Open Season

WWD

PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE; STYLED BY KIM FRIDAY

SEE PAGE 9

POPULARITY CONTEST

Kohl’s, Versace Top Google Zeitgeist List

Homegrown Denim Firms Eye Growing Asian Market

SEE PAGE 6

Since way back when (the late 16th century, to be exact), lace has been a mainstay in fashion. Today, designers are working the once fussy motif into thoroughly modern looks. Here, A.L.C.’s cotton top and tuxedo pants, worn with a Bjørg ear cuff; Maria Black earrings; Bijules hand cuff and ring; RK New York clutch. For more, see pages 4 and 5.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013 $3.00 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

CONSUMER FRIENDLY THE BREAD & BUTTER TRADE FAIR IS LETTING THE PUBLIC IN ON THE

ACTION. PAGE 2

THE HAUTE CLUBTHE CHAMBRE

SYNDICALE GAVE

THE HAUTE COUTURE

NOD TO PARIS-

BASED BOUCHRA

JARRAR. PAGE 8

MACY’S IS SPENDING MORE THAN $170 MILLION

FOR A NEW DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER FULFILLMENT

CENTER. PAGE 6

OMNI PUSH

By ELLEN SHENG

HONG KONG — Jeans may be quintessentially American, but in Asia denim is getting reinterpreted by fast-growing local labels that are giving Western brands some tough competition.

The stakes are large: The Asian denim market is estimated to pull in sales of $26.9 billion in 2013, up from $17.6 billion in 2008, according to data from Euromonitor. Within the region, China has been the largest denim market since 2010, when it overtook Japan. Last year, sales of jeans in China totaled $11.5 billion, compared with $7.4 billion in Japan.

As it’s still fairly young, Asia’s denim market is rel-atively fragmented. The top five companies — Levi’s, Lee, Texwood, Uniqlo and Calvin Klein — collec-tively have about 12 percent market share, according to Euromonitor. Compare that with North America, where the top five brands take up 36.5 percent of mar-ket share, and Europe, where the top five labels have 20 percent.

“With no dominant player, there are evident op-portunities for gaining share. Competition in jeans in Asia is incredibly intense, coming from both local Asian and international players,” said Ashama Kunde, apparel analyst at Euromonitor.

Because the jeans market in Asia is less mature, there’s less of a home bias — at least for now. In North America, for instance, domestic brands such as Levi Strauss & Co. control a big chunk of the jeans market, while in Western Europe, homegrown fast-fashion

By ARNOLD J. KARR

IF THE PHYSICAL WORLD mirrored the digital realm, we’d all be twerking and shopping at Kohl’s.

Internet giant Google dug deep into its database and offered a peek into Web browsing mind-set Tuesday with its Zeitgeist 2013 report on the most searched-for and fastest-trending names.

The fashion flock was well represented with fa-miliar names from across the spectrum ranking in Google’s eclectic roundup.

Versace came out on top as the most searched-for high-fashion brand in the U.S. this year, followed by Michael Kors, Diesel Black Gold, Gucci and Kate Spade.

When it came to the most searched-for apparel brands and retailers, it was the moderately priced names that rose to the top, with Kohl’s Corp. heading the list.

Kohl’s — and nearly every other retailer — has been focused on integrating its retail and online busi-nesses, translating the brand for a new online era.

“We’re reaching our customers in the channels they use most through the lens of the new media land-scape,” said Kevin Mansell, chairman, president and chief executive officer, last month. “We need to in-crease spending on our part in both digital and broad-cast. We’re also find new, exciting and more disruptive ways to reach her in the channels that she is using the most, including premier TV program integrations and brand spots on highly watched event TV.”

Following after Kohl’s as the most searched for in the apparel brand and retail category was J.C. Penney Co. Inc. But price obviously wasn’t the only factor that led to success in the area as Nordstrom Inc. came in at number three. Rounding out the top five were Forever 21 Inc. and L Brands Inc.’s Victoria’s Secret nameplate.

The world’s-largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., didn’t appear in Google’s ranking of retailers.

WWD.COMWWD wednesday, december 18, 20132

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To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is firsTname_lasTname@fairchildfashion.com, using The individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2013 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 206, NO. 125. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in March, May, June, August, October and December, and two additional issues in February, April, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, IA 51593. FOR SUBSCRIPTION, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, IA 51593, call 866-401-7801, or email customer service at wwdPrint@cdsfulfillment.com. Please include both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. For New York Hand Delivery Service address changes or inquiries, please contact Mitchell’s NY at 1-800-662-2275, option 7. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For all request for reprints of articles please contact The YGS Group at condenast@theygsgroup.com, or call 800-501-9571. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.wwd.com/subscriptions. Occasionally we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, IA 51593 or call 866-401-7801. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

Council Outlines Safety Plans for Prato

Bread & Butter to Open Doors to PublicBy Melissa Drier

BerliN — Bread & Butter is going public in July, when the giant urban and streetwear trade fair opens its doors to the end con-sumer for the last two days of what will be an expanded five-day run.

at a special meeting for press and members of Bread & Butter’s brand community at soho House here Monday, founder and chief executive officer Karl-Heinz Müller outlined some of the changes envisioned for next sum-mer’s show. The former three-day event will now be held from Tuesday, July 8, through saturday, July 11, with the first day reserved solely for the press. Wednesday and Thursday will open to pro-fessional visitors, including reg-istered press, and Friday and saturday will be “public days.”

Tickets will remain free of charge for registered press and buyers; trade visitors such as fab-ric reps or real estate brokers will be charged 500 euros, or $688.30 at current exchange, as instituted last

July, and day tickets for consumers will run 25 euros, or $34.42.

