Fashion. Beauty. Business.

DAILY EDITION 2 MAY 2016 1

CUTTING EDGEVF’s chairman and chief executive officer Eric Wiseman discusses the group’s innovation strategy. PAGE 3

SAUDI STARSVogue Italia and luxury retailer Rubaiyat hosted an event to highlight Saudi Arabian female fashion designers. PAGE 10

POLITICAL PARTIESWashington was a whirl of parties over the weekend, including and around the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. PAGE 9

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● The brand will hold its men’s and women’s shows together to celebrate its 50th anniversary and 15 years under the creative direction of Tomas Maier.

BY LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Bottega Veneta is the latest designer brand to meld its men’s and women’s shows into one, revealing plans to present its men’s and women’s spring 2017 collections together in September. The event is meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the brand and the 15th year of Tomas Maier as creative director.

“I really like to organize this special show to celebrate these two milestones that are particularly meaningful to me, also taking the opportunity to widely gather contributors and supporters of Bottega Veneta,” said Maier.

The company is seeking a “dedicated special location” for the show, which it has yet to reveal. Bottega Veneta usually holds its shows at its Milan headquarters but it is understood that space is not large enough to accommodate the bigger num-ber of attendees that is expected.

Explaining the reasons behind the deci-sion to present the men’s and women’s collections together, Maier said: “The Bottega Veneta universe is built on both

FASHION

Bottega Veneta Goes Coed for Anniversaries

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● A weeklong installation of fall runway looks are available for special order.

BY JESSICA IREDALE

NEW YORK — When the doors to the Prada Epicenter at 575 Broadway in SoHo opened Saturday at 11 a.m., the merchan-dise anchoring the store as part of a week-long takeover installation was from the fall collection, a good three months in advance of when it typically hits retail.

Not only that, but many of the items that comprise the 20 women’s looks arranged on mannequins (a selection of fall men’s looks are also on display) are available by special preorder this week only. For example, an orange fur runway coat for $25,635.

The occasion for the installation, called “PradaVision” — which is a kind of guerrilla pre-pre-sale pop-up that

FASHION

Prada Teases Fall Collection at SoHo Epicenter

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Art ProjectAndrew Bolton’s aim with the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” exhibit was to prove without question that fashion is art. “I want to put an end to the debate,” he said as he gave an exclusive preview of the show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, which will be celebrated tonight with the Costume Institute’s annual gala, this year sponsored by Apple. The show opens to the public Thursday.For more on the exhibit, see pages 4 and 5.

For this fall 2014 Chanel wedding gown, Karl Lagerfeld’s hand-drawn design was digitally manipulated to give it a pixelated baroque pattern and then realized through a complex amalgam of hand and machine techniques.

http://www1.macys.com/shop/search/Pageindex,Productsperpage/1,40?keyword=elizabeth%20taylor

2 MAY 2016 3

● On constant currency basis, first-quarter direct-to-consumer revenues rose 8 percent.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

For VF Corp., fashion technology is less about a wearable-tech device and more about performance.

“Consumers are asking for perfor-mance-quality apparel and footwear, which is the big news today. They absolutely want it,” said Eric Wiseman, VF’s chair-man and chief executive officer.

Given the group’s focus on outdoor and action sports — the segment

posted $1.6 billion in first-quarter revenues — it makes sense that VF would want to be at the forefront of innovation in areas where performance fabrications provide benefits to the end user.

“We are working through colleges and universities, consortiums we are a part of and inside our innovation centers. We have a lot of proprietary work that we are getting patents for,” Wiseman said.

The company owns and operates three Global Innovation Centers, all in the U.S.

The Jeanswear Global Innovation Center is located in Greensboro, N.C., the Perfor-mance Apparel Global Innovation Center is in Alameda, Calif., and the Footwear Global Innovation Center is in Stratham, N.H.

VF made innovation a priority as part of its Innovation Agenda, an initiative it began in September 2010.

One product — Jade Fusion — is already used in jeanswear sold in China. Crushed mineral jade, which is there to help cool the wearer in hot climates, is embedded in the fabric. Another innovation in the test phase is Magna Fusion that uses the same concept with igneous rock, but this time to hold in heat.

According to Wiseman, there are about 50 to 60 people working in the three cen-ters. “At least half have Ph.D.s. They are all researchers,” he said.

Wiseman also noted that he and his leadership team were in China two weeks ago, a country that remains VF’s biggest growth opportunity. “Maybe [China] isn’t growing as quickly as it was five years ago, but the government is [projecting] GDP [gross domestic product] at 6.5 percent, and they control the [levers] to pull to make that happen. What does that mean for us? The middle class is evolving. There are hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers today who can’t afford our products,” Wise-man said, adding that these same consum-ers will be able to buy VF products as they

join the middle class.VF’s brands in China are sold through

Tmall, although the brands have sites that are content-focused.

The company on Friday posted a 9.9 percent decline in first-quarter profits to $260.3 million, on total revenues that were essentially flat at $2.84 billion from a year ago. The company also reaffirmed 2016 guidance from February when it reported fourth-quarter results.

The strength in the quarter was from VF’s direct-to-consumer business, which was up 8 percent on a constant currency basis and included a low-single-digit comp.

VF, whether online or in its stores, is able to flow merchandise according to local consumers’ preferences and needs. “If we see winter weather coming to Boston, we can in advance put [cold outdoor] prod-uct there in anticipation of bad weather,” Wiseman said.

Each brand has its own strategy for moving product and opening stores. “Each brand is looking at where they have customers. People buying online where we don’t have a store suggests permission for us to connect within a city. We go where there is opportunity and build around that,” Wiseman said.

The ceo gave as an example Vans, which moved up the Eastern Seaboard with nine stores outside of Manhattan before opening a unit in the city. From there the brand moved to Boston, Philadelphia and now has a store in Chicago.

The brands each also have their own strategy for selling into each channel of dis-tribution, even when selling through Ama-zon. “The stuff they are selling is a curated assortment for what is most productive for them and for us,” Wiseman said.

THE MARKETS

Innovation, China Key Priorities at VF Corp.

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● The German sporting-goods maker grew in all regions and categories, most notably footwear, with total sales up 3.7 percent in the quarter.

BY PAULINA SZMYDKE

PARIS — Puma’s collaboration with Rihanna is proving more and more fruitful.

The singer, who signed on as brand ambassador and Puma’s women’s cre-ative director in December 2014, has helped boost the sporting-goods maker’s first-quarter performance.

The Herzogenaurach, Germany-based firm, which is controlled by French group Kering, said net earnings rose 4 percent to 25.8 million euros, or $28.5 million, in the three months ended March 31.

Total sales were up 3.7 percent to 851.9 million euros, or $939.7 million, with footwear the main driver. On currency-ad-justed terms, the gain stood at 7.3 percent, in line with analysts’ expectations.

Puma singled out the Creeper and the Fenty trainer as highlights, which both sold out within weeks or days. A new style introduced by Rihanna last week, the Fenty shower slide sandal with a furry interior, “blew out in minutes,” according to Bjørn Gulden, chief executive officer of Puma SE.

Speaking on a call with journalists on Friday, Gulden said: “For the first time, retailers are calling us asking to be our distributors again. These are high-end department stores and there are many. This is the first time at least since I’ve been here that this has happened.” He said the goal was to have fresh drops of the Fenty, the Creeper and the Slide delivered every month, but to keep the volumes tight in order not to overdistribute.

Gulden judged that the Fierce, a light-weight trainer advertised by the brand’s new face Kylie Jenner, “could be a big franchise for us,” as well.

On the performance side, the launch of the Ignite Disc running shoe also contrib-uted to driving footwear sales up 3.7 per-cent, or 8.5 percent on currency-neutral terms in the quarter.

