WWDMONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015 ■ $3.00 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI

Winter BluesIt might be spring — offi cially — but the fall

collections shown during Tokyo Fashion Week were fi lled with the kind of freeze-fi ghting outerwear

many women grew to love over the past few months. Yasutoshi Ezumi gave an element of cool to this

synthetic nylon maxi coat by adding a touch of fur as well as black leather sleeves and a low-slung belt detail. For more from the Tokyo runways, see pages 4 and 5.

By LAUREN MCCARTHY

NEW YORK — When it comes to accessories, the Seventies are still going strong for fall: fringe, suede, et al. But stifle that yawn — buyers are all in for the repeat trend.

“It always takes customers two seasons to jump on and go with a trend,” said Claire Distenfeld, owner of Fivestory here. “A retailer is always happy when a trend is continued and pushed further. Street stylers and fashionistas are going to jump on the trend yesterday, but actual customers don’t really get it for months in.”

As Neiman Marcus’ fashion di-rector and senior vice president Ken Downing noted, the decade as an infl uence lends itself to more than a one-note trend. “[This season was] a schizophrenic take on the Seventies,” he said. “In many peoples’ minds, they see the Seventies through one lens, but we have to remember the psyche-delic music moment, the fl ower children, the hippies, the disco and even punk, which emerged late in the Seventies in Europe. There’s not one vision that says Seventies — there are many.”

MARC ON MARC

As Jacobs Expands,Big Changes Ahead

By BRIDGET FOLEY

MARC JACOBS is finding himself in a familiar place — in the news.

As reported on Thursday by WWD, the company will cease production of the Marc by Marc Jacobs label and assimilate that collection’s product range and price points into the signature Marc Jacobs collection. While this is the fi rst tangible merchandise-centric step in an ambitious plan to grow the company in anticipa-tion of a possible IPO, it is in fact part of a process that has been un-derway for some time.

When WWD spoke with Jacobs, Bernard Arnault and Robert Duffy in October 2013, just before

Jacobs showed his last collection for Louis Vuitton, LVMH Möet Hennessy Louis Vuitton owned the Marc Jacobs operating company while Arnault, Jacobs and Duffy each owned one-third of the trade-mark. Since then, LVMH acquired a controlling interest of the entire company. Though no one involved would confirm specifics, accord-ing to sources, LVMH now owns 80 percent of the Marc Jacobs brand with Jacobs and Duffy holding the remaining 20 percent in equal mea-sure. Last fall, Sebastian Suhl start-ed at the house as chief executive offi cer. With Suhl’s arrival, Duffy stepped back from the day-to-day operations while remaining Jacobs’ equal partner in the business.

SEE PAGE 6

Accessories’ Groovy Season, Seventies Trend Continues

SEE PAGE 8

TOKYOFALL 2015

COLLECTIONS

WME/IMG HAS FINALIZED ITS ACQUISITION

OF MADE FASHION WEEK.

PAGE 7

SHOWTIME CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

BEST COAST’S BETHANY COSENTINO MIGHT BE

THE HARDEST-WORKING GIRL AT SOUTH BY

SOUTHWEST. PAGE 10

MORE FOR

MALLSSIMON PROPERTY MAKES ENHANCED

OFFER FOR THE MACERICH CO.

PAGE 9

WWD.COM2 WWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

Marc Jacobs executives talk about changes at the company, which is discontinuing the Marc by Marc Jacobs line. PAGE 1

Designers keep their eyes on the Seventies trend in accessories with fringe, suede and jet beads working their way into footwear, handbags and jewelry. PAGE 1

Design Entrepreneurs NYC, a free, intensive “mini-MBA” program based at the Fashion Institute of Technology is now accepting applications through April 7. PAGE 7

WME/IMG has completed its acquisition of Made Fashion Week. News that the competing show organizations were negotiating fi rst appeared in January. PAGE 7

After its fi rst offer was denied, Simon Property Group outlines its best and fi nal offer to acquire Macerich Co. PAGE 9

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast sat down with WWD to talk about her new album, playing at South by Southwest and her Southern California infl uence. PAGE 10

Models, hairstylists and even a former New York Knicks player were on hand to help teenagers get ready for a prom event thrown by the Garden of Dreams Foundation. PAGE 10

Given his taste for groovy modernist architecture, Nicolas Ghesquière’s destination for Louis Vuitton’s resort show is a sweet spot: Palm Springs. PAGE 11

Vivienne Westwood will be translating her British style to her fi rst boutique in New York this fall, stocking three fl oors with ready-to-wear looks. PAGE 11

The eighth fl oor auditorium in the Time & Life building played host to a series of meetings with staff this week about the state of Time Inc. and its growth strategy. PAGE 11

ON WWD.COM

THEY ARE WEARING: Denim shorts and overalls ruled most of the street-style looks seen at South by Southwest. For more, see WWD.com/fashion-news.

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 FAIRCHILD PUBLISHING, LLC. COPYRIGHT ©2014 FAIRCHILD PUBLISHING, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 209, NO. 59. MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015. WWD (ISSN 0149-5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in March, June, August, September, October, November and December, and two additional issues in April and three additional issues in February) by Fairchild Media, LLC, which is a division of Penske Business Media, LLC. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 11175 Santa Monica Blvd., 9th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90025. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA, and at additional mailing offi ces. 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 WWD, P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, IA, 51593. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, IA, 51593, call 866-401-7801, or e-mail customer service at wwdPrint@cdsfulfi llment.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 Offi ce 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 dissatisfi ed 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. We reserve the right to change the number of issues contained in a subscription term and/or the way the product is delivered. Address all editorial, business and production correspondence to WWD, 475 Fifth Ave., 15th Floor, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656, or fax request to 212-630-5883. For reprints, please e-mail FFM_Reprints@pmc.com or call Wright’s Media 877-652-5295. For reuse permissions, please e-mail FFM_Contenlicensing@pmc.com or call 800-897-8666. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Media, LLC magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.wwd.com/subscriptions. WWD 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 WWD IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

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Men’s Wear Summit Roster Expands

Matteo Marzotto Trial Advances in Italy

Fairchild Memorial RescheduledNEW YORK — The timing of the memorial ser-vice for John B. Fairchild, the legendary former chairman and editorial director of Fairchild Publications, has changed and it will now be held at 11 a.m. on April 27 at the Church of the Ascension at 36-38 Fifth Avenue at 10th Street.

Fairchild died Feb. 27 at age 87. First as Paris bureau chief for his family’s newspaper Women’s Wear Daily and then as publisher of WWD and later chairman and editorial director of the entire com-

pany, he helped shape the modern fashion world by bringing designers out of the back rooms and turning them into household names, among them Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass. He also championed Yves Saint Laurent throughout his career. Along the way he coined terms that are still used today: HotPants; Ladies Who Lunch; Nouvelle Society, and more.

During his tenure, Fairchild also founded W and M magazines and wrote a typically biting column under the nom de plume The Countess Louise J. Esterhazy.

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — A hearing took place in the Matteo Marzotto trial Friday just as the Italian government is working on a new law that would change the course of fi scal trials.

If the legislation is approved, individuals charged with tax evasion who have already paid their debt to the state before the start of a trial will not be tried at a penal level. As it stands, fi s-cal trials run parallel but independently of penal ones. A well-placed legal source told WWD that, for example, prosecutors are in a wait-and-see mode, and any decision on Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli is on hold, depending on whether this law will pass or not. In 2013, Prada and Bertelli settled with Italian tax authorities regarding unpaid taxes related to the location of their corporate head-quarters in Luxembourg rather than in their home country. In the fall, Italy’s tax authorities started investigating the designer and her husband. The investigations revolve around “the accuracy of certain past tax fi lings” relating to foreign-owned companies. This follows a “voluntary disclosure” to tax authorities in December 2013 that resulted in an agreement between the couple and Italian tax offi cials. It is understood that Bertelli and Prada in 2013 paid 470 million euros, or $620.4 million at av-erage exchange, to the tax offi ce.

In the case of Matteo Marzotto and his sister Diamante, who is also indicted, each sibling paid 1.6 million euros, or $1.7 million at current ex-change, to the fi scal police, to avoid judicial is-sues related to the same facts at a fi scal level. The Marzottos, other family members and other defen-dants have paid more than 56 million euros, or $60 million, in fi nes to the Italian State. As reported in January after the previous hearing, judge Orsola De Cristofaro did not dismiss the case based on the lawyers’ objection to Marzotto being tried despite the payment of a fi ne.

Neither Marzotto nor Diamante, indicted with other defendants for alleged omission of earnings

declaration and tax evasion, were present in court on Friday. Marzotto has in the past declared that he had “always operated in the full respect of the law.”

The allegations involve the Marzotto family’s as-sociation with the sale of Valentino Fashion Group to private equity fund Permira in May 2007 for more than 782 million euros, or $839 million.

Also not present were defendant Bart Zech, ad-ministrator of the board of International Capital Growth, a fi rm the tax police believe to be a fi cti-tious entity based in Luxembourg and managed in Milan, and allegedly created for the purpose of sell-ing 29.9 percent of the Valentino group; real estate entrepreneur Massimo Caputi, and Pierre Kladny, president of the board of ICG.

According to the indictment, taxes on the profi t de-rived from the transaction were never paid in Italy.

On Friday, prosecutor Gaetano Ruta asked Emanuele Garofalo, an employee of Italy’s Tax Agency, the Agenzia delle Entrate, who had fi rst in-vestigated the matter, to take the stand. Ruta was fi ll-ing in for Laura Pedio, with whom he had headed the Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana tax trial.

Garofalo reiterated that the tax offi ce believed ICG was only formally based in Luxembourg and dismissed after the sale of the Valentino group. “It had been set up with the purpose of enhanc-ing the shareholding in light of a future sale to Permira,” said Garofalo. To create a package to sell to Permira, several Marzotto family members, who were part of the trust company Spafi d, sold their shares to ICG at 26 euros, or $28, each. ICG in 2007 sold the same shares to Permira at 35 euros, or $37.50, with a capital gain of 200 million euros, or $214.5 million, that were not taxed. “If ICG had been based in Italy, it would have had to pay 50 mil-lion euros [$53.6 million] in taxes,” said Garofalo. “If shareholders had each sold their stake individu-ally, they would have had less contractual power, so within the fi rst half of 2007, there was this move-ment of the whole package destined to be sold to Permira through Luxembourg.”