Müller cited examples of sev-eral other leading trade fairs, such as BaselWorld for watches, the iaa auto show in Frankfurt and the iFa international con-sumer electronics fair in Berlin, which have long and successfully featured days for the public.

However, Müller does not plan to turn Tempelhof airport, Bread & Butter’s venue, into a temple of consumption. Other than a pos-sible flea market, which Bread & Butter has staged during previous editions, “there will be nothing for sale to the end consumer” dur-ing the public days, he stressed. “We do not want to create compe-tition for the retailers,” he said.

Nor is it precisely clear what manufacturers will have on their stands during the public viewing. “They could show next spring-summer [2015] as they would be doing at the fair in July. Or show their fall-winter 2014-15 collections, which, in part, will already be on their way to the stores.” What won’t be on view are wholesale prices,

and in the end, it will be up to the brands to decide “what can we do to promote our brand to the final consumer. i think there are lots of possibilities.”

and not just for larger brands, many of which have jumped ship in recent seasons. “This change has not been made to get the big guys back, though they they’re part of the industry picture. and i can imagine that though they may say no to participating in conventional fairs, they may say, ‘Wow, we have to reconsider,’” Müller reasoned. But he sees smaller brands, which don’t have the budgets for adver-tising, gaining a lot from the op-portunity “to show and explain [to consumers] what they do. This is what consumers want.”

Brands, he explained, will get extra audiences with both the press and public days. “They’re getting more, not less.” Buyers, he went on, will naturally attend the professional days, “but as a buyer, it would also really inter-est me how are the consumers reacting. What are they saying?” he pointed out.

as for the financial ramifica-tions of the show’s extended run, Bread & Butter will be rounding up its stand price from 380 euros ($523.11) per square meter for three days to 400 euros ($550.64) per square meter for five days. “That’s a 5 percent hike, and ex-hibitors will have two days more. But we know they’ll also have their extra costs for hotels, etc. and so will we, for electricity, heating or cooling, depending on the season, so we need to go up.”

as for what comes on top, Müller did some quick math. “if we draw 100,000 consumers at 25 euros a head, that could add up to 2.5 million euros [more than $3.4 million], and we can do a lot of stuff with that, like organize con-certs, build a stage.” Müller is ex-pecting this to be a “festival” and added that “all of us, not just the consumer, wants to have a better time.” For Bread & Butter, that has always included top music acts.

Few would challenge Müller’s assertion that the market has changed dramatically in the last few years given the rise of e-commerce, vertical retailers

and brands growing their own store business. also, Berlin’s trade show scene has seriously splintered thanks to 12 fairs now running concurrently.

That said, the reactions were mixed. Jason Denham, ceo of Denham Jeans, told WWD, “i like this new setup because it is great to have one day to focus on press, two days to focus on selling, and it will be great to get consumer reaction. We can create events in our own space targeting press and then targeting our custom-ers. For the public days, we need to think a little about what we will do to get the public excited about our brand.”

similarly, Tony Tonnaer, ceo at Kings of indigo, commented, “This [denim business] is an ex-citing business, and in order to stay exciting, it needs to change, and we are very happy with this change. We believe in it. We can tell the story of our brand at a more comfortable pace. it will also give us the chance to pro-mote our retailers. When custom-ers ask about our product we can give them our store lists.”

“it’s a bit complicated,” said Peter raatz, country manager, Germany, for Fred Perry. “it’s a fact the world has changed, and that the trade-fair landscape of 15 years ago no longer works. We’ve seen the lights go out in Cologne and Düsseldorf, and given the volume of the show and his [Müller’s] stated commitment to Berlin, he’s obligated to make it more interesting.

“it’s now clear there will be no conflict with buyers and end consumers given the separate days, but it’s extra work and extra costs,” he went on. “and we cer-tainly don’t want photos going out via bloggers of the new collection that will be in-store months and months later. We’ve already told retailers they can’t take photos. and it’s not just no wholesale prices — i’d say on consumer days, maybe no prices and no de-tails, period. My thoughts are in a slight turmoil right now.”

executives from Danish mul-tibrand group DK Co. were not convinced that the public access would pay off for them. Jens Obel Jørgensen, chief sales officer, said DK Co. is in Berlin to take orders, “and only two days for profes-sional visitors for 20 euros [$27.53] more, i can’t see it. it’s OK for him [Müller] to do something new, but whether it’s right for us, we don’t know. We reach out to the public in a different way. However, we’re there for the next two seasons, and will stay through summer to see if it works,” he said.

— With contributions from norma Quinto

By CyNTHia MarTeNs

MilaN — The regional coun-cil of Tuscany, led by president enrico rossi, said it has dis-cussed measures to avoid future tragedies in the wake of a Dec. 1 blaze that killed seven Chinese workers at an illegal garment fac-tory in Prato.

The council outlined plans to increase safety inspections in the area, with specific budget proposals and strategies to be presented no later than Jan. 15, and also to grant illegal resident

workers who are victims of abu-sive working conditions special six-month residence permits, which could be renewed up to a year. The council reasoned this would help such workers to ex-tract themselves from dangerous working conditions and seek as-sistance from the authorities.

“Behind a glittery economic facade, we are in the presence of a phenomenon of exploitation bordering on slavery,” said rossi. “The [economic] crisis has pro-duced a severe tendency toward black market labor. Certainly we must curb this, but our main job

is to protect these people, de-fend their human rights, concen-trating our team effort on these areas. What i think needs to be front and center is the theme of these people’s health. We have to do our part all the way.”

