05 18 2015 Women's Wear Daily

DAILY EDITION MAY 18, 2015

Cohen Exits

Fashion. Beauty. Business.

Patti Cohen is leaving Donna Karan International after three decades with the designer. PAGE 2

All Around Cannes San Francisco Way The party circuit heated up over the weekend at the Cannes Film Festival.

PAGES 5 and 6

The Academy of Art in San Francisco held its graduate fashion show.

PAGE 8

RETAIL

Lundgren Defends Macy’s Pull With The Millennials ●

The ceo notes its private brands are targeting specialty store shoppers.

BY DAVID MOIN

CINCINNATI, Ohio— “That’s just dead wrong,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Macy’s chairman and chief executive officer, about reports that Macy’s isn’t attracting Millennial customers to the degree it hoped.

“Our fastest-growing fashion Terry J. Lundgren business has been the Millennial Chairman and ceo business,” Lundgren said, adding that Macy’s, after developing private brands such as Bar III and Maison Jules, is grabbing customers from specialty stores, and doing well with Impulse beauty, athletic apparel, young dresses and kids.

Lundgren defended his Millennial program at a media briefing Friday, right after the retailer’s annual shareholders’ meeting at its headquarters here. “You would be hard-pressed to find another retailer as aggressive as Macy’s with that young customer,” the ceo said.

It seems that after a tough first quarter, posting a 13.4 percent slide in net profits and a comparable sales decline of 0.1 percent, Macy’s is faced with many locations where business is flat, and four-wall retailers generally continue to be dogged by the question of whether it’s possible to see healthy growth in a nation that’s overstored, seeing traffic decline in malls and experiencing steady growth in online sales.

Lundgren strongly defended the Macy’s brand and its ability to adapt, saying, “We have already moved from what was a traditional department store several years ago struggling to remain relevant in a changing CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

RETAIL

Ellison Eyes Penney’s Profitability ●

The incoming ceo forecasts three-year growth in sales of $3.55 billion with EBITDA advances of $1.2 billion.

Photograph by Benedikt von Loebell

BY HOLLY HABER

EYE

Viennese Duet ●

Charlize Theron and beau Sean Penn headed from Cannes to Vienna for the 23rd annual Life Ball to raise funds to fight HIV/AIDS. For more, see page 4.

BY PAULINA SZMYDKE

PLANO, Tex. — With a little more than two months before he takes the reins as J.C. Penney Co. Inc.’s chief executive officer, Marvin Ellison has set a goal: Profitability by the end of 2017.

Ellison, president and ceodesignee of Penney’s, told Marvin Ellison shareholders at the annual Ceo meeting here Friday that the midtier retailer will move into the black by adding $3.55 billion in sales and $1.2 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by the end of 2017.

“This brings us to what I call full financial recovery,” said Ellison, who will succeed the current ceo, Myron “Mike” Ullman 3rd, in that role Aug. 1. “That is very CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

2

MAY 18, 2015

FASHION

Patti Cohen Exits Donna Karan TOP 5 ●

Cohen has been Donna Karan’s chief of marketing and public relations for more than 30 years.

TRENDING ON WWD.COM

Patti Cohen

BY BRIDGET FOLEY

“Our story is far from over. She will always be my best friend, and we will always be there for one another.”

—Donna Karan extraordinary work that she did,” Brown said. “Patti was at Donna’s side for 30 years in this company. We credit her as a major builder alongside Donna for what this business has become.”

After that fateful introduction over tennis, Karan recruited Cohen to work on a freelance basis at Anne Klein, and to join her when she launched her signature brand for fall 1985. Cohen thus became DKI’s first employee, eventually taking on responsibility for marketing and advertising as well as public relations. After 15 years, she left the company in 1999 but returned just four months later when an exhaustive search for her successor proved unsuccessful.

“We realized there is only one Patti,” Karan said at the time. “The reality is, Patti just needed a vacation.”

It’s unlikely Cohen will return to DKI for a third act. “It’s been an amazing ride,” she said Friday. “Now I’m on to the next chapter of my life.”

ACCESSORIES

Qeelin Plans North American Debut ●

The Kering-owned jewelry brand’s expansion marks one of its first attempts at wholesaling.

do [in the U.S.] is go through a selective, distinct network of multibrand jewelry stores, since this distribution is existing in the U.S., unlike in other geographical

BY MISTY WHITE SIDELL areas like Asia Pacific,” he noted.

Qeelin’s prices range from $700 to upwards of $500,000, with the majority of its sales hitting in Armed with sparkling the $1,500 to $3,000 range. ampules and teddy-bear The brand declined to propendants, Kering-owned vide financial projections Chinese jewelry brand for its first year of North Qeelin is looking for American business. success in the North Established in Paris, American market. The A Qeelin ring. with roots in Hong Kong, 11-year-old label, of the brand describes itself as which Kering acquired a something of a geographical controlling stake in 2012, hybrid that draws aesthetic has announced its plans inspiration from both locales. Its to officially open North designs translate popular Chinese American distribution chanthemes and customs into modernist nels — expanding its operations design elements. The brand’s signature from a model that was previously only Wulu line attributes its silhouette to a devoted to Asia and limited European traditional Chinese gourd ornament that markets. The label is aiming toward a is said to ward off evil spirits. Rendered in September retail debut.

Helmed by founder and creative director a sleek, minimalist shape, the Wulu line is Dennis Chan and newly instated chief exec- fashioned in precious metals, often inlaid with pavé and other precious stones. utive officer Christophe Artaux, the brand The brand’s Bo Bo line of articulated has enlisted a distribution partner outside bears began as an ode to the muchof Kering to tackle the market. Alberto beloved panda. It has since grown into a Petochi, president at the Anima Group, is full range of bears that come fabricated working to sign Stateside retail partners in a variety of themes and colors — some, for the label. In its current markets, Qeelin even, with interchangeable outfits. Qeelin distributes product through its own brickproduct is manufactured in a mélange of and-mortar establishments — making this workshops — scattered throughout Italy, North American expansion one of its first France, and Hong Kong. goes at a wholesale operation.

At present, these designs have found Artaux, speaking to WWD while in New larger success in the Asian market, which York for Qeelin’s pre-Met Gala cocktail contributes 70 percent of the brand’s party, said that the brand’s interest in sales. In Europe, the label’s Palais Royal wholesale stems from the U.S.’s distinct boutique has helped foster a small but cult retailing culture. “What we are looking to

following — drawing fanfare from personalities such as Marc Jacobs and Katy Perry.

Qeelin’s launch just before the Met’s unveiling of “China: Through the Looking Glass” was thematically opportune — the brand dressed a number of stars, including Chinese actress Zhu Zhu and models Caroline Trentini and Liu Wen, for the occasion.

While no North American retailers have been confirmed, the brand is optimistic that its forthcoming Stateside presence will help harness more occasions like its marked evening at the Met. It is in talks with Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Hing Wa Lee, and expects that orders will be finalized after this month’s forthcoming Las Vegas jewelry shows (Qeelin will not be exhibiting but is in talks with Couture to show next year).

Petochi says that the initial response from retailers and buyers has been strong because “there has been a lack of creativity in the market, the quality overall has kind of decreased because people have been trying to save when the euro was higher, diamond prices increased, gold increased — Qeelin has been consistent, with its quality through the past 12 years at a top level.”

He added: “I think, as far as strategy, the idea is to launch wholesale and build awareness and, as a second phase, to do the branded store, which [Qeelin] specializes at.” He expects a first freestanding flagship location to open in the first 12 to 14 months of U.S. business, likely on the West Coast.

Artaux noted of potential locations: “The East Coast is important, but as you know, because we have this Chinese background, the West Coast will also be a focus for the brand. We would be looking into San Francisco or L.A. in the future.”

They Are Wearing: N.Y.’s Upper East Side ● On a sunny spring day, the streets of one of Manhattan’s chicest neighborhoods were filled with the stylish and the shopping-bag laden. ● They Are Wearing: Frieze Art Fair ● They Are Wearing: Paris Men’s Fashion Week ● Met Ball Red Carpet Arrivals ● Met Gala After Parties ● San Francisco Academy of Art Stages Graduation Fashion Show Global Stock Tracker As of close May 15, 2015 ADVANCERS J.C. Penney Company, Inc. +6.47% Macy’s Inc. +5.24% Li Ning Co. +5.14% I.T Ltd +4.22% American Apparel Inc. +3.70% DECLINERS Dillard’s Inc. -7.04% Youngor Group Co. -4.45% Inter Parfums Inc. -4.00% Shanghai Metersbonwe -3.07% Tumi Holdings Inc. -2.09%

Cohen photograph by Martien Mulder; TAW by Thomas Iannaccone

NEW YORK — Patti Cohen has left Donna Karan International. For more than 30 years, Cohen has been Karan’s chief of marketing and p.r., but also calm cohort-sidekick-alter ego to Karan’s exuberant fast-talking, multitasking designer-artiste-philanthropist.

