By SHARON EDELSON and RACHEL STRUGATZ

CALL IT CYBER Christmas, with consumers setting records for shopping online.

Online sales Monday are expect-ed to top last year’s Cyber Monday total of $1 billion, the record for on-line sales for a single day. Retailers were seeing double-digit increases all day Monday, which followed equally strong online sales on Thanksgiving Day and over Black Friday weekend. And more and more of that shopping isn’t being done on a computer, but on a smart-phone or tablet device.

A survey for Shop.org by BIGresearch found that 122.9 mil-lion Americans planned to shop

on Cyber Monday, up from the esti-mated 106.9 million who shopped in 2010. According to the National Retail Federation, 37.8 percent of shoppers’ total weekend spending went to online purchases, up from 33.3 percent last year. Forrester Research estimated a record $60 bil-lion in online sales for the holiday season, up 15 percent from last year.

EBay saw outsized growth on Cyber Monday. As of 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, PayPal was seeing mobile payment volume increase sixfold, or 514 percent, compared to the same time period on Cyber Monday 2010. As of 11 a.m. PST, PayPal saw 6 percent more global mobile payment volume on Cyber Monday compared to the same time period on Black Friday 2011.

PHOTO BY JOHN AQUINO; STYLED BY ANTONIA SARDONE

Be SweetA classic beauty, white eyelet looks fresh and pretty

for spring. Here, Ivanka Trump’s cotton dress.

For more, see pages 4 and 5.

CONSUMERS GO MOBILE

Cyber Monday SalesSeen Topping $1B

IN WWD TODAY

WWDTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00

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RETAIL: Despite profits that almost doubled in the quarter, Neiman Marcus executives remain wary given stock market gyrations and economic ills.

Sarah Burton Scoops Prize PAGE 2

FASHION: Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton took top honors at the British Fashion Awards.

China’s Labor Woes PAGE 8

TEXTILES: The rising cost of labor preoccupied exhibitors and buyers at the recent China Sourcing Fair.

PATRON OF THE ARTSFENDI HAS COMMISSIONED

ARTISTS ELISA STROZYK

AND SEBASTIAN NEEB TO

DO AN INSTALLATION AT

DESIGN MIAMI THAT USES

OLD PIANOS, FURNITURE AND

SCRAPS OF FENDI LEATHER.

PAGE 9

PLUS:

ROBERTO

CAVALLI

PRE-FALL.

PAGE 12

▼

SEE PAGE 6

LONDON — Sarah Burton, creative director at Alexander McQueen, won the top accolade — Designer of the Year — at the 2011 British Fashion Awards on Monday night.

The British Fashion Council said Burton has allowed McQueen’s legacy to live “while still giving her own twist of creative genius to a collection that has outshone its ri-vals on and off the catwalk.”

Other winners at the annual ceremony, which took place at the Savoy Theatre here, included Stella McCartney, Victoria Beckham, Christopher Kane, Kim Jones and Charlotte Dellal.

McCartney scooped up the Red Carpet Award, while Beckham re-ceived the Designer Brand one. Kane won the inaugural New Establishment Award, which recog-nizes an industry trendsetter. Jones was named Menswear Designer of the Year, while Dellal won Accessory Designer of the Year for her Charlotte Olympia label.

Sir Paul Smith won the Outstanding Achievement in Fashion prize, which recognizes the designer who throughout his or her

career has made an impact on the industry internationally. Alexa Chung took home the British Style Award — which is

decided by a public vote — while Stella Tennant collected the Model Award. Fashion show and events producer Sam Gainsbury received the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator.

Mary Katrantzou, Tabitha Simmons and Christopher Raeburn each won emerging talent awards for women’s wear, accessories and men’s wear, respectively.

— SAMANTHA CONTI

PARIS — In a changing of the guard at one of France’s most celebrated embroidery houses, Maison Lesage has named Hubert Barrère its new artistic director, effective Thursday.

Barrère previously held the same title at Maison Hurel, another Paris-based embroidery specialist.

Disclosing the change to WWD on Monday, Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion and Maison Lesage, said François Lesage, honorary president, assisted in the selection of his successor.

Last week, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Lesage the honorary distinction of Maître d’Art, or Master of Art in English. He has helmed the company since 1949, and took on the honorary title in 2005.

Pavlovsky declined to provide figures, but said Lesage had a “very good year” in 2011, with strong demand from more than a dozen clients, including couture houses Dior, Chanel and Valentino, ready-to-wear firms such as Dolce & Gabbana, and newer names such as Alexandre Vauthier.

The executive also noted that Lesage has seen new activ-ity flourish: embroidered fabrics that are made to order.

Chanel acquired Lesage, in 2002, and a handful of other spe-cialty ateliers, in a bid to preserve France’s couture know-how. These include shoemaker Massaro, hat maker A. Michel, feath-er and flower house Lemarie and button specialist Desrues.

Barrère, who trained at l’Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris, is known as a specialist in cor-sets and in 2001 introduced a signature collection. He has spent 15 years at Hurel, one of five embroidery houses with which Chanel collaborates. — MILES SOCHA

By DAVID MOIN

NEIMAN MARCuS INC. practically doubled its profits during its first quarter ended Oct. 29, but ex-ecutives kept their cool, citing the potential impact of stock market gyrations and troubled economies around the world.

“We do remain concerned with the broader econ-omy and effects on our customers. Our customers are very attuned to the fluctuations of the stock mar-ket and sensitive to the world economic news,” Karen Katz, Neiman’s president and chief executive officer, told inves-tors during a conference call Monday. “As we move into the holidays, we are ever mindful of the uncertainty of the eco-nomic news here and abroad.”

However, Katz also said Neiman’s is “well positioned with luxury fashion and the lat-est trends.”

Although business has been good, Neiman’s executives de-clined to forecast Christmas or beyond. Katz did offer some pos-itives, however, noting the com-pany’s fortunes are not as tied to Black Friday and that Neiman’s customers tend to shop steadily through the holiday period. “We view the holidays as a time to introduce a full array of gift suggestions. A person can find something from $50 to $50,000.”

