Fashion. Beauty. Business.

DAILY EDITION 17 MARCH 2016 1

CFDA’S PICKSThe CFDA revealed the honorees and nominees for its annual awards, including Donna Karan and Norma Kamali. PAGE 3

ELLIOT GANT DIESThe cofounder of the storied preppy brand Gant has died at 89. PAGE 8

● As Urban Outfitters Inc. corrects fashion misses at several of its retail nameplates, it’s amplifying categories in larger Anthropologie stores and expanding the size of Free People units.

BY SHARON EDELSON

Urban Outfitters Inc. is going bigger, deeper and into new areas to jump-start its in-store experiences.

After a third quarter that was described by chief executive officer Richard Hayne as “subpar” — and an equally bruising fourth quarter — the group that owns the Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People chains is scurrying to inject more excitement into its stores by offering deeper assortments in areas such as accessories and beauty and more services.

Chief financial officer Frank Conforti told Wall Street analysts at Wednesday’s Bank of America consumer and retail conference about the “ultimate experience” Anthro-pologie stores with 20,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet that the company is test-ing. There are four such stores in existence.

The latest opened recently in Portland, Ore. Apparel is augmented by limited-edi-tion capsules; there are more than 300 shoe styles; upward of 800 beauty products; activewear designed for the mat, the track and the coffee shop, plus sneakers and wearable technology; intimate apparel;

RETAIL

Urban Outfitters: Thinking Big and Changing Up the Box

CONTINUED ON PG. 9

SAINTS ALIVEAllSaints is a tale of survival, now thriving after being near bankruptcy. PAGE 7

Pho

togr

aph

by G

IOVA

NN

I GIA

NN

ON

I

● The French department store has added a new floor, 110 new brands and a permanent art installation.

BY PAULINA SZMYDKE

PARIS – Galeries Lafayette is introducing its new man.

Following two years of market research and nine months of construction, the French department store this week unveiled the revamped men’s floors of its Paris flagship.

“The floors’ last update dates back to 2001,” said Elisabeth Cazorla, director of ready-to-wear for men, women and children at Galeries Lafayette. “And yet we have seen a tremendous evolution in the men’s wear market since then. The studies we have conducted have shown us how much our customer has evolved and how his needs have evolved. He is clearly

MEN’S

Galeries Lafayette Unveils Revamped Men’s Floors

CONTINUED ON PG. 6

FASHION

Slipping AwayPARIS — For fall, designers spotlighted the shoulder by letting sleeves slip, drape or dangle for a bit of dishabille. Haider Ackermann’s collection featured a half-on-half-off Army drab jacket paired with matching bustier and high-waisted tuxedo pants. For more on the trend, see pages 4 and 5.

Women’s

Issue: April 13 / Close: March 30 / Materials: April 4

THE RUNWAYS · THE ROUNDUPS · THE REVIEWS ·

Collections

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT PAMELA FIRESTONE, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER AT 212 256 8103 OR PFIRESTONE@WWD.COM

17 MARCH 2016 3C

hane

l pho

togr

aph

by D

onat

o S

arde

lla; T

hey

Are

Wea

ring

by K

uba

Dab

row

ski

● Donna Karan, Norma Kamali, Alessandro Michele to be honored at June event.

BY JESSICA IREDALE

NEW YORK — The Council of Fashion Designers of America has revealed the list of honorees and nominees for the annual CFDA Fashion Awards, which will be held at the Hammerstein Ballroom on June 6.

At a cocktail party at the New Museum here Wednesday night, the CFDA said the Womenswear Designer of the Year nominees are Joseph Altuzarra for Altuzarra; Marc Jacobs; Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernan-dez for Proenza Schouler; Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy for Rodarte, and Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen for The Row.

Menswear Designer of the Year nominees are Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne for Public School; Marcus Wainwright and David

Neville for Rag & Bone; Tim Coppens; Thom Browne, and Todd Snyder.

Accessory Designer of the Year nominees are Altuzarra; Irene Neuwirth; Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel for Mansur Gavriel; McCollough and Hernandez for Proenza Schouler, and the Olsens for The Row.

The Swarovski award nominees are, for women’s wear, Brandon Maxwell; Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia for Monse, and Ryan Roche; for men’s wear, Rio Uribe for Gypsy Sport; John Elliott, and Alex, Matthew and Samantha Orley for Orley, and, for accesso-ries, Aurora James for Brother Vellies; Gigi Burris, and Paul Andrew.

The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Norma Kamali; the Founder’s Award will go to Donna Karan; the International Award to Alessandro Michele, creative director of Gucci, and the Media Award to Imran Amed of The Business of Fashion.

The Board of Directors’ Tribute will be given to David Bowie.

The awards are shaking up their format this year, moving them to the Hammerstein Ballroom from Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and making them a dinner, rather than simply a cocktail followed by the awards ceremony as in the past.

Last year’s winners were the Olsens for the Row for Womenswear Designer of the Year; Tom Ford for Menswear Designer of the Year; Tabitha Simmons for Accessories Designer of the Year and, in the Swarovski categories, Mansur Gavril for accessories; Shayne Oliver for Hood by Air for men’s wear, and Rosie Assoulin for women’s wear. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Betsey Johnson; the Founders Award to Millard “Mickey” Drexler of J. Crew; the International Award to Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino; the Media Ward to Instagram, and the Fashion Icon Award to Pharrell Williams.

FASHION

CFDA Announces 2016 Award Nominees

IMG Models Introduces Brawn Division For Larger-Size Men ● That’s the name of the new plus-size men’s division that the agency recently launched.

● They Are Wearing: Paris Fashion Week Fall 2016

● They Are Wearing: Tokyo Fashion Week Fall 2016

● They Are Wearing: Milan Fashion Week Fall 2016

● Issey Miyake Exhibition Bows in Tokyo

Global Stock TrackerAs of close March 16, 2016

ADVANCERS

DECLINERS

Luen Thai Holdings Ltd. +5.83%

Vince Holding Corp. +5.59%

Youngor Group Co. Ltd. +5.09%

Ted Baker plc +4.73%

Elizabeth Arden Inc. +3.38%

Fossil Group Inc. -4.76%

Giordano International Ltd. -3.59%

Sears Holdings Corp. -2.90%

Safilo Group SpA -2.68%

Li & Fung Ltd. -2.62%

TOP 5TRENDINGON WWD.COM

● The longtime head of men’s wear resigns after more than 30 years with the retailer.

BY JEAN E. PALMIERI

It’s the end of an era at Bloomingdale’s.David Fisher, the longtime head of men’s

wear for the department store, will be leaving his position as executive vice president and general merchandise manager of men’s and Young World, at the end of the month. Fisher has been with the store for 33 years.

His departure is part of parent company Macy’s Inc. plan, which was revealed at the end of last year, to offer buyouts to some of its veteran employees. To qualify for the offer, employees must be at least 55 years old with enough tenure that the total adds up to at least 70. These voluntary separation oppor-tunities are intended to “reduce ongoing expense and streamline management,” according to Macy’s. About 360 executives qualified for the offer.

Fisher told WWD that without the incentive

he probably would have stayed in his position for another two to three years, but since he qualified for the offer, he opted to take it.

He will be replaced by Dan Leppo, current executive vice president of home, who will take over Fisher’s men’s wear responsibilities. The children’s wear duties will be assigned to Francine Klein, vice chair for accessories, cosmetics, Young World and outlets.

Kevin Harter, vice president for fashion direction at Bloomingdale’s, said Fisher’s skills are well-recognized and highly respected within the industry.

“David Fisher’s passion for product and the retail industry has made him one of the best merchants in the business,” Harter said. “I am incredibly grateful to have been part of his great team throughout the years.”

John Varvatos feels similarly. “David Fisher is one of the last great men’s merchants in our business. His passion for product is contagious. I can’t thank him enough for his amazing partnership and friendship.”

Fisher began his career at Bloomingdale’s in 1983 as divisional merchandise manager of ready-to-wear, fashion accessories, cosmetics and Young World in the King of Prussia, Pa., store.

He has also held various senior merchan-dising positions at both the King of Prussia store and the 59th Street flagship. Among his

positions have been dmm for fashion acces-sories at 59th Street; operating vice president/dmm for misses coats and special sizes; mer-chandise vice president of coats, special sizes, and swimwear, and senior vice president and general manager of 59th Street.

In 1997, he was promoted to senior vice president/gmm of men’s and Young World, and in 2004, he was promoted to executive vice president.

Before joining Bloomingdale’s, Fisher was vice president/dmm for juniors and misses’ sportswear at Gimbel’s Pittsburgh.

Fisher said he’s unclear exactly what he will do after leaving the retailer. “I’ve talked to several people and I’m not sure, but I might want to work for a brand as a merchandiser,” he said, noting that he has also had conversa-tions with private equity firms.

He said he doesn’t plan on just “staying home,” although he expects to “take some time to get my head straight.”

He added: “I want to be happy. This busi-ness has become so complicated and it’s really changed a lot over the past three years. But I love this place and my DNA is all through it. I will miss it terribly.”

Leppo has been in his current position since last January. For about 12 years, he had been vice president and dmm of men’s wear for Bloomingdale’s, working with Fisher.

MEN’S

David Fisher Exits Bloomingdale’s

● The brand’s stock plunged more than 9 percent in after-hours trading.

BY DEBRA BORCHARDT

Hit by currency fluctuations, Guess Inc. on Wednesday reported an 11.4 percent drop in profits on a 1 percent increase in sales for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

Net income for the quarter fell to $47.8 million, or 57 cents a diluted share, down from $53.9 million, or 63 cents, a year ago. While within the company’s earlier guid-ance, the profits missed the FactSet estimate for earnings of 58 cents a share. Guess said the negative impact of currency on earnings was equal to about 19 cents a share.