The Tuscany region also aims to collaborate with fashion and textile companies to improve product traceability, and to es-tablish a multilingual support center for workers. in addition, rossi suggested that warehouse owners should be made responsi-ble for improving the conditions of their properties.

on WWD.CoM

the Briefing Boxin Today’s WWd

Kohl’s and Versace were the most searched names in the worlds of apparel and fashion, according to Google’s Zeitgeist 2013 rankings. PAGE 1 Homegrown brands are looking to up their share of the expanding Asian jeans market. PAGE 1 Macy’s Inc. will build a 1.3 million-square-foot direct-to-consumer fulfillment center in Oklahoma. PAGE 6 William Morris Endeavor, backed by Silver Lake Partners, could be victorious in its quest for IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media business. PAGE 6 Acne Studio’s largest store in the world opens today at Los Angeles’ iconic Eastern Columbia Building. PAGE 7 Camille Miceli, who designs costume jewelry and advises on certain leather goods at Christian Dior, is said to be joining Louis Vuitton in a similar capacity. PAGE 7 Moncler’s stock took a step back during its second day of trading on the Milan Stock Exchange, but the company is still well ahead after its blockbuster debut on Monday. PAGE 7 Westfield will put its imprint on another downtown Manhattan retail and transportation project, the Fulton Center. PAGE 8 Bouchra Jarrar, the Paris-based designer who has accrued a cultlike following for her streamlined, elegant sportswear, has been granted the official haute couture appellation. PAGE 8 New York socials made their annual trek to the Bronx on Friday for the Botanical Gardens’ Winter Wonderland Ball. PAGE 10 Julian Medina has opened another Toloache location, this time on New York’s Thompson Street. PAGE 10 Former model Gillis MacGil Addison, known in the fashion world by her maiden name, MacGil, died Monday of cancer in Manhattan at age 85. PAGE 11

A pre-fall look from M Missoni. For more on the season, see WWD.com.

RUNWAY: See the latest reviews and runs of show for the pre-fall collections, including M Missoni. For more, see WWD.com.

I like this new setup because it is great to have one day to focus on press, two days to focus on selling, and it will

be great to get consumer reaction.— Jason Denham, Denham Jeans

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4 WWD wednesday, december 18, 2013

The Lace Is Onwhether cutwork, crochet or eyelet, this ancient handiwork takes on an au courant chic for spring.

yoana Baraschi’s cotton eyelet and polyester lace jacket and dress, worn over candela’s cotton skirt and sea’s cotton skirt (bottom). l.k. Bennett belt; stuart weitzman sandals.

PhOTOs by GeOrGe ChInsee; sTyLed by KIm FrIday

w18a004(5)a;10.indd 1 12/17/13 5:23 PM12172013172459

WWD.COM5WWD wednesday, december 18, 2013

The Lace Is Onwhether cutwork, crochet or eyelet, this ancient handiwork takes on an au courant chic for spring.

rachel roy’s cotton crepe

and eyelet jumpsuit. Bjørg ear cuff; Maria Black earrings.

litke’s cotton ruffle top and sea’s cotton

skirt worn over screaming Mimi’s

polyester petticoat.

cory’s cotton eyelet romper. l.k.

Bennett belt.

rebecca Minkoff’s cotton twill and eyelet

dress. Bijules hand cuff and ring.

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w18a004(5)a;10.indd 2 12/17/13 5:23 PM12172013172519

6 WWD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013

POWER PLAY: It looks like talent agency William Morris Endeavor, backed by Silver Lake Partners, could be victorious in its quest for IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media business. According to published reports, WME had the winning bid in the neighborhood of $2.3 billion for the sports and fashion agency, and a deal could be announced as soon as today. Others in the final round of bidding were CVC Capital Partners and ICM Partners.

Representatives for Forstmann Little & Co., which owns IMG, and Silver Lake declined comment.

Forstmann Little acquired IMG for $750 million in 2004 and expanded the scope of its services. Among IMG’s businesses are IMG Fashion, which owns and operates fashion events around the world, including Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week; IMG Models; IMG College, handling collegiate marketing, licensing and media rights; IMG Media, an independent producer and distributor of sports programming, and IMG Events and Federations, which owns and manages events with international sports organizations, leagues and federations. IMG also owns Art + Commerce, which represents photographers, art directors and stylists.

The sale of IMG has been speculated since the death of Theodore J. Forstmann, Forstmann Little’s founder, in 2011. IMG started preparing for its sale last year and last May hired Morgan Stanley and Evercore to find a suitable buyer for the agency.

WME, which has offices in Beverly Hills, New York, London, Miami and Nashville, was founded in 2009 following the merger of William Morris Agency and the Endeavor Agency. WME represents artists in such industries as movies, TV, music, theater, digital and publishing. An IMG acquisition would give WME a significant international foothold in the sports, fashion and entertainment industries.

— LISA LOCKWOOD

BRIT YOUNG THINGS: Burberry’s spring ad campaign is packed with fresh faces — all of whom are British — from the worlds of film, music and modeling.

The campaign was shot by Mario Testino under the creative direction of Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative officer and chief executive officer designate. “There’s a distinctly English mood to this season — a gentle, effortless, romantic quality, brought to life by a cast of bright young British talent,” said Bailey.

The cast includes musician and actor Jamie Campbell Bower, lead singer of The Darling Buds, who has also appeared in the “Twilight Saga” films; Leo Dobson, lead singer and guitarist for the indie band Childhood; Malaika Firth, a Kenyan-born model who walked in the Burberry Prorsum spring women’s wear show in September, and Jean Campbell, the Scottish-raised daughter of former British Vogue fashion editor Isabella Cawdor.