She even said certain “fan-tasy gifts” offered in Neiman’s Christmas catalogue have sold already, such as a $125,000 custom-made library from Assouline that includes wall-to-wall interior design and 250 books; five Johnny Walker Scotch tasting parties for $5,000 each, and 10 bespoke Ferrari cars, priced $395,000 each.

For the quarter, Neiman’s gen-erated $48.4 million in net earn-ings, compared with $25.7 million a year ago. Sales totaled $1 bil-lion, compared with $927.2 mil-lion in the prior year, and com-parable revenues rose 8 percent.

Operating earnings from the specialty store group com-prised of Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Last Call clearance centers rose to $125.3 million from $108 million. Neiman Marcus Direct saw operating earnings grow to $28.1 million from $25 million.

Revenues at the specialty group rose to $811.8 million from $761.1 million; direct marketing grew to $191.3 million from $166.1 million.

After the call, Katz told WWD that “a great prod-uct offering” and increased full-price selling fueled the quarter’s results. She also said resort merchan-dise in the stores now and the upcoming spring col-

lections look strong. “There’s color, femininity and new trends,” she said.

Katz cited women’s contemporary sportswear, shoes, designer handbags, precious jewelry accessories, beau-ty and men’s wear as standout categories in the last quarter in stores. The best-performing regions were the West and Southeast, notably Texas and Florida.

With business going well, Katz said, “We don’t feel the need to be more promotional. Inventories are in good control, and we are going on the same kind of promotional cadence as we did last year.” As far as

buying, the approach for pre-fall is “kind of cautious.”

Since taking over the reins from Burt Tansky over a year ago, Katz has accelerated tech-nology initiatives to capture greater e-commerce sales and strengthen communications with customers. Smartphones are being distributed to sales as-sociates so they can contact cus-tomers via texts, e-mails, phone calls and photographs of prod-ucts. Currently, smartphones are in the hands of associates at 10 stores. The goal is to have all 42 full-line Neiman Marcus loca-tions outfitted by the end of July, which marks the conclusion of Neiman’s fiscal year.

Neiman’s is also improving its Web site to streamline the checkout procedure, reduce the number of clicks between the entry page and those fea-turing merchandise, enhance visuals, introduce vendors and refine e-mails so they’re more targeted and personalized to customers. “Clientele manage-ment is at the heart of our busi-ness model,” Katz said. “If a customer shops contemporary exclusively, we probably would not send an e-mail on fine ap-parel.” The Last Call clearance Web site has also been en-hanced with a new graphic de-sign and simplified navigation.

Neiman’s capital budget for the current fiscal year has been boosted to $160 million to $170 million from less than $100 million, primarily to pay for technology enhancements as well as store renovations and building a new full-line store in Walnut Creek, Calif., which is scheduled to open in March.

The company is also measuring service and loy-alty levels through a 10-question survey called the NPS or Net Promoter Score. Among other inqui-ries, it asks how likely a customer is to recommend Neiman Marcus for shopping. “When we compare ourselves to industry standards, we’re performing very well and although our scores are high, we still aim to be higher and we’re using the customer feed-back to drive improvements to our service and to our merchandise offerings,” Katz said.

■ EYE: See Model Call: Phoebe Watson, as well as more pictures from Lancel’s 135th anniversary party and Fendi’s Design Miami installation at WWD.com/eye. ■ FASHION: See the latest pre-fall collections, including Roberto Cavalli and Jo No Fui, at WWD.com/fashion-news. ■ BUSINESS: More business news and daily markets coverage at WWD.com/business-news.■ GLOBAL BREAKING NEWS

’’

Lesage Taps New Artistic Head

Burton Wins Top British Award

WWD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 20112WWD.COM

To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is firsTname_lasTname@fairchildfashion.com, using The individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2011 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 202, NO. 111. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, October and December, and two additional issues in February, March, April, August, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For reprints of articles, please contact Scoop ReprintSource at 800-767-3263 or via e-mail at sales@scoopreprintsource.com. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

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RETAIL 1,2,6,12FASHION 2,4,5,11,12FINANCIAL 7TEXTILES 8

DESIGN 9,10MEDIA 10BEAUTY 12FUR 12

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4 WWD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Eyelet CandyBrights aren’t the only color story for spring. Many designers

in the better market are keen on delicate white embroideries for looks that are bohemian yet feminine. — Antonia Sardone

PHOTOS BY JOHN AQUINO

Spense’s cotton dress. Michael Michael Kors cuff;

Nine West shoes.

Cotton dress from Lauren by Ralph Lauren Dress Collection. Tommy Bahama belt.

Cotton dress by Pendleton Woolen Mills.

WWD.COM5WWD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

DKNYC’s cotton blazer, Jones New York Signature’s cotton top and

Tommy Bahama’s cotton and Lycra spandex denim pants. Michael Kors

watch; Tommy Bahama belt.

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As of 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday, Forrester Research report-ed that online sales were up 15 percent since the same period last year. While most of the day’s orders came from lap-tops and PCs, mobile devices were ex-pected to pick up momentum later in the evening as consumers headed home and continued shopping as they commuted.

“What I’ve heard anecdotally [so far] is that sites are up double digits over last year,” said Forrester Research’s vice president and research director Patti Freeman Evans. “Cyber Monday was the biggest day ever previously. They are al-ready up over their biggest day ever — it’s pretty significant.”

Black Friday was heavily promoted, said Evans, adding that there were “more consumers reacting to these big days. These big days [such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday] are getting bigger.”

Marshal Cohen, chief industry ana-lyst at NPD Group, said that while con-sumers were taking advantage of good deals, revenues will be the litmus test of the success of Cyber Monday. “It’s big-ger this year than last year,” Cohen said. “However, it is becoming diluted to some degree. Cyber Monday will be less impor-tant next year. Ten days before Christmas is the busiest day online because it’s the cutoff date for guaranteed shipping. Cyber Monday is a very busy day, but it’s not most heavily purchased day.”