The defendants’ lawyers did not have any ques-tions for the witness.

THE BRIEFING BOXIN TODAY’S WWD

On the streets of the SXSW festival in Austin. For more, see WWD.com.

PHOT

O BY

LEX

IE M

OREL

AND

By WWD STAFF

SEVERAL SPEAKERS have been added to the roster for the Men’s Wear Summit, scheduled to be held Thursday at the Asia Society in New York.

Under Armour’s Glenn Silbert, senior vice president of men’s and youth apparel and accessories, will deliver a presentation on the Relentless Pursuit of Innovation, a key point of differentiation for the buzzy $3 billion activewear brand.

In addition, Greg Petro, presi-dent and chief executive offi cer of First Insight Inc., will unveil the re-sults from a consumer analysis the company conducted during Men’s Fashion Week in Milan.

Another addition is Ali Asaria, founder and ceo of Tulip Retail, who will join Ethan Song, cofounder, ceo and creative director of Frank & Oak in a joint presentation that outlines Frank & Oak’s move from strictly an online men’s wear retailer to an om-nichannel player with brick-and-mortar stores.

The theme of this year’s event is “The New Dimension,” and speakers will assess, discuss and offer insights into the challenges and opportunities in today’s marketplace. Among the topics that will be cov-ered are the explosion of street athleticism powered by culture and community; how made-to-measure and lifestyle branding are remaking tailored clothing; how

retailers are reinvesting in their men’s businesses; the infl uence of storytelling on in-store and online mer-chandising, and what’s next for the men’s market.

Confi rmed speakers include Massimo Caronna, U.S. president for Italy’s Brunello Cucinelli; Richard Cohen, ceo of Hong Kong-based Trinity Ltd.; Giovanni

Mannucci, ceo and president of Boglioli, and the duo of Alexandre Mattiussi, founder and president of Ami Alexandre Mattiussi, who will be joined by ceo Nicolas Santi-Weil. The designer community will be rep-resented by Italo Zucchelli, men’s creative director of Calvin Klein Collection; Todd Snyder, founder of his eponymous label, and Stuart Vevers, executive creative director of Coach Inc. Thomas Ott, senior vice president and general merchandise

manager of men’s, gifts and home for Saks Fifth Avenue, will offer the retail perspec-tive, while Felix del Toro, se-nior vice president of men’s for Lululemon Athletica, will also be on the program.

Sponsors include American Express Co., First Insight, MasterCard, Dynamic Yield, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Tulip Retail, ALU, Herbert Mines, Howard Hughes, PM Digital and The Woolmark Company. For tickets or further information, con-tact Kim Mancuso at kim_mancuso@fairchildfash-ion.com or 646.356.4722.

Italo Zucchelli

FOR MORE IMAGES, SEE

WWD.com/menswear-news.

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4 WWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

Tokyo CollectionsCollectionsFall 2015

Yasutoshi Ezumi: The work of modern-architecture pioneer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe inspired Yasutoshi Ezumi this season. Clean lines, angular cuts and structure featured prominently in his collection, which he called “Less Is More.” While Ezumi’s approach might have been minimalist in the design sense, there was nothing limited about the assortment of appealing clothes he created.

There were plenty of strong pieces here, including sweaters with long asymmetric hems and dresses crafted from contrasting graphic and solid fabrics with pleated pieces cascading from one side. Similarly, he spliced together different materials for outerwear, such as jackets incorporating nylon and leather. The hybrid garments were a tad reminiscent of Sacai’s Chitose Abe, but that might not be a bad thing, as Abe is such a hot ticket at the moment. Ezumi’s star seems to be rising as well: Vogue Italia invited him to show his collection during the recent Milan Fashion Week. — AMANDA KAISER

Mint Designs: For one of the more hotly anticipated shows of Tokyo Fashion Week, Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi of Mint Designs said they aimed to create “a classic faded world view for modern times.” They noted that black-and-white movies and photos, “foggy air” and “faded colors” inspired them this season.

The collection, which riffed on Fifties and Sixties silhouettes, defi nitely had a noir feel about it, thanks mostly to the sheer patterned scarves obscuring the models’ faces in numerous exits. One of the most stunning fabrics was an intricate silver-gray lace that was worked into a wrap dress and a light jacket. Another long-sleeve dress, in a knee-skimming silhouette Tippi Hedren might have worn, featured a retro shoe print. On the edgier side, shiny strips of what appeared to be white, black, green and red electrical tape created abstract linear designs on some of the later offerings, among them a sharp-looking pleated gray skirt paired with a sleeveless turtleneck in a geometric design. — A.K.

Christian Dada: Designer Masanori Morikawa chose an oval-shaped runway for his fi rst women’s-only show for Christian Dada, having his models circle a centerpiece of mirrors, fl owers and speakers. The collection for fall was inspired by a woman Morikawa knew during his time studying in London, and had a darkly romantic vibe to it. There were plenty of all-black looks in sumptuous textures: Faux-fur hats and stoles, a studded leather coat that fl ared out from the waist, and a long dress with a sheer chiffon skirt. Pin-striped trousers with a tiny matching vest tied in the front like a bikini top injected a dose of sex appeal, while embroidered fl owers, tigers and dragons on sleeves and jacket fronts added a bit of exoticism.

Morikawa incorporates some element of Japanese culture into each collection and this season he produced a series of striking looks in ornate oriental brocades. There was a relaxed bomber jacket and a polished coat, but the most eye-catching combo was a long dress with a heavily pleated skirt worn under a stadium jacket with deep-green satin sleeves. — KELLY WETHERILLE

Matohu: The staging of Tokyo shows is often on the minimal side. Thankfully, Matohu designers Hiroyuki Horihata and Makiko Sekiguchi took a different approach this season. Their runway, lined with softly glowing lanterns, created the perfect setting for their fall collection, which was inspired by candlelight flickering against a silver folding screen and Junichiro Tanizaki’s seminal essay on Japanese aesthetics called “In Praise of Shadows.”

That focus on light and refl ection translated into garments with varying degrees of shimmer and sheen. There was a touch of gold lamé in a matching collared blouse and short skirt, but other pieces featured more subtle aspects of shine — among them, dresses made from heavy fabric woven with metallic accents. Just as in past Matohu collections, kimono-style items played a key role, including a show-opening jacket with embroidered shoulders and a red and black striped dress. Coats also looked strong, especially a slouchy blue and black mélange style and another in an oversize red check, as did an abstract ombré pattern used for a jacket, A-line skirt and shift dress. Fans of the brand and its chic, distinctly Japanese character should not be disappointed come fall. — A.K.

Hanae Mori Designed by Yu Amatsu: Last season when Yu Amatsu made his debut designing a new subbrand for the venerable Japanese fashion house, he opened his show with evening pieces that had a distinct bridal vibe. This time, Amatsu toned down the formality, placing the emphasis squarely on daywear — namely mix-and-match separates in chic gray paired with Easter-egg pastels. Amatsu, who also designs A Degree Fahrenheit, said he was thinking about New York City’s High Line pedestrian pathway and what it represents in terms of change; he once worked in the city as a patternmaker for Marc Jacobs and Jen Kao before setting out on his own.

A sequence of show-opening looks in lace variations, including a sleeveless dress and a motorcycle jacket, were

particularly pretty. Other strong pieces included a sleek, color-blocked dress slit to one hip and paired with languid, wide-leg pants as well as a tailored suit and two short dresses done in abstract geometric prints. Bold, intersecting lines also zigzagged their way across blouses, a skirt and fur coats, giving them a modernist vibe. — A.K.

Johan Ku Gold Label: The 1991 French film “The Lovers on the Bridge” recounts the romance of a homeless Parisian alcoholic (Denis Lavant) and an artist who is losing her sight (Juliette Binoche). It served as the primary source material for Johan Ku for fall. The London-based designer set the scene with puffs of fog, which helped re-create the feel of some of the movie’s night scenes featuring fireworks over the Seine.

The collection, named Michèle after Binoche’s character, had an arty, Left Bank vibe to it. Ku placed an emphasis on knitwear — one of his specialties — and turned out extra-chunky scarves and a sleeveless, back-baring turtleneck in cherry red. He also did a whole sequence using embroidered collages of tiny bits of fabric, which were distinctive yet somber, in looks that included a gown, a minidress with a peplum, a handkerchief-hem skirt and hoodies. Driving home the Gallic theme, he worked large, scripted French text onto several pieces, such as scarves and a draped pullover. — A.K.

Ato: With a theme like “Urban Riders” it was a toss-up as to what direction Ato Matsumoto would take with his fall men’s wear collection. He took many, applying the term “riders” to everyone from skateboarders to bikers — with quite a few cowboy-inspired looks thrown in for good measure. The result was a cohesive, street-ready collection of leather pants and moto jackets, fringed scarves and tailored overcoats.

Zippers were a common design element, appearing on drop-shoulder sweatshirts, the pockets of jeans and the backs of sneaker boots. Collarless suede jackets, tweed vests, skinny ties and wide-brimmed hats reinforced the Old West aesthetic, while velour pants, a puffer vest and knitwear in contrasting fabrics kept things current. The show closed with a pair of sweeping double-breasted wool coats that read as edgy hipster sheriff. — K.W.

Patchy Cake Eater: A “ladies’ man” and a “playful, sensitive type with a sweet tooth and a cool streak.” These are the ways designer Shigeki Morino described the Patchy Cake Eater man. To illustrate this ideal, he opened his fall show with a series of slim-fi tting, crumpled coats in a multicolored patchwork mix of checks and herringbones. They were at the same time playful and effortlessly cool.

Morino says he has taken “masculine tailoring for women” and repurposed it for men’s fashion. This could be seen in the shrunken three-piece suits consisting of cropped trousers and tiny double-breasted jackets. But there were also rockabilly infl uences, from leather motorcycle jackets to pompadour hairstyles. Morino topped off the cohesive and refreshing collection with a group of colorful ponchos in bold checks or geometric prints — detailed with buttons to hold them closed.

— K.W.

