a size 46 accounted for 43.5 percent of sales in October, up from 36.3 percent at the end of 2012.

Eva Herzigova Jeneil Williams

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Malandrino Opens North of the Border

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