Sales for the three months ended Jan. 30 increased to $101 million from $100 million a year earlier. Retail comp sales including e-commerce decreased 1 percent, again hit by currency. In constant currencies, North American retail comps were positive while Europe achieved positive retail comps in the high single-digits.

For the quarter, the company’s net

earnings decreased by 5.5 percent to $658 million from last year’s $696 million, which was higher than the FactSet estimate of $657 million. Europe revenues dropped by 5 per-cent and Asia fell by 18 percent, while Amer-icas retail revenues declined 3 percent.

For the full year, net earnings were $81.9 million, a decrease of 13.4 percent from last year’s $94.6 million. Total net revenue for fiscal 2016 was $2.2 billion, a decrease of 8.7 percent from last year’s $2.42 billion.

“There is still more work to be done, but I am convinced that the initiatives we have started to implement in the last few months have contributed to these encouraging results,” said chief executive officer Victor Herrero.

Herrero said on the earnings conference call that he plans to grow annual revenues from $2.2 billion to $3 billion in three years, which is an annual growth rate of 11 percent. He plans to achieve this through e-commerce and new store openings. The goal over the next three years is to open 60 stores in the Americas, 140 stores in Europe and 200 stores in Asia. This is roughly a 50 percent growth over the approximately 800 stores the brand currently operates. Ana-lysts questioned the significant shift from store closures to store openings and asked Herrero several times about the change.

“It sounds a pretty audacious aggressive plan you’re rolling out here for the next three years,” said Eric Beder of Wunderlich

Securities. “I know before Victor joined that you would actually be closing stores in the U.S. and kind of that was the thought process in the U.S.”

On top of that, the company still expects to face currency headwinds and softness in tourist stores. As a result, looking ahead, Guess expects net revenues to decline by between 1.5 percent and 0.5 percent for the first quarter. Currency headwinds are fore-cast to negatively impact revenue growth by 2 percent. Diluted earnings per share are forecast to be in the range of negative 17 cents to negative 20 cents a share.

Full year expectations are for net reve-nues to increase between 7 percent and 9 percent, with diluted EPS in the range of 65 cents to 85 cents a share.

Guess has closed 38 stores over the past year and approved a cost reduction plan to streamline its operational structure and reduce expenses. The plan is expected to generate $25 million in annualized operat-ing cost savings.

Herrero stressed that investors should understand that the next year will be a transition year and that even though the next two quarters will be disappointing, the company would still meet the three-year plan.

Guess reported results after the market closed, but the company’s outlook for the year sent shares falling by 10 percent in after-market trading to $19.

THE MARKETS

Currency Dents Guess Profits

Women’s

Issue: April 13 / Close: March 30 / Materials: April 4

THE RUNWAYS · THE ROUNDUPS · THE REVIEWS ·

Collections

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT PAMELA FIRESTONE, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER AT 212 256 8103 OR PFIRESTONE@WWD.COM

4 17 MARCH 2016

● Designers in Paris played with off-the-shoulder looks for the fall season — sometimes exposing skin, sometimes layered. Either way, it was an engagingly relaxed effect.

BY LAURENT FOLCHER

FASHION

Slip It Off

Phot

ogra

phs

by G

iova

nni G

iann

oni

Dior Jacquemus

Miu Miu

17 MARCH 2016 5Ph

otog

raph

s by

Gio

vann

i Gia

nnon

i

Balenciaga

Off-WhiteAcne Studios

Kenzo

Slip It Off CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

6 17 MARCH 2016

Grü

nber

g ph

otog

rpah

by

Geo

rge

Chi

nsee

; Hilf

iger

by

Robe

rt M

itra

● The designer and his wife will design home goods and fine jewelry for the e-tailer.

BY LISA LOCKWOOD

Online retailer Overstock.com Inc., a pub-licly traded company, has forged an exclusive

partnership with New York-based fashion company Andrew Charles, founded by Andy Hilfiger.

The Andrew Charles brand will be extended to home goods and fine jewelry, available exclusively on Overstock.com this spring.

Hilfiger and his wife, Kim, have designed all the items in the new lines, which will be featured on the Andrew Charles page on Overstock.com. The products will be available later this spring. The home range includes bedding, curtains, decorative pillows and rugs.

“Kim and I have always wanted to take our overall aesthetic, influenced by fashion and music, and develop it into a lifestyle brand,” Hilfiger said.

His father, Richard, was a jeweler for 40

years and that’s where Andy learned the jew-elry industry and about stones and settings. Kim worked for several years for Tiffany & Co. and has worked with her husband on several of the fashion and lifestyle brands with which

he’s been affiliated.Having worked at his brother’s company,

Tommy Hilfiger USA, where he spearheaded various music and entertainment initiatives, Andy Hilfiger later went on to partner with Jennifer Lopez, helping to create her fashion and fragrance business. He continues as a partner in Star Branding with his brother Tommy and Joseph Lamastra and Bernt Ullmann.

Overstock.com declined to divulge the retail prices until closer to the release date.

The e-tailer, based in Salt Lake City, sells a broad range of products including furniture, rugs, bedding, electronics, clothing and jewelry.

Andy and Kim Hilfiger showed their collections to the press on Wednesday at the Hudson Hotel in New York.

RETAIL

Andy Hilfiger, Overstock Forge Deal

● In an effort to strengthen the brand, it will cut back its wholesale distribution and close some freestanding stores.

BY LISA LOCKWOOD

Joëlle Grünberg, who became president and chief executive officer of Lacoste North America last July, has implemented an aggres-sive strategy to reduce the company’s retail footprint and become more selective with its wholesale distribution.

Lacoste generates more than $500 million in retail sales in the U.S., which is the brand’s largest market in terms of sales. The next biggest is its home base, France, which garners $400 million in retail sales. Owned by Maus Frères SA, Lacoste had a turnover of 1.95 billion euros, or $2.2 billion at current exchange, in 2015.

In an interview at New York headquarters at 551 Madison Avenue, Grünberg outlined several key steps she is taking to strengthen the Lacoste business in the U.S. and combat a highly promotional environment at retail. Among them:

• Cut more than 200 doors at wholesale where the presentation is small and isn’t meaningful.

• Close eight freestanding stores this year in its 100-unit fleet in the U.S to focus on larger format units. In the next three to five years, the brand will shutter a handful of smaller units a year.

• Invest in new stores, such as a 4,000-square-foot unit that will open at Westfield World Trade Center in New York in mid-August.

• Improve the brand’s consumer expe-rience in its own retail stores, investing in personnel and sales training.

• Reinforce Lacoste’s strong tennis and golf heritage through partnerships and sponsor-ships such as The Miami Open Presented by Itau, which takes place March 21 through April 3.

• Strengthen relationships with golf and tennis clubs and resorts in four key regions in the U.S.: New York, Southern California, Texas and Florida. The first is a deal with Pebble Beach in California, where it will dress their pros, partner in their key events and sell the Lacoste brand there.

A graduate of ESSEC Business School, Grünberg began her career at Ernst & Young working in the luxury and distribution sector and rose to mission director. She has also held leadership positions at Deloitte, McKinsey & Co., Louis Pion Royal Quartz, and the Célio

Group in Paris. She joined the Lacoste group in 2013 as managing director for France, and in July became ceo of Lacoste North America, succeeding Francis Pierrel, who held the job for two years and joined the Denim & Supply division at Ralph Lauren Corp. Grünberg reports to Didier Lalance, executive vice pres-ident of global markets at Lacoste.

Predominantly a men’s wear brand, Lacoste’s business is divided among retail and outlet stores; its digital flagship; its wholesale business, and golf and tennis specialty shops and country clubs. Men’s wear accounts for 95 percent of the wholesale business, and 80 percent of the merchandise in Lacoste stores. The only shop-in-shop it has for women’s is at Macy’s Herald Square. Grünberg said its golf and tennis business in specialty stores and country clubs is particularly strong, given the strength of the ath-leisure category. Asked if she has an interest in expanding the women’s business, she said she didn’t.

“We’re very strong in men’s wear. It’s a chance to be a men’s brand,” she explained. “ Very few brands are mainly focused on men’s. It’s better for us to be focused on strengthen-ing our men’s brand and developing that part of the business, rather than trying to compete against three-fourths of the world [in wom-en’s]. We all know it’s a very tough business.”

In women’s, she said, the company does well with products such as the women’s polo shirt and the women’s polo dress. “I don’t think going for fashion is good for us,” she said. Lacoste does show a lot of women’s fash-ion on the runway during New York Fashion Week, but those looks are available only at limited distribution. “We show more wom-en’s on the runway because it’s fashion week for women’s and our designer [Felipe Oliveira Baptista] likes designing women’s clothes,” she said. “The runway is to elevate our brand. It’s sort of a laboratory of what we do. The [women’s] collection is sold in a couple of our stores, like Madison Avenue, Broadway in New York and Rodeo Drive. It’s more for communication and elevating the brand.”

Like most companies, Grunberg said the company is impacted by fluctuations in weather and tourism. “We’ve a very touristy brand. We’re such an international brand. We’ve developed the brand to be 90 percent international, and 10 percent French,” she said, noting that the brand is sold in more than 100 countries and is recognized globally. When fewer people come to the U.S. because of the strong dollar, it hurts the business in department stores and the Lacoste business, she said.

As for the closure of eight Lacoste boutiques around the country, she said the company thinks it has too many stores in

America. “We want to be much more focused on the locations that are the most premium and the most impactful to the customer, and close the smaller ones,” she said. The com-pany decided to close the smaller stores in certain cities while retaining the larger units there. “We want to make sure the visibility of the brand and the impact of the brand is significant. For that, it needs to be in bigger stores,” she said.