Dresscamp: The “stillness and motion” of vanitas paintings — symbolic still-lifes of ornate textiles, flowers, artifacts and skulls — inspired Toshikazu Iwaya to employ a range of opulent textures in his fall Dresscamp collection. Iwaya used velour, lace, fringe, gilded embroidery and shiny metallic fabrics, expertly mixing old and new. He paired damask patterns with stripes on a fitted skirt suit, styled a gaudy scarf-print shirt with slim metallic jeans and embellished quilted jackets and fringe-trimmed sweatshirts with gold crests or dragons.

Looks for both sexes were accessorized with wide-brimmed hats, fur-covered mary janes, and sunglasses that were so oversize they could almost be mistaken for tinted snorkeling masks. Cropped women’s puffer jackets looked fresh and fun with sleeves and a peplum done in tiered tulle. One standout for men was a double-breasted coat in a mix of velour jacquard and checked wool, with quilted-nylon sleeves. — K.W.

Yoshio Kubo: Camels and eagles were both the starting point — and the stars — for Yoshio Kubo this season. The designer behind one of Tokyo’s hottest men’s wear brands said he likes to create new things by combining two somewhat unlikely elements. That philosophy has worked well for Kubo in the past and it was the case again for fall.

As with many other Japanese designers, fabrications played a central role in his lineup. Vignettes of people riding camels were featured on prints used in multiple looks, including pants, a puffer jacket and a button-down shirt. Kubo also incorporated Chanel-style tweed accents and strips of fur into sporty jackets with an original fl air. Camoufl age variations (still incorporating camels) were another recurring element, appearing in tailored jackets and pants. This was a fresh and edgy collection of luxe streetwear that served up some great merch for stylish guys in Tokyo — and elsewhere.

— A.K.

Yasutoshi Ezumi

Hanae Mori Designed by Yu Amatsu

4 WWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

Tokyo CollectionsCollectionsFall 2015

Yasutoshi Ezumi: The work of modern-architecture pioneer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe inspired Yasutoshi Ezumi this season. Clean lines, angular cuts and structure featured prominently in his collection, which he called “Less Is More.” While Ezumi’s approach might have been minimalist in the design sense, there was nothing limited about the assortment of appealing clothes he created.

There were plenty of strong pieces here, including sweaters with long asymmetric hems and dresses crafted from contrasting graphic and solid fabrics with pleated pieces cascading from one side. Similarly, he spliced together different materials for outerwear, such as jackets incorporating nylon and leather. The hybrid garments were a tad reminiscent of Sacai’s Chitose Abe, but that might not be a bad thing, as Abe is such a hot ticket at the moment. Ezumi’s star seems to be rising as well: Vogue Italia invited him to show his collection during the recent Milan Fashion Week. — AMANDA KAISER

Mint Designs: For one of the more hotly anticipated shows of Tokyo Fashion Week, Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi of Mint Designs said they aimed to create “a classic faded world view for modern times.” They noted that black-and-white movies and photos, “foggy air” and “faded colors” inspired them this season.

The collection, which riffed on Fifties and Sixties silhouettes, defi nitely had a noir feel about it, thanks mostly to the sheer patterned scarves obscuring the models’ faces in numerous exits. One of the most stunning fabrics was an intricate silver-gray lace that was worked into a wrap dress and a light jacket. Another long-sleeve dress, in a knee-skimming silhouette Tippi Hedren might have worn, featured a retro shoe print. On the edgier side, shiny strips of what appeared to be white, black, green and red electrical tape created abstract linear designs on some of the later offerings, among them a sharp-looking pleated gray skirt paired with a sleeveless turtleneck in a geometric design. — A.K.

Christian Dada: Designer Masanori Morikawa chose an oval-shaped runway for his fi rst women’s-only show for Christian Dada, having his models circle a centerpiece of mirrors, fl owers and speakers. The collection for fall was inspired by a woman Morikawa knew during his time studying in London, and had a darkly romantic vibe to it. There were plenty of all-black looks in sumptuous textures: Faux-fur hats and stoles, a studded leather coat that fl ared out from the waist, and a long dress with a sheer chiffon skirt. Pin-striped trousers with a tiny matching vest tied in the front like a bikini top injected a dose of sex appeal, while embroidered fl owers, tigers and dragons on sleeves and jacket fronts added a bit of exoticism.

Morikawa incorporates some element of Japanese culture into each collection and this season he produced a series of striking looks in ornate oriental brocades. There was a relaxed bomber jacket and a polished coat, but the most eye-catching combo was a long dress with a heavily pleated skirt worn under a stadium jacket with deep-green satin sleeves. — KELLY WETHERILLE

Matohu: The staging of Tokyo shows is often on the minimal side. Thankfully, Matohu designers Hiroyuki Horihata and Makiko Sekiguchi took a different approach this season. Their runway, lined with softly glowing lanterns, created the perfect setting for their fall collection, which was inspired by candlelight flickering against a silver folding screen and Junichiro Tanizaki’s seminal essay on Japanese aesthetics called “In Praise of Shadows.”

That focus on light and refl ection translated into garments with varying degrees of shimmer and sheen. There was a touch of gold lamé in a matching collared blouse and short skirt, but other pieces featured more subtle aspects of shine — among them, dresses made from heavy fabric woven with metallic accents. Just as in past Matohu collections, kimono-style items played a key role, including a show-opening jacket with embroidered shoulders and a red and black striped dress. Coats also looked strong, especially a slouchy blue and black mélange style and another in an oversize red check, as did an abstract ombré pattern used for a jacket, A-line skirt and shift dress. Fans of the brand and its chic, distinctly Japanese character should not be disappointed come fall. — A.K.

Hanae Mori Designed by Yu Amatsu: Last season when Yu Amatsu made his debut designing a new subbrand for the venerable Japanese fashion house, he opened his show with evening pieces that had a distinct bridal vibe. This time, Amatsu toned down the formality, placing the emphasis squarely on daywear — namely mix-and-match separates in chic gray paired with Easter-egg pastels. Amatsu, who also designs A Degree Fahrenheit, said he was thinking about New York City’s High Line pedestrian pathway and what it represents in terms of change; he once worked in the city as a patternmaker for Marc Jacobs and Jen Kao before setting out on his own.

A sequence of show-opening looks in lace variations, including a sleeveless dress and a motorcycle jacket, were

particularly pretty. Other strong pieces included a sleek, color-blocked dress slit to one hip and paired with languid, wide-leg pants as well as a tailored suit and two short dresses done in abstract geometric prints. Bold, intersecting lines also zigzagged their way across blouses, a skirt and fur coats, giving them a modernist vibe. — A.K.

Johan Ku Gold Label: The 1991 French film “The Lovers on the Bridge” recounts the romance of a homeless Parisian alcoholic (Denis Lavant) and an artist who is losing her sight (Juliette Binoche). It served as the primary source material for Johan Ku for fall. The London-based designer set the scene with puffs of fog, which helped re-create the feel of some of the movie’s night scenes featuring fireworks over the Seine.

The collection, named Michèle after Binoche’s character, had an arty, Left Bank vibe to it. Ku placed an emphasis on knitwear — one of his specialties — and turned out extra-chunky scarves and a sleeveless, back-baring turtleneck in cherry red. He also did a whole sequence using embroidered collages of tiny bits of fabric, which were distinctive yet somber, in looks that included a gown, a minidress with a peplum, a handkerchief-hem skirt and hoodies. Driving home the Gallic theme, he worked large, scripted French text onto several pieces, such as scarves and a draped pullover. — A.K.

Ato: With a theme like “Urban Riders” it was a toss-up as to what direction Ato Matsumoto would take with his fall men’s wear collection. He took many, applying the term “riders” to everyone from skateboarders to bikers — with quite a few cowboy-inspired looks thrown in for good measure. The result was a cohesive, street-ready collection of leather pants and moto jackets, fringed scarves and tailored overcoats.

Zippers were a common design element, appearing on drop-shoulder sweatshirts, the pockets of jeans and the backs of sneaker boots. Collarless suede jackets, tweed vests, skinny ties and wide-brimmed hats reinforced the Old West aesthetic, while velour pants, a puffer vest and knitwear in contrasting fabrics kept things current. The show closed with a pair of sweeping double-breasted wool coats that read as edgy hipster sheriff. — K.W.

Patchy Cake Eater: A “ladies’ man” and a “playful, sensitive type with a sweet tooth and a cool streak.” These are the ways designer Shigeki Morino described the Patchy Cake Eater man. To illustrate this ideal, he opened his fall show with a series of slim-fi tting, crumpled coats in a multicolored patchwork mix of checks and herringbones. They were at the same time playful and effortlessly cool.

Morino says he has taken “masculine tailoring for women” and repurposed it for men’s fashion. This could be seen in the shrunken three-piece suits consisting of cropped trousers and tiny double-breasted jackets. But there were also rockabilly infl uences, from leather motorcycle jackets to pompadour hairstyles. Morino topped off the cohesive and refreshing collection with a group of colorful ponchos in bold checks or geometric prints — detailed with buttons to hold them closed.

— K.W.

Dresscamp: The “stillness and motion” of vanitas paintings — symbolic still-lifes of ornate textiles, flowers, artifacts and skulls — inspired Toshikazu Iwaya to employ a range of opulent textures in his fall Dresscamp collection. Iwaya used velour, lace, fringe, gilded embroidery and shiny metallic fabrics, expertly mixing old and new. He paired damask patterns with stripes on a fitted skirt suit, styled a gaudy scarf-print shirt with slim metallic jeans and embellished quilted jackets and fringe-trimmed sweatshirts with gold crests or dragons.

Looks for both sexes were accessorized with wide-brimmed hats, fur-covered mary janes, and sunglasses that were so oversize they could almost be mistaken for tinted snorkeling masks. Cropped women’s puffer jackets looked fresh and fun with sleeves and a peplum done in tiered tulle. One standout for men was a double-breasted coat in a mix of velour jacquard and checked wool, with quilted-nylon sleeves. — K.W.

Yoshio Kubo: Camels and eagles were both the starting point — and the stars — for Yoshio Kubo this season. The designer behind one of Tokyo’s hottest men’s wear brands said he likes to create new things by combining two somewhat unlikely elements. That philosophy has worked well for Kubo in the past and it was the case again for fall.