Apparel and accessories rose 3.7 percent and 4 percent respectively.

The biggest challenge for Puma remains getting adequate space in retail to show-case its styles and innovations. Particularly in North America, the executive acknowl-edged “deficits against local brands on the performance side,” typically a men’s terri-tory. “Under Armour is very strong there. But some 87 percent of their business is in the U.S. They have the space, so when the sell-through is good, they grow. Ironically, our women’s business [pushed by lifestyle and training products associated with Rihanna and Jenner] are helping to open doors for men’s,” he noted.

Puma’s Latin American region mean-while was strongly impacted by the weakness of its currencies, most notably the Argentinian peso. Consequently, sales in the Americas were down 0.3 percent, but grew 5.4 percent when stripped of currency fluctuations.

Gulden said price adjustments have been implemented in Argentina, a very profitable market for Puma, but also in Russia and Turkey. He noted that although the price of raw materials along with the shipping costs from Asia improved on the back of falling oil prices, those advances were partly washed out by a stronger U.S. dollar in 2016.

Overall, the ceo commented “the first quarter developed as we expected. We saw organic growth in all segments and all regions. We are especially happy to see that our sell-through to consumers is improving — both in our own retail and with our retail partners. This is especially strong in our women’s business, where the launches of new products and new market-ing concepts have started to show excellent results.”

Puma’s Q1 report came on the heels of preliminary first-quarter results released ad-hoc by rival Adidas, which logged a 22 percent gain in sales and 38 percent gain in net income, boosted by strong demand for its lifestyle sneakers.

Gulden gave credit to his neighbor. “It’s fair to say that Adidas has a lot of momen-tum in the lifestyle area, taking market share from other companies. Just look at people’s feet — you see Superstar and Stan Smith everywhere. That’s a huge growth vehicle for them. They did a good job,” he said, noting that business for Puma was heading in the right direction. “We are smaller. Our expectation is to grow high single digits in 2016, and we feel very good about that.”

The ceo added that the brand was look-ing forward to this year’s main sporting events: the Copa America, the UEFA Euro 2016 and the Olympic Games in Rio, which are expected to drive sales further.

“Despite the negative impact of curren-cies we confirm our outlook for the full year,” he asserted.

BUSINESS

Rihanna Helps Drive Puma Net Up 4% in Q1

Global Stock TrackerAs of close April 29, 2016

ADVANCERS

DECLINERS

Giordano International Ltd. +1.74%

Lotte Shopping Co. Ltd. +1.68%

Luxottica Group SpA +1.34%

Avon Products Inc. +1.29%

Coty Inc. +1.23%

Sears Holdings Corp. -9.33%

Vince Holding Corp. -5.79%

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. 5.33%

Iconix Brand Group Inc. -4.93%

Trinity Ltd. -4.71%

Eric Wiseman

Rihanna in a Puma campaign for Creeper.

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● “Manus x Machina” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute questions the cultural and symbolic meanings of the hand-machine dichotomy.

BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

NEW YORK — With this morning’s press unveiling of “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” Andrew Bolton hopes to put to rest the age-old “is-fash-ion-art” debate once and for all.

During a whirlwind tour of the OMA-re-imagined Robert Lehman Wing late Satur-day afternoon, the newly-installed curator in charge at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute built a very strong case that it is. Despite the commotion that surrounded him due to the many workers perfecting the installation, Bolton spoke definitively about nearly each of the 170 garments and more emphatically about the artistry involved in creating them. (He personally inspected 800 in total.) Fascinated by the idea that the machine is never absent of humanity, Bolton said, “I find fashion a deeply, deeply human-istic practice and art form. I am such an advocate of fashion as an art form. I am so surprised that debate is still happening. I hope that after this show we can move on from there and ask other questions: ‘Is it good fashion? Is it bad fashion? What’s it saying?’ I just want to move on from that argument. I want people to accept it.”

Gesturing toward a Raf Simons-designed Dior machine-sewn silk organdy dress with, on one side, hand-embroidery by Hurel of sequins, bugle beads and crystals and, on the other, hand-embroidery by Lesage with gold metal threads, pearls, crystals and hand-cut flower petals, Bolton said, “How can someone not see that [art] with this exquisite form? Two embroider-ies together. From realism into abstraction — it’s just one painting in one dress. It sort of tells the history of modernity. I want to put an end to that debate. I want people to start asking different questions: ‘How is it made? Why is it made like this? What are you trying to say? Where is fashion going?’”

Exhibition visitors expecting to see wearables, videos and LED light shows will find instead a more contemplative explo-ration meant to appreciate, and question, the cultural and symbolic meanings of the hand-machine dichotomy. Entering the show via what feels like an all-white cathe-dral-like space, visitors will encounter a Karl Lagerfeld-designed Chanel scuba knit wedding dress with a highly wrought train from fall 2014. Lagerfeld’s hand-drawn design was “transferred onto a computer to make a pixilated Baroque pattern, rhine-stones were heat transferred by machine, outlined by hand with gold paint and fin-ished with pearls and gemstones,” making it “the perfect case study” in Bolton’s view.

Nearby, Denis Diderot’s and Jean le Rond d’Alembert’s “Encyclopédie” is on display, a reminder that “Manus x Machina” is set up around the métiers, or trades, of dressmaking. The métiers of embroidery, feather work and artificial flowers are showcased on the upper floor,

while pleating, lacework and leatherwork are in the lower galleries. Toiles and paper patterns are also examined. Focusing not on technology per se, but the hidden technologies, techniques and processes of fashion, Bolton said he wanted to create a romantic space that invited reflection so that visitors will “look at the objects, appreciate the making of fashion and really slow down the pace of fashion.”

To that end, he chose to play Brian Eno’s melodic “The Ending (The Ascent)” in the first gallery, where seating surrounds the showpiece dress.

“Sometimes the artistry of fashion is completely lost in a world that is obsessed by fast fashion, consumerism, celebrity disposable fashion. That was one of the ideas. And I wanted to show how the prox-imity to prét-â-porter and haute couture is diminishing,” said Bolton, motioning toward Christian Dior’s “Venus” and “Junon” dresses from 1949 beside a Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen machine-sewn and hand-sewn one. “In terms of the complexity and the craftsmanship between the two categories, what’s hap-pening is that because prét-â-porter and haute couture are sharing the same tech-niques and practices, those categories are becoming more and more redundant. The only difference between the two is fit.”

Bolton continued, “We’ve stripped every garment down to what we call a genetic reading, what’s machine sewn, what’s handmade — part of it is to question the associations between the two and the hier-archy. There has been a hierarchy since the establishment of the haute couture in the 1850s between the hand and the machine.”

Not since the Harold Koda-orchestrated

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Met Exhibition Aims to Show Fashion Is Unquestionably Art

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The show is structured around métiers, or trades, of dressmaking. Here, featherwork from Yves Saint Laurent, Iris van Helpern and Prada.

The New York office of Rem Koolhaas’ OMA envisioned the scrims for the show. Here, Yves Saint Laurent’s 1983 “sardine dress”

Karl Lagerfeld’s gown for Chanel required 2,500 white silk camellias hand-embroidered by Lemarié.

Hussein Chalayan’s fall 2011 Floating dress made of painted cast fiberglass with motorized rear panels.

“Haute Couture” show in 1995 has the Costume Institute displayed this much couture in one exhibition. Chanel’s original little black dress is among the older pieces. Nicolas Ghesquière, Hussein Chalayan, Issey Miyake, Courrèges, Miuccia Prada, Proenza Schouler, Noa Raviv, Valentino’s Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli and Christopher Kane are among the numerous designers whose work is dis-played. With 170 pieces, the show is more substantial than last year’s blockbuster “China: Through the Looking Glass,” which drew 815,992 visitors, making it the fifth most popular show at The Met. While art patrons and fashion followers alike might view “Manus x Machina” as Bolton’s water-shed moment now that Koda has retired, the energetic Bolton said he did not feel any added pressure. “I never expect shows to be blockbusters, I never plan for them to be. I really think people make them. If you don’t engage people’s imagination or interest then the show has failed no matter how clever or how complex it is,” he said. “If your audience doesn’t respond, then I think it’s a flop.”