The company hasn’t permanently closed any stores in New York but its Madison Avenue store (at 55th Street) is currently closed for renovations and will reopen in May. “We’re going to invest more in New York,” she said.

Cutting back distribution is also critical. “We think we have too many small presen-tations of the brand. We want to have more impactful presentations. We want to grow a healthier brand with less discounts and have the presentation of what we do be more impactful,” she said.

Her main concern is to ensure the com-pany is developing a healthy business over the next three to five years. “The trend that the market has taken, which is more volume, more promotion and more discounts, is not a trend that suits us. What we want to do now is grow in a more premium way,” she said. She added that the company continues to sell key accounts such as Macy’s, Nord-strom, Bloomingdale’s, Belk and Von Maur. Lacoste isn’t dropping any stores but is trying to determine which doors make sense and which don’t.

For the second year in a row, Lacoste is collaborating with J. Crew, where it sells its Lacoste polos for men’s, women’s and kids’ in J. Crew stores and the catalogue. Despite J. Crew’s struggles, she feels it’s a smart move. “Who’s not struggling right now? Everybody’s facing the same situation.” She said the collaboration is very balanced. “We’re very different from them,” she said, describing Lacoste’s sports and French DNA. “We’re very specific in what we do. They’re much

more generalists. We bring them this elegant French sports touch. It’s a great chance to be a partner with a great brand such as J. Crew.”

The company also intends to “over-invest” in communication and sports marketing. For the second year, it is sponsoring the Miami Open, the two-week tournament that begins next Monday. “It’s a great tournament. For us it’s very important. South Florida is one of our key markets,” she said. The Miami Open will feature such tennis players as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. Lacoste will be selling a 2016 Miami Open collection that combines technical and lifestyle components for men, women and children. The collection includes polos, T-shirts, windbreaker jackets, shorts, tennis skirts, hat and handbags. Prices range from $35 for a kids’ tee shirt up to $165 for a duffel bag.

To help promote Lacoste’s involvement as an official sponsor and outfitter of the Open, the company is building a one-of-a-kind tennis court at the center of the Aventura Mall, where it has a store. Each day, different activities will be available, including tennis clinics, stroke development sessions, kids’ clinics, player signings and private VIP exclu-sive sessions.

Lacoste is seeking a strong partnership in golf for the U.S. market that it plans to reveal by the end of this year. “To be strong in the American market we need to [spon-sor] American players,” she said. Asked if it’s risky for the company to sign an athlete given the troubles that athletes such as Maria Sharapova and Tiger Woods have gotten in, she said, “There’s always risks to it, but we have contracts so we’re protected. I think it’s important for a brand to have strong ties with people who are famous in a sport because people identify themselves to the player. When you have a brand like ours, it’s difficult to be legitimate with no well known player wearing your brand. We need a number-one player.”

Lacoste continues to be a sponsor of the French Open, “the most significant tour-nament that we have,” and sponsors many French and international tennis players. In addition to its impending deal with Pebble Beach, the company has identified 20 to 30 key locations in the U.S. for golf partnerships.

Meanwhile, their Web site remains the brand’s number-one store (accounting for 10 percent of the company’s retail sales), and Lacoste also has strong partnerships with Amazon and Zappos. But Grünberg feels that human relationships at retail are critical to the Lacoste business.

“We have a brand new training program going on. Those coming in the store are less than they used to be, so how do we deal with these guys? We’re happy to see them in-store, they’re not shopping on their sofas. How do we ensure that those customers who come into the store get the best experience? They buy because they’re treated and hosted in a way that makes the experience different. Digital is important, but we want to create a human experience,” she said.

RETAIL

Lacoste Streamlines U.S. Business

Andy Hilfiger

Joëlle Grünberg

17 MARCH 2016 7

asking for a curated selection of new brands, of which there has been a huge influx lately, and also for more exclusive products.”

“Before, men’s buying patterns were driven by purpose and function. Now there is an additional element — that of pleasure, which makes our job very interesting,” added Odile Boucher, the store’s men’s buying director. “We have a new genera-tion — call it X and Y — that grew up with fast-fashion, that is following trends and knows exactly what it wants. Naturally, their styles have developed with them. We have to figure out how to mix and match these new patterns while also catering to a more traditional consumer.”

Galeries Lafayette has enlarged its men’s area to 130,000 square feet, from 91,500 square feet, adding an entire floor which previously housed gourmet products, now housed in a separate building across the

street. It also added 110 brands, 80 of which are exclusive. It doubled the men’s foot-wear department, which now houses more than 650 styles of sneakers, and instated a so-called savoir-faire area, where brands like Ermenegildo Zegna, Brioni and Kiton offer made-to-measure services, for which there was previously no room.

VIP rooms, a concierge and click-and-col-lect are also available, alongside two restau-rants, one of which is Big Fernand, one of Paris’ most coveted burger joints.

“Getting more space was crucial,” said Boucher. “We had to make the aisles larger to increase the fluidity of traffic because men

are creatures of comfort.”The new layout is visibly lighter and the

department now spans more than four floors divided into accessories; urban, street and sport; casual and contemporary; luxury, and formal.

Each floor houses a multibrand store, boasting a handpicked selection of niche and emerging brands, which is to be updated on a regular basis. The urban and street floor, for instance, showcases Off-White, Gosha Rubchinskiy, Yeezy, Adidas by Kolor and Marcelo Burlon, among others, while the luxury level offers labels such as Junya Watanabe, Andrea Pompilio, Juun.J and Massimo Piombo. All are new to Galeries Lafayette and all are exclusive, selected by a new scout named within the buying team to reflect the new status quo, said Boucher, who divulged, “We were very surprised how quickly the concept found a new clientele since we introduced it in November. Some of the brands already sold out.”

According to a research study provided by the French Fashion Institute, men aged between 15 and 29 spend more on fashion than women in the same age group, boasting on average an annual budget of 538 euros, or $597. T-shirts, jeans and sneakers are top of their list, but as they grow older, the retailers

argue, their tastes also become more refined.“The most sought-after items are cur-

rently runway pieces. Male customers very much look for something iconic or unique,” said Cazorla, who noted that unlike in the women’s division, where tourist spending is high, the men’s department sports a healthy balance between international and local customers, with potential to growth across all groups.

Nicolas Houzé, chief executive officer of Galeries Lafayette Group’s department store division, said “men’s is a very important part of our business.”

“The category has been growing year-over-year and will again increase this year, not just in Paris, but also in smaller cities such as Bordeaux and Nice,” the executive noted, projecting the growth rate at about 10 percent. “The category is one we also want to invest in in the future.”

On Tuesday night, Galeries Lafayette unveiled a flashy light installation by artist Xavier Veilhan that features in the men’s department. The wall — resembling a flashing disco dance floor — is clad with 1,536 lamplights containing a total of 6,144 LED bulbs that function as pixels, creating movement to symbolize the dynamism of a department store.

Galeries Lafayette Unveils Revamped Men’s Floors CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

● William Kim discussed his strategy for brand that was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2011.

BY SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — William Kim, chief executive officer of the British contemporary brand AllSaints, isn’t thinking fast — or slow — as he aims to build a company for the year 2020 and beyond.

Instead, he’s been following — and trying to anticipate — the shopping rhythms of the AllSaints customer, who is visiting the store once a month, who buys both online and in brick-and-mortar, and who wants in-season fashion.

As AllSaints prepares to debut its fall 2016 men’s and women’s collections for the first time in Tokyo, Kim talked about his strat-egy for the brand that was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2011, making it a company that was once more cautionary tale than success story. The show takes place on Thursday in Minato-Ku during Tokyo Fashion Week.

“There’s a lot of heated debate now on how to buy and when to buy, but I think we as brands need to take a moment, breathe, listen to the customer — and react,” said Kim from the AllSaints headquarters near Old Spitalfields Market in east London.

He was referring to the debate du jour among fashion and luxury houses about the viability of showing in-season fashion on the runway, and to what degree brands should accommodate the end consumer.

“I care about dressing customers for the summer holiday, so we have a high summer hit. But we’ve also built a model that’s agile. So if it’s cold, we still have novelty in outer-wear and chunky knits. The best thing we can do is to build a model that’s flexible and reactive to the future,” added Kim, whose background is in luxury goods. He’s worked for companies including Gucci Group and most recently Burberry, where he held a vari-ety of titles, including senior vice president of digital.

New product drops once a month — rhym-ing with the frequency of customers’ in-store visits — while the design team works in 100-day cycles from sketchpad to first customer order, with about 150 new items arriving every month on the shop floor and online.

That agility is partly thanks to a vertical structure, with everything that consumers see — from the collections and photography to the shop interiors and light fixtures designed in-house and created by long-term suppliers.

So far, the strategy has been a success, with AllSaints set to post the highest sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in its 21-year history. The company is majority owned by Lion Capital, which purchased AllSaints in 2011 after it had run into trouble following a rapid-fire retail rollout under the previous owners and the collapse of its Icelandic investors.

Revenues this year are set to be in excess of 250 million pounds, or $355 million, compared with last year’s 231 million pounds, or $353 million. The company also said it is expecting strong double-digit growth in earn-ings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which last year was 24 million pounds, or $37 million.

All figures have been calculated at average exchange rates for the periods to which they refer.

The brand’s sales are split evenly between men’s and women’s wear. The design studio is located at the East London headquarters, and women’s and men’s teams work side by side. The collections are always shown together.

Half of growth comes from the U.K. and half from international sales. The U.S. is All-Saints’ second-biggest market after the U.K.

Some 99 percent of sales come from own retail, including concessions, with the remain-der derived from wholesale clients including Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom in the U.S., Selfridges in the U.K., and Shinsegae in Korea.

AllSaints has recently launched bags with the Korean manufacturer Simone, and foot-wear was relaunched for spring 2016 with the Camuto Group.