“Patti has been by my side for over 30 years, from when I first met her in Fire Island on a tennis court,” Karan said. “I recruited her to work at Anne Klein II, and she came with me to Donna Karan New York. She is the red-headed ‘me,’ and has been a guiding force in my life personally and professionally. Patti’s leaving the company saddens me greatly and I will miss her more than words can say.

I’m there to love and support her in any way possible. Our story is far from over.

She will always be my best friend, and we will always be there for one another.”

In late April, Caroline Brown, chief executive officer of DKI, appointed Hector Muelas, formerly of Apple, as the company’s chief image officer. At the time, Brown told WWD that Cohen’s role would become executive vice president of global public relations and communications.

She had been executive vice president of global marketing and communications.

Reached Friday, Brown said the decision to leave was Cohen’s alone. “I think I speak for the whole company when I say that we’re all extremely grateful for the

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MAY 18, 2015

BUSINESS

BEAUTY

American Apparel Sues Charney MallyGirl ●

Up For Sale

American Apparel Inc. said it sued its ousted founder, Dov Charney, for violations of his standstill agreement with the company.

●

BY EVAN CLARK

American Apparel Inc. said it sued its ousted founder, Dov Charney, for violations of his standstill agreement with the company.

The suit was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The court papers were not immediately available.

Charney was deposed ceo of the company last June amid allegations of misconduct. In an effort to get back into the company, he inked a deal with investor Standard General with brought something of a cessation of hostilities and the standstill agreement in July.

The agreement secured financial support for the company from Standard General and gave the hedge fund a hand in reshaping the board. It is not clear what part of the standstill agreement Charney is accused of breaking, Charney thought Standard General would be his way back in, but that changed

BY PETER BORN

and the new board ultimately fired the former ceo for cause in December.

The founder has been trying to win the hearts and minds of employees, at least some of whom have complained about moves made by new management, including a reduction in hours at the company’s plant. The firm has said it had to cut back and less popular styles to get its inventories and finances in line.

BUSINESS

Study: Tokyo World’s Hottest Retail Market ●

The city attracted 63 new brands last year.

BY SHARON EDELSON

Tokyo is the world’s hottest market for retail expansion, according to CBRE Group.

The city, where cutting edge fashion mingles with young women clad in Hello Kitty regalia and anime adherents, attracted 63 new brands last year. “How Global is the Business of Retail?” a CBRE study, found strong leasing momentum in Tokyo’s core despite mixed signals in the economy and an 8 percent sales tax increase in April 2014.

Toronto was the hottest market in the Americas with 25 new international brands setting up shop there last year.

The report tracks the target markets of new brands in 164 cities in 50 countries.

American retailers are the most

intrepid when it comes to entering new global markets. U.S. retailers last year accounted for 26 percent of cross-border expansion, traveling to Asia, 41 percent; Europe, 33 percent, and the Middle East and Africa, 12 percent.

The second most active group were Italian retailers, accounting for 14 percent of cross-border expansion, followed

by U.K.-based retailers, 11 percent, and French chains, 10 percent. Globally, Europe represented about 42 percent of the expansion, followed by Asia with 39 percent and the Middle East and Africa, 10 percent. North America was a target for only 3 percent of retailers.

This week, Charney sued the company and its chairman, Colleen Brown in California Superior Court, alleging defamation and false light and seeking $20 million plus lawyers fees.

Brown said in a memo to employees last month that, “The old way of doing business [under Charney] was not sustainable and brought the company to the edge of financial ruin.”

Mid-range fashion was one of the most active retail sectors globally, accounting for 21 percent of the expansion, closely followed by luxury brands with 20 percent. Specialty retailers accounted for 16 percent and coffee shops continued to proliferate with 16 percent. In the Americas, luxury fashion led with 26 percent, followed by mid-range fashion, 20 percent, and specialty clothing, 14 percent.

Brandon Famous, senior managing director, retail occupier advisory and transaction services at CBRE, cited globalization, technology and demographic changes as having “a dramatic impact on the business of retail. Demographic shifts in many countries have resulted in changes in both spending power and shopping habits. Technology enables retailers to enter markets and evaluate performance more swiftly.”

In addition, consumers are traveling more, which is exposing them to more brands and creating “pent-up demand for the chance to purchase locally and creating a ready-made market before entry,” Famous said.

BUSINESS

Court Sides With Lululemon in Lawsuit ●

Appellate panel dismissed class-action suit over company’s sheer black yoga pants.

American Apparel photograph by Getty Images

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

A U.S. appellate court sitting in Manhattan has affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a purported class-action lawsuit against Lululemon Athletica.

The lawsuit alleging securities violations was filed in 2013 by the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension & Relief Fund in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan and names as defendants former chief executive officer Christine Day and founder and former director Dennis J. Wilson.

The lawsuit was filed following the company’s debacle over its sheer black Luon yoga pant. The complaint alleged that had the company had someone try on the pant before shipment, or had someone exercise in the pant long enough

Industry sources estimate that MallyGirl could fetch at least $10 million to $15 million.

to produce a sweat, the company would have realized that the pant was too sheer and that the color bled. It also said that the company’s statements that it had taken steps to fix the quality issues were “materially false or misleading.”

U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Forrest in her April 2014 opinion said, “This narrative requires the court to stretch allegations of, at most, corporate mismanagement into actionable federal securities fraud. This is not the law.”

Add MallyGirl LLC to the list of cosmetics brands up for sale. Founded in 2005 by makeup artist Mally Roncal, the color cosmetics line generated sales exceeding $30 million wholesale last year, according to a document issued by Heritage Equity Partners, the company handling the bankruptcy-approved sale.

Industry sources estimated that MallyGirl could fetch at least $10 to $15 million.

The deadline for bids is June 3.

Despite a following of fervent “Mallynistas,” the brand was forced to file for bankruptcy protection on April 20, according to documents obtained from the Maryland Bankruptcy Court. Originally slated as Chapter 7, the case was converted to Chapter 11 last week.

Roncal is considered one of the most recognized and admired makeup artists in the industry with more than 50,000 Twitter followers, 125,000 Facebook likes and 60,000 followers on Instagram.

In addition to promoting her items, she shares moments from her daily life such as reminders to get physical exams and inspirational messages.

Her 1,000 products are sold on QVC and in Ulta Beauty, as well as online at Mallybeauty.com and other beauty Web sites. Roncal was an instant hit on QVC and through that relationship developed a strong international presence. According to Heritage Equity Partners, the brand has more than 400,000 regularly buying customers.

When Mally launched at Ulta last year, Roncal made numerous in-store appearances — as did a life-size replica of Mally which fans used for Instagram selfies.

Mally was singled out as a strong launch during Ulta executives’ presentations to analysts last year.

Mally was among the brands edited from Henri Bendel when the company exited third-party beauty brands last year.

“I assume Mally will be part of the sale and her promotional ability will be important for future success,” said one industry observer. “There’s a huge fan base, a big social media following and the line has always been innovative. It’s a great buy.”

She also noted requirements that must be met when pleading securities fraud claims under federal law, such as — among other things — that defendants made misstatements of material fact or omitted to state a material fact where they are under a duty to disclose, have knowledge and that the misstatement or omission is in connection with the purchase or sale of securities and that one or more of the plaintiffs relied on the misstatement or omission.

After analyzing whether the required elements and pleadings were present for the case to proceed, Forrest ordered that the lawsuit be dismissed. Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension & Relief Fund appealed the decision.

In ruling that the lower court was correct in its analysis and decision, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals said that because the plaintiff, among other things, didn’t adequately allege any “relevant material misrepresentations or omissions, we agree with the District Court that it failed to state a claim for securities fraud.”

Court records indicate that attorneys for the pension fund have filed a notice of appeal to preserve the right to appeal the appellate court’s ruling.

4

MAY 18, 2015

Jean Paul Gaultier with Ellen von Unwerth and models.

Mary J. Blige

Dita von Teese

Riccardo Tisci

Life’s a Ball VIENNA — “I’m a virgin Life Baller; this is my

Kelly Osbourne in Vivienne Tam.

Models backstage at the Jean Paul Gaultier show.

Amanda Lepore and Carmen Electra

Paula Abdul in Nicolas Jebran.

first time,” said Charlize Theron, causing crowds to cheer at the 23rd edition of the Life Ball, billed as the largest HIV and AIDS charity event in Europe, here Saturday.

Fresh off the premiere of “Mad Max: Fury Road” in Cannes, the Academy Award- winning actress was busy promoting the work of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, which helps adolescents prevent spreading the disease.

“There is a saying in Africa: If you want to go first, go alone; if you want to go far, go together,” she said, adding that in her home country of South Africa, young girls and women accounted for 80 percent of new HIV and AIDS infections, with abuse on the schedule and shame surrounding the disease. “We are because others are; we don’t live in a vacuum, we are all interconnected,” she preached, supported by her partner Sean Penn, who came to speak on behalf of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, a partner of the Life Ball since 2007.

The former president was grounded. “He excused himself – he is helping his wife with her campaign,” said Gery Keszler, Life Ball’s founder, who had launched the weekend-long celebrations on Friday with the Red Ribbon Celebration Concert featuring Anna Netrebko, Gregory Porter and Juan Diego Florez.