Online retailers were more aggressive this year, matching brick-and-mortar stores discount for discount, offering a plethora of deals and giving their ads a sense of ur-gency. “Online players got engaged earlier and more aggressively,” Cohen said.

“We are pleased with the reaction to our online sales, and are excited about the start of Cyber Week at target.com,” said a spokeswoman for the mass mer-chant. “Similar to last year, top items are predominantly toys and electronics. We’ve seen tremendous growth in both traffic and sales on our mobile site and mobile apps over the past few days. The results are un-precedented and holding strong today.”

J.C. Penney promoted a three-day sale that began on Sunday and continues through today. “We have 40,000 deals on jcpenney.com for Cyber Monday,” said Bill Gentner, senior vice president of marketing. “Cyber Monday is going to be very important for J.C. Penney this year.”

“Mobile is huge and growing so fast for us,” said HauteLook’s founder and chief executive officer Adam Bernhard. “Fourteen percent of sales in the first hour were done on mobile devices. It’s growing. Today, 20 percent to 30 percent of sales will be made on mobile devices. In addition, we signed 10,000 to 25,000 new members a day this weekend. These are indicators that it’s going to be a very strong holiday season.”

“Mobile shopping allows consumers to connect with retailers at a moments’ notice — in store or not,” said Forrester’s Evans. “This year, that ability is crucial and will likely influence a good deal of the sales this holiday.” Evans said that

tablets, in particular, lend themselves to an enriched shopping experience with an engaging, hyper-visual component.

Midday results also indicated that the percentage of consumers using a mobile device to access a retailer’s site was 12.3 percent, and 7.4 percent of consumers are using a mobile device to complete the transaction, Forrester said. The iPhone is the leader of mobile traffic, with almost 5 percent of the market, fol-lowed by Android at just under 4 percent and the iPad at 3.26 percent.

“The rise of social media as a mar-keting tool in the fashion industry — where it’s commonplace for retailers and brands to garner followings in the millions — also had an affect on Cyber Monday,” said Maureen Mullen, director of research and advisory at Luxury Lab, or L2 Think Tank. “Like anything else, it [social media] allows you to get your mes-sage so much faster and so much more dynamically, so you actually see analysts tracking Cyber Monday.”

Scott Silverman, co-founder and vice

president of marketing at IFeelGoods, and the Shop.org veteran who is said to have helped coin the term “Cyber Monday” in 2005, said social media has the ability to “amplify” deals “because people get excited and share them on Facebook and Twitter. When a retailer posts a promotion, all of its fans will see it and share it with their friends — increasing the message’s level of authenticity platform-wide. It’s one thing to hear a message from a retailer if they post a status update, but if you think it’s cool and you share it, then your friends are more likely to pay at-tention to what you share because they know and trust you.”

Flash sale site Gilt Groupe tried some-thing new this year. In addition to all of the regular sales it runs, it launched a new sale every three hours with products from an array of categories with sharp prices. Susan Lyne, chairman of Gilt, said, “We are up significantly over last year at this time. For the first 90 minutes of our [Cyber Monday] sale, we had done 85 percent of last year’s total sale. For us, on Black Friday, mobile crushed it. Mobile has been an increasing share of our total sales for a while now. On Black Friday we did a num-ber of mobile-only sales, recognizing that a lot of people would be standing in lines [at brick-and-mortar retailers]. Mobile on Black Friday accounted for 75 percent of our sales. It was over 30 percent of our sales for the whole weekend.”

“We saw a coming out party for mobile commerce,” agreed Ben Fischman, founder and ceo of flash sale site Rue La La. “One in every three orders was done via a mobile device and nine out of 10 orders came from a device made by Apple. We had a record-breaking weekend —and it’s become Cyber Weekend. On Thursday at 8 p.m., the traffic became strong and it continued strong. This morning at 11 a.m. it was incredibly strong. Between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., we sold 10,000 pairs of shoes. The customer is shopping for gifts and for herself. I believe there’s a buy-now, wear-now attitude.”

Stephanie Phair, director of The Outnet, Net-a-porter’s discount sister site, said traffic increased by 50 percent at 1:30 p.m. EST on Cyber Monday, compared to last year. She projected a 200 percent jump in revenue by the end of day, over the same day last year, citing a free shipping promo-tion and uploading new stock. Bestsellers for the day included party dresses by Zac Posen, Alexander McQueen’s skull-stamped tote and N. Peal cashmere slip-pers, exclusive to The Outnet.

Net-a-porter’s biannual sale started Friday and dresses got the most hits, said Alison Loehnis, vice president of sales and marketing, adding, “This suggests women are shopping for themselves.”

At social shopping search engine ShopStyle, sequin dresses were the top item on Cyber Monday, followed by lace dresses, over-the-knee boots and Burberry items. ShopStyle generated over $2.3 million in sales on Black Friday for its partners include Neiman Marcus, ShopBop and Net-a-Porter, and projects

6 WWD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Cyber Monday Sees Record Shopping

By EVAN CLARK and SAMANTHA CONTI

INVESTORS POuRED dollars into u.S. retail stocks after Black Friday sales and traffic signaled a strong start to the holiday selling season.

The S&P Retail Index shot up 3.1 percent, or 15.5 points, to 515.87, the sector’s best showing since late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.6 percent, or 291.23 points, to 11,523.01, picking up momen-

tum from European markets, which were also on the rise.The gainers included Zale Corp., up 13.6 percent to

$3.51; Jones Apparel Group Inc., 6.6 percent to $10.20; Guess Inc., 6 percent to $27.87; Macy’s Inc., 4.7 percent to $30.84; American Eagle Outfitters Inc., 5.1 percent to $13.55, and Saks Inc., 5 percent to $8.91.