Kim said the team, led by creative director Wil Beedle, gets its inspiration from a variety of fonts.

“We’re not going to events or to markets up the road for inspiration. Our teams have been trained to become global in perspective. The world is an all-inspiring place. We don’t look back. We are fashion. We have to continue to evoke novelty and newness,” he said.

Beedle said the touchstone for the col-lection is always going to be “tough, sexy sexiness with an East London attitude” and an enduring post-punk and military feel.

He called the AllSaints leather biker jacket

“a totemic [item]” for both collections, and recent looks include chunky knits — fitted and oversized — printed shirtdresses in a variety of lengths, bleached denim, and bomber and biker jackets galore.

With women’s wear, he said modular dressing is key, with the customer encouraged to build on their wardrobes each season. Col-lections are designed to be worn “anywhere in the world, anytime of year,” Beedle added.

Thursday’s fall 2016 presentation marks the first time that AllSaints has shown in Tokyo. Japan is a new market for the brand and over the past months it has tested the region with pop-ups. It now plans to open up to 10 spaces there, including stand-alone stores, conces-sions and wholesale.

Currently, the brand has 149 stores. In the U.S. there are 58 units, while in the U.K. there are 55. This year, the brand will open a further 50 stores, mostly split between the U.S. and Asia, with a few stores in the Euro-pean Union and the Middle East. In March, AllSaints plans to open three stores in the U.S., ranging in size from 2,250 square feet to 4,030 square feet. The openings will be in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Las Vegas, and Honolulu.

Kim has taken AllSaints into new territories including Canada, the Netherlands, Ger-many, Switzerland and France. The com-pany recently signed an exclusive franchise partnership in the Middle East with Majid Al Futtaim and has opened its first stores in the region in Dubai and Kuwait.

While the vast majority of stores are directly operated, AllSaints doesn’t own a single piece of real estate.

“We own the Web platform. We have the ability to drive anything that we wish on AllSaints.com and we use the online channel and experience and apply it both to retail and to online,” said Kim, adding that nearly 20 percent of all sales are online.

Despite the existing retail portfolio and openings planned for this year, Kim considers AllSaints to be “a digital brand that happens to have stores” and more of a “Palo Alto-based digital company rather than a fashion company in Paris or Milan.”

Kim also thinks of the brick-and-mortar stores as distribution centers. “If you come in as a customer and I don’t have your size, my job is not to frustrate you. I’m going to find you a size, and because I’ve inconvenienced you, I’ll send it to your house,” he said.

Indeed AllSaints, which has full visibility and access to stock, has already been taking advantage of strategies and technologies that luxury and high street competitors have just begun to use. Inditex, parent of Zara and Massimo Dutti, said last week that it was slow-ing down its investment in brick-and-mortar

stores because customers were increasingly becoming retail neutral, buying both online and in brick-and-mortar shops.

Yoox Net-a-porter Group has just inked a deal with IBM to increase the transparency of its stock rooms worldwide in a bid to see what’s there, what’s not, and thereby step up its service to customers.

Alex Alexander, YNAP’s chief information officer, and a veteran of Walmart’s global e-commerce division, told WWD last week: “For me, one of the biggest enemies of cus-tomer experience is ‘out of stock,’ and we’re able to eliminate that by having the product at the right time for our customers.”

It’s not just retail that’s been given the digital treatment at AllSaints: Under Kim’s watch the nearly 3,000 staffers worldwide communicate via custom-made internal social and instant messaging networks and video conferencing with Google Apps. They train by means of videos produced in-house rather than by online manuals. “We want every team member to think digital,” said Kim.

The brand’s turnaround has been speedy, and Kim said that Lion’s cofounder Lyndon Lea has played a major role as a hands-on investor. Kim said Lea “leads by example. He’s supporting and challenging us.”

Lea certainly had a mighty task in front of him when he acquired AllSaints in 2011 along with Goode Partners in a deal valuing the company at about 105 million pounds, or $173.3 million. Goode has since sold its stake.

Although the brand name was untar-nished, the company was in a financial mess. It had been forced to restructure following the nationalization of the Icelandic bank Kaupth-ing, which had inherited a majority stake in AllSaints after the former investor, Baugur, filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

Ernst & Young had put Kaupthing’s U.K. division into administration, the British equiv-alent of Chapter 11, and was charged with finding new investors for the brand, which was founded by the London-based designer Stuart Trevor in 1994.

Even after Lion and Goode took their stake, the drama continued, with management squabbles and the eventual exit of then-ceo Stephen Craig and chairman Kevin Stanford, who had owned the brand with Baugur and overseen the rapid retail rollout.

In addition to AllSaints, Lion’s current port-folio includes John Varvatos, GHD, Perricone MD and the upscale footwear brand Bus-cemi. Past investments include Jimmy Choo, which Lion purchased in 2004 for 101 million pounds, or $185 million, and flipped three years later for nearly twice that figure.

A Lion spokeswoman declined to comment on the company’s exit strategy for AllSaints.

RETAIL

Not Fast, Not Slow: AllSaints Sows Fashion’s Fertile Middle Ground

“Lig

ht M

achi

ne” p

hoto

grap

h by

Dia

ne A

rque

s

“Light Machine,” an installation by Xavier Veilhan.

8 17 MARCH 2016

● The brand was founded in 1949 and became synonymous with preppy East Coast style

BY JEAN E. PALMIERI

Elliot Gant, the cofounder of Gant, the preppy shirtmaker that traces its roots to New Haven, Conn., in 1949, died on Satur-day in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 89.

Gant was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1926 and raised in New Haven. He was the son of Bernard Gant, who Americanized his name from Berl Gantmacher, a Jewish Russian immigrant who worked in New York’s gar-ment industry on the Lower East Side. With his partner Morris Shapiro, Bernard Gant founded the Brooklyn-based Par-Ex Shirt Co., which made shirts for Brooks Brothers and others. In 1927, Par-Ex relocated to New Haven.

It was here that Elliot and his brother Marty got their first taste of the business, sweeping floors and fusing collars at the company’s shirt factory.

They took a break from the business to serve in the Army during World War II. Upon returning home, they convinced their father to exit the shirt contracting business and create shirts under their own label, and in April 1949, Gant was formed.

In the years that followed, Gant helped define the smart-yet-casual fashion that was sweeping the country. The brothers started experimenting with shirts in different fabrics and colors, and added more styles. They embraced their roots, changing the name of

the brand to Gant of New Haven in 1954 and filling the Yale Co-op store on campus with its button-down shirts.

Elliot and his brother are credited with perfecting the perfect roll collar, the locker loop on the back of the shirt, the box pleat, the back-collar button and the neck button. Elliot is said to have invented the button tab to ensure that the tie tucked into the shirt’s roll, a look that soon became synonymous with the East Coast University look and won him an Esquire Fashion Design Award in 1963 in the category of men’s dress shirt.

But the brothers also stayed up-to-date on fashion trends and during the Sixties, they prohibited their sales staff from wearing white shirts at work, pushing instead the madras, tartans and candy-stripe colors they had begun to produce. The company was now known as Gant Shirtmakers.

They expanded into women’s wear shortly before the company was sold in 1968 to Consolidated Foods, but Elliot and Marty stayed on to run the business, expanding into sportswear in 1971. Knit shirts, includ-ing the rugby, were among the offerings and a subbrand was created in 1974 called the Rugger. Trousers and accessories were

offered in 1981.The brand changed hands several times,

and Gant became a subsidiary of The Palm Beach Co. in 1979. In the early Eighties, Pyramid Sportswear of Sweden acquired the rights to design and market the Gant brand outside the States, turning it into a global brand.

Elliot is believed to have left the business in the Seventies.

In 1995, Phillips-Van Heusen acquired Gant in the U.S. from Crystal Brands Inc. of Connecticut. Gant was sold in 1999 to Pyr-amid Sportswear of Sweden, in which PVH held a 25 percent stake. Pyramid became Gant Pyramid AB and in 2006, the com-pany went public on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. It was delisted later that year when it was bought by its present owner, Maus Frères.

Patrik Nilsson, chief executive officer of Gant, said: “Today we received the infor-mation about the passing of Elliot Gant, the sole remaining founder of the Gant brand. Elliot Gant was instrumental in establishing Gant, and together with his brother Marty Gant and father Bernard Gantmacher, he revolutionized the global men’s wear market by their expertise in shirtmaking, innovation and sense of style.

“While we are deeply sorry to hear about his passing, Elliot Gant, his brother and their father will remain with us in our everyday work through our values — passion, authen-ticity and innovation.”

Elliot Gant is survived by his wife, Ina (Romanoff) Gant; daughter, Carol Gant Lev-enthal; and son, Bernard Gant, as well as five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

MEN’S

Gant Cofounder Elliot Gant, 89Elliot Gant (left) and his brother Marty.

● The site in Culver City, Calif., is known as Hayden Tract.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

The Runyon Group has been exercising its developmental muscle.

The real estate firm, which has offices in Los Angeles and New York, is set to unveil Platform this week. Platform — the first development project for Runyon — is the reimagining of a four-acre site called the Hayden Tract in Culver City, Calif., that once served as an auto dealership space in the Sixties, according to Joseph Miller, Runyon’s cofounder and lifelong Culver City resident. His family owned one of the auto dealerships that the tract housed.

Runyon is one of the developers for the Hayden site, a former industrial zone in Cul-ver City that fell into disarray in the Seven-ties. Through some recent redevelopment, the neighborhood has become a destination stop for restaurants and art galleries, as well as office space for media and advertising firms.

The Platform site is right next to the Cul-ver City station of the Metro Expo Line. The project will feature retail space that includes fashion boutiques, along with freestanding buildings. Along with other parts of Hayden that have been developed, the entire tract is essentially a revamped campus that houses residential and office space and retail shops.