As with many other Japanese designers, fabrications played a central role in his lineup. Vignettes of people riding camels were featured on prints used in multiple looks, including pants, a puffer jacket and a button-down shirt. Kubo also incorporated Chanel-style tweed accents and strips of fur into sporty jackets with an original fl air. Camoufl age variations (still incorporating camels) were another recurring element, appearing in tailored jackets and pants. This was a fresh and edgy collection of luxe streetwear that served up some great merch for stylish guys in Tokyo — and elsewhere.

— A.K.

Yasutoshi Ezumi

Hanae Mori Designed by Yu Amatsu

WWD.COM5WWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

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In separate interviews, Jacobs, in per-son at his Spring Street studio; Suhl, by phone from Paris, where he is attending LVMH meetings, and Duffy, vacationing with his daughter in Nevis, addressed some of the changes under way.

“In a sense, we’re starting at the be-ginning,” Jacobs said, referring spe-cifi cally to the Marc by Marc news. “It sounds like a musical.” The next line was inevitable, recited in unison by him-self and an interviewer: “a very good place to start.”

Perhaps the biggest development — after the change in ownership — is something that has been evolving quietly for some time: Within a partnership of 32 years and counting, Duffy’s role has changed, and that change is of consider-able emotional weight for both him and Jacobs. “First and foremost, Robert’s my partner,” Jacobs said, recalling the well-known story of their meeting, when Duffy contacted him immediately after seeing his brilliant senior show at Parsons. “It was Robert’s belief in me then — that’s why I’m still here….From those very early days of Sketchbook, we said what-ever happens, you and I are partners. And the most important thing to me is to know Robert is my partner.”

A partner who’s made the decision to step back, his reasons two-fold. First: The big-eyed, curly-haired Victoria. “I’m nearly 61, a single parent with a three-and-a-half year old,” Duffy said. “I want to be full-time parent.” He also saw that as the brand’s overall revenues approach $1 billion and the company contemplates an IPO, it should have a ceo with deep, multibrand experience who could reor-ganize the company “from the bottom up.” “From the bottom up, Suhl,” Duffy said, “is extremely smart. He has the courage and it appears that he has the stamina to do it. He’s still young and he has the drive, the ambition.”

Yet, experience with past ceo’s in-dicated to Duffy that as long as he re-mained a daily presence at the company, there would be some staff confusion. “With the exception of IT and fi nance, they were all hired by me,” Duffy said. “If I’m here, they’ll come to me fi rst.” Duffy remains deputy chairman of the board, with voting rights, and on the boards of Marc Jacobs China and Marc Jacobs Japan.

The Marc by Marc move is the fi rst under Suhl’s watch.

“I want to make incredible fashion,” Jacobs said. “I want to fi gure out a way to make that incredible fashion available to people on different levels.”

As originally conceived, Marc by Marc Jacobs was intended to aid in that pro-cess. At the time of its launch, the line was more item-driven with a clear con-nection to the main collection. To that point, its label wasn’t Marc by Marc Jacobs. The Marc Jacobs label is “Marc Jacobs” in white on a black background. The fi rst label for the off-shoot line was the same black background with “Marc” in white and “Jacobs” in light gray, as if faded or blacked out. “Marc-no-Jacobs,” the designer calls it. That didn’t work out for editorial credit purposes; magazines were stumped by the same name in two tones. Legally, a change to the stand-alone “Marc” wasn’t possible; it was al-ready taken.

“The intention now is no different than when Robert and I started Marc by Marc Jacobs or Marc-no-Jacobs,” Jacobs said, using his nickname for the original label. “We believed that fashion could exist at lots of different prices. It could be fl ip-fl ops for $30, a well-priced T-shirt; there could be an honesty and integrity in different types of clothes. It wasn’t supposed to be a second line or the poor-relative-of. I’m sitting here in a $2,000

cashmere/silk sweatshirt hoodie that we’ve made for 15 years and Adidas track pants and a cotton shirt from American Apparel, and I have a Prada fur coat up-stairs. I think as myself as a fashion cus-tomer, and I know on a daily basis I will wear everything from American Apparel to Adidas to Marc Jacobs to Prada. I love that mix of things, that high and low, that rich and poor, all of those contrasts, the everyday and the extraordinary.”

Certainly, the original “Marc-no-Jacobs and the early “Marc by Marc,” as it became known, created monstrous excitement at the contemporary price point. When the Marc by Marc store fi rst opened on Bleecker Street, it was a tem-ple for fashion-loving types from closet assistants to celebrities. “There were cool jeans, a cool jean jacket. There were great T-shirts. There were the military-inspired jackets but they were done in denim or washed cotton velveteen or whatever I felt,” Jacobs said. “The aes-thetic felt more connected to what we were doing in collection.”

At some point, pragmatism won out, and the label was changed to its own entity, a move that Jacobs noted, “once upon a time felt like a good idea and it worked.”

Along the way, it became a collection unto itself, with little connection to the main collection — a process that began well before the appointments of Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley as creative director and women’s designer, respec-tively. The line also lost its uniqueness in

its category as contemporary exploded. “We’ve gone through many different ways looking at what it was initially and how it had gotten away from that, and I think again we’re back to that same thing,” Jacobs said. “The way to do it is that this is under one label.”

Asked where the idea came from to merge the two collections, Jacobs said, “it just feels like we aren’t doing that job by showing two different collections with two different messages,” while stressing that he has “absolutely enjoyed the last few seasons of the Marc by Marc Jacobs’ young, cool, hip shows” designed by Hillier and Bartley.

When he spoke with WWD in 2013 about long-term plans for the Marc Jacobs brand, Arnault noted the need “to put in place the organization, and to complete the business plan, which requires retail organization, retail in-vestment and more products.” While discontinuing the label responsible for roughly half of the company’s revenue seems counterintuitive to that goal, Suhl stresses that in fact, the contrary is true. The company remains commit-ted to continuing the “core price range” of Marc by Marc. In addition, Suhl noted a great deal of “white space” between that range and the luxury pricing of the Marc Jacobs collection. “We’re not in all kinds of price ranges,” he said. “For example, our price range for bags is ap-proximately $350 to $500 retail. Today we have almost no presence in price points above $500 in contemporary.

There’s a market out there for that. I’m not saying it’s going to be a majority of our market. It might be low double-digits, low penetration, but there’s a big opportunity there. We also have the opportunity to live in the advanced contemporary [with clothes]. There’s no reason we should have some price points there as well.

At the other end, Suhl sees room at the designer/luxury level: “Often, we’re on the higher end of luxury. There are many price ranges. That’s big business opportunity.”

As for staffi ng, Suhl said increasing the product range will mean a larger design staff. Prior to her appointment as creative director, Hillier had a long-term relationship with Marc by Marc. She is highly regarded within the com-pany and is expected to stay on with a signifi cant role. It is unclear whether Bartley will remain. Otherwise, “our headcount over the next year or two is going to increase overall,” Suhl said. “That doesn’t mean the exact same peo-ple will always be here. But this isn’t about synergies and restructuring. This is about operating better.”

For his part, Jacobs says bring it on. It’s no secret that he has spent the lion’s share of his time focused on the higher end of the Marc Jacobs fashion range. He anticipates that with this new, broader-spectrum approach he and his design team will work more closely with mer-chandisers on a regular basis. “Working with Mr. Arnault was like working with a merchandiser to a certain extent,” Jacobs said. “Mr. Arnault would say something about being in a shop of an-other brand and seeing something at a good price. I said, ‘you know what? I’m a very good creative problem-solver. If you tell me that somewhere there’s a canvas bag at an entry price, let me come up with my version. Give me a problem and let me come up with my solution to it.’ I don’t wake up in the morning wishing for that project — but given it, I’m not bad at it. I think that’s part of my American or New York design training, of work-ing here and going to Parsons. The idea of solving a design problem is very cre-atively rewarding. Let me see if I can come up with a solution that I feel good about, that says ‘us.’”

Retail is another area of immedi-ate focus. Jacobs is in the initial stages of planning a redesign of its stores and showroom. He has a passion for inte-riors, furniture and art, and is eager to apply his personal knowledge in a signifi -cant way. “It’s what I really love to do,” he said. “I’m pending quite a bit of time, and I’m so inspired by the opportunity to being able to do that.”

He is unwilling as yet to articulate a specifi c vision, except to say that he would love the opportunity to make the company offi ces at 72 Spring Street a vi-sual expression of the fi rm’s aesthetic. “You have Balthazar nearby,” he said. “I would love to walk here and maybe there are potted plants outside and a doorman who lets you in. I’d a very particular type of fl oor, beautiful in those elevators. I’m not looking at Halston and the Olympic Towers — I’m not that guy. I would like our version of that. I’d like to work on de-fi ning our world when you come in to this offi ce. Robert and I never had the chance to do that.”

He also would like to create at least a vague template for stores around the world that would refl ect various collabo-rations with artists and furniture design-ers. And that may change seasonally, as with the freshly painted pink facade on the Mercer Street store in New York.

That store, the company’s fi rst, re-mains dear to him. “Robert and I were fi red from Perry Ellis after the grunge collection. We didn’t work for a year.

6 WWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

Jacobs Rejiggers Business

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Jacobs showed his last collection for Louis Vuitton, LVMH Möet Hennessy Louis Vuitton owned the Marc Jacobs operating company while Arnault, Jacobs and Duffy each owned one-third of the trade-mark. Since then, LVMH acquired a controlling interest of the entire company. Though no one involved would confirm specifics, accord-ing to sources, LVMH now owns 80 percent of the Marc Jacobs brand with Jacobs and Duffy holding the remaining 20 percent in equal mea-sure. Last fall, Sebastian Suhl start-ed at the house as chief executive offi cer. With Suhl’s arrival, Duffy stepped back from the day-to-day operations while remaining Jacobs’ equal partner in the business.

There’s a market out there for that. I’m not saying it’s going to be a majority of our market. It might be low double-digits, low penetration, but there’s a big opportunity there. We also have the opportunity to live in the advanced contemporary [with clothes]. There’s no reason we should have some price points there as well.

At the other end, Suhl sees room at the designer/luxury level: “Often, we’re on the higher end of luxury. There are many price ranges. That’s big business opportunity.”