Other cast members include Matilda Lowther and Neelam Johal, who both walked in Burberry’s spring women’s wear show in September, and Callum Ball, who has featured in past Burberry campaigns and who appeared in Burberry’s women’s wear and men’s wear shows in London earlier this year.

The campaign, which focuses on outerwear and accessories in soft pastels and light fabrics, will break globally on Jan. 3. Burberry said platforms will include outdoor ads; a mix of fashion, business and lifestyle titles; burberry.com; Facebook; YouTube; Twitter; Google+; Instagram; Pinterest; Sina Weibo; Douban; Kaixin001, and Youku.

— SAMANTHA CONTI

companies Inditex and H&M dominate.Western brands still enjoy some

dominance in Asia, but only by a very narrow margin. Levi’s and Lee are the number-one and number-two brands in the region, respectively, with 4.4 per-cent and 2.6 percent market share. But while the brands are growing, it’s un-likely they will enjoy the same kind of dominance they have in North America, Euromonitor’s Kunde said.

Meanwhile, homegrown Asian brands are catching up quickly. One of those la-bels is Hong Kong-based Texwood Ltd., which says it was the first jeans line to enter Mainland China back in 1970. Texwood, sort of China’s answer to the Gap, is now the third largest brand in Asia with stores all across China — in-cluding Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.

Another big Asian player in the re-gional denim market is Japan’s Uniqlo, coming in as the fourth largest denim brand. Additionally, Chinese labels Wei Peng, Zengzhi and Kipone and Japan’s Edwin together capture about 5 percent of the Asian market. Other Asian brands making inroads in the denim market are I.T Ltd.’s Izzue and Bauhaus, which launched its own label, Tough Jeansmith, in 1994 and has started opening stores in Paris and London. Originally a manufac-turer for Western brands, Bauhaus start-ed using its manufacturing connections to launch its own brand.

To play to the market, brands are fo-cusing on local tastes. In Asia, consumers are more “expressive” and “overt in the way they dress,” said Evisu chief execu-tive officer David Pun. Even Hong Kong and China show big differences in their preferences. In China, consumers want something that is “rich” in taste — visu-ally strong and visibly branded. In Hong Kong, on the other hand, consumers like

clothing that is a little bit more subtle with details and more contemporary. And they enjoy more washes, Pun added.

Evisu is a premium Japanese denim brand that folded its U.S. operations in 2010 and retrenched back to Asia, mov-ing its headquarters to Hong Kong. The denim producer previously had sales distributed fairly evenly among the U.S., Europe and Asia, but now gets about 90 percent of its sales from Asia. Evisu has 120 stand-alone stores in Asia, 80 of which are in Mainland China.

“We want to be more focused where we think there is a strong opportunity, particularly in China. And our con-sumers really embrace the DNA of the brand,” explained Pun.

“The consumer wants history but also wants something different,” he ex-plained. A lot of Western brands play up their history and heritage. Evisu calls on its history with Osaka 5, a group of five Japanese denim brands that helped re-vive the premium selvage denim market. The denim brand is now thinking about relaunching in the U.S. and Europe.

Another homegrown Asian brand, Hong Kong-based Esprit, which has more market share in Europe than in Asia, has been looking closer to home for growth. Esprit reengineered its denim fits and styles over the last two years and intro-duced a new denim line a year ago. The Asian market, Esprit said, tends to be more brand-conscious than the European market and favors “slimmer, sexier fits.” More “girly” and “bling” styles also tend to perform well. Esprit has changed the proportions for its jeans in Asia and fea-tures smaller pockets, narrower thighs and shorter inseams.

As the market develops, however, the difference in taste is starting to lessen. Six years ago, the difference between local Chinese and Western brands was

very dramatic, said Richard Atkins, a Hong Kong-based denim expert and product development manager for Global Design Workshop, a denim branding and manufacturing consultant.

In the past, the washing for Chinese brands tended to be very “dramatic,” Atkins explained, but now that custom-ers have traveled more internationally and see the bigger brands, it’s getting harder to distinguish between Western and Asian brands.

One advantage that Asian brands have over foreign competitors is the ability to compete across a wider range of price points from mass market to premium. Western brands have generally been limited to premium positioning in Asia. That’s true even of fast-fashion brands such as H&M, Lee, Zara or Levi’s, which target the moderate consumer in their home markets, but cater to premium or “aspirational” customers when in Asia.

Previous attempts by Western brands to operate at lower price points met with limited success. In 2010, Levi’s launched a new brand for the Asian market called Denizen that was tailored specifically for Asian figures but sold at a lower price point than the core Levi’s brand. The firm’s decision to discontinue the brand

in Asia and shift upmarket suggests greater potential in the premium mar-ket. Levi’s latest launch, Levi’s Revel, features price points of $98 to $128 a pair. Similarly, Lee’s Diamond Cut jeans are placed in the super-premium price seg-ment in China, compared with economy/standard in the U.S.

Being limited to the high end of the market is a big disadvantage in Asia, says Atkins, where consumers, particularly in China, are less willing to shell out for premium jeans. Chinese customers have no problem paying 20,000 yuan, or about $3,165 at current exchange, for a Louis Vuitton bag, but with premium denim, they “don’t really get it. They like fashion and are driven by fashion, but don’t see it as a premium product,” he explained. Jeans’ American heritage as workwear is not something to play up in China, where consumers are likely to question why anyone would pay a premium for work-wear items.

“In China, if you increase your price too much, you lose your customer,” he said. The key price points are about 700 yuan, or about $114, to 1,000 yuan, or $158, for a pair of premium jeans, Atkins said. Southeast Asia is different in that customers are more open to Western tastes and culture and are also more will-ing to pay premium prices.