“We reached a milestone,” declared Penn to an eclectic crowd of drag queens, local politicians and celebrities who were flown in on a special plane from New York. “We are able to treat 15 million people by 2015,” he said, encouraging the audience not to throw in the towel.

Mary J. Blige provided the hymn to the message, crooning U2’s “One Love (One Life)” while Jean Paul Gaultier turned up the glam factor with a retrospective of his Cuvre, encompassing more than 20 years of artsy couture and flamboyant ready-to-year styles.

The designer, whose traveling exhibition “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk” is making a stop in Paris until Aug. 3, reversed the gender roles, sending out men in corsets and women in clin d’oeil tuxes.

“This is an amazing celebration of life,” ruled Riccardo Tisci in a black tuxedo and matching moustache. “We decided to come last night, very last minute, and it’s so much more than I expected,” he said, meandering backstage between the 120-plus looks Gaultier picked for the show, noting that his fellow designer was the perfect match for the occasion. “It’s incredible how he gives life to gowns,” he knowingly observed.

Irish twin singers Jedward, actress-heiress Lydia Hearst, Carmen Electra, Anna Cleveland, Amanda Lapore, and ski jumper and multiple world champion Gregor Schlierenzauer were among the those who walked the annual Life Ball fashion show. “I’m very focused right now,” mused the athlete, maintaining nonstop eye contact with the runway. “It’s just like stepping on a ski jumping hill,” he said, before heading out in an oversize satin trench coat.

Paula Abdul, who will debut as a judge on a new edition of “So You Think You Can Dance” next to Nigel Lythgoe and Jason Derulo, joked:

“In my head I’m six feet tall, but then I look around and I’m like: ‘What’s wrong with this picture?’” Her new show is slated to air June 1. “It’s a different format this year, it’s street versus stage, so you’ll see raw authentic street dancers,” she explained.

In a butterfly corset flying off her chest, Dita von Teese couldn’t wait to shake off her outfit despite its exotic allure. “There is a very short time limit on wearing it, the waist is cinched to the maximum, so it doesn’t last long,” divulged the burlesque performer and entrepreneur.

Von Teese made a stop in Vienna before heading to Harrods to roll out her lingerie line at the London department store. In December she is due to publish “Your Beauty Mark” with Harper Collins. “What I really love about the book, [which took five years to write, she added], is that it’s referencing eccentric beauties, it’s not about the standards of beauty, but women who dare to be and look different instead of looking like everybody else. I guess it’s an empowering book,” she said.

Kelly Osbourne marvelled at the grandiose stage set up in front of Vienna’s City Hall below a giant replica of the Vienna Secession building, it’s golden leaves shimmering in the spotlights. The ball’s motto was Ver Sacrum, or “sacred spring,” in honor of the ancient Roman festival, which inspired the Vienna Secessionists to break with mainstream art, sparking Gustav Klimt’s golden period, among others.

“When you are in America you forget how beautiful architecture and how old buildings can be,” Osbourne said. “Last night, I was walking taking pictures, and my mom said you need to stop because the next thing you know you will be buying a house and redecorating it,” she laughed, flashing her new tattoo inked across the side of her head. It read: “Stories” like her new clothing line, but also “because I am dyslexic, so I need to create stories to remember things,” she divulged.

Gaultier said of some of the show’s looks were directly inspired by Klimt. “I am a huge fan.

What he did was fashion in some way – the hair and the makeup,” he said, picking up on clues for his own show with models sporting pumpedup versions of Adele-Bloch Bauer’s curly mane.

Linda Fargo, senior vice president of fashion at Bergdorf Goodman, dressed the motto as well in a gold embroidered Charleston dress from Naeem Khan, her “go-to guy for the red carpet,” as she put it.

The New York department store has teamed up with the Life Ball, dedicating its 58th Street windows to the event, which has collected more than 22 million euros, or $22.5 million at current exchange, since 1993. “We hope to turn this into more going forward, we are always involved in charities, but this one is particularly dear to us, because so many people who come from the creative field have been affected by HIV and AIDS. I know a lot of focus is turning to Africa and its challenges, but this is a cause that we cannot let our guards down about,” said Fargo, calling the event a “celebration of life.” “At a lot of balls people get uptight, but this one is definitely a lot of more festive, with diversity inherently built into it,” she remarked.

— PAULINA SZMYDKE

Photographs by Benedikt von Loebell

Gaultier held a retrospective show, while Theron and Penn urged continued action on HIV/AIDs.

5

MAY 18, 2015

Fan Bingbing, Marion Cotillard and Julianne Moore.

Julianne Moore Doles Out Chopard Trophies in Cannes The Oscar winner handed the awards to rising talents Lola Kirke and Jack O’Connell.

Lola Kirke and Jack O’Connell

CANNES, France – Julianne Moore played fairy godmother at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday night, handing the Chopard Trophy for up-andcoming talents to Lola Kirke and Jack O’Connell.

For the 15th edition of the prize, Chopard opted for an intimate presentation at its rooftop suite at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hôtel Martinez, where Colin and Livia Firth, Lupita Nyong’o, Fan Bingbing and Rossy de Palma were joined by former Chopard Trophy winners including Marion Cotillard and Léa Seydoux for the after party.

Moore revealed she has known Kirke since childhood. “It’s very exciting to watch her come into her own this way and receive such a terrific prize,” the Oscar winner said. She was reluctant to dish out advice to the winners.

“I think they’re well on their way, honestly. I mean, the advice that I give to anybody is to just do it because you want to do it. When people say they want to pursue acting, I’m like, ‘Unless you actually like the work, unless you actually like acting, don’t do it.’ Because the rest of it is fun, but it’s not what your life is about,” she said.

Kirke, who captured the judges with her performance in “Gone Girl,” gave a charmingly selfdeprecating acceptance speech. “For the past two weeks I really thought this was a prank, and then I got picked up in a Porsche and got followed by a bodyguard last night, and I thought, ‘Oh wait, no, this is very real,’” said the actress, dressed in vintage Geoffrey Beene.

Kirke, whose older sister Jemima stars in “Girls,” is returning for a second series of the classical music TV drama “Mozart in the Jungle” and will soon appear in indie movie “Mistress America,” opposite Greta Gerwig.

O’Connell, recently seen in Angelina Jolie’s World War II drama “Unbroken,” decided to put his ambition on the table.

“I’m not going to act surprised by this. I’ve

been trying for a long time, campaigning for a long time to put myself here,” he told WWD. “I feel comfortable admitting that with myself and then other people, provided I keep an eye on what’s next. I don’t like to dwell.”

Among his upcoming releases is Jodie Foster’s “Money Monster.” Predictably, O’Connell had a taste of costar George Clooney’s famous on-set pranks. “I was doing some press-ups to get in shape, and he came and stood behind me.

I didn’t notice – the whole crew saw – he started doing, like, 1950s-style calisthenics,” he recalled.

Meanwhile, Moore was taking stock after a banner year. In addition to the Oscar for “Still Alice,” this week she belatedly picked up the prize for best actress she won at last year’s Cannes festival for “Maps to the Stars.”

“I think, other than the years that my children were born, it was the best year of my life,” she acknowledged. “But in terms of the kinds of parts, I mean, I’ve always had a pretty eclectic career, so it’s not like that’s sort of changing. I’m still going to work with the same kind of directors.”

Moore does hope that all the attention on female film talent at this year’s festival will eventually bear fruit.

“We’re a wonderful business and we have a lot of support, we have a lot of opportunities, so you don’t want to complain about the things that come your way. On the other hand, I feel like there’s something in the air, that something is changing,” she said, noting the current box office success of “Pitch Perfect 2.”

“It’s about a group of girls in college going through a singing competition and all the romantic things are completely ancillary. So it really feels very, very female-centric, and that just felt refreshing, and it feels like it’s propelling this movement forward,” she remarked.

— JOELLE DIDERICH

Cannes Stars Flock to Charles Finch Dinner Naomi Watts, Salma Hayek and Jake Gyllenhaal were among the guests at the glamorous event.

Chopard photogrpahs Courtesy of Chopard; Finch by Stephane Feugere

CAP D’ANTIBES, France — The drought affect-

ing the Cannes party circuit ended Friday night as every major star at the annual film festival headed to entrepreneur and producer Charles Finch’s annual Filmmakers Dinner at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc here.

With blustery skies providing a suitably cinematic backdrop, guests including Julianne Moore, Naomi Watts, Salma Hayek, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joel Cohen, Noomi Rapace and Abel Ferrara turned out to celebrate the evening’s honoree, director Gus Van Sant, in town to present “Sea of Trees” in official selection.

Gyllenhaal begged off comment on reports that he has signed up for Tom Ford’s new movie, “Nocturnal Animals.” Variety first reported in March that the “Brokeback Mountain” star was in discussions to star in the film opposite Amy Adams, and the fashion designer was in town earlier in the week to present the project to international buyers.

“The Mentalist” star Simon Baker, meanwhile, was seeking backers for his feature film directing debut, “Breath,” based on the novel

by Australian author Tim Winton. “I will start shooting it later in the year,” he said. “Surfing is part of the backdrop of the film, but it’s really more about identity and rite of passage.”