As for staffi ng, Suhl said increasing the product range will mean a larger design staff. Prior to her appointment as creative director, Hillier had a long-term relationship with Marc by Marc. She is highly regarded within the com-pany and is expected to stay on with a signifi cant role. It is unclear whether Bartley will remain. Otherwise, “our headcount over the next year or two is going to increase overall,” Suhl said. “That doesn’t mean the exact same peo-ple will always be here. But this isn’t about synergies and restructuring. This is about operating better.”

For his part, Jacobs says bring it on. It’s no secret that he has spent the lion’s share of his time focused on the higher end of the Marc Jacobs fashion range. He anticipates that with this new, broader-spectrum approach he and his design team will work more closely with mer-chandisers on a regular basis. “Working with Mr. Arnault was like working with a merchandiser to a certain extent,” Jacobs said. “Mr. Arnault would say something about being in a shop of an-other brand and seeing something at a good price. I said, ‘you know what? I’m a very good creative problem-solver. If you tell me that somewhere there’s a canvas bag at an entry price, let me come up with my version. Give me a problem and let me come up with my solution to it.’ I don’t wake up in the morning wishing for that project — but given it, I’m not bad at it. I think that’s part of my American or New York design training, of work-ing here and going to Parsons. The idea of solving a design problem is very cre-atively rewarding. Let me see if I can come up with a solution that I feel good about, that says ‘us.’”

Retail is another area of immedi-ate focus. Jacobs is in the initial stages of planning a redesign of its stores and showroom. He has a passion for inte-riors, furniture and art, and is eager to apply his personal knowledge in a signifi -cant way. “It’s what I really love to do,” he said. “I’m pending quite a bit of time, and I’m so inspired by the opportunity to being able to do that.”

He is unwilling as yet to articulate a specifi c vision, except to say that he would love the opportunity to make the company offi ces at 72 Spring Street a vi-sual expression of the fi rm’s aesthetic. “You have Balthazar nearby,” he said. “I would love to walk here and maybe there are potted plants outside and a doorman who lets you in. I’d a very particular type of fl oor, beautiful in those elevators. I’m not looking at Halston and the Olympic Towers — I’m not that guy. I would like our version of that. I’d like to work on de-fi ning our world when you come in to this offi ce. Robert and I never had the chance to do that.”

He also would like to create at least a vague template for stores around the world that would refl ect various collabo-rations with artists and furniture design-ers. And that may change seasonally, as with the freshly painted pink facade on the Mercer Street store in New York.

That store, the company’s fi rst, re-mains dear to him. “Robert and I were fi red from Perry Ellis after the grunge collection. We didn’t work for a year.

WWD.COM7WWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

‘Mini-MBA’ Program Seeks NYC DesignersJacobs Rejiggers Business

WME/IMG Buys MadeNEW YORK — WME/IMG has completed its acquisition of Made Fashion Week.

News that the competing show organizations were negotiating fi rst appeared in January.

Made Fashion Week, which began in 2009 as an alternative for designers who couldn’t afford to show at traditional venues, has featured approximately 30 run-way shows and presentations each season from designers that have included Altuzarra, Cushnie et Ochs, Public School, Proenza Schouler, Jeremy Scott, Sophie Theallet, Ohne Titel, Wes Gordon and Alexander Wang. Made offers young design-ers free space, production and makeup — costs that could easily rise into the fi ve fi gures — a strategy that’s expected to continue.

The combination of IMG and Made is an interesting turn of events for the two former fashion show rivals, which have vied for designers and sponsors in the past.

Through this acquisition, Made Fashion Week will continue to operate as a separate entity while strategically aligning with WME/IMG to provide additional opportunities and creative resources for both entities’ designers and partners. As a private company, WME/IMG declined to reveal the purchase price for Made.

“As we reimagine New York Fashion Week with new venues, experiences and platforms for the industry, we are excited to add Made Fashion Week to our port-folio,” said Catherine Bennett, senior vice president and managing director, IMG Fashion Events & Properties. “This acquisition creates new opportunities for all our designers and partners to grow and evolve their businesses not only during fashion week in New York, but globally throughout the year.” Among the support programs offered to designers are DHL Exported and Mercedes-Benz Start Up (for Canadian designers).

IMG is in fi nal negotiations for new venues for the spring 2016 New York runway shows that will be shown in September, following the expiration of its contract with Lincoln Center. News of the show spaces is expected shortly, and IMG de-clined comment Friday. IMG also lost its main title sponsor, Mercedes-Benz, for the New York runway shows going forward (Mercedes-Benz continues to support IMG fashion weeks globally.) Among IMG’s current sponsors are E!, TRESemmé, DHL, Papyrus, Pandora and Maybelline.

Made’s leadership team, including Keith Baptista, partner and managing direc-tor at Prodject and partner at OBO Paris; Mazdack Rassi, cofounder and creative director of Milk Studios, and Jenné Lombardo, founder of The Terminal Presents, will continue to oversee Made Fashion Week’s day-to-day operations and consult on WME/IMG’s broader fashion events strategy.

“Made has been a platform that supports creative vanguards in fashion, music, technology and culture and makes their work possible,” said Baptista. “As part of the WME/IMG family, Made will expand its reach and remain on the front line of fostering new talent and encouraging bold new voices.” Made’s shows and presen-tations take place at Milk Studios at 450 West 15th Street and the Standard High Line Hotel at 848 Washington Street. Made’s sponsors include American Express, Maybelline, The Wall Street Journal, Lexus, Macy’s and Accenture.

The New York Fashion Week and Made Fashion Week spring 2016 collections will take place Sept. 10 through Sept. 17.

Wes Gordon, who showed at Milk Studios as part of Made Fashion Week last month, thought it was a great experience and would happily show there again.

“I loved it. As a young designer, it’s hard to balance the expectations people have to do a slick, elegant show with a budget. Partnering with them is a great way to make it happen. It’s such a well-oiled machine. It was so well done.” He said he’s done a runway show on his own in the past, but Made had an opening and was able to add him to the schedule. “They cover a lot of it. It’s hugely help-ful,” Gordon said. — L.L.

By LISA LOCKWOOD

NEW YORK — Design Entrepreneurs NYC, a free, intensive “mini-MBA” program based at the Fashion Institute of Technology that educates emerging New York City-based fashion designers on how to run a successful business, is now accepting applications through April 7.

DENYC offers emerging designers in-depth courses on and one-on-one help with marketing, public relations, operations and fi nancial management specifi cally within the fashion industry. Some $150,000 will be awarded to DENYC participants with outstanding business plans to further implement the skills and plans they develop over the course of the program.

DENYC was created through a partnership between the New York City Economic Development Corp. and FIT in 2011, and the fashion industry, led by DENYC founding sponsor G-III Apparel Group, is funding this year’s awards and ensuring the program’s sustainability. Additional funding is coming for the fi rst time from companies such as Calvin Klein, The Doneger Group, YM Fashions and Herman Kay.

In order to apply, emerging designers must have businesses that are based in one of New York City’s fi ve boroughs and have been open for at least one year. The application and additional information are available online at designentre-preneursnyc.com.

Each year, some 200 designers have applied and they’ve selected 35 people for the program.

The program starts May 28. Three intensive weekends follow — Saturdays and Sundays, May 30 through June 14 — with instruction in fashion business market-ing, operations and fi nancial management taught by FIT faculty and other industry professionals. During the summer, designers will work with industry mentors to complete business plans, build skills at optional workshops and attend informal salons with fashion leaders.

“We’re looking to make sure talent on the brink of success can get the necessary consulting and fi nancial support to get over the hurdles,” said Jeanette Nostra, senior adviser and board member at G-III. “It’s about giving designers fi nancial help and keeping jobs here.”

We got drunk one night on red wine at, I think that restaurant on Commerce Street, and we decided to take the lease out on that store at Mercer Street, which had once been a gallery. We had the money to take the lease but we didn’t have the money to make the clothes. The only thing we did was we made shop-ping bags.” They had an empty store for a year, until they Arnault signed Jacobs to do Louis Vuitton. “Mr. Arnault said, ‘keep the store, go ahead go with it and I will help you and support you,’ and we started producing clothes for that store. So that store is a very important place for me and for Robert.”

Jacobs pointed out that their instincts were right: “Originally, there was our store and the Mercer Hotel. Now there is Balenciaga, Prada on the corner, Marni next to us, Versace across the street. So there is something to be said for instincts or whim, whether they are drunkenly in-spired or otherwise. But it wasn’t shoot-ing an arrow up in the sky and seeing if it came back to you. We believed this little garage on Mercer Street could be a great fi rst store.”

Suhl agrees that the location is impor-tant to the brand’s identity. By early next year he expects to open or re-design one or two template stores, with Mercer like-ly the fi rst. The brand holds the lease for the entire building, and, with a redesign, he said, can make better use of windows and natural light while doubling the sell-ing area by taking over second-fl oor of-fi ce space.

Beyond that, retail is a major focus. Between wholly owned and franchises stores, the brand has 200 stores around the world in addition to wholesale ac-counts. An evaluation is underway re-garding where to expand or relocate, and what to do with Marc by Marc locations. “We have loads of opportunities to oper-ate and open more stores, but I think the main focus is really getting the concept right, the product right under a unifi ed store concept,” he said. “And, very im-portantly, professionalizing, reinforcing the retail team internally both at head-quarters and in local markets around the world. That’s something we’re doing right now, we’re putting together a really strong team.”

While the Bleecker Street, New York and Melrose, Los Angeles store clusters are under review, Suhl said that he likes the concept of multiple stores, particu-lar in the West Village, and considers Bookmarc an off-beat and delightful con-cept that can be expanded. “We not going to pen up thousands of bookstores, but it can be expanded.

At approaching $1 billion, the compa-ny still has ample growth possibilities. Suhl points that Marc Jacobs is the only

American brand that does more than 50 percent of its business abroad, a fact that goes both ways: Jacobs has an impres-sive international profi le and still plenty of growth room at home. Specifi cally. Suhl thinks U.S. malls present a “glaring opportunity.”