Miller said that Runyon acquired the site Platform sits on in 2010. He lined up financing for the development and has been working with Abramson Teiger Architects to

create the look for the open-air concept site, a project that includes restoration of existing structures as well as the addition of some new ones. The result is a new Los Angeles site that combines fashion, art and culinary talent. Some of the spaces have become creative lofts for firms in the entertainment, media and fashion industries. Runyon is managing the entire development process from concept to development, leasing and management.

Walter Loeb, a former retail analyst and now consultant, said new developments such as Platform that have a lifestyle theme — in this case an eclectic creative backdrop — are what can now better attract and serve consumers, adding that it can’t be all about just shopping anymore. “You need better restaurants and lifestyle merchandising in the malls. When you think about it, most of the traditional malls are still very traditional. They’ve not changed enough to make it an entertainment center. They need to be more of a place to be because your friends are there,” Loeb explained.

David Fishbein, Runyon’s other cofounder, said the partners spend half their time on development projects and the other half on the brokerage-leasing component of their business. Runyon works with about 10 designers on their retail growth strategies. On the development side, it only works on one project at a time and will likely be tied up with the Culver City project for some time to come. “We purchased a couple of additional sites next to Platform. The first phase is a $75 million project,” he said.

Brands that have signed on include Velvet by Graham & Spencer, the South-ern California contemporary fashion label known for combining a touch of edge to its laid-back luxury looks. Henry Hirschowitz, chief executive officer of Velvet, said, “For us, this was a no-brainer. It’s a great location. We have our office across the street. The area has become a destination [spot] in the

neighborhood. There is a local art scene with some great galleries, so the artists have fol-lowed here. People come for the food scene because there are good-caliber restaurants and the living spaces are desirable.”

Another fashion firm is Nevena Borisso-va’s Curve, with the Platform site slated to be Curve’s flagship lifestyle concept. The store will include a collection of men’s wom-en’s and children’s apparel, home goods, accessories and jewelry, mixing pieces from brands such as Isabel Marant, Balmain, Christopher Kane, IRO, Alexander McQueen and Raquel Allegra.

Also opening at Platform British home designer Tom Dixon’s U.S. flagship store. His only other store is The Dock in London. The site of Dixon’s shop, along with his take on a British tea room, will have the shop and café open up to Borrisova’s multilabel flagship.

Other shops and facilities include, but not limited to: athletic streetwear retailer Kilter; luxury optical brand Linda Farrow; boutique coffee-roasting café concept Blue Bottle Coffee; beauty apothecary Aesop, which will also include an area for spa treatments; leather goods and accessories firm Parabel-lum, as well as fitness studio SoulCycle and the headquarters for Technicolor’s creative subsidiary MPC, which caters to the digital media and entertainment sectors.

Runyon also is in the early stages of nego-tiation and outreach on the leasing side of the business for The Row, in downtown Los Angeles. The project involves a reimagining of a space that is more than 30 acres in size.

RETAIL

Runyon Group’s Retail Development At Platform

● A new survey by UBS suggests that younger shoppers are still interested in luxury goods.

BY EVAN CLARK

Luxury brands don’t need to fear the Millen-nials — but they do need to compete with the across-the-board strength of Louis Vuitton and with Burberry, which outperform with young shoppers in the U.S. and China.

A UBS survey of 2,109 luxury consumers in the U.S. and China found little evidence that younger shoppers care more about experi-ences than luxury when their attitudes are compared with older consumers. That flies in the face of an oft-repeated argument that sees a bearish future for high-end goods as twentysomethings vie to live in the now.

UBS analyst Helen Brand said Chinese Millennials appear to act broadly in line with shoppers over 35 and that there were indica-tions that European luxe brands could gain traction by targeting the younger set.

“The under 35s told us that they spent 10 to 20 percent more than the older generations on luxury goods last year and 60 percent of consumers see their personal finances improving compared to 33 percent of 35-plus-year-olds,” Brand wrote in a research note. “Price is not the core purchasing driver, with quality and timelessness more important.”

To successfully court Millennials, brands need to understand their nuances from market to market and speak to them in their own language.

“The results of our survey suggest that the brands need to work hard to win over the Chinese Millennial consumers who appear less brand loyal than the older generation,” Brand said. “It is a different picture in the U.S., where the Millennial consumers appear less skeptical of luxury brands with higher brand loyalty. Overall we believe that having a strong online presence is important to presenting the right image to Millennials and companies advanced here — such as Burberry, but also Gucci and Louis Vuitton — are well placed to win. This is especially the case in China where the Millennial consumer is more likely to purchase via Daigou [the gray market], which we see as a risk to brand equity.”

Among Chinese luxe shoppers, Burberry and Saint Laurent came out markedly stron-ger with the Millennial consumer than older shoppers, while Gucci, Prada and Chanel came out weaker. Louis Vuitton was the best performer across both older and younger consumers in China.

In the U.S., Burberry and Chanel outper-formed with Millennials while Louis Vuitton showed broad strength.

BUSINESS

Millennials Chasing Luxury Goods in U.S. and China

A rendition of Runyon’s Platform project.

A fall look from Louis Vuitton.

Vui

tton

pho

togr

aph

by G

iova

nni G

iann

oni

17 MARCH 2016 9

jewelry, including items from local artisans; a home area with a full-scale living room, dining room and bedroom displays, and a design center with specialists to offer advice. Beauty experts are also found in the Portland store.

Anthropologie has opened 70 beauty shops in North American stores as a sep-arate test. “We’re launching much bigger beauty assortments,” said Conforti. “If we’re going to have a beauty shop, we need to have beauty expertise in stores. The same goes for a shoe section and the same level of service is expected for home.”

The prominent Without Walls activewear shops at Urban Outfitters stores is being disbanded, with product, including the pri-vate-label Without Walls brand, integrated into men’s and women’s general apparel. “We’ve scaled back how far we want to take it,” Conforti said, referring to emphasizing the athleticwear.

“Anthropologie has its own ath-leisure line,” Conforti said. “I would call it more lei-sure than ath-. Anthropologie has started to see gains in the last several months. You’ll see shops now for that line and trend.”

“We’ve done a lot of things to make the shopping experience more enjoyable,” Con-forti added. “Each brand [Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People] was built on the idea of the treasure hunt. For exam-ple, dresses were scattered throughout

the store.” Today’s consumer doesn’t want to sift through lots of merchandise to come across a keeper. “They want to see a dress shop, an area for intimates, etc.,” he said. “We’ve put more of a shop-in-shop approach into our stores.”

Anthropologie is leaning hard into the other businesses. “It’s not just a destination for women’s apparel,” he said. “The early read on the store we just launched in Port-land is fantastic. This is new — it’s growth.”

Urban Outfitters has a history of quickly incubating and launching new concepts. BHLDN, bridal attire, bowed with a shop in Houston in 2011, followed by a unit in Chi-cago. BHLDN is sold at six Anthropologie stores and through events held at the chain. When Urban Outfitters in 2008 acquired J.

Franklin Styer Nurseries, which it renamed Terrain, Hayne predicted it would become one of the premier garden centers in the country. There are two Terrain stores in Westport, Conn., and Glen Mills, Pa., with the majority of sales done online. Outsize Urban Outfitters concept stores in Brooklyn and Manhattan contain elements such as hair salons, cafés and record shops.

“We’re excited about our international expansion,” Conforti said. “They are concessions or licensing agreements or our own brand stores or partnerships. David McCreight, [ceo of the Anthropologie Group, who recently also became president of the Urban Outfitters Group] is working on that fast and furious and we’ll get after that in a meaningful way in the next few years.”

McCreight is focused on expanding all of the brands into geographic areas where the retailer has little or no presence.

Anthropologie’s comps declined 2 percent in the fourth quarter, but there has been some improvement in women’s apparel, particularly dresses. “We increased the penetration of our own branded product,” Conforti said. “They’re work-ing through other categories in women’s apparel. There are still areas that aren’t working as well as we’d like. Tops will be next.”

While women’s apparel is doing well at Urban Outfitters, men’s has racked up more than a year of negative comps. “In the past few weeks we’ve started to see that business turn,” Conforti said. “Men’s isn’t positive yet, but we see improvement.”

Free People, which had a 2 percent comp-store sales increase in the fourth quarter, could fall to a low single-digit negative territory in the first quarter,

Conforti said. The size of Free People stores is growing to 3,500 square feet to 4,000 square feet. “When Free People launched, it was a relatively small store because the assortment was narrow,” Conforti said, adding that 12 stores will open this year, the majority in the larger format.

Intimate apparel, which was introduced at Free People, has been a bright spot for Anthropologie.

“Urban Outfitters finished the fourth quarter with a negative 3 percent comp and while it may sound a little weird, we’re OK with that,” Conforti said. “Markdowns drove the negative comps. We were able to have a regular-priced comp in the midsingle digits and we added operating profit.”

Conforti stressed that the performance of Urban Outfitters women’s apparel wasn’t a result of markdowns. Nonetheless, he acknowledged that a certain apparel mal-aise has been plaguing the industry. “There hasn’t been a new silhouette for some time. It’s skinny jeans and big over little. She’s already got that in her closet and she’s unin-spired to buy something new.

“There’s often a direct correlation between fashion and price,” he added. “If there’s no new trend, she’s bored, but when the fashion differentiation is there, the price is less important.”

The retailer has been able to improve initial markup and profitability with com-pany-wide savings on lower cotton and fuel prices. It consolidated a number of factories, with more fabric sourcing being done in South America, Southern Califor-nia and Turkey for certain products that require a fast turn. “We worked on building speed into our supply chain,” Conforti said. “We were able to take a full week out of our supply chain last year.”