While Asian brands such as Evisu are primarily focusing on the booming local markets, they are also looking westward. For now, Asian denim brands are hardly making waves internationally, but that could change.

“It’s a good time for Asian brands. There’s more interest in Asian brands now,” said Pun, noting that South Korea has played a big role in making Asian tastes and Asian brands more appeal-ing thanks to its cultural exports such as K-pop and TV dramas.

{Continued from page one}

DENIM

Asian Jeans Brands Eye Bigger Piece of Market

MACY’S INC. will build a 1.3 million-square-foot di-rect-to-consumer fulfillment center in Oklahoma to support its omnichannel strategy and fuel further on-line sales growth.

The site, located near the intersection of 76th Street North and Lakewood Avenue about 12 miles north of Tulsa, is expected to cost more than $170 million. Macy’s said the facility will have the latest technology in material handling equipment and warehouse man-agement systems, and should start operating in April 2015, with the first orders shipping in summer 2015.

When fully operational, the center will employ approx-imately 1,500 full- and part-time associates year-round. Another 1,000 or more temporary seasonal associates are expected to be hired each year to handle the increased volume of orders that occur in the holiday season.

“The rapid growth of Macy’s direct-to-customer shipments, rooted in our omnichannel approach to business, requires us to continue to strategically add fulfillment capacity so our customers can receive their orders quickly and efficiently. Customers today are shopping whenever, however and wherever they pre-fer — via stores, desktops and mobile devices — and we continue to invest to meet the customer demand,” said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy’s. “We have rolled out fulfill-ment capability to 500 Macy’s stores nationwide, as well as built three major fulfillment centers over the past seven years. Our new Tulsa County facility will represent another significant expansion of our ship-ping capacity, particularly to customers in central and southern regions of the United States.

Orders originating from macys.com, the Macy’s app and Macy’s stores currently are handled by fulfill-ment centers in Goodyear, Ariz.; Portland, Tenn., and Martinsburg, W.Va., as well as by fulfillment functions at 500 Macy’s stores. Direct-to-customer orders origi-nating from bloomingdales.com, Bloomingdale’s app and Bloomingdale’s stores are handled primarily by a fulfillment center in Cheshire, Conn., as well as all 37 Bloomingdale’s stores.

— DAVID MOIN

Macy’s Invests $170M

In New Fulfillment CenterMEMO PAD

An image from Burberrry’s spring campaign.

Uniqlo is Asia’s fourth-largest denim brand.

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WWD.COM7WWD wednesday, december 18, 2013

Moncler Shares Steady on Day 2

Acne Studios Settles Into West Coast Home

Jewelry Designer Miceli Returns to VuittonBy Miles socha

PaRis — louis Vuitton, which recently recruited Nicolas Ghesquière to suc-ceed Marc Jacobs as artistic director of women’s collections, is adding more creative firepower to the studio, WWD has learned.

according to market sources, camille Miceli, who designs costume jewelry and advises on certain leather goods at christian Dior, is to join Vuitton after the couture shows in January in a simi-lar capacity.

The move marks a homecoming for Miceli, who joined Dior in 2009 after a 12-year career at Vuitton.

Neither Vuitton officials nor Miceli could immediately be reached for com-ment on Tuesday.

a vivacious fixture on the Paris fash-ion scene, Miceli joined Vuitton’s pub-lic relations department in 1997 just as Jacobs arrived as its artistic director with a mission to lead the heritage leath-er goods maker into the modern fashion age by adding ready-to-wear and other fashion categories.

encouraged by the american designer, Miceli segued into creative pursuits and began designing costume jewelry collec-tions at Vuitton in 2003, building it into

a growing and high-profile business. in 2008, she collaborated with music super-star Pharrell Williams on a high-jewelry range dubbed Blason, the French word for coat of arms.

Known for her playful and funky sen-sibility, she once created chunky metal Vuitton necklaces that resembled the loops of construction paper children might string into garlands. she regu-larly employs such unusual materials as wood, painted metal, plastic and feath-ers for jewelry.

on a more extreme side, she recently developed a process that involved heat-ing large swarovski elements in an oven

until they explode. “They kind of resem-ble semiprecious stones, but they’re not,” she told WWD in 2010.

While at Dior, it is understood Miceli developed a strong working rapport with Delphine arnault, who had been deputy general manager there until last september, when arnault moved over to become Vuitton’s second in command, in charge of all the house’s product-re-lated activities.

sources said the costume jewelry cat-egory at Dior under Miceli has been pro-gressing at a fast double-digit pace.

Miceli cultivated friendships with an array of creative people outside of Dior, including Ghesquière, even invit-ing him to attend a Dior-sponsored din-ner at caviar Kaspia in the weeks after he exited Balenciaga, part of Kering, a rival group to lVMh Moët hennessy louis Vuitton.

Miceli started her fashion career at 15 when she interned at chanel and azzedine alaïa. she spent seven years as a publicist at chanel before joining Vuitton.

she joins another new high-profile Vuitton recruit: Darren spaziani joined the French firm last october from Proenza schouler to spearhead new lines of “very high-end” leather goods as Vuitton drives its products and brand image ever more upscale.

By luisa ZaRGaNi

MoNcleR’s sTocK TooK a step back during its second day of trading on the Milan stock exchange, but the company is still well ahead after its blockbuster debut on Monday.

shares of the outerwear firm closed down 5.5 percent Tuesday to 14.15 euros, or $19.46 at current exchange. The stock hit a high of 14.75 euros, or $20.30, in midday trading and closed 38.7 percent ahead of its initial opening price of 10.20 euros.