Festival regulars have noted an absence of major studio parties this year, with Thursday’s premiere of “Mad Max: Fury Road” culminating in an intimate dinner, instead of the mass bacchanals of yore. That hasn’t stopped the movie from garnering rave reviews, with a 98 percent positive score on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Yeah, it’s been insane,” acknowledged Zoë Kravitz as she took her seat at the Finch dinner. “I mean, I’m not surprised because once you see the film, it makes a lot of sense, but it’s been such a long journey and so now that

François-Henri Pinault, Zoë Kravitz, Salma Hayek, Charles Finch and Naomi Watts.

Catherine Deneuve and Benicio Del Toro it’s finally out there and the response is so positive, it just feels, really, really good.”

The actress and singer will barely have time to catch her breath: Next week, she will be back to present “Dope” as part of the festival’s Directors’ Fortnight, before heading to Paris to play a concert with her band Lolawolf at the Afropunk festival.

It’s also been a whirlwind week for her costar Courtney Eaton, making her film debut in “Mad Max.” The 19-year-old Australian was still reeling from the red carpet experience. “I was glad I was with the cast because the press was insane. I feel like all the cameras in the world were there, but it was incredible,” she said.

Eaton’s next project is equally high-profile: The epic “Gods of Egypt,” starring Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. “It’s a big action film kind of thing about Egyptian mythology, a big battle between the gods and

Joel Cohen humans,” she explained.

It turns out even Cannes veterans get freaked out by its red carpet. “It’s always an ordeal,” said Catherine Deneuve, whose movie “Standing Tall” started the festival on Wednesday. “It’s huge, you know, that red carpet. It’s particularly wide, so you really feel like you’re on a highway.”

Benicio Del Toro will have to walk it twice this year. In addition to thriller “Sicario,” which is competing for the Palme d’Or prize, he will be presenting the animated adaptation of “The Little Prince,” in which he voices the snake.

“It’s the first time I’ve got two movies,” noted the “Che” star, who has plenty to keep him busy

between screenings. On Sunday, he will host the Hollywood Domino brunch to raise money for victims of the earthquake in Nepal, and later that day he will present a restored version of Luchino Visconti’s “Rocco and His Brothers.”

“I think Alain Delon is amazing in it,” he said. “I feel like I want to be in movies like that.”

In a speech capping the evening, hosted in partnership with Swiss luxury watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre, Finch had guests in stitches by recalling his disastrous entrée into the film business, as producer Harvey Weinstein gave a knowing grin.

“Harvey came to my first screening here at Cannes when I made the worst movie that’s ever been made,” Finch said. “People ran from the cinema, and I’ll never forget the critic of the London Times who saw me, who’s called Barry Norman, I think his name was, and just was white. He said, ‘Your father had a great deal of talent.’”

The film in question, according to imdb. com, was “Priceless Beauty,” starring Christopher Lambert as a rock star who finds a female genie in a vase. Yes, really. Finch has since graduated to more promising material.

His production company Pink Sands is developing a Mata Hari biopic directed by Martha Fiennes and a series with Scarlett Johansson based on Edith Wharton’s novel “The Custom of the Country.”

— J.D.

6

MAY 18, 2015

Sienna Miller Seated on Cannes Jury In the actress’ comeback year, Miller will help decide some filmmakers’ fates.

Sienna Miller in Lanvin and Atelier Swarovski jewels.

BY JOELLE DIDERICH

CANNES, France — Sienna Miller is on a roll.

The actress is capping off her comeback year with a stint on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival, where she joins a motley crew including Jake Gyllenhaal, Rossy de Palma, Sophie Marceau and jury presidents Joel and Ethan Coen.

Sitting in a seafront suite at the Carlton hotel, she muses about the implications of deciding the fate of some of the world’s top filmmakers.

“I don’t feel worthy of judging these films. I will say what I thought was brilliant and be supportive. It’s a huge responsibility because, of course, whoever wins these prizes, you know, their life is transformed, so I definitely feel the weight of it,” she says.

For the female jury members, the festival carries another kind of weight: Showing up with a trunk full of red carpet stunners. Miller has enlisted stylist Kate Young to help with the mammoth task.

“I have a really strong sense of what I like and I think she’s amazing,” she says.

“You have to bring it, because it’s Cannes.

You can’t be in your pajamas, although I did ‘pajama’ it this morning to the 8.30 a.m. screening and got away with it,” she adds with a smirk.

For the opening ceremony, Miller picked a midnight blue Lanvin dress accessorized with Atelier Swarovski jewels — a case of happy synergy, since Swarovski is supporting the current Jeanne Lanvin retrospective at the Palais Galliera museum in Paris.

She traces her friendship with the crystal-maker back to the Twenty8Twelve fashion brand she used to design with her sister, Savannah.

“I’ve worked with them for years as a designer and worn it as an actress and as myself. The pieces are beautiful and versatile and classic, and simple but edgy,” says Miller, decked out for the interview in a black Stella McCartney jumpsuit, Joie a la Plage sandals and metallic gray Atelier Swarovski jewelry.

Her style hasn’t always been so clean-cut, though she downplays her transformation from poster girl for boho style to paragon of minimal chic. “I think I got a haircut, and that was it,” she says with a shrug.

“I used to be like a Christmas tree, kind of with belts and jewelry everywhere, and I think you grow up and you become a little bit more sophisticated maybe, but

“It’s a huge responsibility because, of course, whoever wins these prizes, you know, their life is transformed, so I definitely feel the weight of it.”

—Sienna Miller

Stephane Gerschel, Naomi Watts and Muriel Imowicz.

I don’t feel like I’m suddenly wearing clothes that I’ve been put in. It’s a collaboration and it’s things that I’m drawn to,” she insists.

The 33-year-old credits her changing looks and career evolution to growing up and having Marlowe, her daughter with fiancé Tom Sturridge.

“I took time off and had a child and was a mother, and then that made me reevaluate my priorities and the kind of work that I wanted to do, and if I was going to work – which means time away from my child – it had to be something that I was going to really give my heart to,” she says.

“I think I just reevaluated my choices and worked harder and became more focused, and just more responsible as a human, as you do when you turn 30 and have a child. But yeah, I’m definitely working with people that I hadn’t worked with before and I do feel like I’m in a different place in my career, and it’s all good,” she adds.

A tabloid fixture in her 20s, thanks to her on-off relationship with Jude Law, Miller is enjoying the range that comes with a lower public profile.

It allowed her to deliver critically acclaimed performances last year in “Foxcatcher” and “American Sniper,” as well as her recent turn as Sally Bowles on Broadway in “Cabaret” opposite Alan Cumming.

“I do feel like it’s pretty impossible to do that if you have the level of attention that I used to have, so I deliberately disappeared,” she explains. “I don’t think people have such a strong kind of opinion anymore, which has been really beneficial.”

Miller will be reunited with her “American Sniper” costar Bradley Cooper later this year in “Adam Jones,” in which they both play chefs. Research for the role involved a stint in the kitchen of Marcus Wareing, a two-star Michelin chef in London.

“Look, I’ve still got burns and scars,” she says, proffering an arm. “I think I cooked maybe 500 pieces of turbot. I can cook fish exquisitely now. But we were working in a live kitchen for two weeks, and I was on the station and the heat is about 117 degrees, and you have hot oil spitting in your face.”

Even worse, Cooper was constantly screaming at her.

“We literally came off ‘American Sniper’ and went straight onto that together, so we did two back-to-back.

And having had him with this thick Texan accent and being like, ‘I love you,’ he was like throwing pans at my head. I was like, ‘Yes, chef! Yes, chef!’ You just think, ‘What is this job?’ It’s the weirdest thing,” she says with a laugh.

FASHION

All That Sparkles ●

Naomi Watts drew a crowd during the Cannes Film Festival.

BY JOELLE DIDERICH

Bulgari inaugurated its sparkling new store on the Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes on Friday evening with a little help from Naomi Watts, a longtime friend of the jeweler.

Watts, dressed in a black Rochas dress, cut the ribbon at 6.30 p.m., peak rush hour during the Cannes Film Festival, when thousands gather on the seafront avenue to watch celebrities arrive for movie

screenings. The renovated store was designed by Peter Marino and features marble and gold accents and a translucent chandelier.

“It’s fantastic. Look around, it’s, like, dazzling from every angle,” said Watts, showing off her Bulgari Serpenti necklace. “I particularly like this new rose gold. I’ve got a big penchant for the Serpenti collection, and they keep reinventing it.

It’s fantastic.”

Photographs by Stephane Feugere

●

7

MAY 18, 2015

Michael Kors and Ali MacGraw

Mario Testino, Uma Thurman and Manolo Blahnik.

Silver Linings Designers host events at The Ivy, Old Truman Brewery.

Michael Kors and Donatella Versace shrugged

off the black clouds and wet weather on Thursday night, hosting rival parties in two very different London venues to promote their wares. Kors baptized The Ivy, which has a fresh face after closing for refurbishment in January, with a highenergy dinner ahead of the restaurant’s official re-opening in June.