Interestingly, the Apple-sponsored “Manus x Machina” is light on special effects, videos (with exceptions, like Cha-layan’s remote control dress) and free from gadgetry of any kind. Bolton said, “I feel as though fashion is one of the first arts to embrace new technologies. I also wanted to redefine what one means by wearable technology, which is always about basically gadgets. Wearable technology is about laser cutting, ultrasonic welding…more hidden technologies than a jacket that tells you how hot you are.”

While the transluscent scrims that sur-round the individual spaces are meant to help gallery-goers look at the garments on display with laser focus, their transparency unintentionally adds another dimension, in that they mirror the idea of being able to see how things are made. A Gareth Pugh dress on view is made of hundreds

of hand-cut straws that are attached by hidden tiny hooks like jewelry. An Iris van Herpen consists of laser-cut silicone chevrons that the designer baked in an oven and assembled by hand one Christ-mas night. The entire project took many days, but the designer described it as “a fun project, kind of like Lego.” Given that, while the objects speak for themselves,

Bolton said, “You have your overreaching narrative — hand, machine, the end of chapters, the métiers. We’ve been really analytical. It’s a very empirical show. You can appreciate it and look at the beauty of everything. But I think to really under-stand it, you have to read the labels for this one.”

More telling are the detailed interviews Bolton conducted with 12 designers that are part of the “Manus x Machina” cata-logue. Van Herpen describes 4-D printing, nanoengineeing, metamaterials, biotech-nology and using nano drones to make a dress. The complications that come with some of those advancements have made Bolton consider a “Fear and Clothing” exhibition theme. In another interview, Lagerfeld noted how in the time since Chanel took over Lemarié, the

staff has grown from 15 to 150. All in all, he said, “I’m just always looking toward what’s next. To be in the mood of our time, that means you’re in fashion.”

But with time being this world’s greatest commodity, there’s no denying that museums, especially New York’s art-based ones, have become hypercompetitive given recent expansions and collaborations. To amp up the experiential element, the Cos-tume Institute shortlisted six architectural firms before choosing Shohei Shigematsu, the force behind Rem Koolhaas’ New York office. The sometimes choppy waves of fashion are familiar waters to Shigematsu, whose portfolio includes “Waist Down,” a traveling exhibition for Prada, as well as collaborations with Cai Guo-Qiang and Kanye West. At work on Miami Beach’s

Faena Arts Center, the 28-year OMA veteran will next set the stage for Taryn Simon’s limited-run performance at the Park Avenue Armory in September.

“In the design world, architecture, fashion and art are all working together,” he said. “The lines are blurring and that is affecting further change. It is really a renaissance. This exhibition could prob-ably be the collaborative model that is starting to reemerge.”

Tonight’s Met Gala guests will get an unexpected vantage point as soon as they arrive in the museum’s grand foyer. Shigematsu has designed a double spiral staircase — one side red covered with real flowers, the other side white adorned with artificial ones — that the more stem-minded will recognize as the double helix,

the structure of DNA. The intertwined stairways will serve another purpose — a photo-op for the iPhone snapping crowd in search of shots of Taylor Swift, Idris Elba and other celebrity guests. As a New Yorker, even Shigematsu sounded a little in awe to be involved with one of the biggest events of the year. “It is very inspiring to work with Andrew and to see the kind of commitment that the Costume Institute has to exploring the culture of fashion,” he said.

With the recent opening of The Met Breuer, the museum is putting forward a more contemporary direction while still respecting its history. Shigematsu said, “This exhibition could be one of their efforts to create a new engagement with New York.”

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Met Exhibition Aims To Show Fashion Is Unquestionably Art CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

An Iris van Herpen dress made of laser-cut silicone

feathers and hand-applied silicone-coated gull skulls.

Takeda’s handcut acetate fringe

headpiece and bolero made with handwoven

machine cut acrylic squares.

Hussein Chalayan’s

molded white

polyure-thane foam handpaint-

ed and airbrushed

“duck” dress.

A Gareth Pugh dress made entirely of

straws that were attached to hidden

hooks like jewelry.

For Louis Vuitton, Nicolas Ghesquière used a combination of

machine-sewn and hand-appliquéd hand-airbrushed techniques with

these three dresses.

A coral 1963 Givenchy haute couture gown with Mechlin-type lace and glass beads

opposite a 2012 Alexander McQueen gown by Sarah Burton that combined the handmade

and the man-made.

Norman Norell handsewn silk jersey dresses with hand-embroidered blue gelatin sequins from 1965 and 1953.

features 50 video monitors installed on the store’s famous bleacherlike stairs and graphic wallpaper with illustrations by artist Christophe Chemin, who created drawings used in the fall collection — is twofold. First, it’s timed to Monday’s Met-ropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala, which Miuccia Prada is attending as honorary chairwoman, as a way of capitalizing on a big fashion moment in New York. PradaVision is exclusive to the Broadway store.

Second, the fall preview/preorder is key to Prada’s strategy of increased personal service. “One-to-one customer experience is now our project because the general customer experience has to be the highest level possible,” said Stefano Cantino, the company’s group strategic marketing director. “In this market condition it is more and more important to provide the best service possible.…There is a clear expectation from top customers for this kind of special treat.”

During an early April conference call to discuss Prada SpA’s 2015 results, which saw a 26.6 percent drop in profits in the 12 months ended Jan. 31, Cantino highlighted “tailored attention to customer experience by providing outstanding services” as one of the group’s top priorities.

PradaVision is a concrete example.Typically, the brand hosts two presales

a year in its major flagships; the regularly scheduled presale is upcoming in June at the Madison Avenue store in New York. Top clients can see a small selection of the fall collection, try on and order pieces.

With PradaVision, more options will be available during the weeklong program, though the display is the store’s only set of sizes with a few select additional samples. That said, if a Very Important Customer does put in a special order for one of the items in PradaVision that will not be avail-able at the regular presale and will likely not come through production and make it to regular retail, she will have a truly exclu-sive item ahead of fall deliveries. Orders typically take four to six weeks.

Sales specialists at the Broadway store contacted their top clients to set up appointments for the PradaVision special order, but if a customer wanders in off the street, it is open to buy for them, too.

The bulk of the women’s looks are set up at the base of the stairs in the store. Cus-tomers can walk through the vignette and get a close-up of a navy velvet dress with gold hand-stitching details, the quilted jackets, a cloque dress, argyle socks and

diary charms attached to belts. The video installation includes content drawn from the fall fashion shows, backstage foot-age and other collection-related content produced by frequent Prada collaborators Willy Vanderperre, AMO and 2x4, the New York-based design studio that oversaw the store installation, as well as many previous Prada projects, including Pradasphere, Waist Down and the Gatsby installation.

“The [fall runway] show was so much about fragmented pieces stitched together to make complete looks, so you have a repetition of that idea in a gigantic video collage,” said Michael Rock, founding partner and creative director of 2x4. “The videos are a play on a network. It starts off with these really crazy test patterns and breaks into all these different pieces of the show itself. The installation is meant to work within the fabric of the store, not obliterate it.”