These days, when any company talks about growth, accessories are at the top of the list, and this is true within Marc Jacobs. Yet the designer maintains that accessories, and bags in particular, aren’t what they used to be. “I don’t think we’re in the It bag cycle anymore,” he said. “Even that term feels old. We’ve been through the It bag at Vuitton, the It bag from Marc Jacobs, the It bag from Céline. Now it doesn’t seem like it’s an It bag kind of moment. Of course, we’ll always pay attention. Accessories will always be easier than clothes because clothes can require a body type — but I defi nitely think it’s not the same.”

Jacobs suggested that bags and shoes have become a default category to cite as a growth potential, and noted other potential paths to big bucks. He pointed out his fi rm’s success with fragrance — Marc Jacobs’ Coty fragrances are num-ber 12 worldwide, he said with a new, more sophisticated fragrance launching soon — and beauty, done with Sephora. He indulged in a boast about the latter. In a meeting last week,with Sephora’s Kendo group, which produces his cos-metics line, he was informed that on a recent weekend, his line out sold Chanel at Sephora on the Champs Élysées. “Now, that’s not worldwide, but it is Paris on the Champs Élysées,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we’re selling more than Chanel, which we are not, but it’s quite a feather in our cap. Especially in a world that’s very, very competitive, and where no designer recently has been that successful.”

With all of these changes in play, Jacobs is feeling positive and excited. He remains invigorated by the reaction to his powerful fall show, and by his life-long love affair with fashion.

Fashion still compels him, “more than any thing,” he said. “What matters most to me is that exhilaration, that thrill. It is a pleasure-pain principle all the way through. It’s the insecurities, the lack of belief in your instincts and those days of feeling so confi dent, so good.

It sounds like one of those spiritual axioms — the reward is in the journey. But it’s also in the destination. It’s ab-solutely the yin and yang, the black and white. It’s that undefi nable thing: You love it, you hate it, you love it.

“Ultimately, there is nothing I would rather do,” he said. “I don’t know why I was wired this way. But nothing turns me on more. Nothing interests me more.”

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Added Suzanne Timmins, se-nior vice president and fashion director of Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor, “There are gener-ations of people who have never worn that stuff. We need a full year, at least, of it. It’s pretty, it’s so easy and it’s so commercial.”

Among the biggest acces-sories trends to emerge from the fall runways: boots, done in all iterations. Lace-up, oft-described as “Granny” boots, were among the most popular, with buyers citing favorites from Aquazzura, Tabitha Simmons, Saint Laurent and 3.1 Phillip Lim. Over-the-knee boots also played well with the bohemian spirit of the season. “There was so much going on in the boot category, and the over-the-knee boot is really im-portant,” said Erica Russo, fashion director of acces-sories at Bloomingdale’s. “At Burberry, you had a Seventies, traveler vibe which was really fun.”

In keeping with last season, platforms also continued to be a popular footwear option. “We are defi nitely going to contin-ue to see the platform shoe and chunky heel,” said Mary Chiam, vice president of merchandise and plan-ning for Moda Operandi. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that the stiletto heel is out, but it wasn’t that prevalent compared to previous run-way seasons.”

Chiam pointed to pairs from Marni, Prabal Gurung and Proenza Schouler as favorites, while Distenfeld praised Narciso Rodriguez’s fi rst foray into the chunky style. “I went wild for them,” she said.

On the oppo-site end of the heel spectrum, fl ats continue to score high with retail-ers —whether it be dainty flats, tough Chelsea boots or mas-culine loafers. “Our women cli-ents love fl at shoes in all their iterations, from sneakers to the re-surgence of the ballet and return of the smoking slip-per,” said Tracy Margolies, senior vice president, gen-eral merchandise manager of beauty, contemporary, foot-wear and handbags at Bergdorf Goodman. “We’re also seeing men’s wear again but on heavi-er-chunkier constructions.”

New York-based boutique Kirna Zabête reported simi-lar customer trends. Co-owner Sarah Easley said, “1,000 per-cent yes, our customers buy flats. The sporty shoe trend is just so real. We really want fashion fl ats, [including] a zip shearling sporty look at Celine and shearling moon boot from Saint Laurent. Chloé also had wonderful fl at boots.”

Jennifer Sunwoo, execu-tive vice president and gmm at Barneys New York, men-tioned an emphasis on “men’s inspired shoes such as oxfords, loafers and Chelsea boots” as a particularly strong category for

the department store. “These styles work perfectly with the pant silhouettes for next sea-son as well as the longer length skirts and dresses,” she added. Russo agreed, noting favorites from Rag & Bone, Prada and Miu Miu.

Other retailers preferred a more feminine look, or what Nadia Dhouib, senior buyer for women’s wear at Galeries Lafayette, described as “gem shoes that look like jewelry.” Said Natalie Kingham, buying director for Matchesfashion.com, “The embellished flats down the runway in the Balenciaga show really stood out as being special and offer-ing something that makes a

statement without you having to totter on heels — a great day-to-evening option.”

In handbags, micro-bags emerged as the most popular, if impractical, new style. “It re-ally wasn’t a functional season for bags on the runway,” said Chiam. Saint Laurent intro-duced its classic Sac de Jour style in a tiny size meant to fi t “lipstick, keys and an iPhone — just not the six-plus,” accord-ing to Easley. “The idea is that you wear a mini crossbody with your lipstick, keys and phone in it, and then carry a tote, which I think is a great way to navigate a day,” she said.

Er in Cerra to , Ho l t Renfrew’s divisional vice

president of accessories, also felt strongly about the trend, naming examples from Fendi, Givenchy and Saint Laurent. “We have our eye on the micro-bags in almost every collec-tion,” she said. “They can be used on their own or as a com-plement to a larger bag.”

Several tried-and-true styles, such as the saddlebag, shoulder bag and bucket bag, received a luxe update with patchwork-ing details done in a number of materials. “I call it ‘exotic mo-saics,’” said Rae Ann Herman, vice president and fashion di-rector of accessories at Saks Fifth Avenue. “We’ve seen eel, water snake, croc, pony, suede… we’re not afraid of exot-

ics at all.” Buyers responded particularly well to bags done in warm, autumnal colors: mus-tard, maroon and deep browns.

Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson’s puzzle bag took home the gold in terms of most mentions from buyers, in-cluding Browns’ buying director Laura Larbalestier, who named the bag as one of the two pieces she’s most excited to carry for fall (Dries Van Noten’s velvet boots shared the distinction). “We just launched Loewe and have already seen major trac-tion on their accessories,” said Chiam. “Their puzzle bag is going to be very strong for next season. It’s new, it’s fresh and the size is different.”

Added Giulia Pizzato, head of buying for women’s wear and accessories at La Rinascente, “Loewe is the one who is taking a new direction.”

Gucci’s new monogram bag by creative director Alessandro Michele was also a buyer favor-ite. “The ‘new’ Gucci offered probably the bag of the sea-son,” said Justin O’Shea, buy-ing director for Munich-based luxury e-tailer Mytheresa. “I am totally obsessed.” Added Sarah Rutson, vice president of global buying at Net-a-porter, “Gucci’s new monograms will open a new demographic to the brand — it has a fashion cool factor and is still recognizable.”

Retailers noted that while

prices will reflect the exotic materials and heavy embel-lishment seen in many of this season’s bags, nothing was deemed too inaccessible to the customer. “We’re always sensi-tive to be aware that the price of goods feels appropriate to the quality of embellishment,” said Downing. “Certainly, there are some elevated prices with more and more embellishment laid on top of the bag, but ridiculous prices? No. The prices we’re seeing in the accessories world, the customers will understand. There are so many great hand-work and embellishments and beads. We felt good about the price-quality relationship.”

Added Chiam, “Our Moda

woman is looking for something new and fresh, so it doesn’t mat-ter if our prices are going up by $500, she just wants that some-thing new.”

Buyers and customers alike can look to categories beyond handbags and footwear as a more affordable, yet still effec-tive way to invoke newness in their wardrobe. “Not to sound like a fashion director, but it’s almost like jewelry is the new bag,” said Timmins. “It’s acces-sible. A girl can buy herself a diamond ring or necklace for $1,000, when you’ll have a hard time getting a handbag for that.”

Jewelry was increasingly prevalent this season, ranging from ladylike pearls to moody

jet beads. “There is often a fear that jewelry distracts and detracts from the clothes,” said Downing. “I happen to believe it only enhances the presentation. I think it tells a more complete story when you see models wearing jew-elry in a new and interesting way.…There were fantastic jet beads everywhere, espe-cially at Givenchy. Will every customer want a jet nose ring

that mimics a moustache? Absolutely not. But, decorat-ing a face with jet beads and stones only intensifi es how im-

portant jet stones are.” Rutson cited “a real shift toward sculp-tural pieces, such as brooches, pins

and mismatched ear-rings,” a key jewelry trend,

noting examples from Stella McCartney and Balenciaga, while Russo gravitated to-ward pendant necklaces. “The long pendant feels very fresh,” she said. “I loved the pieces at Tory Burch — they felt vintage but modern. Also at Chloé and Lanvin, where they complemented every-thing without being too fussy.” Silver trumped gold in terms of metal use across all jewelry it-erations. “We saw a lot of silver on the runway,” said Herman. “There was a lot of clean lines and precision.”

Retailers used the jew-elry market to buy into new, lesser-known designers.

Both Chiam and Distenfeld picked up Charlotte Chesnais, a Nicolas Ghesquière proté-gé-turned-jewelry designer, whose industrial, molded aesthetic Chiam likened to that of Paula Mendoza. “She’s very French, and has very or-ganic, beautiful jewelry that wraps around your fi ngers and hands,” added Distenfeld.

Sunwoo found a trio of la-bels that made a lasting im-pression this season: Tomasini, a Parisian line of handmade bags, New York-based footwear designer Gabriela Hearst and Álvaro, a shoe collection by Álvaro González shown during Milan Fashion Week.

Overall, the idea of novelty fueled a strong buying season for retailers across all catego-ries, whether from new design-ers or old, despite the return of the Seventies yet again. “I love a season where there is a reason to buy,” said Timmins. “[Designers showed] things that we don’t already have in the closet, so you need to go out and get it. There’s no choice.”

Accessories Go Seventies, Round Two

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Loewe

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WWD.COM9WWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

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Simon Ups Ante in Bid for MacerichBy SHARON EDELSON

SIMON PROPERTY GROUP sweetened its bid for the Macerich Co. on Friday, but will it be enough to bring the mall operator to the table?