“Dynamo freaked me out,” said a bewildered Kors, who’d just witnessed a few of the London magician’s tricks. “He drew on my palm with a Sharpie — and then transferred the design it to my other hand.” Poppy Delevingne, who was sitting with Kors, watched in wonder as a torn card became whole again. “It’s not normal,” she said of Dynamo’s behavior.

Guests at the dinner to mark the opening of Kors’ Sloane Street Collection store included Kate Hudson, Ali MacGraw, Rene Russo, Uma Thurman, Clémence Poésy, Christopher Kane, Erdem Moralioglu, Caroline de Maigret, Samantha Barks, Erin O’Connor, Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis, Lily Donaldson, Kristina Bazan, Elisa Sedanoui, Eugenie Niarchos, Bianca Brandolini, Meredith Brooks and Andre Balazs.

Architecture was a hot topic: Balasz talked about his new hotel project in the Camden Town Hall, a Brutalist building not far from King’s Cross station, while Moralioglu is in the throes of creating his first Mayfair shop, which will open in late summer.

Donatella Versace

MacGraw, meanwhile, charmed fellow guests with tales of her early film career. “I almost got fired — for everything. I was such a baby, so ignorant, so naïve. But here I am — I’m still breathing,” said the actress who will take the play “Love Letters,” which also stars Ryan O’Neal, on tour in the U.S. this summer. “It’s a freak,” she said of the play. “I haven’t really been acting lately — if you haven’t noticed.”

Earlier that evening, Kors revealed he’d like Daniel Craig to play him in a film of his life — “We both have blond hair!” He’d take Will Ferrell in a pinch “For box office insanity.” Russo, meanwhile, refused to name the actress who could play her in a similar film. “No one gives a s**t about my life,” she said. Hudson, said to ask her again in 30 years.

All three — as well as MacGraw — were talking about fashion and film as part of a Q&A with Elizabeth Saltzman at the Ham Yard Hotel, part of The Icons of Style curated film series hosted

by Kors with Vanity Fair and Fashion & Cinema.

Meanwhile, in the East End, Versace was holding court at the Old Truman Brewery, an industrial space on Brick Lane.

Ahead of a party to launch the latest Versus Versace collection, Versace and the label’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello chatted about how Versus’s latest guise relates to the label’s Nineties roots. “I’m still obsessed with the first collection Donatella did for Versus — it was all black, it could be a collection you’d see this season,” said Vacca-

rello, whose own collection for the label is filled with asymmetric kilts, punky knit sweaters and bodyskimming mini dresses. “It’s something I still have in mind when I’m designing Versus,” he said.

“It was black and minimal,” chimed in Versace.

“When I say minimal nobody believes me, but I was minimal then.” Versace also admitted that when she first launched the collection, she had a tough job convincing her late brother Gianni Versace of its direction, which veered away from Versace’s signature opulence. “I was a little bit hiding Versus from Gianni, I would show it to him just when it was finished,” she said. “The first reaction wasn’t good, the first time, but then he liked it,” she said with a grin.

And Versace noted that making the new collection instantly shop-able was particularly important to her. “I have an imagination that all people are like me — they see something and they want it now,” said Versace. “But I think for young people, it’s more and more important — it’s very old fashioned to wait six months for a collection.”

Later, London bands Nothing But Thieves and Zibra both played bone-shuddering sets at the warehouse venue, to an appreciative crowd that numbered Bip Ling, Jamie Winstone, Mary Charteris and Nat and Leah Weller.

Actress Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark in “Game of Thrones,” said from the calm of the venue’s rainy roof terrace she was enjoying having “a couple of months off to enjoy the summer.”

As to future projects, she said that there are “a lot of scripts that are rumbling around that could possibly get made, or could not, but it’s so lovely to be approached with these things.” And in light of her breakthrough role as the tough, feisty Stark, Williams said she’s on the look out “for strong roles.” “I’ve been really lucky to land an amazing role so young, [and] I want to continue down that path,” she said.

— SAMANTHA CONTI AND NINA JONES

Photographs by Tim Jenkins and Antonio Salgado; Swift by Thomas Whiteside

Clémence Poésy

Maisie Williams

Memo Pad MORE THAN HOT WOMEN: The Hot 100 is now the Hot List.

Under editor in chief Kate Lanphear’s direction, Maxim’s traditional Hot 100 list, which formerly featured nearly naked women chosen by the magazine’s readers, is now an all-inclusive lifestyle list that includes summer films, travel destinations, restaurants and trendy beverages.

“I was really determined with the issue to try and redefine what hot means for the brand. For me, the barometer of hot isn’t just beauty; it’s relevance,” said Lanphear, who joined the team last September, after serving as style director at T: The New York Times Style Magazine. “Our audience likes to look at beautiful things and,

Kate Hudson

among them, beautiful women, but they are interested in so much more than that.”

Cover girl Taylor Swift, who was shot by photographer Thomas Whiteside, was chosen by readers, but Lanphear said the pop star was also her number-one choice.

“She was my dream cover, and she was chosen based on her accomplishments and upcoming projects. Taylor is hot in every sense of the word,” Lanphear said.

Swift landed the number-one spot, but the list is no longer numbered, according to Lanphear. Instead, 100 female entertainers are organized by different subcategories based on their achievements and work. Comedian Amy Schumer and actress Monica Bellucci, the first 50-year-old to make the cut — Bellucci will debut later this year as a Bond girl in the James Bond film “Spectre” — are also on the

Christopher Kane

list. On the male side, actor Miles Teller, film director Terrence Malick and comedian Pete Davidson are represented.

Lanphear is four issues in, and her covers, close-in shots of women such as singer Charli XCX and model Lily Aldridge, are in stark contrast to Maxim’s former “lad mag” image. She told WWD the redesign has resonated with readers. “Seventy percent of our current readers prefer the redesign,” she said.

Newsstand sales reflect a different story.

According to the Alliance for Audited Media, Maxim’s newsstand sales amounted to

75,000 in March and 63,000 in February. This compares with a year ago, when March print newsstand sales were 77,658 and January/February 2014 sales were 87,787.

Lanphear said that a decline is to be expected with a rebrand but she’s seen positive numbers with the rate of subscriptions, which she said have increased dramatically, as well as the Web site traffic, which has gone up by 25 percent month over month since the rebrand, according to Lanphear.

“We are a brand that’s committed to change,” she said.

The issue hits newsstands on May 27.

— ARIA HUGHES

8

MAY 18, 2015

FASHION

Academy of Art Holds Graduation Show ●

Designs by 39 students were showcased in San Francisco.

BY DIANE DORRANS SAEKS

The Academy of Art University staged its Graduation Fashion Show here on May 14 with a vivid and highly original selection of 135 looks.

Clothes and accessories were created by 39 students graduating with degrees in fashion design, jewelry and metal arts, textile design, knitwear design and men’s wear design. The fast-paced show was directed by Simon Ungless, executive director of the School of Fashion, which was founded in 1989.

Inspirations and references for the student designs included London performance artist Leigh Bowery, Mexican Cholo culture, aviation and fighter jet aero-

The school is also instructing students in traditional crafts and techniques to ensure that classic skills such as hand embroidery, hand-knitting, painting and beading are not lost in the onslaught of laser cutting and computer-generated design and photo manipulation, said Ungless.

Ahead of the show, student portfolios of textile designs were presented. Lauren Lusby focused on hand-beading, with traditional Lesage techniques deployed into vivid abstract patterns on a muted woven wool background. Anna Metzel showed Francis Bacon-inspired prints in soft blurs of mauve and orange that had a fresh, contemporary look.

At a ceremony earlier, Academy of Art University awards were given to industry leaders and an alumna of the school, and scholarships and internships were announced.

“In the fashion department, we encourage collaborations among all of the arts — because in the world of fashion ateliers, all fashion design is a continual dialogue and it’s always truly collaborative.”

— Simon Ungless, School of Fashion

A collaborative design between textile, jewelry and knitwear designers to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Hervé Leger for the BCBG Max Azria Group.

A look by JC Munoz, Fashion and Textile Design graduate.

dynamics, Ndebele tribal garments, painter Francis Bacon, skate parks, Art Nouveau, sci-fi video games, traditional Korean dress, vintage Army uniforms and artist Georgia O’Keefe.

The show opened with a dozen polished and retailready looks, a series of collaborations between the school’s textile, jewelry and knitwear designers. The concept was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Hervé Léger for the BCBG Max Azria Group, and move the legacy of Leger forward into the future.

“In the fashion department, we encourage collaborations among all of the arts — because in the world of fashion ateliers, all fashion design is a continual dialogue and it’s always truly collaborative,” said Ungless. “Fashion design, we remind students, is a dialogue, a process.

We emphasize that both individual expression and collaboration mirror the reality of our industry.”

A collaboration between Fashion Design and Textile Design graduates Eleonore L. Santos and Anna Metzel.

The Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Fashion Industry and Fashion Education was given to the CFDA, represented by Lisa Smilor, executive director, and Sara Kozlowski, senior manager.