To Cantino’s point of ramping up client services, PradaVision is a special occasion. “It’s a big deal for us,” said one ready-to-wear sales specialist in the Broadway store, noting that while the sales staff works with top clients every season to provide exclu-sive access, it’s rare to be able to put an order in on a collection so far in advance and have pieces in the store. She also said it’s a big deal any time Miuccia Prada is scheduled to visit the store, as she is for PradaVision — though not as a personal appearance, but to survey the installation,

as Cantino made clear.Other recent initiatives include the

700-square-foot Prada shoe shop that opened in early April at Saks Fifth Ave-nue’s Manhattan flagship, which had a short-term exclusive on the made-to-order décolleté program, offering 19 styles in seven heel heights, five types of soles and in 92 materials, prints and colors, creat-ing more than 8,000 possible variations. There’s also the Made to Measure Uomo program of tailoring, coats and shirts; Made to Measure Donna Leather Goods available in the Madison Avenue, Las Vegas Wynn and Beverly Hills Epicenter stores in the U.S. and 20 stores worldwide, and the Made to Order Evening program offered at Prada’s Milan villa.

Cantino said even if the special services don’t generate sales on the spot, the cumu-lative effect is significant. “In many cases, if the client does not spend the day of the preorder, maybe she purchases a skirt the following day,” he said. “It is the service that generates a very quality business.”

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Prada Teases Fall Collection at SoHo Epicenter CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The “PradaVision” fall installation at the Broadway Epicenter.

Fifty video monitors were installed on the stairs to display content from the fall collection.

A look from the installation.

Wallpaper featuring illustrations by Christophe Chemin.

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● Observers say that multinational companies need to pay heed to the law.

BY LARA FARRAR

BEIJING — The sweeping new law passed by the Chinese government this week that will impact thousands of foreign-run non-governmental organizations operating in the country could also affect multinational firms that have partnerships with NGOs in China for branding as well as corporate social responsibility campaigns, according to analysts and legal experts.

The law, passed on Thursday and effec-tive on Jan. 1, 2017, requires foreign NGOs to partner with a Chinese one and shifts supervision of operations to China’s public security ministry rather than the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Foreign NGOs will have to register with the police, which will monitor personnel and finances, according to a translation of the legislation posted on the China Law Translate blog.

The legislation has resulted in wide-spread outcry from overseas governments, activists and international nonprofits that say the new rules mark a major step backward for the country’s civil society

and is yet another sign of Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on everything from the media to religious groups to internet censorship and human rights.

It is too early to tell how deep the impact will be on foreign civil society players, but some say that foreign companies need to pay heed as well, especially if they have forged or plan to forge partnerships with NGOs, a sector in China that has always had to tread carefully with the govern-ment. Multinationals that have launched

their own charity projects may face new scrutiny. The law bans fundraising in China and covers a broad swath of organizations, ranging from think tanks and foundations to social groups founded overseas.

Analysis on the China Law Translate blog says the “overly broad definition of foreign NGO and the lack of any definition of activity” portend a wide range of activ-ities fall under its purview.” Activities that could be included might be “a meeting of a professional association, or a performance by an arts troupe or a PGA tournament,” the authors wrote.

Analysts say the law essentially codifies a gray area in which overseas NGOs have always been subject to unwritten rules that have been unevenly enforced.

“It might hurt [foreign businesses’] charity work,” said Shaun Rein, manag-ing director of China Market Research, a Shanghai-based consultancy. “They might be more wary to support charities they don’t completely trust or be concerned about supporting [the foreign NGO] with a Chinese partner now because there is a lot of fear about corruption in Chinese chari-ties and misallocation of resources.”

A spokesperson with the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said the group could not comment as member

companies have not been consulted on potential concerns about the legislation.

Some companies, such as Nike, worked with partners to assist with natural disas-ters in China, such as a massive earthquake in 2013.

Large multinationals are likely already working with “well-established” Chinese NGOs, according to a social responsibility consultant who requested anonymity due to client confidentiality agreements. “I don’t see them being affected much — not at first blush anyway,” the consultant said.

“It is mostly going to affect potential beneficiary international NGO organiza-tions they [foreign companies] may choose to partner with,” the consultant said. “It may put a crimp in that programming but honestly to even have effective local programming response they need to already be working with Chinese NGOs and the government anyway as part of the due diligence of that company’s office.”

Holly Chang, strategic consultant for nonprofits operating in China, said it is likely most multinationals have vetted any philanthropic partnerships forged in the country, as “they wouldn’t want to put their business at risk.”

“I imagine, from a risk management perspective, they’ve never given to an illegitimate nonprofit,” Chang said. “For people operating in China for a long time, it is probably pretty much business as usual.”

Critics of the new law say it is largely directed at national security, rendering it harder, if not impossible, for NGOs pro-moting human rights, religion or democ-racy to operate in China.

“We might see this new law as being the straw that will break the camel’s back for some organizations,” the consultant, who requested anonymity, said. “But for some the writing was already on the wall.”

BUSINESS

China Law on NGOs Could Impact Firms

BY MAYTE ALLENDE Emelle designer and store owner Mi Jong Lee launched her first signature line on Thursday, among a group of friends and clients at her revamped Madison Avenue

boutique. “It’s a true facelift — the store, the fashion,” she said at the intimate opening.

The store, for starters, is much more minimal and modern than its predeces-sor. It was designed by interior decorator

Rodrigo Gormaz, with artwork commis-sioned from New York-based painter SoHyun Bae. “It all just blends so well,” Bae commented, referring to the impos-ing cherry blossom trees right by the entrance, which pick up the pinks in the two paintings on display, and the marble walls, which reflect the works’ abstract shapes.

Fashion-wise, the same sleek, modern mood prevailed. “When I first started designing, back in the day, successful career women used to dress much more masculine. Today I feel like women can be more feminine and still be powerful, so I

designed this collection with this woman in mind,” Lee explained. The result: a “no-fuss-with-attention-to-detail” fall collection that can carry any professional from desk to dinner. It includes midlength dresses in geometric prints, wide-leg pants paired with tweed bomber jackets or sheer blouses and fringed trimmed coats in luxurious camel’s hair. There are also a few evening-specific cocktail dresses; one standout was a lovely one-shoulder purple optic-patterned number.

Along with Emelle, the Mi Jong Lee fall collection is on offer at 10 retailers nationwide.

FASHION

Mi Jong Lee: A New Line and a New Store

A look from the new Mi Jong Lee line. The redesigned Emelle.

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

Men’s Fashion Weeks

ISSUE: June 15CLOSE: June 1

MATERIALS: June 6

ISSUE: June 7CLOSE: May 24

MATERIALS: May 27

ISSUE: July 13CLOSE: June 29

MATERIALS: July 4

NYFW: Men’s PreviewMilan PreviewPitti Uomo Preview

An Advertising Opportunity

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One Last TimeIt felt a lot like a going away party: joyful but bittersweet.

Celebrities, politicians and media types descended on Washington for President Obama’s last White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday night, but first, they made the rounds at the various parties, which are held throughout the weekend. Partygoers chattered about the highly entertaining and somewhat surreal presidential campaign — and in particular, Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

“This is the most bizarre year I’ve ever seen in all my years of public service or before,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) at The New Yorker party at the rooftop of the W Hotel Friday night. The 64-year-old Repub-lican has been in the Senate since 1997, for the record.

Before chatting with for-mer Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Damien Lewis, the star of Showtime’s “Billions” and be-fore that “Homeland,” echoed the senator’s sentiment.

“Are we on record?” the Brit-ish actor said with a laugh. “It’s a little daunting what’s going on here.…It’s difficult not to see the whole thing like a game show at the moment, and let’s just see what happens.”

New Yorker editor in chief David Remnick, who has penned several stories in the magazine on Trump’s candida-cy, offered: “I fully confess that I would have never imagined that he would run except as a kind of mark. I don’t think he ever imagined he’d get this far. But imagination is not journal-ism, so we’d better cover the story really well. My feelings about this are obvious. I can imagine him giving a speech at a party. I can’t imagine him in charge of the United States armed forces and the nuclear codes.”