The offering was 27 times oversub-scribed and ultimately moved 76.8 million shares into public hands.

a total of 744 institutional inves-tors applied for shares, including 55 from italy and 689 from abroad.

The offering made headlines in italian newspapers, almost all hailing the company’s “boom debut” on the Bourse. Financial daily il sole 24 ore underscored how the brand’s first day as a publicly listed company eclipsed that of Royal Mail in october, which saw a 38 percent gain.

Camille Miceli

By Rachel BRoWN

acNe sTuDios creative director Jonny Johansson has always felt a little bit un-comfortable as a fashion industry insider.

as such, squeezing his swedish brand’s first West coast store onto well-established retail arteries in los angeles like Rodeo Drive, Melrose avenue or Melrose Place just didn’t seem appropriate.

When the more than 5,000-square-foot store — acne studios’ largest in the world replete with a coffee shop, ilcaffè, transported from stockholm — opens today, its location will certainly set the brand apart geographically and philo-sophically from many of its competi-tors. its home is at the iconic 83-year-old eastern columbia Building at 855 south Broadway in downtown los angeles, nearly 10 miles from Beverly hills.

For one, Johansson acknowledges the store may not make money, at least not right away.

“i’m very happy that we did this to show that we are serious, and we love l.a. i think it’s a very cool place. i don’t think this is the most amazing area to do business, to be honest, but i don’t think that’s relevant. if it were our only store, yes, that would be relevant, but it is not. it’s not going to be bad at all [in terms of sales], but i don’t think this is the right choice if you want to calculate in this way. i think then it’s the wrong choice,” said Johansson. “When you have a solid foundation, some people buy art, some people buy cars, some people buy expen-sive couture; we did this. it might be suc-cessful in the long term, hopefully.”

although the choice of downtown might be unusual, what acne studios is doing in the broader sense is not quite as atypical. it’s elevating the brand’s global profile with retail expansion. The brand has 40 lo-cations, including company-owned stores, in-store shops and franchises, and the los angeles store follows new units in Paris, london and osaka, Japan, this year. Next

up is another location in seoul, where acne studios currently has two outposts with partner shinsegae. hong Kong, New York — home to a flagship on 33 Greene street — and american cities such as Miami and san Francisco are

possibilities for future stores. Johansson emphasized “gradual devel-

opment” is acne studios’ priority for both retail and fashion, where he doesn’t want to enter every category under the sun. he estimated acne studios has opened about five stores a year, and he is partial to that pace. he said, “i think it is difficult to force the market. in New York, we have had a great response, so we tend to think there are some people here [in los angeles] who are interested in what we do. if it is going to work or not, i have no clue.”

as acne studios opens more stores, retail design themes are starting to emerge. shelving and displays out of perforated aluminum made in Germany were introduced in the acne studios store on Quai Voltaire in Paris and make a return in the los angeles unit. They oc-cupy a good chunk of the store’s square footage as do intimate compartments where customers can sit, read magazines and ponder the merchandise, which spans denim, men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, bags and footwear. The store also features pink terrazzo flooring, con-

trasting clear blue carpets, acne studios furniture and an installation by Belgian artist and stockholm resident carsten höller of a giant mushroom.

Johansson, who works on acne studios’ stores with architect andreas Fornell, originally considered two differ-ent concepts for the los angeles store. The discarded concept drew inspiration from the apartments above the store in the eastern columbia Building, a signa-ture art Deco skyscraper designed by claud Beelman with an exterior covered in turquoise terra-cotta tiles trimmed with gold and deep blue. The winning concept views the aluminum structures inside the store as columns forming a contemporary support system buttress-ing the older building.

“The idea of the store was actually to fit in but make a modern structure,” explained Johansson. Talking about acne studios’ approach to stores more generally, he elaborated, “i tend to see the stores as a sign of the times, where we are at the moment. We make them

unique. i think that shopping has to be unique because everyone is on the Web and traveling. i find that when i go to stores that are exactly the same, laid out exactly the same, they are a bit too ran-dom for the experience.”

in particular, Johansson pointed out that the intimate areas in the los angeles store are a response to how he prefers to shop. “i enjoy shopping a lot, but i’m very embarrassed about the staff seeing what i choose, so i like privacy. in that moment, i’m kind of sensitive. it is a creative moment when you are shopping for clothing because you are thinking about self-expression. it is very involved. i like some sort of privacy, so not every-one is looking at you,” he said.

Johansson founded acne studios in stockholm as a collective in 1996 and it has branched into magazines, furniture, books, exhibitions and, of course, cloth-ing. sales are expected to increase from 89 million euros, or roughly $122 million at current exchange, in fiscal year 2012 to 130 million euros, or almost $180 mil-lion, this fiscal year. “We have been hav-ing constant growth. it’s never been up and down. There’s never been one big moment of a big huge financial step. it’s organic,” said Johansson.

Mikael schiller, chairman of acne studios, has mentioned meeting with Kering, but he and Johansson have stressed they value acne studios’ inde-pendence. schiller and Johansson are majority owners of the brand. “i like to have the opportunity to do whatever i want,” said Johansson. “i cannot change. i think we are on such a good path. as being the creative director, it would be a problematic situation having to make de-cisions that go against that [path]. i don’t see it as the industry is sh-t. i just think we know what we are doing; let us con-tinue doing what we are doing.”

For now, Johansson is content plant-ing his brand’s flag in los angeles and he recommends checking out the store at night, when the eastern columbia Building is fully illuminated.

“i’m very happy here at the moment. i’ve been very influenced by surfing late-ly. i surfed in sweden. There is only one place you can surf in sweden, and i was so happy to surf here,” he said, recount-ing that he stopped at Venice Beach upon landing in los angeles on sunday. “The only thing i was scared of was the sharks.”