European markets surged on hopes that Euro zone leaders will be able to work up a plan to draw the region closer together financially and end the debt crisis. France and Germany are expected to outline a plan setting debt

limits for countries in the currency bloc next month.The CAC 40 in Paris led the upswing, closing up 5.5

percent to 3,012.93, followed by the DAX in Frankfurt, which rose 4.6 percent to 5,745.33. The FTSE MIB in Milan also climbed 4.6 percent to 14,578.23, while the FTSE 100 in London advanced 2.9 percent to 5,312.76.

Most retail and luxury stocks rose with the markets, with the exception of Mulberry Group, which tumbled 2.4 percent to 13.37 pounds. The day’s biggest gainers includ-ed Benetton Group, which rose 6.7 percent to 3.41 euros; Carrefour, which increased 9.2 percent to 18.90 euros, and Geox, which advanced 6.4 percent to 2.38 euros.

The euro slipped 0.1 percent against the dollar to $1.33 while the pound inched up 0.1 percent to $1.55.

Stocks Respond to Strong Holiday Traffic

{Continued from page one}

Gilt Groupe and Outnet featured sales on exclusive items.

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a 25 percent to 30 percent increase from Cyber Monday 2010’s $1.2 million in sales.

Barbara Levy, vice president of retail at Ideeli.com, said the site was seeing double-digit increases. “I wouldn’t be surprised if our business today doubled over last year’s Cyber Monday,” she said. “Today, the consumer is doing a lot of self-buying. We have sales focused on luxury, a who’s who of designers. We had a lux-ury shoe that sold out in the first hour and we have 1,000 people on the waiting list. Bestsellers include shoes, boots, dresses, handbags, wraps, cold weather accessories, cashmere and colored denim. Merchandise like shoes and jeans, they’re buying for themselves.”

Zappos didn’t offer any incentives for shop-pers, according to ceo Tony Hsieh, who said the full margin retailer wants customers to purchase

from the site because of the vast selection and service, which includes free shipping both ways and a 365-day return policy.

“I actually got up before 7 a.m. and sales were already doing pretty well. It looks we’re on track

for a record day this year, and our biggest Cyber Monday in his-tory as well,” Hsieh said, noting that uggs were performing par-ticularly well, as well as brands such as Nike and New Balance.

And Rue La La’s Fishman believes the best days might yet be ahead. He called

Thanksgiving weekend “an appetizer. The biggest sales days are yet to come. Dec. 5 to 15 is the big-gest time for e-commerce. We asked our members about their plans and 75 percent said they didn’t plan to visit a store on Black Friday or during the course of Thanksgiving weekend. More than 50 percent said they’d spend the same or less online than last year and 80 percent said they’d spend more online this year. It’s at the expense of the brick-and-mortar world. A huge amount of spend-ing is being done online.”

WWD.COM7WWD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Feds Seize Counterfeit Web SitesBy KRISTI ELLIS

WASHINGTON — Federal officials have seized 150 Web site domains distributing counterfeit products, including sports jerseys and well-known accessories and footwear brands.

The number of domains shut down represents more than an 80 percent increase over the 82 sites that were seized during last year’s Cyber Monday-related operations, according to officials.

John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said on a call with report-ers that all the Internet sites were engaged in counterfeiting and pirating violations.

“We want to promote a lawful online environ-ment as much as we can and that means going after a small but significant number of Web sites engaged in fraud on consumers and that is exactly what this is,” Morton said.

Lanny A. Breuer, assistant attorney general for the criminal division of the Department of Justice, said, “Today led to another important step in pre-venting and deterring counterfeit goods — 150 Web sites seized during this operation collectively sold a wide range of counterfeit products — profession-al sports equipment, golf equipment, DVD sets, shoes, boots, sunglasses and handbags, and more. Most of these products were advertised as authen-tic versions of name brand goods and, of course, they were not. unsuspecting consumers who visit these Web sites were led to believe they were buy-ing the real thing when, of course, they were not.”

The seizures were part of an ongoing federal crackdown on counterfeits and pirated goods, and the eighth phase of an initiative dubbed “Operation in Our Sites,” which involves ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center,

the Department of Justice and the FBI.The majority of the domain names sold bogus

jerseys from professional sports teams, but author-ities said counterfeit designer handbags, sunglass-es and shoes were also sold. Among the fashion domain names seized were discount-louisvuitton-handbag.com, louisvuitton-bags-forcheap.com, dis-count-uggboots-sale.com, handbags-eluxuryin.com, pumasportshs.com and replicaoakleysale.com.

Morton said the operation ran for three months, leading to the execution of seizure warrants over the past few days. While officials could not put a dollar figure on the volume of products sold on the sites, Morton said with online shopping on Cyber Monday estimated at $1.2 billion, “this kind of fraud and intellectual property rights violations are in the very large figures…well, well above millions.”

Authorities said the goods were made predomi-nantly in China and shipped directly to the u.S. Trademark holders helped federal officials identify counterfeit and pirated goods, which led to the issue of seizure orders from federal magistrate judges.

Morton said the majority of the Internet opera-tors are based overseas, which presents challeng-es for u.S. authorities.

“They are using the Internet as a means of de-frauding consumers here without actually having to set up shop on u.S. soil,” Morton said.

But Breuer said officials have had some suc-cess in prosecuting individuals. The domain names are now in the custody of the u.S. govern-ment and visitors to the sites will find a seizure banner that notifies them that the domain name has been seized by federal authorities and edu-cates them that “willful” copyright infringement is a federal crime.

Since its launch in June 2010, the IPR Center has seized 350 domain names and the seizure banner for those sites collectively has had 77 million views.

Cyber Monday Sees Record Shopping

The sites for Oscar de la Renta and J.C. Penney.

CybeR MOnday beSTSelleRSn Designer dressesn Over-the-knee bootsn Handbagsn Wrapsn Colored denimn Peacoatsn Down jackets

w29a006a(7);5.indd 2 11/28/11 8:39 PM11282011203939

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genentechJohnson & Johnson group of Consumer

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shiseido Cosmetics America

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PRESIDENT’S DAY: Condé Nast International has named Nicholas Coleridgepresident, a new position. Coleridge, who has been with Condé Nast since 1989 and whose title is managing director of Condé Nast Britain, will take up his new role in January.