The Distinguished Alumni Award went to fashion designer Ryan Roche, who is producing her own line in New York. Roche, who has produced her luxurious handcrafted cashmere knitwear with women’s collectives in Katmandu for the last decade, spoke of her relief that following the recent earthquakes in Nepal, all of her knitters are safe and her production was not destroyed.

“I’m now working hard to keep deliveries of my fall-winter collection to Barney’s New York and other clients,” said Roche. “I’m totally committed to working with these knitters. They need the work more than ever.”

A collaborative look

by Fashion Design and Jewelry and Metal Arts Design students Yunseon Kim and Carmen Liu.

9

MAY 18, 2015

Lundgren Defends Macy’s Pull With The Millennials CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

world, to a company that is widely regarded at the top of the list of the most progressive omnichannel retailers.

“Our stores remain great gathering places where customers shop, relax and explore. But they are also powerful fulfillment centers that help us serve customer demand wherever and however it is generated….Looking at our company from a different angle, Macy’s is the seventh largest online retailer in America, just after Netflix — which we plan to surpass shortly,” Lundgren said, only half jokingly.

He also characterized the $28 billion Macy’s as a risk taker, and noted that in 2014, the company recorded its fifth consecutive year of comp-store growth and a 14 percent rate of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. “Attaining the [EBITDA] objective is important because this level of financial performance provides us the flexibility to try new ideas and gives us the resources to grow our company more aggressively,” he said.

During the press briefing, Lundgren disclosed several growth initiatives, including: ● Opening additional Macy’s outlets, called Macy’s Backstage, in spring 2016, in addition to the first four revealed for fall 2015 in the metro New York City area, though Lundgren stressed the priority is to get the format working right first.

Asked why Macy’s changed its mind about opening outlets after watching competitors for years build up outlet chains, Lundgren said, “The fact is everywhere I turned around, Macy’s stores were being surrounded by Nordstrom Rack, Saks Fifth Avenue Off-5th, or TJ Maxx. They were coming after our market share.”

Lundgren also said consumer research indicated a demand for Macy’s outlets,

“We continue to look for growth on a large scale — we don’t just look at one area of growth.”

— Terry J. Lundgren, Macy’s Inc. and that the opening of a Bloomingdale’s outlet on the Upper West Side of Manhattan this fall on 72nd Street, marks a “new location strategy” for the format “because we typically open in outlet shopping malls….We currently have 13 Bloomingdale’s outlets, which gives us plenty of room for growth.”

● Greatly expanding the Bluemercury chain. “Every major city in the U.S. is a candidate for Bluemercury,” Lundgren said. Macy’s bought the beauty retailer earlier this year. “It’s just a matter of time when we get there. It’s barely in California and frankly not in the western United States in any significant way,” Lundgren said. “It’s an entrepreneurial business that makes decisions fast.” ● Additional licensing arrangements, “some within categories that we sell, some outside categories we sell,” Lundgren said, without specifying any categories. Macy’s does not sell food, sporting goods, technology and toys, and has at most dabbled in these merchandise areas.

Macy’s licensed shops include Finish Line, Sunglass Hut, Lids, Louis Vuitton and Gucci. ● Expanding same-day delivery to additional cities where third-party delivery partners can be found. Macy’s currently offers same-day delivery in northern New Jersey, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. ● Increasing the use of beacon technology. It’s currently utilized in all Macy’s stores but only with Shopkick. Macy’s is examining if there are different applications for consumers to receive more granular and tailored notifications on their mobile devices as they shop inside Macy’s. ● The wedding business. “Macy’s gift registry is already a favorite for engaged couples,” Lundgren said. “We know we are good at selling dinnerware and towels and housewares, along with diamond rings and wedding bands. We are now beginning to think about what else we can do to help couples, their families and friends in every phase of the engagement and wedding process,” by examining such areas as tuxedos or what the bride and groom might need for the honeymoon night. “What about gifts for the wedding party? The sky is the limit,” Lundgren said.

“We continue to look for growth on a large scale — we don’t just look at one area of growth,” Lundgren said at the

Ellison Eyes Penney’s Profitability

Lundgren photograph by Steve Eichner

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

important for the company and very important for the future of our share price.”

Moving the needle in the manner Ellison described won’t be easy. A $3.55 billion increase in sales would bring revenues to $15.8 billion, nearly 29 percent above the $12.26 billion generated last year.

While Penney’s celebrated its $1.1 billion improvement in EBITDA last year and the year-end figure moved into the black, at $323 million, a $1.2 billion increase would lift it to over $1.5 billion.

Last year, Penney’s net loss was reduced to $771 million from $1.39 billion in the prior year, while net sales gained 3.4 percent. Earlier this week, the retailer said that first-quarter EBITDA was $168 million more than in the year-ago quarter as its net loss was cut in half, to $167 million, and net sales grew 2 percent to $2.86 billion.

Contributing to the planned growth would be $1 billion in additional sales in the core businesses of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel in shoes, plus another $1 billion in handbags, fashion jewelry, accessories and Sephora.

Home furnishings, which Ellison acknowledged was the hardest hit during Ron Johnson’s troubled tenure as ceo in 2012 and 2013, is gaining sales productivity on a per foot basis and the March launch of a spring and summer home furnishings catalogue – its first in five years – has been successful, the incoming ceo said, adding that more home books will follow.

“In the six months-plus that I’ve been with the company I’ve been impressed with the resilience and hard-working nature of this culture.”

—Marvin Ellison, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. Calling omnichannel “a defining strategy for the company” that “will take us to modern-day retailing,” Ellison expanded on a number of recent and upcoming initiatives.

A customer can currently pick up an online order in any Penney’s store, and

the company plans to test same-day turnaround later this year, with plans to roll it out in 2016, he noted. In addition, Penney’s will increase the number of stores that can ship e-commerce orders, which currently stands at 160. As previously reported, Penney’s plans to offer an online

media briefing, citing digital, outlets, international and pumping up the chain’s top 150 stores to intensify service, customer outreach and top-selling brands and categories. Macy’s officials said the 150 stores could ultimately have a higher average unit retail price, but the strategy does not represent an overall “upscaling” of the business.

Lundgren also cited the Macy’s Idea Lab, where employees develop technology solutions to better service customers. The lab was formed last summer at macys.com in San Francisco.

Asked whether operating department stores is getting tougher, making it absolutely necessary that the corporation explore other formats, Lundgren replied, “It’s just become different. The way the consumer is shopping is so different from just three years ago. They start shopping on their phones first and then want to come to the store to touch and try on the product. They either buy it there or on a laptop at home or a mobile device….

Mobile sales are going up dramatically but it’s still a small base.”

There’s concern that consumers aren’t spending more inside the stores. “Generally speaking, the consumer is in a position to spend if motivated to do so,” Lundgren said, explaining that gas prices, while creeping up, are still relatively low, and consumers have more savings, although they are dipping into their savings. He said consumers are spending on technology, automobiles and health care, taking away from spending at department stores, for the moment.

“We have to give them more time” before they get motivated to buy more apparel, he said. Still, some categories such as activewear, are getting good consumer response, Lundgren said.

“Our challenge going forward is to accelerate top-line growth while maintaining our very high current level of bottom-line profitability,” Lundgren told shareholders. “To build for the longer term, we will be investing to drive faster sales growth while maintaining a high rate of profitability.

Sephora store later this month.

“We know a customer who shops us on an omnichannel basis tends to be three or four times more valuable to us in terms of what they spend,” Ullman pointed out in his last annual meeting as ceo.

Ullman and Ellison both emphasized that building customer loyalty is key to the growth strategy and was the main focus at a conference and pep rally for all store general managers in March – the first such meeting Penney’s has held in five years.

Developing a “warrior spirit” among associates, a term borrowed from the enthusiastic corporate culture at Southwest Airlines, means empowering sales associates to take care of customers and establish the emotional connection that engenders loyalty, Ellison noted.

The effort was visible on the cubicles at company headquarters, which sported colorful handwritten signs promoting the “warrior spirit,” product hashtags and other promotional slogans.

“In the six months-plus that I’ve been with the company, I’ve been impressed with the resilience and hard-working nature of this culture,” Ellison said in his opening remarks.

Yet, with talk of putting its stormy past behind it, not all the commentary about Penney’s turnaround efforts was positive.

After the formal presentation, a shareholder questioned why the company was discontinuing its relationship with Joe Fresh.

Ullman responded, “We had about 15 brands introduced in 2012. Virtually all of those brands did not resonate with our core customer….We think we have assortments that are better suited to our customer.”

10

MAY 18, 2015

FASHION

They Are Wearing: N.Y.’s Upper East Side ● On a sunny spring day, the streets

of one of Manhattan’s chicest neighborhoods were filled with the stylish and the shopping-bag laden.

BY WWD STAFF

THEY ARE WEARING

Photographs by Thomas Iannaccone

It might be mid-May but it isn’t quite tank top weather yet in New York — which means spring suits, jackets, hats and scarves are out in full force. The streets of the Upper East Side buzzed with weekday activity as some of the city’s most stylish citizens and tourists shopped, chatted with friends and even walked their adorable dogs.