For more images, see

WWD.com/retail-news.

The store stocks denim, men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, bags and footwear.

Aluminum display structures inside the store.

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8 WWD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013

M Missoni: Those eye-catching prints — including a kaleidoscope/Art Deco motif and a space-dye with lace overlay — were, of course, at M Missoni, but the real story this season was the neutrals. Creative director Angela Missoni favored an earthy palette, using the shades on looks such as a coat

in cream bonded wool that resembled shearing and a croc-pattern knit T-shirt in the color of sand dunes.

Tse: Creative director Tina Lutz refined Tse’s codes with her own modernist take on cashmere knits and wovens. Case in point, a lovely pale-

pink cashmere coat with a bandeau worn over it and matching shorts under. In addition to monochromatic looks, the designer also worked a flower theme that included a silk and cashmere sweatshirt with a print inspired by “Flora,” Nick Knight’s book of photos of dried flowers.

Tadashi Shoji: The Ottoman Empire inspired Tadashi Shoji, hence the rich color palette of emerald green, royal blue and deep red. Highlights included a long-sleeve royal blue lace gown and a shorter, red version with a swing skirt.

J Brand: Design director Donald

Oliver delivered a collection of tonal-hued minimalist looks, with leather playing a starring role. A white biker jacket came with flashy gold hardware and skinny leggings were shown throughout, nicely contrasting softer pieces like slouchy wool and silk trousers and cotton bib blouses.

Pre-Fall 2014

FOR MORE PRE-FALL COVERAGE, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

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HAUTE LIST: Bouchra Jarrar, the Paris-based designer who has accrued a cultlike following for her streamlined, elegant sportswear, has been granted the official haute couture appellation.

The Chambre Syndicale, French fashion’s governing

body, upgraded Jarrar from guest member of its couture calendar during a meeting this week. Jarrar launched her signature label in 2010 during couture week in Paris.

There are now 15 fashion houses with haute couture appellation, including established maisons like Christian Dior and Chanel, as well as relative newcomers like Alexis Mabille; six correspondent members, including Giorgio Armani and Azzedine Alaïa, and seven guest members, including the newest iteration of Schiaparelli.

Jarrar’s show is set for Jan. 21. — JOELLE DIDERICH

WESTFIELD GETS FULL FULTON: Australian developer Westfield will put its imprimatur on another downtown Manhattan retail and transportation project, the Fulton Center.

Dwarfed in size by the World Trade Center’s retail project, which Westfield owns — the company earlier this month

bought the remaining 50 percent of the retail premises from the Metropolitan Transit Authority — the Fulton Center nonetheless has 180,000 square feet of space. About 63,000 square feet of space is designated for commercial and retail uses. About two-thirds will be earmarked for retail. The rest will be dedicated to open space and areas to be used for “back-of-house” functions.

The Fulton Center has been undergoing a massive renovation. It consists of a new glass and steel Fulton Building at the southeast corner of Broadway and Fulton Street; the historic Corbin Building at the northeast corner of Broadway and John Street; the Dey Street Headhouse at the southwest corner of Broadway and Dey Street, and the corridor under Dey Street that will connect to the World Trade Center in the future. The Fulton Center’s public areas are set to open in June.

The A, C and R subway lines will pass through the Fulton Center hub when it reopens.

“Westfield has great confidence in and commitment to downtown New York City as a world-class destination,” said

Greg Miles, U.S. chief operating officer of Westfield. “We are pleased to be part of MTA’s new flagship Fulton Center and look forward to introducing an exciting retail offer for commuters and visitors alike.”

About 300,000 commuters will travel through the Fulton Center daily.

— SHARON EDELSON

POP-UP PLANS: Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd., Japan’s largest department store operator, will host a pop-up shop during New York Fashion Week in an effort to promote the work of Japanese brands and designers to an international audience. The shop, scheduled to run from Feb. 6 to 13 at 47 Greene Street, is supported by the Japanese government’s Cool Japan campaign, which aims to help businesses gain a foothold in the global market.

Yohji Yamamoto, Anrealage, Facetasm, Mint Designs, Theatre Products, Kansai Yamamoto, and N. Hoolywood are some of the brands that will have goods present in the store, which will also showcase

food and design products from Japan. — KELLY WETHERILLE

BLOMQVIST SEES WAY TO SAFILO: Italian eyewear manufacturer Safilo Group has tapped Henri

Blomqvist as its new global commercial director.

Blomqvist, who will report to Safilo Group chief executive officer

Luisa Delgado, will oversee all commercial operations worldwide.

Born in Finland, Blomqvist worked 10 years at Procter & Gamble, where he covered several roles in the sales and commercial department for a number of countries, including Scandinavia, Russia, Turkey, the Middle East, South Korea and Australia. His latest position at P&G was as international commercial leader of Braun.

Safilo Group produces and distributes its own brands Safilo, Carrera, Polaroid, Smith Optics and Oxydo, in addition to licensed labels including Alexander McQueen, Fossil, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Saks Fifth Avenue and Tommy Hilfiger. — ALESSANDRA TURRA

FOR MORE SCOOPS, SEE

WWD.com.

FASHION SCOOPS

A spring look from Bouchra Jarrar.

WWD.COM9WWD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013

That’s something the dis-counter would no doubt like to change.

Under Neil Ashe, president and ceo of the retailer’s Global eCommerce unit, Wal-Mart is taking an aggressive approach to the online world.

“We’re building a global tech-nology platform whose goals are as simple, frankly, as they are audacious,” Ashe said in May. “We want to know what every product in the world is. We want to know who every person in the world is. And we want to have the ability to connect them to-gether in a transaction.”