Jonathan Newhouse, chairman and chief executive officer of Condé Nast International, said the creation of the new role is in response to “the tremendous growth” of the business in recent years.

“In 1995 we were a magazine-only business publishing fewer than 30 titles in seven countries,” Newhouse stated. “Today we have grown to 117 magazines in 24 markets, along with a thriving digital business and other new brand extensions and joint ventures — we are even opening branded restaurants. Nicholas is a brilliant executive and editor who will provide valuable management know-how and energy.”

Coleridge is to continue to hold his current position.

Newhouse has also named Moritz von Laffert as vice president, Condé Nast International. Von Laffert will continue in his role as president of Condé Nast

Germany, and will join the company’s executive committee starting in 2012. He will become one of four vice presidents at the company.

“Moritz has shown himself to be a highly effective leader,” said Newhouse. “He has maintained Condé Nast’s commitment to editorial excellence while driving the company to new heights of business success and clearly outperforming competitors.”

— SAMANTHA CONTI

A LEG UP: The devil wears…Longchamp? A rivalry at a fictional fashion magazine comprises the story line of a seven-part Web series the French leather goods firm plans to unveil Wednesday on the French, German and U.K. sites of aufeminin.com.

Titled “Heels” and directed by Nicolas Pier Morin, the three-minute episodes follow two warring young women, while never revealing their faces. Instead, the focus is on silhouettes, limbs — and the Longchamp spring collections of ready-to-wear and bags.

The series runs over five weeks, and is to be broadcast early next year in Korea, Japan, China and the U.S.

— MILES SOCHA

PACK THE TRUNKS: Somewhat cerebral — if you can say such a thing about a

travel-heavy lifestyle magazine — Trunk is going biannual with a definite global spin. Until this fall, the publication was a once-a-year deal that was distributed in six countries. But through a deal with Source Interlink, Trunk is now sold for $6.50 in 20 countries. Nancy Gonzalez, Lulu Frost and Bell & Ross are a few of the new advertisers that shelled out $3,000 for an ad in the fall magazine. The magazine has a circulation of 15,000 — 97 percent of whom are said to be passport holders — but there is an anticipated audience of 37,500 this issue. An iPad app is planned for the May 1 edition.

In step with its “The world is a fine place” tag line (words chalked up to Ernest Hemingway), the new issue spans the globe with James Whitlow Delano’s photo essay of life in the shadows of Indonesia’s 130-plus active volcanoes; François Spies’ tale of being mugged and later showered with goat urine in Ethiopia, and Nicholas Kulish’s piece about Alexandria’s scorched former glory. Photographer Anna Skladmann captured privileged Muscovite children in their gilded homes.

On a lighter note, there are two 16-page fashion spreads, one shot on and around Schaalsee lake east of Hamburg and a Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg-inspired one done in downtown Manhattan, as well as four pages that

plug Sydney-based stylist Sibella Court’s decorative hardware for Anthropologie. The chain along with Thompson Hotels, Swissair, Conran and Kartel are among the companies that offer the publication free to customers. About $16,000 was raised through Kickstarter to cover the cost of printing the fall 2011 run, but publisher and creative director David Cicconi does not plan to repeat that.

Like Venice-based design director Pamela Berry, Cicconi once worked at Travel + Leisure and later lived abroad. Another expatriate is editor in chief Diane Vadino, who called London and Paris home for a stretch after exiting Surface magazine. All three started Trunk and kicked in their share of capital. — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

WWDSTYLE

MEMO PAD

Scrappy ChicPHOTO BY ROBERT SADLER CLARK

To mark its fourth year sponsoring Design Miami, which opens today with a preview, Fendi tapped Berlin-based artists Elisa Strozyk and Sebastian Neeb. The duo imported the spirit of Palazzo Fendi to the Sunshine State via a bushel of leftover leathers. For more, see page 10.

An image from the new issue of Trunk.

IN ATTENDANCE: The Duchess of Cambridge was on hand at Queen Elizabeth II’s reception at Buckingham Palace Monday night. PAGE 11

10 WWD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

A giAnt pArking lot in downtown Miami, wedged between a convention center and a series of low-slung apartment complexes, is an unlikely spot to find a little piece of rome — Fendi’s headquarters, to be exact. But it’s nearly the first week of December in this sunny city and that mash-up of old World and new could only be the result of one catalyst: Design Miami, the annual fair that Fendi has sponsored for the past three years.

For the uninitiated, Design Miami is the applied-arts exposition that opens with a preview today and runs parallel to the neighboring Art Basel. And since 2008, when she struck up a friendship with co-founder and then-director Ambra Medda, Silvia Fendi has been a very visible presence at the show, sponsoring panel discussions, musical performances (with fur-covered gibson guitars, naturally) and on-site performance installations. this time, Fendi says, “We really wanted something that would show our roots.” So she brought the spirit of palazzo Fendi to Miami, with a little help from two emerging artists from Berlin, Elisa

Strozyk and Sebastian neeb. “it’s about metamorphosis,”

says Strozyk, 29, of their “Craft Alchemy” installation, located within the Design Miami tents, just left of the entrance. “it’s about different stages, wood and leather, leather and wood.” About a quarter of the space is staged atelierlike, where Strozyk and neeb, 31, will continue to work; the rest, like a gallery. the latter is the sort of scene that might occur if Salvador Dalí’s half-melted figures were cast in the broomstick sequence of “Fantasia.” But here, it’s the couple’s wooden baroque cabinets — some with intricately knotted appendages and fringe spilling out from drawers, others looking deflated and not quite right. Strozyk points to one in particular that’s suspended, hovering like a ghost, from the ceiling. it’s an exact replica of a similar roll-top drawer in Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts — except it’s made entirely of discarded Fendi leather.

like the house’s previous “Craft” and “Fatto a Mano” series, as well as the inaugural “Craft punk” in 2009 that was tied to Milan’s Salone del

Mobile, Fendi supplied the artists with leftover leathers, mostly from the Selleria line, giving them carte blanche to make anything they chose.