There was plenty of neutral black, tan and khaki on display, but more than a few people we spotted had broken out the brights: yellow, red and royal blue in particular. Shoes, especially two-tone wingtips on the most stylishly dressed men, also made an impression.

11

MAY 18, 2015

PEOPLE

Shepard Fairey Discusses Early Days, Upcoming Projects ●

The renowned street artist talks about his clothing label, politics and his largest work to date at the Pratt Commencement Ceremony.

BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

NEW YORK — Before picking up an honorary degree at Friday’s commencement ceremony, street artist Shepard Fairey had a confession for Pratt Institute’s president Thomas Schutte — 23 years after the fact.

Chatting about RISD — which Schutte headed in the early Nineties, when Fairey was an undergraduate — Schutte recalled an incident where someone changed around a billboard of former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci. Laughing heartily, Fairey said, “I just told him, ‘Uh, that was me,’ “ raising his hand as a sign of accountability.

Surrounded by Pratt grads in Madison Square Garden, Fairey was reminded of his 1992 graduation from RISD and the four years that followed, in Olynville’s Atlantic Mills building, honing his skills in a studio large enough to house all of his screenprinting equipment and a skateboard ramp.

“That was a real luxury, to be broke and to have all that space,” he said.

Eventually, the Charleston-born designer outgrew the indie city — literally running out of large-scale buildings to house and tag his work — and left.

But Obey, the absurd sticker campaign he started at RISD in 1989, has since evolved into a multimillion-dollar apparel brand with thought-provoking political messaging. Fairey said, “The awesome thing about the clothing business is that it allows me to do a lot of other things,” including several he will start Saturday in Detroit. One of those will be his largest work to date — 185 feet tall (about 17 or 18 stories high) and 60 feet wide.

“Branding is always going to be part of our culture, especially with all the social media, white noise and how quickly people digest things.”

— Shepard Fairey With the design mapped out and some blocks of color already in place, Fairey and three assistants will be hoisted up on a window-washing rig to paint the detail, working across the building in sections like

RETAIL

South Africa’s Brait Acquires New Look ●

Brait, owned by Christo Wiese, will take a 90 percent stake in the fast fashion retailer.

Fairey photograph by Tyler Boye

BY NINA JONES

LONDON — South African investment firm Brait SE said Friday that it will acquire a 90 percent interest in the British fast fashion retailer New Look, for around 780 million pounds, or $1.3 billion, from the private equity firms Apax Partners and Permira.

According to a spokeswoman for Permira, the transaction represents a 4.3 rate of return on the fund’s investment after acquiring its stake in New Look eleven years ago.

The Singh family, who founded New Look in 1969, will reinvest in the company following the new transaction, taking the remaining 10 percent in the business, together with the company’s current management team.

Permira said Friday that the transaction places an enterprise value of around 1.9 billion pounds, or $3 billion on New Look, while the firm holds 1 billion pounds, or $1.58 billion of net financial debt.

New Look’s chief executive officer Anders Kristiansen, along with Mike Iddon, its chief financial officer and Roger Wightman, its chief

creative officer, will remain with the business.

New Look counts over 800 stores globally, in markets including the U.K,. Europe, China, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Brait said it will fund the purchase using available facilities and cash on hand. The investment firm is owned by South African billionaire Christo Wiese, who last month took a majority stake in Richard Branson’s Virgin Active gym chain for 682 million pounds or $1.07 billion.

John Gnodde, Brait’s chief executive officer, described New Look as “an attractive investment opportunity for Brait.” “It is a market leading brand, with a strong track record of double digit EBITDA growth, solid cash flow conversion, international reach and the potential to grow rapidly in a number of geographic markets including China.”

Kristiansen added: “[Brait] gives us the perfect platform to continue our strategy of growing the New Look brand in the U.K., Europe and China.”

Apax and Permira acquired New Look in 2004, taking the firm off the stock market.

Earlier this year, Kristiansen was quoted as saying the firm was ready for an IPO, after having abandoned a planned IPO in 2010, in light of an “unfavorable” market at the time.

a grid. “I enjoy doing these because you’re working up against a wall, then when you get back to see something that big taking shape, it’s a very gratifying achievement. It’s not like working with a [size-] two hair brush and being a master craftsman on a canvas. It’s a lot more blue collar, work hard and get it done,” he said. “Wind is bad, but we’re harnessed in.

Sometimes we do things with boom lifts, and those are very, very sensitive to wind. And those will really feel like the thing will tip over.

I wouldn’t be here if one ever had.”

Having completed more than 50 largescale murals — a few hundred eight-foot posters were used in his first monograph, in 2005 — Fairey photographed every last one until he tired of the redundancy of an exercise in repetition. “I’ve traveled all over the world and used up a lot of paper,” he said, but is still undeterred by heights. “I used to do a lot of illegal stuff. Just climbing up a lot of drain pipes and ledges — anything to get to roofs of buildings, to billboards or whatever. A lot of stuff that I would consider a lot riskier than these murals.”

Intrigued by Detroit’s enthusiastic residents, textures and the silver lining in a place with such industrial decay, Fairey was all-in when Library Street Collective came calling. The Detroit gallery that has worked with favorite artists such as Tristan Eaton, Swoon, Revoke and Cleon Peterson offered Fairey a big wall in an art-covered alleyway, a deejay and a show. “I’m a populist. I try to engage people in different ways, and they ticked off every box,” he said, “Juggling so much, the challenge is to have all the right variables come together to make the time to go to a place like Detroit that’s not New York, San Francisco or Tokyo. Some of the most fun shows I’ve done have been in places like Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh and Detroit — places where people aren’t spoiled or jaded.”

In September, Rizzoli will publish his fourth book, “Covert to Overt,” which

covers Fairey’s work from 2010 on, following the Jeffrey Deitch Show.

Obey supports a new cause each season, and Fairey said he has always used the clothing label to “reach an audience that isn’t predisposed to going to galleries, museums or even caring about art with a capital ‘A.’ “ “It’s good to support things like Honor the Treaties, because clothing can be so superficial. This is a way to remind people that I do all these things not just to move units — not that I’m ashamed of making a good living. But there can be something altruistic woven into it,” he said.

As someone who works closely with his design team, which includes a women’s designer who used to work for Vivienne Westwood, he said, “It’s a tough business, but I like it. A lot of people don’t understand that I’m the creative director for the brand.

They think, ‘Oh, he just collects checks — he gets somebody else to do it.’ I’m actually very involved. But I’m also always making new fine-art paintings, working on these street-art projects and charity ones.”

As influential as Fairey’s 2008 “Hope” poster of Barack Obama was in helping to brand the future president, he has mixed views about today’s culture of self-branding and its role in politics. “There are things that are fundamentally flawed about the two-party system, about campaign-finance structure that make me want to push principles, not personalities, to try to change the nature of the system. Because the system corrupts even the most idealistic people, Obama included,” the artist said. “Branding is always going to be part of our culture, especially with all the social media, white noise and how quickly people digest things.

It’s very easy now to be very superficial and to have people take you at face value and not question it, because they’re so impatient.

They just go on to the next thing. It happens in media all the time. You see a press release with a very specific point of view, basically just propaganda regurgitated by media outlets, because they’re too lazy to go deeper.

“With my work, I’m trying to make people look deeper into issues. Even with the Hope poster, I was trying to say, ‘Check this guy out. Let this be the start of the conversation.’ This is not the way propaganda normally works, where this is the end of the conversation and you’d better accept it,” Fairey said.

FASHION

Soren to Collaborate On Fashion Collection ●

The photographer will work with Erica Tanov on California-inspired pieces.

BY KHANH T.L. TRAN

Berkeley has always been renowned for its Nobel Prize winners and studentled movements, but not quite for its fashion — until now. Designer Erica Tanov and photographer Tabitha Soren have joined forces to create a new collection with easy-breezy California attitude.

Both denizens of the college town in northern California, the two are melding Tanov’s languid designs with a striking image of crashing waves from Soren’s “Panic Beach” photo series. Tweaking one photograph into a digital screenprint saturated with shades of blue and white, Tanov produced camisoles, drape-neck tops, caftans, sundresses and pillows. Retailing for $155 to $580, the eight-piece collection will be introduced at the opening of an exhibition of Soren’s work at Tanov’s Berkeley boutique on May 28.

It didn’t take much to convince Soren, the former MTV News journalist, to work

Erica Tanov and Tabitha Soren collaborated on a collection of silk separates and pillows.

in fashion for the first time. “The dresses that Erica Tanov makes, even without my work printed on it, are already pieces of art,” she said. “She has a way with shaping fabric into bringing out the best features of your frame.”

12

MAY 18, 2015

Giles Deacon Launches in India ●

The ready-to-wear collection will launch on e-commerce site Koovs.com.

Giles Deacon and Ileana D’Cruz

BY MAYU SAINI

NEW DELHI — It is easy to spot Giles Deacon from a distance in his startling pink T-shirt and green shorts, on a hot spring morning.