Indianapolis-based Simon, the larg-est mall company in America, said it sent a letter to Macerich outlining its best and fi nal offer: $95.50 a share in

cash and Simon shares to acquire the outstanding shares of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based self-operated real estate investment trust and the third biggest mall operator.

Simon on March 9 made an unsolic-ited offer of $91 a share, which on March 17 was rebuffed by Macerich after its board unanimously determined that the

proposal “substantially undervalued” Macerich and was not in the best inter-ests of Macerich and its stockholders.

To ward off Simon’s advances, Macerich adopted a poison pill and classifi ed its board structure to prevent Simon from placing any of its own mem-bers on the board.

The other terms of Simon’s previous $91 a share offer remain the same, the company said, including consideration

in the form of 50 percent cash and 50 percent Simon common stock, utilizing a fi xed exchange ratio.

The total value of the proposed trans-action is about $23.2 billion, including assumption of approximately $6.4 billion of Macerich debt outstanding.

The offer represents a 37 percent premium to Macerich’s unaffected clos-

By VICKI M. YOUNG

TIFFANY & CO. moved into the black in the fourth quarter even though sales declined.

For the three months ended Jan. 31, net income was $196.2 million, or $1.51 a diluted share, against a net loss of $103.6 million, or 81 cents, a year ago. The year-ago quarter in-cluded a charge of $480.2 million in connection with an arbitration award with Swatch Group that is currently under appeal. Net sales slipped 1 per-cent to $1.29 billion from $1.30 billion. Excluding the effect of translating foreign-currency-denominated sales into U.S. dollars, worldwide sales rose 3 percent led by growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company said total and comparable-store sales on a constant-exchange-rate basis in the quarter for the Americas were flat compared with the prior year due to softness across the U.S.

For the year, net income more than doubled to $484.2 million, or $3.73 a di-luted share, from $181.4 million, or $1.41, in 2013. Net sales rose 5.4 percent to $4.25 billion from $4.03 billion.

Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and chief executive offi cer, said that the com-

pany in 2014 expanded its store base, in-troduced compelling new jewelry designs and strengthened customer awareness.

For the year ending Jan. 31, 2016, the company is forecasting “minimal growth in net earnings per diluted share” from the $4.20, excluding charges, earned in 2014. The company is predicting a 30 percent decline in fi rst quarter net earn-ings, a more modest decline in the sec-ond quarter, with expected double-digit percentage net earnings increases in the back half.

Frederic Cumenal, president, told Wall Street analysts during a confer-ence call that the company’s strategic direction focuses on “continual inno-vation as a global luxury brand.” He noted that over the next few years, the company will strengthen its abili-ties when it fi nishes development of a global CRM system that will enable it to better analyze its customer base and shopping partners.

Cumenal also noted the introduction of the Tiffany T collection that followed its 2013 reinterpretation of its Atlas col-lection. Additional collections will be introduced in the coming years, with the new CT-60 watch collection coming out next month.

Shares of Tiffany closed at $82.93, down 4 percent in trading on Friday.

Tiffany Manages 4th-Qtr. Profi t

ing stock price of $69.88 on November 18, 2014, the day before Simon disclosed a 3.6 percent stake investment in Macerich, or about 5.71 million shares.

The offer is now $24.50 per share above, or a 35 percent premium to the $71 share price underlying the November 2014 agreement by Macerich’s board of directors to issue 10.9 per-cent of Macerich’s shares to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in exchange for certain joint venture interests.

Macerich on Friday said its board will review the revised proposal with its fi -nancial and legal advisers.

Both companies own trophy malls, Simon, the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and Macerich, Santa Monica Place.

“The stock market seems to be saying, maybe it won’t happen,” said Roy Shepard, a REIT analyst at Edward Jones. “Despite all the mudslinging, there’s a chance of it happening. These types of things tend to happen over week-ends. I wouldn’t be shocked if something was announced on Monday.”

Macerich stock closed Friday at $89.21, $4.87 below the offer on the New York Stock Exchange.

“The board has a fi duciary duty to se-riously consider Simon’s offer,” Shepard added. “I think its a fair offer, valuing the company at 20 percent or 25 percent over its consensus value. They have to take it seriously.”

“It’s a very strong bid,” said Alexander Goldfarb, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill &

Partners. “But Macerich remains a com-pany with a very independent spirit and marches to their own beat. I haven’t seen them be pressured into anything before and I don’t think that’s going to change.”

The acquisitive Simon has been spurned before. Simon in 2010 made a $10 billion hostile bid for GGP as it was trying to emerge from bankruptcy. Simon made four buyout proposals within 10 months but dropped its last offer when a stalking horse bidder emerged and was ultimately victorious.

While many shopping malls across the country have been suffering from dwindling consumer traffi c, aging physi-

cal plants, vacancies and a dearth of new retail concepts, it’s the so called A malls in Macerich’s portfo-lio that Simon is after. Simon said it reached an agreement in prin-ciple to sell selected Macerich assets to GGP.

If the Macerich deal doesn’t happen, Simon has plenty to spend its capital on. While there’s little ground-up regional mall development in the U.S., the out-let sector is growing and Simon operates The Mills and Premium Outlets. Simon is working on major redevelopments at two dominant centers, the King of Prussia Mall in suburban Philadelphia and Woodbury Common in Central Valley, N.Y.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co. and JP Morgan Securities LLC are acting as fi nancial ad-visers to Macerich and Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP and Venable LLP are acting as legal counsel.

review the revised proposal with its fi -nancial and legal advisers.

Both companies own trophy malls, Simon, the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and Macerich, Santa

“The stock market seems to be saying, maybe it won’t happen,” said Roy Shepard, a REIT analyst at Edward Jones. “Despite all the mudslinging, there’s a chance of it happening. These types of things tend to happen over week-

While many shopping malls across the country have been suffering from dwindling consumer traffi c, aging physi-

cal plants, vacancies and a dearth of new retail concepts, it’s the so called A malls in Macerich’s portfo-lio that Simon is after. Simon said it reached an agreement in prin-ciple to sell selected Macerich assets to GGP.

If the Macerich deal doesn’t happen, Simon has plenty to spend its capital on. While there’s little ground-up regional

3.6%SIMON’S CURRENT STAKE

INVESTMENT IN MACERICH.

REVOLVE IS set to roll out new lines this year following its purchase of Los Angeles-based Alliance Apparel Group.

The deal — on undisclosed terms — folds Alliance’s Lovers + Friends, Tularosa and NBD brands into Cerritos, Calif.-based Revolve’s stable.

Revolve sells more than 500 brands on its namesake Web site and also runs the Forward by Elyse Walker online shop.

The company told WWD earlier this year it expects to close 2015 with $400 million in sales, which would be up about 50 percent from the prior year.

Alliance, which is expected to keep its headquarters in Los Angeles, is esti-mated to have gross sales of $18 million this year, up 140 percent from the year-ago period.

— KARI HAMANAKA

Revolve Adding Labels to Lineup

The Galleria, owned by Simon Property Group.

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BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON, Bethany Cosentino of the band Best Coast had played so many shows at South by Southwest she was running out of clothes. For an outdoor concert at the Palm Door on 6th in a few hours, she was down to a Lucy Paris wool skirt and a Fleetwood Mac T-shirt.

“I’m at the bottom of my suitcase,” she says. “This is what was there. Everything is, like, sweaty and smells like a barbecue because I’ve been wearing it around all week.”

Best Coast has had one of their busier times at this year’s festival — nine performances that culminated Saturday afternoon. It’s all part of the run-up to the May release of the band’s third album, “California Nights,” which Cosentino describes as their boldest project yet.

“If confi dence is a way you can describe a sound of music, I would say that’s kind of what it is now. We’ve just sort of become the band that we’ve always wanted to be,” she says.

Even by the standards of music

festivals, Cosentino, 28, stands out in Austin, Tex., as the ultimate California girl, liberally peppering her conversation with “likes” ad nauseam and proudly showing off her various tattoos, including one that reads, natch, “California Dreamin’.”

Music, she likes to say, “was always in the stars for me.”

Born and raised in La Crescenta, a suburb of Los Angeles, Cosentino started out as a child actress in commercials and eventually segued into playing gigs with her father, a drummer, in high school, which she later dropped out of to pursue music full-time.

“If I would ever do shows around L.A., weird executives would come. It was like, ‘We like you, but we want to turn you into something else,’ and I was, like, vaguely punk, so I was like, ‘I’m not going to do that,’” she says.

She spent a year in New York studying at The New School and when she returned to L.A., she pitched Bobb Bruno, an acquaintance from the local

music scene, the idea of the band. Although the two of them are over a

decade apart, their musical infl uences overlap. “He’s, like, my twin fl ame, but super platonically,” she says, citing their love of classics like The Beach Boys, West Coast rap and even Oasis. “He always says it’s because he thinks I’m really mature for my age, but I think that he’s actually just immature for his age.”

Out of the gate, agenda-setting music sites like Pitchfork raved about their fi rst album, 2010’s “Crazy for You,” and soon Cosentino became a fi xture on popular blogs of the Aughts like Hipster Runoff. For their third effort, Cosentino wanted a mix of love songs with everything from “alternative Nineties” to “psychedelic, kind of shoegaze-y” vibes. With only two songs released, it’s already resonating with audiences. “People are already singing along, and it’s crazy,” she says.

Though they’ve only been together for six years, Cosentino sounds like a jaded veteran of the road. She’s even starting to think about the future. “I would like to continue doing this I guess into my 30s, but I also am in that late-20s phase where I’m like, ‘I kinda, like, want to maybe think about getting married, and, like, having a baby, and, like, settling down,” she admits, before adding, “But I doubt that that’s going to happen anytime soon.” It’s telling, though, that the highlight of the festival for her wasn’t a performance, but meeting actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

“We literally, like, hung out and talked and exchanged phone numbers. It’s basically the highlight of my life — not just of South by Southwest. I mean the shows have been awesome,” she said with utter sincerity. “But that was really the most important thing to me.”