“We’re quite into woodworking and antique furniture,” says Strozyk, who’s known for her textiles and rugs crafted from very thin slices of wood mounted on fabric. “And Sebastian is a big fan of wood inlays and the old cabinetmaking. We thought, let’s have a closer look at these two crafts, the combination of wood and leather.”

Earlier this year, the couple collaborated on a cabinet with an accordionlike exterior for imm Cologne, the international furnishings show, so, as Strozyk notes, they were already in a furniture state of mind.

“their technique and sensibility match with our identity,” says Fendi, “as we both see experimentation as something that pushes the boundaries forward.” it was Fendi who suggested they connect that idea to palazzo Fendi, and from there, “the inspirations ping-ponged,” says Strozyk, noting that the installation’s herringbone parquet flooring and the wall’s

paper stencil frames are elements borrowed directly from the house’s headquarters.

“then we said, ‘ok, let’s imagine that there’s one room at palazzo Fendi that’s been sealed for 300 years,’” continues neeb. “And when Fendi moved there in 2005, its spirit went into the room and seeped into the furniture.”

“Craft Alchemy” is the next chapter. Each piece (there are now eight of them but the artists will create more throughout the show’s five-day run) works off of that fantastical narrative. one cabinet has bulges of leather bursting at its edges — “the idea is that it’s puffing its way out,” explains neeb. Another sports patches of erratically woven leather. “it’s attacking the furniture, becoming a part of it,” he adds. in what might be unfortunate news to big spenders, the showcase is not for sale. the Fendi Foundation for limited Edition Design plans to stage an exhibit in rome next year featuring all of its one-of-a-kind Design Miami and Fatto a Mano for the Future collaborations.

Aside from a curvy baroque dresser that they bought on eBay for about $465, the duo

handcrafted everything in the installation (even the “marble” counter tops, which are actually brushed wood), modeling the pieces after those by the 18th century german cabinetmakers Abraham and David roentgen, who had clients including Marie Antoinette and Empress Catherine. “it was a family company — father and son,” neeb says. “like Fendi.”

Also, very “like Fendi” is Design Miami’s Collectors lounge, hosted for the first time this year by the italian brand. Strozyk and neeb had a hand in the decor, most noticeably in the numerous old legless pianos, which they scavenged from a piano graveyard in Miami. the wood is tarnished and the keys are peeled back, but on the comfy side, their tops are lined with herringbone-patterned leather cushions — also crafted by the artists. “We thought it would be nice to have them on the floor, so people could sit since this is a salon,” says Strozyk.

their inspiration for the space was a photo of the reception hall at palazzo Fendi, with the caption “piano nobile” inscribed on it. After all, piano in italian means floor.

— Venessa Lau

Fendi’s Fantasy

A wood cabinet, procured from eBay, with knotted

and fringed leather appendages.

Piano “seats” at the Fendi-sponsored Design Miami’s Collectors Lounge.

The on-site work space at “Craft Alchemy.”

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decade of experience in patternmaking, cutting and other techniques. Companies in a variety of sectors — including masonry, gastronomy and porcelain — have been awarded the label.

HANNANT HEADS SOUTH: With a large part of his client base consisting of Park Avenue socialites, it should come as no surprise that Douglas Hannant has chosen Palm Beach, Fla., where many of his customers spend the winter, as the location of his second store. The 1,000-square-foot boutique opened last week at 150 Worth Avenue. The clean white loftlike space exudes a modern classic aesthetic that will serve as the backdrop for Hannant’s ready-to-wear collection and a newly introduced line of accessories that includes shoes and handbags. “After the successful opening of our New York flagship at The Plaza in September 2009, Palm Beach seemed like a natural next step for us,” said Frederick Anderson, president. Hannant is no stranger to Palm

Beach. “I launched my collection in Palm Beach 15 years ago at Martha’s.” Martha Philips, who owned the store that catered to the wealthiest of women, died in 1996. The Palm Beach Season, according to Hannant is from Thanksgiving through May. He’s designing special pieces for the store based on its climate.

LUXURY’S MUSCLE: European Union leaders may have their hands full with debt crises and sluggish growth in the region, but they still have ample time to devote to the luxury industry. On Tuesday, Antonio Tajani, vice president of the European Commission responsible for industry,

met representatives from Europe’s main luxury goods organizations and from brands including Chanel, Harrods, Max Mara and Thomas Pink in Brussels. He proposed the creation of an advisory board on competitiveness, the creation of a European data observatory for the luxury market and the launch of a study on the importance of the luxury sector to Europe and its links to tourism. The association of Europe’s main luxury goods organizations, known as the European Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance, or ECCIA, said in a statement after the meeting that it welcomed the proposals, and called on the European Commission to support employment in the sector and the export industry. The ECCIA also wants the Commission to encourage the growth of online sales and innovation in the creative industries. “The sustainable business model and drive for innovation and excellence has proven the sector’s resiliency in the financial crisis,” the ECCIA statement said.

HORSE TALE: Brooke Shields, Gina Gershon, Clive Davis, Jim Caviezel, Johan Lindeberg and Matthew Settle were treated to an early screening of Steven Spielberg’s new epic, “War Horse,” just before the Thanksgiving weekend, courtesy of The Cinema Society. Mariska Hargitay and her husband, Peter Hermann, were anticipating the film more than others, as the latter is currently co-starring in the theatrical version of “War Horse” at Lincoln Center. “The play is so magical and I think only Steven Spielberg could capture that,” said

Hargitay of the World War I drama, which features plenty of the director’s signature manipulation of the heartstrings and elegantly choreographed battle scenes. “I’ve been dying to see this movie. I’m a history buff and I like any kind of war picture,” said Cuba Gooding Jr., whose own World War II fighter pilot flick, “Red Tails,” is in theaters come January. Shields, for her part, was just happy to be in one piece following a hiccup in her matinee performance of “The Addams Family” on Broadway. “I made an exit today that was very grand — I fell down all the stairs into the bleachers. So maybe that will be on YouTube.”