As Sting arrived at the party, Remnick briefly addressed Trump’s ascendancy, noting that it is linked, in part, to “televi-sion’s desire for ratings.”

“They are so desperate that they show speech after speech after speech because he gets ratings. That’s a quandary. I understand the quandary, but I don’t necessarily think that journalism has to always do with giving people the crack cocaine that they want at the very minute that they want it at the dosage they seem to want,” he said. “I think he knew it and he exploited it. It allowed him to spend the minimum amount of money on his campaign. The reasons for him being where he is, is a lot deeper than MSNBC and CNN and Fox.”

Then Remnick said some-thing a bit surprising: “My politics are polar opposite from Fox, but I found that in the debates, the Fox questioning was tougher. Megyn Kelly’s questioning is a lot tougher than Wolf Blitzer’s.”

Meanwhile, at the Time Inc./People cocktail a few blocks away at the St. Regis, Time magazine editor in chief Nancy Gibbs buckled down for the busy weekend after just

coming off her title’s Time 100 event, which welcomed Donald and Melania Trump.

Gibbs noted that planning the seating chart for that event was particularly tricky, admit-ting that former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak canceled at the last minute. Apparently, Barak had been scheduled to sit at Trump’s table. Gibbs’ 21-year-old daughter wound up filling Barak’s spot and found Trump “charming.”

“He is,” Gibbs said with a smirk.

On Saturday, entertainers and politicos alike flocked to Tammy Haddad’s Garden Brunch in Georgetown, making for a rather curious mix, both conversationally and sarto-rially. Guests included actors Helen Mirren, Michael Kelly, Jeff Goldblum, Tony Goldwyn, plus-size model Ashley Graham, Russell Simmons and Omarosa Manigault, who gained noto-riety on Trump’s “The Appren-tice.”

“If Raymour & Flanigan had a clothing outlet, it would dress D.C.,” joked writer Peter Godwin, who surveyed the interesting fashions while his wife, Cosmo-politan editor in chief Joanna Coles dipped in and out of conversations with NBC presi-dent Deborah Turness, actress Rosario Dawson and a host of passersby.

He may have been onto something, however. That eve-ning, guests wearing tuxedos and gowns, many of which consisted of brightly colored chiffon, headed to the Washing-ton Hilton for drinks before the Correspondents’ dinner — aka “The Nerd Prom.”

At the CBS pre-party, Dem-ocratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was the big draw. Sanders — not one to miss a chance for votes — dutifully posed for selfies while

holding what looked like a glass of Coca-Cola.

“He’s taller than I expected,” marveled one guest. “Are you feeling the Bern?” asked anoth-er before asking for a photo. “OK, OK,” Sanders said as he eked out a grin.

“Bernie seems very happy to be here,” noted CNN’s Blitzer — a statement that was met with a quizzical look. “Well, his wife seems very happy to be here.”

Following the dinner, which was hosted by Comedy Central’s Larry Wilmore, VIPs made a beeline to the Vanity Fair/Bloomberg party, held at the residence of the French ambassador, Gérard Araud.

“Outside is where the stars go,” said MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who cut through the crowded party toward the out-door bar. Meanwhile, in one of

the side rooms, Gillian Tett, the U.S. manager of the Financial Times, chatted up fellow Brit, actress Emma Watson, next to a station of desserts, which included glazed doughnuts and chocolate soufflé.

Guests meandering through various rooms on the man-sion’s ground floor and terrace included Christine Lagarde, Megyn Kelly, Jared Leto, Gay Talese (sans hat), Rachel McAdams, Christy Turlington, Narciso Rodríguez, Karlie Kloss, DJ Khaled, Emilia Clarke, Huma Abedin, Michelle Dockery, Tom Freston, Tim Armstrong, Valerie Jarrett, Adriana Lima and recently engaged couple Tory Burch and Pierre-Yves Roussel, who were snuggling up near the coat check at the end of the night.

“Do you want to meet any politicians” she asked Watson. “John Kerry is here.”

Watson remained in the corner — between the sweets and the bar, however, allowing guests to come to her.

“I directed “Spotlight’,” said Tom McCarthy. “Oh my god you did!” Watson said, excitedly, before giving him the rundown of the personal project she had been working on.

While Kerry was a pretty good sighting, it was Vice Pres-ident Joe Biden who upstaged his colleague and the star-heavy crowd. With his Secret Service detail in tow, Biden stayed at the party for about an hour, taking photos with guests, before heading out.

“Is Joe Biden still here?” “Broad City’s” Ilana Glazer asked her co-star Abbie Ja-cobson. The comedians looked around with a shrug as Helen Mirren, who sported a deep purple gown and matching tattoo on her clavicle of the symbol that is synonymous with Prince, walked by.

“Raspberry Beret” played in the background, perhaps coincidentally. — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

Cosmo’s New RealityCosmopolitan may have two shows on television, WWD has learned.

The Hearst-owned women’s magazine is in production for a reality show on E! based on the lives of editors, insiders

said. A camera crew from Bunim/Murray Productions has been following select editors at the office and after hours to document their lives outside of work.

At Tammy Haddad’s brunch before the White House Cor-respondents dinner in Wash-ington Saturday, Cosmopolitan editor in chief Joanna Coles said: “I’m not saying anything, but have fun.”

Although Coles will likely appear on camera — she’s not one to shy away from the spot-light — the show won’t be based on her. Cosmopolitan’s second TV show, a scripted pilot by Sarah Watson, will be based on the editor’s life. That show was picked up by Freeform, which used to be ABC Family. (It had been shopped around at NBC, but was not picked up). Coles is the executive producer of the scripted show called “Issues,” which will chronicle the life of an editor of a women’s maga-zine, her dating life and profes-sional struggles. The main char-acter is said to be in her late 20s or early 30s, unlike Coles, who is 54 and married with two teenage sons. While that show would be entertaining to a different audience, Cosmo is in the process of trying to appeal to Millennials.

Case in point: Cosmo has aggressively expanded its reach online and on Snapchat. According to reports, Cosmo is one of Snapchat’s more successful properties on its Discover platform. Coles, who was recently named to the board at the social media firm, also helped develop a second channel called “Sweet.”

Sweet is a 50-50 joint-ven-ture between Snapchat and Hearst, and is said to be adding an e-commerce element to its programming in the near future. — A.S.

In the NetYoox Net-a-porter Group has tapped Bruno-Roland Bernard, a seasoned executive from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, to head up its commu-nications, WWD has learned.

It is understood he reports to Federico Marchetti, chief executive officer of the luxury and fashion e-tailer.

Bernard spent 10 years at LVMH as its group communica-

tions director, and his résumé also includes stints at BNP Paribas and Vivendi. — MILES SOCHA

Royal CoverIt’s a first: The Duchess of Cambridge will appear on the cover of the June issue of British Vogue, in a portrait shot by Josh Olins. The magazine will be published on May 5.

The duchess also posed for other images to be featured in the magazine. She was photo-graphed in the Norfolk coun-tryside and styled by Lucinda Chambers, fashion director. In addition, an article about the photo shoot by editor in chief Alexandra Shulman will be featured in the issue.

On the cover, the duchess is wearing a Burberry coat and shirt, and a vintage hat from Beyond Retro. In another photo, she wears a Petit Bateau top and Burberry trousers.

This is the first time the duchess has posed for a maga-zine cover or aligned herself in any way with the fashion in-dustry. Unlike her mother-in-law Princess Diana, who loved fash-ion and appeared more than once on the cover of Vogue, the duchess has remained low-key and actively supported her mental health, anti-bullying and children’s charities.

Photographing the young royal had been one of the ambitions of Shulman, who said she sees the collaboration as “a fitting tribute to a young woman” whose interests are in both photography and the countryside.