— JENNY SUNDEL

WWD.COMWWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 201510

“A LOT OF THEM PROBABLY never get this type of treatment,” said former New York Knicks player John Starks, holding court at a rather unexpected location last week: Men’s Wearhouse in Manhattan’s Midtown East. He was referring to a group of young men who had arrived at the store to be fitted for suits for a lavish prom the Garden of Dreams Foundation has thrown since last year for about 100 needy teenagers. On April 14, students will gather at Manhattan’s Affinia Hotel, where Bumble and bumble hairstylists, MAC makeup artists and models — like prom chairwoman and Sports Illustrated model Damaris Lewis — will be on hand to help them prepare for the big night at Madison Square Garden.

“I’m looking forward to having fun at prom and trying to make the night special for my date, who I haven’t met yet,” said Cristian Mejia, 16. Some of the teens have already mingled at other

Prom Night

An Angeleno in Austin

eye

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If confi dence is a way you can describe

a sound of music, I would

say that’s kind of what

it is now. — BETHANY COSENTINO

events hosted by the foundation leading up to dance, like a Maroon 5 concert: “I met my prom date at the show,” said 15-year-old Kelvin Duran.

Over at Macy’s Herald Square, a similar shopping event was unfolding on the fourth fl oor — but for the girls. Model Eleni Tsavousis was on hand to help them pick out dresses, jewelry and shoes.

Seventeen-year-old Manisha Perman of Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School wore a hot pink strapless number with crystal accents, while 18-year-old Ray Jean Brannon, who wants to be a mechanical engineer, was opting for a navy blue suit.

“I feel most comfortable in this dress,” Perman said. “I love when you try on a dress, and you’re like, ‘Yes! This is it.’” Tashana Victor, an 18-year-old student at Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics High School, also had her eye on a light pink gown. “They’re doing everything for us,” she said. “You feel like you’re really special, like you’re a star.”

— KRISTI GARCED

Student Brian Polanco, 18, and Damaris Lewis.

Eleni Tsavousis

and Manisha Perman

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Best Coast performing at South by Southwest.

WWD.COM11WWD MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME: Given his taste for groovy modernist architecture, Nicolas Ghesquière’s destination for Louis Vuitton’s resort show is a sweet spot: Palm Springs, Calif. The French brand has fi xed May 6 for the desert event, with the venue and other details to follow.

France’s biggest fashion players have chosen eclectic geographies for the interim fashion season, with Chanel to show cruise in Seoul on May 4 and Dior in Los Angeles on May 9. — MILES SOCHA

THE BRITISH ARE COMING: Vivienne Westwood will be translating her British style to her first boutique in New York this fall. For the third U.S. retail location in her growing empire, following stores in Los Angeles and Honolulu, the designer will stock three floors of a six-story French Beaux Arts townhouse with ready-to-wear looks from Gold Label, Red Label, Anglomania and Man, as well as her accessory lines, bridal designs and eveningwear from Gold Label Capsule. A selection from the Worlds End collection, which is usually sold only in the eponymous boutique cofounded by Westwood in London, will also be available. The company’s administrative offices and showroom will occupy the remaining floors in the 15,000-square-foot building located at 14 East 55th Street.

“The building we have chosen for our shop has a great atmosphere and the area is perfect for us,” said Andreas Kronthaler, Westwood’s husband and the label’s creative director.

Situated directly across from Escada, the new Polo Ralph Lauren store and its Polo Bar, the store also counts Chanel, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior as neighbors a

couple of blocks away.“New York is an important step for us as a company, so we had to fi nd a location which best represents

our brand,” said Cristiano Minchio, chief executive offi cer of the company’s America business. “As soon as we opened the Los Angeles fl agship, we started looking at different areas in New York and found a great

building with lots of history, which was once part of the St. Regis Hotel.”

— KHANH T.L. TRAN

HERE AND THERE: Scott Morrison is branching out his 3x1 denim brand. Adding to his SoHo flagship, which opened in 2011, Morrison will unveil a new retail outpost this May on Southampton, N.Y.’s Main Street. The 1,200-square-foot space will be modeled after the SoHo store, complete with a denim wall and custom denim capabilities.

“I think we’ve always been toying around with wanting to expand,” Morrison said. “And we’ve reached a point where we really understand our business and our customers and what they expect from us.” He said they’ll be focused on achieving speedier turnaround for 3x1’s bespoke service — a nice perk for short-term visitors

to the Hamptons — as well as an “unconventional delivery service.” (He kept mum on those details.)

Also new for the brand: The rollout of a men’s shop-in-shop inside of Paris’ Le Bon Marché on April 2, which will feature a miniature denim wall and sell exclusively selvedge styles. This follows the opening of a women’s shop-in-shop at Le Bon Marché in September.

— KRISTI GARCED

CLEAR VISION: The Salvatore Ferragamo Group and eyewear licensee Marchon Eyewear Inc. have signed a five-year extension on their eyewear licensing agreement. The deal enables Marchon to continue its design, distribution, marketing and sale of Ferragamo-branded eyewear until 2021.

Ferragamo and Marchon linked up in 2012, at which time they signed an initial three-year licensing agreement. Michele Norsa, Ferragamo’s ceo, reports that the collaboration has yielded approximately 30 percent increases in the brand’s eyewear volume each year since its collaboration with Marchon began.

2.5x7 (right)

FASHION SCOOPS

TIME INC.’S TOWN HALL: The eighth floor auditorium in the Time & Life building in Midtown Manhattan played host to a series of meetings with staff this week about the state of Time Inc. and its growth strategy going forward.

Chief executive offi cer Joe Ripp kicked off the week with a 90-minute quarterly management meeting on Tuesday, in which executives at the company presented their title’s story and their visions for business expansion. That meeting preceded two town hall meetings on Friday morning that were essentially slimmed-down versions of Tuesday’s meetings, and open to all staff.

Insiders said the management meeting included a presentation dubbed: “Monetizing ‘News’ at Scale” by Time editor in chief Nancy Gibbs and publisher Meredith Long. During the presentation, the duo spoke about Time’s award-winning photojournalism, and they name-checked its powerful and popular photos of the crash of a Malaysia Airlines plane.

Time was able to garner more digital viewers thanks to such work, and maintain itself as an important news

source for Millennials — even though those consumers tend to eschew print.

According to an insider, Long and Gibbs presented a chart, which ranked news sources based on trust. “Time was more trusted than The New York Times. I don’t know where they got that chart,” the source said. “I don’t know who made it.”

Karen Kovacs, the group publisher of People and Entertainment Weekly, gave a presentation called: “The Power of the Red Carpet.” It covered advertising and the power of celebrity. For her part, executive vice president Evelyn Webster spoke about the importance of fashion and beauty to the company’s InStyle, StyleWatch and Essence titles. She presented Mimi, a beauty-focused site focusing on social media, bloggers and video, which launched this week. The subject of e-commerce was also addressed, and Webster noted that a magazine like InStyle, on average, drives the purchase of six to eight beauty products a month. She made the case that Time Inc. should get a piece of that action, which was met by eye rolls by some who have seen magazines try to dip their toes in the murky waters of e-commerce.

Chief fi nancial offi cer Jeff Bairstow provided a rundown of the company’s fi nancials, in which he assured staff that

the company was “on track.” The mood overall was “positive,” an insider noted, adding that the general sense from Ripp was that Time Inc. is done “streamlining” its management. The company, is, however, on the hunt for a group president of Time, Fortune, Money and Sports Illustrated, sources said, and that could stir up some additional change.

— ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

GUARDIAN TAPS VINER: Katharine Viner has been named editor in chief of the Guardian, and will become the first woman to run the British paper in its 194-year history, the news organization said in its online edition late Friday.

Viner is currently based in New York as editor in chief of Guardian U.S., and will replace Alan Rusbridger, who stepped down in December after 20 years. She will become the 12th editor since the paper, which won a Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2014, was founded in May 1821.

As reported, Rusbridger will become chairman of the Scott Trust, parent of the Guardian and Observer newspapers, in 2016, replacing Liz Forgan when she ends her term as chair.

The paper said Viner, who began her career at Cosmopolitan magazine, “won the overwhelming support” of staff in a

ballot held earlier this month.Staff from the Guardian, which is

published during the week, and from the Observer, published on Sundays, had the chance to vote, although the trust had previously said it reserved the right to select the fi nal candidate, regardless of any poll.

The trust, whose mission is to safeguard the title’s editorial future and independence, announced its decision early Friday evening after members of the board conducted fi nal interviews with two short-listed candidates. The other candidate is understood to have been Ian Katz, a Guardian veteran who is now editor of “Newsnight” on BBC2.

Viner joined the paper in 1997 and edited the Saturday edition from 2008 until 2012. She also launched the Guardian’s Australian outpost, and moved to New York last summer to take over the U.S. job.

Earlier this month it emerged that Viner was a front-runner.

According to the paper, 53 percent of staff who voted backed Viner with a fi rst-choice vote. Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University and a non-executive director of The Scott Trust, came in second. Janine Gibson, editor in chief of Theguardian.com, came in third. — SAMANTHA CONTI

MEMO PAD

Marchon exclusively produces its products in Ferragamo’s native Italy. It also manufactures and distributes eyewear for brands including Calvin Klein, Chloé, Valentino and Lacoste, among others.

— MISTY WHITE SIDELL

YOHJI’S COOL CAT: In one of the more unlikely fashion collaborations in recent memory, Yohji Yamamoto is teaming up with Hello Kitty parent company Sanrio Co. Ltd. to launch a new brand called Kitty’s. Yamamoto and his team will work on product development, production and branding, while Sanrio will handle character approval, store management

and product sales. Two store openings are planned for the brand, one for March 25 in the Isetan department store in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, and the other for April 2 in a shopping center due to open in Osaka on the same day. At the time of the

brand’s launch, select items for sale will include T-shirts, polo shirts, sweatshirts and jackets adorned with characters such as Hello Kitty and My Melody. In the future, other products will include backpacks,

pouches, baseball caps and iPhone cases. Prices will range from 8,800 to 9,800 yen ($72.50 to $80.75) for a T-shirt, and 30,000 to 40,000 yen ($247.20 to $329.60) for dresses and shirts. — WWD JAPAN STAFF

A rendering of the Vivienne Westwood boutique in New York.

A 3X1 denim outpost

will open in May in

Southampton, N.Y.

FOR MORE SCOOPS, SEE

WWD.com.

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