Urban Outfitters: Thinking Big and Changing Up the Box CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

● Leslie Wexner and Stuart Burgdoerfer and team are working on tweaks to Victoria’s Secret strategy.

BY EVAN CLARK

The consumer is all right for L Brands Inc.’s Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.

“Price points and average transaction sizes at Bath & Body in store is about $25, $26; at Victoria’s Secret in a store, it’s a little over $50,” said Stuart Burgdoerfer, the company’s chief financial officer and executive vice president.

“In terms of the health of that con-sumer, we think pretty good, at the end of the day,” Burgdoerfer said. “Employ-ment is up in the United States. People are enjoying the benefit of lower gasoline prices, etcetera. And so, all in all, we think the consumer is pretty healthy. We know that there are some counterindica-tions to that, but what we’re seeing in our business, again, pretty steady and pretty healthy.”

Burgdoerfer was speaking to investors and analysts at the Bank of America Mer-rill Lynch Consumer and Retail Technol-ogy Conference and said that absent a sig-nificant hit to the economy, the company should perform “pretty well.”

The company very much feels that its future is in its own hands and Burgdoerfer said the determining factor for perfor-mance is how well L Brands executes on its strategy.

At Victoria’s Secret, the day-to-day of the business is set to change, at least slightly, after chairman and chief execu-tive officer Leslie Wexner assumed direct

control last month, taking over from Sha-ren Turney, who left the company.

Burgdoerfer said Wexner and “a few people that work with him pretty closely, including me, are spending more time at Victoria’s Secret. I would just say that we’re looking at fundamental things. First of all, Victoria’s Secret is a terrific business. So the last thing you want to do is change too many big things at once because you don’t want to break or go backwards on what is a very, very success-ful business. But with that said, fresh eyes bring fresh thinking.”

Fresh thinking is what Wexner is known for. He’s successfully navigated retail for over 50 years by changing tack when nec-essary, largely dropping out of apparel, for instance. Along the way he created a powerhouse, which last year saw profits jump 20.3 percent to $1.25 billion as sales rose 6.1 percent to $12.15 billion.

While many have struggled with weak mall traffic, Burgdoerfer told the confer-ence that some of the company’s competi-tors have failed to evolve.

“Mall has been tough because a lot of folks in the mall frankly aren’t doing things that are that much different from what they’ve done historically,” he said. “One of the things that, through Les Wexner’s leadership, we’ve tried to do in our business over the years is really bring newness, difference through our mer-chandise, through the sales experience with our store associates, through the regular redesign and reinvestment in our store environment, through the intro-duction of new categories and subbrands like Pink at the Victoria’s business, where there’s been a regular flow of innovation and change in our stores that make our business interesting to consumers.”

BUSINESS

Victoria’s Secret Parent L Brands Sees ‘Pretty Healthy’ Consumer

Anthropologie is venturing overseas.

The cover of the Victoria’s Secret swim

catalogue, featuring Elsa Hosk.

10 17 MARCH 2016

● In a bid for more competitive options, Target tapped Project Underground to develop three lines exclusive to the mass retailer.

BY RACHEL BROWN

For Target, appealing to the masses means less me-too products on its beauty shelves.

In a move to cultivate unique merchan-dise, the mass retailer turned to upstart beauty brand incubator Project Under-ground to develop three exclusive bath and body brands: Mayfair Soap Foundry, Marlowe and You Are Amazing. Along with the recent acquisition of Sonia Kashuk and release of the nail polish line Defy & Inspire, the trio, which has rolled out across the chain with nearly 60 stock-keeping units priced from $3.99 to $12.99, demonstrates Target’s increasing emphasis on beauty.

Dawn Block, senior vice president of beauty and essentials at the retailer, underscored the partnership with Project Underground helps position Target as a beauty destination. “Differentiation is an important part of Target’s strategy, and our growing roster of in-house and exclusive brands allow us to bring guests a mix of high-quality, affordable products they can’t find anywhere else,” she said.

The relationship between Target and Project Underground began early last year, when the new company set out to create high-quality products for the retailer with a strong focus on design and affordability. Explaining the process, Monica Saracino, general manager of Project Underground and previously a senior buyer at Target, said, “We started with the total beauty space in mind. There were no rules. We came together with open minds. We brought to the table some of the things we

were seeing in the marketplace, and Target has a lot of internal insight. Ultimately, we had a brainstorming session and came up with eight to 10 ideas. Then we continued to iterate and prioritize.”

Project Underground focused on the ideas that seemed most likely to succeed. With unfussy packaging heavy on black and white, Saracino said that with the men’s and unisex positioning, Marlowe addresses shoppers who embrace “a lifestyle of adventure. They love simplicity, ease and clarity.” For its formulas, Project Underground identified nourishing extracts geared toward men. The products contain passionflower fruit, green tea, willow bark and deep sea algae extracts. A few weeks in, Marlowe’s beard oil, the priciest item in its range at $12.99, is a standout performer. “The men’s facial and shave line is doing very well. It makes a great statement in the grooming aisle,” said Saracino.

You Are Amazing is the least expensive brand within Project Underground’s initial offering. Its products are $3.99, and are aimed at girls and women aged 14 to 24.

The brand banks on bright colors and bold scents of lavender fields, coconut water, eucalyptus mint, juicy grapefruit, vanilla bean, mango papaya, lemon meringue and a bouquet of cherry blossom, rose and plumeria. “You can really see the personal-ity behind the brand,” said Saracino.

The best-selling brand out of the gate is Mayfair Soap Foundry. The brand’s style and content are intended to combine upscale British sensibilities with a modern flair. Its refined floral blends include white lily, jasmine, rose and sweet berry. “This one is [targeted] at working women aged 25 to 40 potentially with a family who really appreciate relaxation and a break in their busy days,” said Saracino.

The three brands have philanthropic tie-ins. Ten cents for every unit sold of Mayfair Soap Foundry is given to Starlight Chil-dren’s Foundation, and an equal amount goes to the organization Clean The World when Marlowe products are purchased. For every sale of a You Are Amazing product, five cents are donated to Girl’s Up, the United Nation Foundation’s campaign

for adolescent girls. “I don’t think it is the primary factor in buying, but what we have learned is that it gives people an opportu-nity to feel good about their purchases,” said Saracino of a charitable cause.

To build recognition of its brands, Project Underground handed out 10,000 samples at Target’s headquarters and has trained hundreds of beauty concierges at Target stores. Mayfair Soap Foundry also got a boost from participating in Target’s February beauty box scheduled around Valentine’s Day. “One of the big things for us is driving trial and awareness through the different programs Target has to offer,” said Saracino, noting, “Mayfair has been a fantastic gifting story.”

Project Underground wouldn’t discuss first-year sales projections for Marlowe, You Are Amazing and Mayfair Soap Foundry. “Overall, they are doing well. We are trending and, every week, they are improving,” said Saracino. For the duration of this year, Project Underground will concentrate on the three brands and could possibly launch additional brands next year. At the moment, all its projects are attached to Target, but Saracino didn’t rule out associations with other retailers. “We are open to seeing what happens in the future,” she said.

Project Underground has staff members in El Segundo, Calif., New York and Minne-apolis. In total, it has about 20 employees. Saracino described the firm as a beauty “think tank” dedicated to conceiving brands tackling specific consumer needs. “It follows the fast-fashion model,” she said. “People are looking for newness and innovation constantly. From my time at Target, I realized how long it takes in the whole production lifecycle to create, but I knew [as a consumer] I wanted new things. I wanted to be the first one to have them, and I wanted them quickly. We know that’s what the Target guest wants. An incubator can help do that.”

BEAUTY

Target Taps Beauty IncubatorTo Develop 3 Product Lines

An assortment of Marlowe products, developed exclusively by Project Underground for Target.

Des

igua

l pho

togr

aph

by G

iova

nni G

iann

oni

● A deceleration in Europe sent 2015 sales down 3.1 percent.

BY MILES SOCHA

PARIS — Decelerating sales in France and Spain hit fashion chain Desigual, which saw 2015 revenues slide 3.1 per-cent to 933.2 million euros.

The Spanish chain also blamed a lower number of store openings in its fiscal sec-ond half for the slowdown, which dented the bottom line. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell

24 percent to 199.6 million euros, with Desigual flagging higher costs for directly operated stores.

The company said it would continue to rationalize its store network to improve profitability in the near-term. Last year, it closed 27 locations, opened 48 and converted seven franchises into compa-ny-owned units.

Desigual’s results were included in the full-year financial report of French private equity firm Eurazeo SA, which invested 285 million euros in Desigual in 2014 in exchange for 10 percent of its share capital.

The transaction gave the Barcelo-na-based company an enterprise value of 2.7 billion euros and followed Eurazeo’s first big foray into the fashion sector with its 2011 purchase of a 45 percent stake in Italian firm Moncler, which went public in 2013.

For Desigual, “the goal is to drive the company towards a more consumer-centric organization while continuing to innovate,” the report said, citing a new product strategy effective with spring 2017 collections.

Sales of women’s apparel fell 5.9 per-cent last year, while accessories gained 3.1 percent and kids’ wear advanced 11.8 percent.

The store count as of Dec. 31 stood at 552 company-owned units in more than 100 countries. The Desigual brand is also distributed to more than 7,000 multi-brand outlets and 23 online stores.

Last year, Eurazeo took a minority stake in Vestiaire Collective, a European seller of pre-owned fashion and accesso-ries, and it is currently in exclusive nego-tiations to acquire a stake in Paris-based fashion house Isabel Marant, according to market sources.

RETAIL

Desigual Battles Tough Conditions In France, Spain

A spring look from Desigual.