British Vogue is also mark-ing its centenary this year.

Two of the portraits shot by Olins are on display at “Vogue 100: A Century of Style at the National Portrait Gallery,” which has been on display since Sun-day. A patron of the National Portrait Gallery since 2012, the duchess is an advocate of the arts and has shown her inter-est as a photographer shooting portraits of her children.

A spokesperson for the duchess said she “was delight-ed to play a part in celebrating the centenary of an institution that has given a platform to some of the most renowned photographers in this country’s history.” — LORELEI MARFIL

Memo Pad

Cosmopolitan’s November 2015 cover.

The Duchess of Cambridge on the June

cover of Vogue U.K.

Michelle Obama in Givenchy at the

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● Franca Sozzani brings together fashion icons with young designers in Jeddah.

BY RITU UPADHYAY

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — In the same week that Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled a bold new vision for the kingdom, the country’s fashion industry received a boost from high-profile visitors in Jeddah for the first-ever Vogue Fashion Experience last weekend. The event, hosted by Vogue Italia and Rubaiyat, the country’s leading luxury retailer, was aimed at providing an international

platform for Saudi female fashion designers.

Billed as the first international fashion event to take place in Saudi Arabia, Naomi Campbell, Alberta Ferretti, Silvia Venturini Fendi, Delfina Delettrez Fendi, Farida Khelfa and Stella Jean were among the guests who arrived in Jeddah for a four-day trip via private jet with Vogue Italia editor in chief Franca Sozzani.

The forum to support Saudi women designers showcased the country’s design talent who competed for a chance to win a trip to Milan. The event culminated in a women’s only gala charity dinner hosted by Princess Adila Bint Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz at

her private beach outside Jeddah. In an unprecedented move, the princess invited foreign media into her home for interviews: “I hope now we will make more of an effort to show Saudi society,” she told WWD. “It’s important for us to have more reporters coming in to see for themselves how women are influencing life and society in Saudi Arabia. You’ll see we work in all aspects of life — in factories, as sales people, as ceos and in government. Fashion is highly regarded in our country, and it’s the perfect plat-form to also help highlight our humani-tarian causes.”

For Sozzani, the Middle East is familiar terrain: She’s hosted an annual Vogue Fashion Experience in Dubai for

the last three years. She didn’t have any hesitation in taking the event to Saudi Arabia, the most conservative country in the region, she said.

“I was very curious. It’s such a huge country,” Sozzani said of when she was approached to bring the event, which is a part of her Vogue Talents platform that supports emerging designers around the world, to Saudi Arabia. “What I like here is that women have such an incredible energy; that is really misunderstood by the public opinion. I saw that the women here are so strong and I liked that. They also have respect for the tradition. To me seeing a woman putting [on] a veil isn’t humiliating. But when I see women wearing nothing and dancing on tables at the age of 50 just to get a few more followers on Instagram, that is humili-ating. The women here are much more elegant than in any other country.”

Wafaa Abbar, president of Rubai-yat, owns and operates more than 250 luxury brands in the region through the company’s flagship department store in Jeddah. “Saudi women love fashion, know what they want and often come to us asking for things we don’t know about,” she said, citing the high usage of social media in the country. Many local brands retail off of Instagram accounts and take orders via Whatsapp. By supporting emerging designers, the company hopes to elevate the local designers.

Sozzani, along with Vogue Italia fash-ion editor Sara Maino and a jury includ-ing Silvia Fendi and Ferretti, selected two winners of the Saudi Talents competition. Nora Aldamer, currently a student at The New School’s Parson School of Design in New York, was selected as the winner and will get the opportunity to showcase her line, Chador, at Palazzo Morando during Milan Fashion Week in Septem-ber. Mariam Bin Mahfouz and Nouf Hakeem of Haal Inc., an experimental collection of abayas, or traditional dress, received a special appreciation from the jury and will also have the opportu-nity to take part in an event organized by Vogue Italia next fall in Milan. Alaa Balkhy, who has created a Pop art icon of a veiled woman with her brand Fyunka, will get to collaborate with the Italian brand Carpisa, facilitated by Vogue.

Sozzani is committed to the region and supporting talent from the Middle East. “I’ve had a house in Marrakesh for 26 years. I’m very comfortable in this part of the world,” she said. “It’s a lot like Italy. People are warm and friendly.”

The next edition of the Vogue Talents scouting will take place in Qatar.

genders, showing both women and men together is an organic move that follows the evolution of my creative vision.”

Maier told WWD last month that he “could consider” showing women’s and men’s collections at the same time and that the anniversaries “could be a nice opportunity to open up to a broader audi-ence, my peers and to people in the com-pany. That would be nice.” He’s shown some pre-collection looks on the brand’s

men’s runway in the past, adding that this was “an interesting topic. We have to find a new way, a solution and the experience should be enjoyable.”

But the designer remains firmly against the idea of a see-now-buy-now show for Bottega Veneta. The company “remains committed to a timing of presentation and launch that gives the production the time necessary to create a sophisticated hand-crafted collection that conveys a dream even before it hits the boutiques,” he said.

As for what will happen in June when Bottega Veneta historically has shown its men’s fall collections, the company said it plans to hold a presentation during Milan Men’s Fashion Week “to anticipate” the combined fashion show in September.

Although it is unclear whether Septem-ber’s format could be repeated beyond the celebrations this year, the company

may decide to pursue it. This would fol-low other brands including Bottega’s sta-blemate in Kering, Gucci. In April, Gucci decided to go coed with its shows starting next year, although no decision has been made on whether the shows will be staged in January and June during Milan Men’s Fashion Week, or in February and Sep-tember during the women’s shows. At the time, creative director Alessandro Michele said it was a “natural” step for him. What works for Gucci and Bottega Veneta may not work for other Kering brands, as Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney have not revealed similar decisions.

Outside the Kering realm, Burberry and Tom Ford, for example, have opted to show men’s and women’s together but in a seasonless — or see-now-buy-now — mode.

FASHION

Saudi Women Designers Highlighted at Event

Bottega Veneta Goes Coed for Anniversaries CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Tomas Maier

Farida Khelfa, Naomi Campbell and Franca Sozzani at the Vogue Fashion

Experience in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

2 MAY 2016 11

By now, guests know that when an invitation for dinner at Lela Rose’s TriBeCa town home pops up in their inbox, they should probably clear their schedules. The designer, who released her enter-taining book, “Pret-A-Party,” in September, is known for her love of themed bashes held at home, and Thursday night was no exception. She partnered with Dannijo designers Jodie Snyder Morel and Danielle Snyder to throw a Cuban-themed dinner in honor of the Dan-nijo spring collection, which takes inspiration from the It travel destination of the moment, and in celebration of their partnership with Conscious Cuba, a travel agency aimed at giving travelers an authentic Cuban experience.

Misty Copeland, Chiwe-tel Ejiofor and his girlfriend Frances Aaternir, Hilary Rhoda, Alexandra Richards, Questlove and Soo Joo Park gathered in Rose’s home for pineapple mojitos, coconut rice, stuffed pork and plantains.

“We love Lela, because she’s like the best hostess,” Snyder Morel said. The sisters were introduced to Rose through Questlove, when he was launching his “food salon” project at Eleven Madison Park.

“My sister and I designed

our spring collection based on Havana, but we’d never been there,” Snyder Morel continued. “So it was just based on the architecture and the music and movies, and kind of our vision. And instead of doing a tradition-al fashion show, we decided to take the collection after it was made to Cuba, and have the collection come to life in the environment.”

She finally made it to the

island in December with her sister, where they shot the collection. “I hope it doesn’t change too much, because there was something amazing about the beauty of just things being genuine and having history,” Snyder Morel said. “We wanted to see how accurate our idea of Havana was,” Snyder added. “And I actually wrote a poem that I teased out on Instagram, and the

last stanza of the poem I finished when we made it to Havana.”