MEET THE PRESS: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were among the royals on hand to greet the British press Monday night when Queen Elizabeth II invited journalists to a reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations next year.

Kate wore a green Mulberry silk shirtdress with a pleated skirt for the occasion. She was joined at the reception by William, the Duke of Cambridge, along with Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen.

During the event, the Palace — which has its own Twitter account under the handle @BritishMonarchy — allowed journalists to post updates about the evening on Twitter from an area in the Palace that it dubbed the “Tweet Suite.”

LEVIEV UNDER FIRE: Daphne Guinness and the Fashion Institute of Technology have been asked to end Leviev Extraordinary Diamonds’ sponsorship of the exhibition about the heiress fashion icon that is now on at the school’s museum. The human rights group Adalah-NY takes issue with the company’s owner, Lev Leviev, who has other holdings, for his West Bank ties. His Leader Management and Development company is now building settlement homes in violation of international law, according to Adalah-NY member Pat Connors.

FIT, which first received the request Nov. 21, needs some time to make a decision and is pursuing the matter very actively, a spokeswoman said Monday. Guinness was unavailable to comment at press time, according to her spokeswoman. Leviev Diamonds’ spokeswoman did not respond by press time Monday.

Should Guinness and FIT choose not to cut ties with Leviev, Adalah-NY plans to distribute fliers outside the Museum at FIT and to tell staff and visitors about “Leviev’s role in human rights abuses and unethical business practices,” Connors said.

Adalah-NY plans to protest outside Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store Dec. 17 to demonstrate against what the group is calling his companies’ “disastrous human rights record.”

WESTWOOD LAUNCHES RAINFOREST FUND: Vivienne Westwood has personally invested 1 million pounds, or $1.63 million, to launch a fund-raising campaign to support Cool Earth, a U.K.-based charity that aims to stop the destruction of rainforests by working with the communities who live there.

The campaign, called No Fun Being Extinct, aims to raise 7 million pounds, or $11.4 million, over the next 18 months to secure three rainforests

— the Peruvian Amazon, the Congo and rainforest areas in Asia. Westwood has already recruited some of her fashion chums, including Kate Moss, Lily Cole and Sadie Frost, to help with the fund-raising effort. Through donations, the charity aims to raise the further 6 million pounds to allow it to gain the land tenure for the three rainforests and help communities there to build a sustainable means of living, so that the fees offered by logging companies to fell the rainforests are no longer an attractive option.

Next year, Westwood will present a report to the British government to show how her funds have been spent. The charity aims to demonstrate to the government that working with communities to manage rainforests is the most effective way to halt deforestation.

A GOOD SPORT: French contemporary brand The Kooples is launching a separate casual line that it describes as a blend between Ivy League and Parisian cool. The Kooples Sport collection, due to go on sale in February, will include polo shirts, T-shirts, blazers, cardigans, leggings and sweatshirts. The price positioning will be similar to the main The Kooples collection, with polo shirts retailing between 50 euros and 90 euros, or $66 to $119 at current exchange.

The collection for men and women will be sold through a new network of dedicated The Kooples Sport stores, the first of which is to open on Rue des Francs-Bourgeois in Paris. It will also be sold in corners, starting with Paris department stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, and online, with selected pieces available in existing The Kooples boutiques.

ARMANI ON STAGE: Fashion took center stage, as Giorgio Armani dressed the cast of “Death to the Maiden,” a gritty West End production currently showing at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. Actress Thandie Newton dons a black silk shift dress with shoelace detail around the neck, while co-stars Tom Goodman Hill and Anthony Calf wear spiffy tuxedos and black bow ties, all from the Giorgio Armani fall collection. The play runs through Dec. 31.

HANDS UP: The John Galliano atelier — which has realized countless bias-cut chiffon wonders and innovative tailoring — has been named an Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant, or Living Heritage Company, by the French Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment. The honorary title — given to French firms with rare know-how — is in recognition of the 15 people who work in the atelier, each boasting more than a

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The Duchess of Cambridge greets members of the British press.

The Douglas Hannant store in Palm Beach, Fla.

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WWD.COMWWD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

By RACHEL BROWN

TINY WEST HOLLYWOOD has taken a big stand against fur.

The West Hollywood City Council, which represents a population of less than 35,000 people living between Beverly Hills and Hollywood, last week approved the nation’s first ban on fur apparel sales in a 3-to-1 vote. Although the city is small, it is home to some of Southern California’s ritziest retail real estate along Robertson Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard and Melrose Avenue, where stores such as Kitson, Balenciaga, Alberta Ferretti, H. Lorenzo, Maxfield, Arcade and Beckley will have to rid their racks of fur items by Sept. 21, 2013 unless a planned lawsuit to halt the fur ban prevails.

West Hollywood’s ordinance stop-ping fur apparel sales covers any article containing fur found on the body, includ-ing clothes, belts, hats, shoes, gloves and scarves. The term “fur” broadly applies to animal skins with hair such as mink, shearling, fox, chinchilla, rabbit, seal and bear, but doesn’t apply to leather. Furniture is exempted from the ordinance, as is fur apparel sold by vintage stores, private par-ties and nonprofit groups. After the ban’s enactment, the penalties for selling fur ap-parel products will be warnings and fines.

The controversial eradication of fur apparel is the latest in unparalleled ef-forts by West Hollywood to pass animal-friendly policies. The city was also the first in North America to outlaw the de-clawing of cats in 2003, a measure that has since been adopted by at least seven other California cities. As has been the case with de-clawing, the fear among retailers and business trade groups is that more jurisdictions will follow West Hollywood’s lead on the fur issue.