17 MARCH 2016 11

What would Jesus wear?If he were portrayed as a

modern-day spiritual leader by Jencarlos Canela, on a day off he’d put on anything that Eva Longoria and Janie Bryant recommend. Collectively, the actress and costume designer have amassed numerous credits, Screen Actors Guild Awards and an Emmy on their résumés, well before working with the 27-year-old singer-actor on the TV comedy “Telenovela.” Thus, it behooves Canela, who portrays Jesus Christ in the upcoming TV musical “The Passion,” to be all ears when the stylish ladies dole out advice.

“You should use this color more — it pops out your eyes,” was one tip from Bryant, Canela recalled. “It’s probably why I’m wearing a green jacket,” he said, flapping the lapel of a military-style cover-up he paired with a black T-shirt and dark jeans last Friday. Plus, a compliment from Longoria on jeans that flatter his slim frame would be reason to “buy, like, 20 jeans I know that she liked, even if they look the same.”

Although boasting more than 9.3 million social media followers as well as Spanish-language singles and albums that have gone gold and platinum, the Miami-born Cu-ban-American is trying to make a name for himself in Tinseltown, his home of less than a year. Working with Longoria definitely gave him a boost, but the fate of a sophomore season for “Telenovela” on NBC is uncertain.

Canela is also polishing the final mixes for an untitled English-lan-guage album that he concedes is months overdue. Eager to stage a mini listening party in a leather banquette at Caulfield’s in Beverly Hills through white Beats By Dre earphones connected to his iPhone, he is smart enough to pay homage to those who’ve made it.

“It’s a little bit of Sting, Prince, definitely Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie-esque type of vibe,” he said.

In the meantime, Canela is preparing for the Sunday Fox broadcast of “The Passion,” which also features Tyler Perry, Seal, Chris Daughtry and Trisha Year-wood. Before flying to New Orleans,

where the musical will be broad-cast live, he shared his thoughts on his fondness for fragrance, Jesus Christ’s wardrobe and the differ-ence between Miami and L.A. style.

WWD: It’s funny that the two Spanish-language shows that started your career — “Peca-dos Ajenos” and “Más Sabe el Diablo” — had the words “sins” and “devil” in the titles. Now you’re playing Jesus Christ. Did you think your career would take this path?

Jencarlos Canela: No, I never thought that. I don’t see it as my career took a path with this. I see it as a huge opportunity, an honor, to tell the biggest story ever told

and to portray the biggest icon to ever walk the face of the earth. But I’m more spiritual than I’m religious. I think that is the magic of this modern-day telling of the story. I feel my generation has a bit of a disconnect with religion.

WWD: Talk about the move from Miami to Los Angeles. Do you like the style in L.A.?

J.C.: I love it. I love the style. I even love the culture. Here, I feel people are more used to socializing and going out. The thing is, Miami is more, like, club-driven. Don’t get me wrong — I love my [home] city but it’s a different feel. I feel like here, people are used to going to bars and listening to live music. There are more options where you can listen to live music and socialize in those places.

WWD: How would you com-pare the style: Miami versus L.A.?

J.C.: In Miami, there is no winter.WWD: People say the same

about L.A.J.C.: At least here there’s a cool

breeze. In Miami, if it’s December and it’s 90 degrees, we would put on our leather jackets. We don’t care if we’re sweating balls. We want to have variety in our style. We have to come to terms with the fact that it’s just a shorts, flip-flops, T-shirt type of town.

WWD: Your wardrobe on “Telenovela” is very different from your wardrobe on “The Passion.”

J.C.: I look way older in “Tele-

Jencarlos Canela on ‘The Passion,’ Eva Longoria and Miami vs. L.A. StyleThe Miami-born singer-actor is breaking into Hollywood with a starring role in a new TV musical.

Meeting Laura Benanti today, you’d never know she has such a bold and incisive understanding of fashion. The reason being, the actress is on vocal rest and is instructed to let out no more than a whisper.

The “Supergirl” actress is back on center stage — she’s been in eight musi-cals and nine plays — for the revival of the musical “She Loves Me,” costarring Jane Krakowski and Zach-ary Levi. The show, opening Thursday, centers on Amalia, played by Benanti, and Georg, Levi’s charac-ter, two parfumerie clerks who spar at work but are unwittingly anonymous pen pals, penning love letters and falling for one another.

Benanti invited us to her apartment for a fitting ahead of Thursday’s open-ing night. She and stylist Scott Allgauer chose (wisely) a chic Mugler look. We corresponded with the actress via e-mail to get her take on fashion, “Super-girl,” and blind dates:

WWD: So you’re on vocal rest at the moment. That sounds difficult

from a pragmatic, day-to-day standpoint. Do you have any remedies you use to keep your voice in tip-top shape?

Laura Benanti: The vocal demands of this particular role are very challenging. The score is beautiful but it really sings like an operetta. Not being able to talk definitely makes life tricky! I drink ginger tea, and try not to eat dairy, alcohol, caffeine or spicy foods. Keeping healthy on this schedule

can be tricky.WWD: The musical

really resonates today but it occurred to me while watching it that the concept of a “blind date” is gone in this day and age. Have you ever been on a blind date?

L.B.: No, I’ve never been on a blind date, thank good-ness. But I have friends who have done online dating, which is essentially what this show is about, but with letters.

WWD: What is it like

working with Zachary Levi and Jane Krakowski?

L.B.: Zachary is such a loving, upbeat person. He’s extremely funny and charming. This is only his second Broadway show and I’m so impressed with how he’s taken to it. He’s amazing. Jane is incredibly talented and hard-working. She has an incredible attention to details and commitment to figuring out every little moment.

WWD: The shows’ cos-tumes are beautiful.

L.B.: They really are. Jeff Mahshie created our cos-tumes. He’s so brilliant and collaborative. He wanted to create pieces that work for the period but that people would really want to wear in real life. Jeff was actually one of the first designers to lend me clothes for Broadway events. It can be really tricky to get design-ers to lend you clothes for Broadway events and openings. That is one of the reasons why Scott, my stylist, is so passionate about bringing fashion to the Broadway red carpet. It becomes a little bit of a perpetuating cycle. If there’s no fashion on a carpet, no one will cover it, and if no one will cover it there will be no fashion.

WWD: What did you and Scott ultimately decide to wear to the opening?

L.B.: Mugler. I’m so grateful to them for being so amazing about lending me their gorgeous clothes. I cannot wait to wear them.

WWD: How would you describe your personal style off-stage?

L.B.: Relaxed, for sure. I’m a big Rag & Bone fan; Theory, Novis, Chloé, Eliz-abeth and James, Parker, Vince, Tibi, Rebecca Taylor — the list goes on and on!

WWD: The show is a period piece and you just played a sort of sci-fi role on “Supergirl.” How was it to switch gears?

L.B.: It was fun. Alura,

my “Supergirl” character, is the mother of Supergirl, who we see in flashback and hologram but playing Astra, Supergirl’s evil aunt was even more fun. I loved working on that show. I feel very lucky that I get to go back and forth between Broadway and television. It’s really the best of both worlds. — TAYLOR HARRIS

Laura Benanti: The Quiet ‘Supergirl’ The actress will return to the stage with “She Loves Me,” opening Thursday.

Ben

anti

phot

ogra

phs

by L

exie

Mor

elan

d; C

anel

a by

Ste

ven

Die

tl/Fo

x

Laura Benanti in Tome with Scott Allgauer.

Here and right: Laura Benanti

in Mugler.

novela.” I’m 27. But it was part of the plan to age me a bit. Xavi is all about the eccentric boots and the loud blazers and the patterns and stuff. And Jesus is not. It’s more earthy elements, just way more humble.

WWD: Talk about the wardrobe for “The Passion.” You wear an all-beige outfit, including a trench-coat. Who chose that? How did it help your performance?

J.C.: The wardrobe stylist [Wendy Talley] chose that for “The Passion.” It was a great balance. It did feel present-time because that’s the whole point of this. We need to grab a 2,000-plus-year-old story and make it relatable in today’s time. Like if it were to happen now. But at the same time, it wasn’t going to be believable to me if Jesus was, like, all gelled up. Not at all. So I really wanted to go as natural as possible. And I feel like those light-brown earth colors were a perfect balance be-tween how humble he was and the contemporary time that we live in.

WWD: You’re already a multi-tasker because you sing and act. Now, in entertainment, a lot of people do more. They do brand endorsements, they are brand ambassadors and celebrity spokesmodels. Did Eva Longo-ria, who has a beauty deal with L’Oréal, give you tips on how to do that if you’re interested in it?

J.C.: There’s so much to learn, so much that she has to offer. Really, I just built a friendship with her. It has nothing to do with work. I truly consider her a great friend of mine — someone I love, someone that I would do anything for. When you have as much information as she does, that’s something you, through the friendship, gradually learn and pick up. Everything comes at its time.

WWD: In terms of fashion, accessories and beauty deals, are there any that you’re inter-

ested in?J.C.: I love fragrances. I absolute-

ly love fragrances. I love smelling things.

WWD: What is your favorite?J.C.: I cannot reveal that infor-

mation. That’s a man’s treasure. You imagine if I tell you the fragrance I use, you’re going to tell the whole world what fragrance I use and they’re going to start using it. Then I’m not going to smell like me. I’m going to smell like everyone else. I’m kidding, though. But I do mix. I do this thing where I mix so they’re like, “What is that?” People don’t quite know.

WWD: So you’re open to doing a fragrance deal?

J.C.: I’m so big on smelling just right that I would definitely do that. We’ve been extremely picky. We’ve had brands, a lot of brands, come up to us. But I had someone give me a piece of advice once and they said: “You really want to build a brand? You have to learn how to say no.” I think that’s so smart because when you start prostituting yourself and you’re doing this and you’re doing that, you lose credibility with the people. I’ve always been very respectful of that.