For her part, Rose, who visited the island around seven years ago, was more than game to throw a themed dinner. “You know I love to entertain; you tell me a theme and I’m like ‘Cuba! Ole!’” she said. She’d just returned from Dallas, where

she launched her latest project: a bicycle collection. “We have this custom bicycle and we’re selling three of them — they’re pretty dang cute,” she said, as she scooped up her dog Bobbin, who spent the evening gleefully weaving between guests legs, licking the occasional ankle as he went. — LEIGH NORDSTROM

Lela Rose and Dannijo Host Cuban DinnerMisty Copeland, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Hilary Rhoda and more celebrated Dannijo’s spring collection.

Lily McMenamy, the 22-year-old daughter of American model Kristen McMenamy, has been a catwalk figure since, well, practically birth. Though she was supposedly carried down the Chanel runway in her mother’s arms as a baby, her first real runway show was Saint Laurent’s fall 2013 collection. She’s also walked Marc Jacobs — in nothing but bloomers and gloves — as well as Chanel, Balmain, Fendi and Emilio Pucci.

She makes her tran-sition into acting on May 4 in “A Bigger Splash,” a remake of the 1969 Jane Birkin film “La Piscine,” in a role she landed thanks, in part, to Karl Lagerfeld. McMenamy stars alongside Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes and Mat-thias Schoenaerts — just your average costars for your breakout film. When not in front of the camera, she’s trying her hand at miming, which she started studying this past fall. WWD chatted with her over the phone from Paris, while she was “dancing to Rihanna in my room.”

WWD: Where in Paris do you live?

Lily McMenamy: I live in the 11th, on the east side, where all the young new creatives are pop-ping up. It’s very fresh. I’m in school here, I started in September. Before that I was in Berlin for a year, and before that I was in New York, and be-fore that I was in London. I was born in Pennsylva-

nia, and then I grew up in London, but my dad is French so I would come here all the time, and, like, holiday and party and speak French, so that’s why I feel close to it.

WWD: What is a typical day like for you at the moment?

L.M.: I have an excellent day. I get up

around 7, I make like a little chia seed pudding, I walk to school and then I go to school all day. I have lunch, and then I often do a photo shoot afterward or do a project or just chill and do yoga, whatever.

WWD: How did you become interested in attending mime school?

L.M.: I don’t really know, I feel like it was just kind of obvious to me, I just wanted to do things with my body in abstract ways. It grounds me in my body and in my mind, it just makes everything make sense and I feel much more confident doing other things and on top of it. I’m just better at kind of moving around, like, on photo shoots, I’m just getting so weird, and the photographer will

just say “Lily can we do a normal one, can you just stand there please?”

WWD: How has mime school affected your acting or mod-eling?

LM: I haven’t done any cinema since, so I wonder how it will translate — maybe it will be really weird, maybe I’ll just be hiding doing invisibility movements in front of the camera.

WWD: What led you to want to transition from modeling to acting?

LM: I guess I always kind of had this innate desire to be onstage and be in cinema. I love cinema. And I did a lot of weird Shakespearean acting in high school, but then it became where all of the popular girls were doing it and none of the weird people were doing it, so I kind of stopped. And then I was modeling and then I got this job to be an actress and it kind of came back to me — it was like “oh yeah! I totally wanted to do that!” It was a really amazing experi-ence that kind of opened

up a new world to me, of potential and inspiration and fun to be had.

WWD: Do you see yourself focusing exclusively on acting now?

L.M.: It’s kind of a next step, it makes sense as a next step. But I feel like these things can all be quite fluid, you know? Like I feel it doesn’t have to be “I was this and now I’m this.” I feel like they all kind of feed into each other in a kind of organic way — at least I want them to. Definitely cinema is a different world. And I would love to dive into that world and see what happens. But I don’t really want to let my other things go, you know?

WWD: Have you found that modeling was good training for acting?

L.M.: I mean, like obvi-ously, the performance element [was], but I don’t think my modeling is the best training for becoming an actress — I just kept giving eyes to the camera by accident and being, like, “f--k!” I think deep down I know I’m capable but on the surface I just have so much anxiety, like, “what the f--k am I doing here, this is a cosmic disaster, they should’ve hired an actual actor!”

WWD: What was it like filming with such an incredible cast?

L.M.: I have this one flirt scene with Ralph Fiennes and I was, like,

“oh my god,” trying to flirt with him. I was, like, “Ralph I can’t do this I’m freaking out.” And he said “Hey man, don’t worry you don’t have to convince me, you’re good, you’re great.” Just nice little support like that — you get some support along the way and it makes you think “OK, maybe there is a place for me here.”

WWD: What is your character like?

L.M.: I’m this kind of aristocratic, bambina, nouveau riche seduc-tress. I don’t want to say anything rude…but I’m really tan and really blond, and [wearing a] really tiny polka dot bikini…yeah.

WWD: How were you cast in the film?

L.M.: It’s a really good story. I was at the Fendi show in Milan a few years ago, and I was kind of a bit sick and tired of being a model, just a bit overwhelmed by the fashion week thing that you have to do. And I go backstage and there were so many people coming toward me and I started throwing my hands and saying “I am love” in Italian, which is the movie set in Milan by Luca Guadagnino. And somebody heard me screaming that and she was, like, “you know the director is here.” And then I met him and he said “I have the perfect role for you.” And I was, like, “Alright.” Yeah. Easy. — L.N.

Lily McMenamy Talks Modeling, Ralph Fiennes, ‘A Bigger Splash’The 22-year-old model, daughter of supermodel Kristen McMenamy, stars in her first film.

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Jodie Snyder Morel, Lela Rose and Danielle Snyder.

Misty Copeland

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Hilary RhodaDannijo Jewelry

The atmosphere at the event.

Lily McMenamy in “A Bigger Splash.”

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Horsey SetBeing brand ambassador is nice work if you can get it. In order to land the job, you have to encompass the values of the brand. To that end, Jessica Spring-steen was practically born to be a brand ambassador for Polo Ralph Lauren, a role she has accepted, the company re-vealed. If it weren’t enough that Spring-steen is the beautiful daughter of Bruce and Patti Scialfa, making her all-Amer-ican rock ‘n’ roll royalty, she is also a professional, show jumping equestrian who has represented the U.S. in the World Cup Classes and the FEI Nations Cups. Polo, ponies. You get it.

Springsteen will make her official debut as ambassador at the Longines Global Champions Tour, to which she’ll wear Polo Ralph Lauren navy and gold colors and a custom Polo crest in gold and red. Her ambassadorship will re-quire Springsteen to work on Polo Ralph Lauren brand programs and events.

A graduate of Duke University with a degree in psychology, Springsteen trains with Olympian Edwina Tops-Alex-ander. She was named as a substitute to the Short List for the 2016 U.S. Olym-pic Show Jumping Team. Springsteen helped the U.S. win in the FEI Nations Cup in Dublin in 2014, the same year she won the American Gold Cup Grand Prix. In April, Springsteen received the Hermès Talented Young Rider Award after the Winter Equestrian Festival. She will compete this summer in the Global Champions League as a member of the

Shanghai Swans.Polo Ralph Lauren introduced a

women’s collection relatively recently, beginning with fall 2014. — JESSICA IREDALE

What a WorkoutThe Dogpound is a new, buzzy gym that’s attracting a varied bunch.

Its patrons range from Victoria’s Secret models to suit-wearing finance guys and they all came out on Thursday night to celebrate the grand opening of the TriBeCa gym.

“It’s Chufy!”exclaimed Brey Pena, an energetic Dogpound trainer who started the concept with Kirk Myers, a trainer from Kansas City, and his brother Dawin Pena. Brey was greeting model Sofia Sanchez de Betak — her nickname is Chufy — who has been working out with the Dogpound for about two months.