But opposition to the fur ban is not going away with its passage. The Fur Information Council of America, a fur industry association based in West Hollywood, announced it has put togeth-er a coalition of businesses, property owners and additional stakeholders to contest the ban under both state and federal law. “This is not, by any means, over,” stated Keith Kaplan, FICA’s ex-ecutive director, before adding, “The opposition to this ordinance has been so strong and the economic cost so high

that I find it difficult to understand why the city would now invite a costly legal challenge.”

In an economic study commissioned by FICA and conducted by Horizon Consumer Science to study the impact of the fur ban, it was found that 46 percent of West Hollywood fashion retailers carry some type of fur item using a narrower definition of fur than the approved or-dinance. It is estimated that fur apparel sales amount to more than $2 million an-nually at West Hollywood retailers. The council has asked for an alternative eco-nomic analysis of the fur ban that is ex-pected to be completed in May.

In letters to West Hollywood Mayor John Duran, several West Hollywood re-tailers have expressed outrage about the fur ban. “We believe that the right to ex-ercise personal choices extends to the choice to buy, wear and sell fur,” wrote Deirdre Wheaton, general manager at Maxfield. She continued, “When the city council takes the freedom of the market away from retailers and their clients, it seems to beg the question — who will be affected next?” Ted Stafford, president of real estate firm Stafford Commercial, be-lieves the fur ban could scare stores away from West Hollywood. “This fur ban seems to pose a potential threat to some of our most prominent businesses,” he wrote.

FELICITY JONES has been named the new spokeswoman for Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up.

The 28-year-old British ac-tress, whose latest film, “Like Crazy,” won the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, will begin appearing in advertising for the brand in January, said a spokesperson for Procter & Gamble Prestige Products, which produces the makeup and fragrance lines under license from Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The first line she will represent is the Khol Collection, which will be released in January. The image is described as portray-ing Jones as “an aristocratic, sauvage girl.”

“Representing a heady mix of sensuality, confidence and beauty, Felicity Jones offers a sense of divine contradiction. Classically beautiful yet mod-ern in attitude, her audacious gaze is impossible to ignore,” said the designers.

— JULIE NAUGHTON

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BEAUTY BEAT

Dolce & Gabbana Taps Felicity JonesW. Hollywood Bans Fur Sales

Roberto Cavalli: “I wanted to realize cocktail and evening dresses which reflect my DNA and my success among celebrities, revisiting them in a modern way,” said Roberto Cavalli. Accordingly, the designer turned to the house’s iconic animal motifs for his pre-fall lineup, showing fringe and feather embellishments, zebra prints on silk satin jumpsuits and silk twill T-shirts — and even an opulent, studded silver fox fur caban trimmed with raccoon fur. Silhouettes were inherently fitted and sexy, i.e. strapless and tank minidresses and transparent boat necks, many decorated with sequins and metallic details.

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Mark the calendar with a women’s show in January in Milan.

Alberta Ferretti plans to show her pre-fall collection and her limited edition, demi-couture line in Milan with a runway show on Jan. 13. The event will be held at Ferretti’s headquarters, a stately palazzo that dates back to 1920.

“This is a moment of gen-eral crisis and tension, but we must remain positive and stim-ulate the market, so I felt the timing was right for this move,” Ferretti told WWD, adding that this will be the first time a designer will hold a runway show in Milan to present a pre-collection.

“We all know how important pre-col-lections have become, and I would like to convey the right image, showing the clothes worn on the runway,” said Ferretti, who was in Toulon to shoot the spring ad campaign for the signature brand.

The designer underscored both the lo-cation and timing of the show, which will take place at the tail end of the men’s trade show Pitti Uomo in Florence and a day before Men’s Fashion Week in Milan. “It’s an important moment for Milan, with an international press here and I

would like to draw attention to the city, its energy and business,” said Ferretti.

Except for one show held more than 10 years ago at the palazzo, this will also be the first time the designer will opt for her headquarters as a backdrop.

The show will be divided into two parts: the first, featuring the pre-collection, will be worn by models, while the second part, the capsule line, la-beled Alberta Ferretti lim-ited edition, will be worn by “‘It’ girls,” said Ferretti, such as Wonderland fashion edi-tor Julia Sarr-Jamois, blogger Hanneli Mustaparta and Andie MacDowell’s daughter, Sarah-Margaret Qualley, who also modeled the Philosophy line in New York in September.

Last January, the designer showed a capsule collection as a special event at Pitti Uomo, modeled by Camilla Belle, Carmen Dell’Orefice and Marisa Berenson, to name a few. “The line does not have a huge distribution, but it’s been very successful, we had a great sellout and it makes sense to continue,” said Ferretti.

The first collection was associated with the The Jordan River Foundation, chaired by Queen Rania of Jordan, and next year, the event will benefit a yet-to-be-determined women’s association as well, said the designer.

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By ARNOLD J. KARR

AFTER A RASH OF recent departures, American Apparel Inc. Monday said that it had made an addition, although not to its executive ranks.

William Mauer, a senior partner at the law firm of Lapin Mauer since 1986, has joined the firm’s board and will serve on its audit and compensation committees.

He fills the board vacancy created by the departure last month of Adrian Kowalewski, formerly executive vice president of corporate strategy, and brings the Los Angeles-based vertical retailer back into compliance with the NYSE Amex LLC requirement that companies have at least three board members on their audit committees. It

returns the board to six members, all of whom but Dov Charney, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, are independent.

Kowalewski lef t American Apparel to join Kellwood Co. as se-nior vice president and chief finan-cial officer. Also last month, Marty Staff departed as chief business development officer after a seven-month stay. Ten days ago, Tom Casey resigned as acting president of the company, two months ahead of the expiration of the 15-month employ-ment contract he signed with the company in October 2010.

Mauer, who’s practiced law in Canada for 44 years, will be a Class B director and will stand for election to the board at its annual meeting, ex-pected to be held next June.

West Hollywood’s ordinance stopping

fur apparel sales covers any article

containing fur found on the body, including

clothes, belts, hats, shoes, gloves and scarves.

FOR MORE LOOKS, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

Felicity Jones

Mauer Joins American Apparel Board

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