WWD: What would it take for you to say “yes” to a brand?

J.C.: Just the right time, the right moment and a brand that I would use even if they didn’t pay me to. It needs to be something that I would genuinely, honestly enjoy repre-senting.

WWD: Do you think your chances are good to get into one of Tyler Perry’s popular movies?

J.C.: Ha. I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him. I hope, again, we can start a friendship. I hope I at least get the opportunity to give it a shot. I love what Tyler does. He has done so much for his community and for entertainment in general. — KHANH T.L. TRAN

Jencarlos Canela as

Jesus Christ in “The Passion.”

RETAIL 2020THE NEW STORE EXPERIENCE

J U N E 1 4 , 2 0 1 6 / N E W Y O R K C I T Y

ATTEND: KIM MANCUSO, KMANCUSO@WWD.COM, 646.356.4722 SPONSOR: ALEXIS COYLE, ACOYLE@WWD.COM, 646.356.4719

summits.wwd.com

FAIRCHILDSUMMITSANNUALPARTNERS

EVENT SPONSORS

C E L E S T E B U R G O Y N E L U L U L E M O N A T H L E T I C A

S U S I E M C C A B E U N D E R A R M O U R

R A C H E L S H E C H T M A N S T O R Y

A S A K O S H I M A Z A K I M U J I U S A

S P E A K E R S T O D A T E

C L I C K H E R E T O L E A R N M O R E

17 MARCH 2016 13

● The Austrian luxury accessories company is trying to help prevent harassment and violence against women with an initiative to aid the Women’s Safe Cities program.

BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

NEW YORK — Nadja Swarovski made sure that guests at Tuesday’s reception for the 2016 United Nations Women’s Empower-ment Principles left knowing how consum-ers can do their part to prevent harass-ment and violence against women and girls. The U.N. Global Compact’s executive director Lise Kingo also spoke about how Swarovski is furthering that cause.

Tuesday’s event in the U.N. Delegates Dining Room was a short walk for attend-ees who had spent the day at the U.N. Women’s and U.N. Global Impact’s WEP conference. Swarovski, whose fami-ly-owned luxury accessories company was started in 1895, noted that more than

70 percent of its 25,000 employees are women. She also brought guests up-to-speed about the limited-edition bracelet the company is selling to support the U.N. Women Safe Cities Global Initia-tive. Through partnerships with mayors’ offices, national governments, women’s groups and other community partners, the U.N. Women’s Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative is now in effect in 20 cities. Atelier Swarovski is donating 30 percent of sales of the $89 item, which is being sold in 200 Swarovski stores.

In her remarks, Phumzile Mlambo-Ng-cuka, the under-secretary general of the United Nations and executive director of U.N. Women, praised Swarovski for demonstrating how the public and private sectors can work together “in a way that helps women.” Making the point that many women are undeniably shoppers, she said they must follow Swarovski’s lead and “shop for a cause.”

Noting that it was only in September that 193 nations accepted the U.N.’s 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, Kingo took a moment to thank the

German government for all its help with the Global Impact. She also noted how Germany has proposed a wage transpar-ency law so that women can compare their salaries to their male counterparts. Later in the program Mlambo-Ngcuka spoke of a call to action to ensure that men all over the world refuse to sit on panels where women are not represented.

Germany’s Parliamentary State Secre-tary Elke Ferner said gender equality is not only a business opportunity, but “really a must because equal rights are the goal.” She continued, “Women all over the world and increasingly more men are fighting for that goal. Together with businesses like Swarovski, you are doing so many import-ant things and have made it your duty to support the Women’s Empowerment

Principles.”As a member of the U.N.’s Global

Compact, Swarovski executives met with the group’s advisers to see what else they might do. “We just feel that money is not the only currency. We asked, ‘What else can Swarovski provide besides a financial contribution?’” Swarovski said after the formal presentation.

Gesturing toward the bracelet she was wearing, Swarovski said, “This is just the decorative element but there is also an intellectual element.

“We’ve opened a treasure chest of what we can do together in the collaborative sense with governmental institutions to have a bigger impact,” she said. “It enables our customers to learn about what the U.N. is doing and the causes. And all of us feel that energy, it contributes to finding a solution and creates an awareness.”

Swarovski added, “This is one of the advantages of being a private company. We can set the tone for ourselves and implement our core values.” Next up is a collaboration between Swarovski and the Bono-led RED initiative, though execu-tives at both companies declined further comment.

Tanya Taylor and Tome’s Ryan Lobo and Ramon Martin, who are members of this year’s Swarovski Collective, were in the crowd, as was Ryan Roche, last year’s winner of the CFDA Swarovski Award for Womenswear. However, one expected guest, Iris Apfel, missed out — she had an all-day photo shoot.

FASHION

Swarovski Champions Women’s Empowerment Principles at U.N. Event

Sw

arov

ski p

hoto

grap

h by

Mat

teo

Pran

doni

/BFA

.com

; Wel

ls b

y Th

omas

Iann

acco

ne; S

tefa

ni b

y Yu

kie

Miy

azak

i

Japanese FanGwen Stefani rocked out a special private concert in Tokyo Thursday night to cap off her Japan visit. On Monday, she put in an appearance at Tokyo Fashion Week through her tie-up with MasterCard Japan.

A crowd of what seemed like at least 1,000 people watched the No Doubt singer perform at a small concert hall on Odaiba, an island in Tokyo Bay. Wearing red plaid pants, a fishnet body stocking, a cropped black beaded top and black combat boots, the singer kicked off the show with her 2006 hit “Wind It Up.” She got the audience moving with many of her most popular, upbeat tunes, including “Hollaback Girl,” “Rich Girl” and “The Sweet Escape.”

Stefani was particularly enthusiastic when performing “Harajuku Girls,” smiling and pointing out into the audience on the line, “I’m your biggest fan.” She was wearing a girly light blue one-shouldered minidress adorned with a giant

black bow on the front.Stefani made no secret of

the affection she has for her Japanese fans, even replying, “I heard you and I love you more” when one audience member shouted out that she loved the singer.

“We have a situation here. This is a situation, I need to be very clear about this. This next song was…very, very directly inspired by Japan. And this was the first song I wrote, and that means that the entire record was inspired by Japan. But I’m just saying, it’s your fault,” Ste-fani said before launching into “What You Waiting For?” while wearing cropped red track pants and a red sequined cage top over a black bra.

She also performed some new songs from her album “This Is What the Truth Feels Like,” which will be released Friday. She said it was the first time she had performed live the song “Misery.” Wearing a black turtleneck and black-and-white briefs with a striped skirtlike panel at the back, she sang the

emotional “Used to Love You.”“It was a really hard year for

me and an incredibly difficult time, but with God’s help, I’m here right now and I have a re-cord to share with you guys and I’m so, so, so excited to share it with you,” Stefani said. — KELLY WETHERILLE

Stage HandsChristian Lacroix’s imprint on the Paris theater scene now runs all the way to the gift shop.

Christian Lacroix’s imprint on the Paris theater scene now runs all the way to the gift shop. — MILES SOCHA

Fashion ScoopsGwen Stefani performs in Tokyo.

Nadja Swarovski with the U.N. Global Compact executive director Lise Kingo.

We’ll Take HerLinda Wells, the longtime beauty editor who founded Condé Nast’s Allure, has signed on with Hearst to produce content for several of its prestige magazines.

Wells will create a 12- to 16-page beauty report that will run inside September sub-scriber copies of Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire and Town & Country. For subscribers to more than one of those titles, the portfolio — which will include trend reports, essays and photography — will only appear in one magazine. An official title for Wells — as well as for the supplement itself — is still being worked out.

“When Linda became avail-able, we reached out to her,” said Michael Clinton president of marketing and publishing director of Hearst Magazines.

Clinton referred to the

changing of the guard at Condé Nast, which has been in the process of restructuring its business. Wells, along with much of Allure’s masthead, was let go late last year; Michelle Lee was brought in to helm Allure and has since added her own team.

Wells’ departure has been a boon for publishers looking to add heft to their beauty report. In February, New York’s The Cut tapped her as its beauty editor at large.

Clinton said Wells would continue writing for The Cut, but her role at Hearst would give her a “national” stage to write about all categories in the beauty sector.

“We like having big, influ-ential voices being part of our brands,” said Clinton, who compared Wells’ addition to the company’s hiring of Carine Roitfeld in 2012, after she

exited Condé Nast’s French Vogue two years before. Roitfeld currently serves as Harper’s Bazaar’s global fashion director, a role that allows her to create portfolios for the magazine’s 32 editions. She also oversees her own magazine, CR.

“I’m excited to follow in the high-heeled footsteps of Carine Roitfeld in preparing a special section for Hearst,” Wells told WWD.” The project is exactly what I love to do — come up with ideas, find new ways to show, report, and write about beauty, and identify the best products and trends in a provocative, lively package.”

Like Roitfeld, Wells’ report will supplement the coverage that already exists in the four aforementioned titles. She will not replace the current beauty reports in those magazines.

“It’s like in a symphony or-chestra with a guest perform-er,” Clinton explained. “If Yo-Yo Ma is performing, it doesn’t take away from the symphony but it adds an extra punch.”

Wells’ work will also appear on Hearst’s digital network, but the details of that are still being worked out. It is expect-ed that the portfolio will likely appear in Hearst’s other titles that carry beauty content such as Cosmopolitan and Seventeen down the road.

For the moment, there is no advertising in Wells’ portfolio, but Clinton noted that he expects beauty clients to jump on board to advertise in the issue. “We’ll surround it [with ads] and [cover] wrap it, the way we do,” he said with a laugh. — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

Memo Pad

Linda Wells

C L I C K H E R E T O L E A R N M O R E

Christian Lacroix The sketch that appears on gift items.