“We didn’t reinvent the wheel,” said Brey when asked what makes The Dog-pound workout so appealing. “But we bring a welcoming energy. Gyms can be intimidating, but when you walk into the door we make you feel like family.”

The Dogpound began as a group of connected male friends including Hugh Jackman, Nigel Barker and Tom Farley, president of the New York Stock Exchange, who trained at other gyms until they were eventually asked to leave. Now they have a permanent, matte black space, which was designed by Fabien Baron, another Dogpound fan,

that has been up and running for the past two months.

According to Brey, the big shift in clientele happened when Martin Chris-topher-Harper, a celebrity hairstylist they were training, told one of his clients, Victoria’s Secret model Jasmine Tookes, who then spread the word to her fellow model friends. Tookes attended the par-ty along with Sara Sampaio, Josephine Skriver, Andy Cohen, Baron, Barker and Nadine Leopold.

Although it’s become a new place for the fashion industry to train, Betak said she enjoys the gym because it feels far removed from that world.

“There’s no staring at yourself in the mirror here like there is at other scene-y gyms,” said Betak, who works out at The Dogpound three to four times a week. “Here it’s more about sweating and screaming. They are just from another world. They don’t talk about fashion or the business. They just kick your ass.”

Barker, who is also an investor in the gym, had a similar sentiment.

“People love the idea of actually having fun in the gym,” he said. “The original group were guys in their 40s and some in their 50s and it was sort of like a midlife crisis that was ideal because in-stead of buying the Maserati, we turned our bodies into the Maserati.” — ARIA HUGHES

It’s a MatchIt was hard to hear above the chatter Thursday at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas when 30 women

gathered for lunch with Joseph Altu-zarra and Ruth and Tom Chapman, joint chairs of Matchesfashion.com.

Hosted by Tina Craig and Nancy Rog-ers, the party was held to promote the site’s same-day launch of an exclusive group of Altuzarra shirtdresses.

Dallas business is strong, said Tom Chapman, but a bigger reason for the event was that he had such a terrific visit last year with Mary Katrantzou. “I loved it,” he said. “The women here have a confidence and generosity that courses through their veins.”

Matchesfashion.com is enjoying swift growth and expects to reap 180 million pounds, or $263 million at current exchange, in sales this year, according to Ruth Chapman. U.S. sales eclipsed the U.K. last week for the first time, Tom Chapman noted.

“Oh, I buy everything there,” said jeweler Sue Gragg, sporting an intricate jacquard Gucci robe. “I look at it online and I have a gal there who helps me and I get it in two days.”

Next month, Matchesfashion.com takes over the seventh and eighth floors of London’s tallest skyscraper, the Shard, for its offices. “We’ll have 360-de-gree views of London,” Ruth Chapman said. “And we’ll have everyone together on two floors, which will be really nice.”

Altuzzara has done a number of similar collaborations, but going forward he’s scaling them back. “I want to make sure we are doing things that are fo-cused on our house,” the designer said. “We are part of Kering Group now, and that has allowed us to concentrate on the categories we want to grow.”

Footwear is top-of-mind for the brand and also happened to be on his shop-

ping list. Like many designers visiting Dallas, Altuzarra sought cowboy boots, picking up a “really simple” distressed pair at Pink’s Western World. More shopping was scheduled after lunch when he planned to check out the city’s best vintage stores — Dolly Python and Vintage Martini.

But first it was time to hobnob with the guests, who included Joyce Goss, Karla McKinley and Jessica Nowitzki. — HOLLY HABER

First TimerBrian Atwood’s colorful sky-high state-ment heels could take on even greater height. “The Burj Khalifa is gorgeous. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see that on a heel?” said the designer, sipping a cocktail at Peruvian bar Inka, overlook-ing the world’s tallest building. “There is so much inspiration all around here. The architecture is beautiful.”

In a celebratory mood for his first visit to the Middle East, Atwood met earlier in the day with clients during a personal appearance at Level Shoes in Dubai Mall, where he debuted a colorful pop-up. The designer, who retails in the region exclusively at Level Shoes, said he was so taken by the megastore he shopped in between interviews and client meetings. “It’s a mecca. I bought four pairs of shoes today — espadrilles from my friend Louis Leeman, a pair of Adidas, a South Parade exclusive espa-drille and No. 21 shoes for my mom.”

In town for a quick two-day stop, Brian said he’ll be back again. “They love exclusives here so I have to bring them something special.” — RITU UPADHYAY

Fashion Scoops

● The group’s founder highlighted brands’ responsibility to disclose information when it comes to their supply chain.

BY NATALIE THEODOSI

LONDON — Fashion Revolution, the nonprofit organization based in London, has responded to criticism of the Trans-parency Index the group released earlier this month that called out luxury and fast-fashion brands on their lack of visibil-ity in the supply chain.

The group partnered with the maga-zine and Web site Ethical Consumer to release the index, which assessed the levels of transparency and support of workers’ rights of 40 brands based on publicly available information and a questionnaire, which was answered by a quarter of the brands included in the research. The group said the methodology

used to create the index takes a “bold, brushstroke approach” to assess compa-nies’ publicly facing information against best basic practice in supply chain transparency.

According to the Transparency Index, Levi Strauss, H&M and Adidas were among the brands ranked the highest, while luxury brands such as Fendi, Her-mès, Chanel and Prada were criticized for being the least transparent. Some of the brands and organizations have roundly criticized the methodology of the index as inaccurate, only assessing a brands’ communications policies as opposed to its social and environmental responsibilities.

Fashion Revolution’s cofounder and director Orsola de Castro responded by saying one of the primary aims of the index has in fact been to measure what a brand communicates in terms of its sup-ply chain, as the industry has a responsi-bility to educate the consumer.

“We are not an auditing company, we wanted to measure what a brand commu-nicates, so we looked at the information

that a consumer would be able to access. The industry has a responsibility to inform the consumer of how the product they are purchasing is made. The media is also asking for this information,” de Cas-tro told WWD. “The index is by no means perfect or definitive but it’s a first step to ignite consumer vigilance. If brands have such wonderful relationships with their manufacturers, then they should show us. That way, if we start to shine a light on the complex supply chain, we can show the positive changes the fashion industry can make.”

By asking for additional information from the brands through their question-naire, de Castro explained that the index aims to educate the consumer further “so that they don’t have to do the research themselves.”

The group will continue working on the index, with plans to work with more NGOs for next year’s report and include up to 100 brands. LVMH, Monsoon and Hugo Boss have been in touch with the group in order to participate in the

questionnaire and be included as part of the 2017 index, de Castro said.

She also highlighted that as consumers become more conscious, the index aims to highlight that “transparency makes business sense.”

Acknowledging that the information available can be confusing or contra-dicting for the consumer — for instance, the group applauded H&M for disclosing information about its manufacturers and investing in educational initiatives yet crit-icized the retailer for its “World Recycle Week” project, which can only make use of a fraction of the clothes donated — de Castro explained that it is inevitable that some questions still remain unanswered.

“When there is a big shift there will always be question marks, there wouldn’t be a movement if things were clear. It’s a work in progress and it requires sponta-neous navigation; three years ago before the Rana Plaza disaster, the words supply chain were not even understood, while now people are talking about supply chains at the supermarket.”

The group plans to continue to strengthen the index and increase its scope of methodology in the next year. They will also be working alongside the European Union on the European Garment Initiative, as well as on a project to promote the need for living wages in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and India.

FASHION

Fashion Revolution Responds To Transparency Index Criticism

Jessica Springsteen is Polo Ralph Lauren’s new brand ambassador.

Jasmine Tookes

Natalia Shustova, Brian Atwood and Dipesh Depala.