Despite the heat, the U.K.-based designer gave up the air-conditioned interior of his hotel to sit on a sofa in the hotel garden and speak glowingly of his first collection made for India. “I hate to use the word quirky all the time — but it has chic elegance and then it has a kind of Giles quirk to it — or a twist, which gives it a sense of the unexpected, or a play of volume or color or the kind of fabrication design that has a print or a jacquard, the kind of things we have always worked on that have a signature appeal,” he told WWD. “It kind of fits into the two sides of my personality where I have a love of melancholic and ethereal and beautiful — it doesn’t have to be particularly dark — and the very much more playful side – where you can have not fun and certainly not irony, but a sort of pop twist to things which I like, too.”

The ready-to-wear collection for India, with colors, prints, casual cottons, informal crepes and stylish evening dresses in Deacon style, was worked to fit the market’s needs along with those of the team from Koovs, the e-commerce site with which Deacon launched in India.

The range, which includes shoes, bags and sunglasses, is priced between 395 rupees, or $6.22 at current exchange, and

2,495 rupees, or $39.32.

Koovs earlier launched British designer Henry Holland in India, and in 2014 went public on London’s AIM Exchange. Robert Bready, who is joint managing director of Koovs, was earlier retail director of U.K.based e-commerce site Asos.

The launch party at the British High Commission was a step further into the fast changing fashion world in India with a high-society guest list, silver-boxed seats, and Bollywood actress Ileana D’Cruz walking the runway for the launch.

Deacon knows the value of celebrity. His clientele has included Kate Moss, Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow, and in India, actress Deepika Padukone recently wore one of his dresses.

Although Deacon lives in London, has his studio there, and “of course I love London,” he said, “but I hate the way people can have that London centered-ness and the

snobbery that is going on in the world.”

Travel has long been an inspiration, from childhood holidays in Botswana to reading books by Rudyard Kipling.

His visit to India — with which he already has a connection with private clients as well as a source of textiles and embroidery — is growing stronger. “There are a hundred photographs and ideas I would like to examine when I get back,” he said. His trip helped him to get ahead of the India Festival at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in September as well.

Deacon described Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherji’s store in Mumbai as “the most beautiful store I’ve ever been to in my life — I thought his collection is really incredible,” he said.

Deacon is readying for the launch of his own e-commerce site – a soft launch this summer and a more formal one in the fall.

This would mean more frequent offerings, some one-offs for the Web site, a little bit more of offerings for the home.

As his brand grows, Deacon said creativity remains an important focus.

He also continues to be described as “playful.” Does he mind?

“I think it depends on the intelligence of the person saying it, and what they feel is playful,” Deacon said. “I mean, it’s clear in my book that I’m not designing comic clothes. But if playful is like a Dali-esque or a Schiaparelli world, I would be very happy to fit into that category. Playful can be many things — it could be very simple as well, with embroidery on a very chic dress.

Playfulness with sophistication is what I like to make,” he said.

MEN’S WEAR

The Lodge Backs American-Made Accessories ●

The shop in the East Village offers a treasure trove of unique products all Made in America.

BY JEAN E. PALMIERI

“Online it sounded like a one-way conversation,” he said.

Beightol got his start in the retail business as a child, working at his family’s furniture factory. From there, he joined Saks Fifth Avenue, Levi’s and Coach where his background revolved around merchandising and product development.

Those jobs required a lot of travel and it was in other parts of the world that Beightol saw first-hand how interested men were in fashion and accessories, particularly American brands. But he was disappointed to find

NEW YORK — Browsing through The Lodge is like going on a treasure hunt.

The tiny East Village boutique owned by apparel industry veteran Chad Beightol features a unique and eclectic mix of accessories all manufactured in America.

The brands are artisanal, not widely distributed and rank high on the craftsmanship scale. Among the offerings are leather goods from California-based Coronado Leather, pocket knives from Santa Fe Stoneworks and neckwear from General Knox & Co. The store at 220 East 10th Street between First and Second Avenues, opened quietly around the holidays and joins Odin, Cadet and Fair Folks & a Goat, a women’s wear store, in the bustling neighborhood.

The idea for The Lodge, which Beightol refers to A view of The Lodge Man Shop. as “a man shop” for its male-oriented aesthetic, that many brands that tout their American got its start as an e-commerce play in the heritage were actually being made overspring of 2013. The Web site, lodgegoods. seas. Couple that with his family’s business com, helped Beightol “test, learn and having to close in the mid-Nineties amid understand the market,” he said. struggles manufacturing in the U.S., and He dipped his toe into brick and mortar Beightol was determined to do what he with pop-ups in Brooklyn, Manhattan and could to support the brands that still chose Boston before opening the 300-square-foot to make their products here. location at the end of last year. “We saw “I was in Japan discovering American traction with the pop-ups and saw that the brands I’d never seen,” he said. “So I saw an customer likes to discover things,” he said. opportunity to support American makers.”

All of the brands offered have an interesting General Knox’s ties are manufactured backstory and an authenticity that today’s in Bedford, N.Y., from vintage fabrics and shopper appreciates, he added.

are individually numbered. They retail for $88 to $150. There are socks from Philadelphia’s American Trench; backpacks from Kletterwerks in Bozeman, Mont.; watches, both vintage and new, from Throne in Brooklyn, and glasses from Capital Sunglasses in San Francisco that retail for $135 to $145. The Santa Fe Stoneworks knives are “art pieces,” he said, and are made from unique materials including wooly mammoth tooth bones, retailing for $110.

There’s also a selection of grooming products from Baxter of California, Fellow Barber and Imperial Barber.

‘These are things we think guys should have,” he said.

So how did Beightol find all of these brands? “Google is a great resource if you’re willing to scroll through 20 pages,” he said with a laugh. “And our customers will also recommend things that they’ve found.”

The Lodge’s most popular brand is San Diego’s Coronado Leather bags.

“They’re on par with the luxury brands from Europe, but a briefcase is $450.”

Long term, Beighol said he’d like to open more small shops in cities such as Boston and also increase the editorial content on his Web site to better tell the stories of these American-made brands that have become so popular with shoppers, both here and overseas.

“A quarter of our business is outside the U.S.,” he said, “Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, the U.K., France and Canada.

“It’s like buying organic fruits and vegetables 10 years ago,” he added. “They were hard to find and more expensive then, but not anymore. Consumers today are really asking for American-made.”

Fashion Scoops CFDA ANNOUNCES PRESENTERS: The names of the top tier of presenters for June 1’s CFDA Awards are out: Taraji P. Henson will present the accessories award, Amanda Seyfried the women’s wear award and Joshua Jackson the honor for men’s wear. The presenters for the Swarovski awards are still in the works and will be revealed at a later date.

— JESSICA IREDALE NEW BEAUTY: Actress Sophia Bush

has joined beauty entrepreneur Randi Shinder as an ambassador and equity partner in the fragrance and body line I Smell Great, which Shinder launched last November. Shinder’s previous beauty ventures include Clean Perfume, Fusion Beauty and Dessert Beauty. “Working with Randi is a dream come true,” said Bush, whose title will be cofounder.

“Everything with our company is based on new and leading technology, from the scent spheres to the extractions. We want to get to the heart of why women love beauty and what makes them feel special. Marrying those concepts of technology and beauty truly equals greatness.” The I Smell Great collection is based on aromas of powdered sugar, candied flower petals, tropical breezes and hints of honey. Shinder and Bush plan to create new scents and expand the collection this year. The collection, which retails from $28 to $68, is Made in America, paraben-free and sold in biodegradable packaging. Industry sources estimate the line, which is sold online at Ismellgreat.com, could generate between $10 million to $12 million in sales during its first 12 months.

— MARCY MEDINA CHANGING SPACES: Giuseppe Zanotti

Design has appointed a chief marketing officer — instating Victoria Hennessy in the role, effective immediately. Hennessy joins the firm following experiences in the marketing and communications departments of Bally, Etro, Ferragamo and Versace.

Most recently, Hennessy had been working as a freelance consultant based in London, a role she held since departing Bally in late 2013. Hennessy’s role at Giuseppe Zanotti was newly created and will see her directing worldwide marketing and brand development projects for the label. She will report directly to the firm’s president and chief creative officer Giuseppe Zanotti.

— MISTY WHITE SIDELL

A gaucho wallet from J. Crew with Smathers & Branson.

J. CREW TO ADD SMATHERS & BRANSON:

J. Crew will add Smathers & Branson’s hand-stitched accessories to select stores, as well as online, this month.

The initial offering will include key fobs, bifolds and card wallets, which will retail for $28.50 to $115. According to Peter Smathers Carter, cofounder of Smathers & Branson, “It is an honor for our relatively young company to be embarking upon a partnership with J. Crew, whose innovative and high-quality products and business model make it a leader in the retail industry, both nationally and internationally. We are confident that J. Crew’s customers will enjoy the hand-stitched and artisanal nature of our products.”

His partner, Austin Branson, said the partnership with J. Crew will expand for later in the year. “We are working on an even more collaborative level with their design team to offer a custom collection this holiday season.” Smathers & Branson was founded in 2004 and is known for its needlepoint belts and custom accessories. It offers polo shirts, flip-flops, hats, cuff links, flasks, wallets, key fobs and coasters.

— JEAN E. PALMIERI

Deacon photograph by Gulshan Sachdeva

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