Some fashion names suc-ceeded in covering the digital waterfront, showing up in sev-eral of the dozens of categories that make up the Zeitgeist list.

Nike was the third best-trending brand in footwear placing behind Toms and Aldo. And it just made it onto the list of the top 10 most searched-for Fortune 500 companies, a cat-egory headed by the list’s au-thor, Google, that also included, in descending order, Facebook, Apple and Yahoo. Retailers were prevalent among the top 10 companies in that category, with Target at five, Home Depot at seven, Best Buy at eight and Lowe’s at nine.

Penney’s also qualified for multiple mentions, although its second appearance — as the seventh heaviest trending stock on the list — was likely for very different reasons than its cita-

tion among apparel brands and retailers. Penney’s had an ex-traordinarily tough year, apolo-gizing to its shoppers for mis-steps in 2012 and changing tact dramatically in the spring after Ron Johnson left as ceo and was replaced by Myron “Mike” Ullman 3rd.

The Zeitgeist’s list-ing of top stocks was a combination of strong performers and what could delicately be re-ferred to as “sources of concern.” Facebook was first, Tesla second, Twitter third, Google fourth and Blackberry fifth, with Fannie Mae, Penney’s, SolarCity, Herbalife and Freddie Mac filling out the remainder.

Google also reported on the top trending jew-elry brands, led by Gucci and Kendra Scott. Sucre, Jennifer Meyer, Jennifer Fisher, Better Late Than Never, Gemfields, Latest Revival, Suzannah Wainhouse and Winifred Grace occupied the rest of the top 10.

Two of the year’s biggest shopping days topped the list of annual events: Black Friday was first and Cyber Monday second. The rest of that listing was considerably less retail oriented, including the Daytona 500, Chinese New Year and the Tour de France.

The rankings list search

terms two ways — either for those with the most searches for the year or for those trend-ing most strongly, meaning they had the highest amount of traf-

fic over a prolonged period during the year as compared with 2012.

Predictably, when people turned to the Web, they

were looking to catch up on the most talked-about doings in pop culture.

Miley Cyrus was fifth on the trending people list, and the term that she set in stone in the nation-al nomenclature, “twerk-ing,” finished first in the category of “What is?” searches.

Additionally, Cyrus — a self-described “stra-

tegic hot mess” — topped the list of people receiv-ing the most searches, and those rankings never land-ed outside of the entertain-

ment field. Drake placed second, followed by Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry and Kanye West.

Google didn’t provide specific numbers for searches and trending patterns, but the rank-ing spoke volumes about contemporary American culture.

Kardashian topped the list of celebrity pregnancies, while Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, settled for the sec-

ond spot following the birth of George Alexander Louis, or Prince George of Cambridge, ahead of Megan Fox and Shakira. (On the list of top-trending searches of the year, “royal baby” ranked ninth.)

The Zeitgeist list provides hundreds of data points and lots of opportunities for holiday season trivia games. The best-trending appetizer? Tomato mozzarella. Strongest trending among car companies? Tesla. Fifth strongest trender among dance moves? The old favorite “YMCA.” Most searched-for dog breed? Bulldog. Strongest trend-

ing news source? CNN beat out Fox News and Time.

But there’s no escaping fash-ion as style enthusiasts browse the Internet. “The Great Gatsby,” with costumes by Catherine Martin, was sixth among the most searched-for movies, and Scott Schuman’s The Sartorialist (thesartorialist.com) the eighth strongest trending blog.

The strong trenders in the “How To?” category included activities such as knitting, kiss-ing, flirting and blogging, but the top spot went to the recurring mystery for millions of American men: “How to Tie a Tie.”

By KRISTI GARCED

GLASSES — as in optical frames — are David Datuna’s medium.

The Georgian-born, Brooklyn-based artist, per-haps best known for his Viewpoint of Millions series that suspends alternating positive and negative op-tical lenses over large-scale collages derived from mixed media, has used abandoned frames in his work for the past 10 years. So when he heard some early murmurs about a new invention called Google Glass a couple of years ago, his interest was piqued. He told his representative Mike Huter, founder of the Miami-based Kiwi Arts Group, to keep an eye on it.

Fast-forward to 2013: Google Glass is still being tweaked for public consumption, but those involved in Google’s Glass Explorer program have access to the devices. Huter connected Datuna with BrickSimple, the Pennsylvania-based company of developers of next generation mobile and Web applications — a group of self-described Google Glass pioneers. Over the course of several months, the company worked to install four interac-tive cameras into Datuna’s lat-est work, a 12-foot American flag that automatically connects with viewers while they are wearing Glass, insofar as the viewer is looking at the piece — but the piece is also looking back. The artwork, which made its debut in Miami during Art Basel earlier this month, is the first of its kind in the world.

The theme of Datuna’s Viewpoint of Billions — the first flag in what will ultimately be a series of 10 — is Americana. Underneath a layer of the artist’s signature optical lenses lies a mishmash of photo-graphs, newspaper clippings and video vignettes of iconic cultural and political moments in the history of the U.S., from the country’s greatest innovators — Steve Jobs, Vint Cerf, the Wright brothers — to its greatest entertainers. One might see a video clip

from “I Love Lucy” (the famous chocolate-factory episode in which Lucy and Ethel eat all the choc-olate while working an assembly line), or the har-rowing scene from “The Shining” in which Jack Nicholson utters “Heeere’s Johnny.” Each viewer who wears Glass in front of the piece — for a max of three minutes, in order to give everyone a chance — has a unique experience. If viewers “opt in,” they can choose to answer questions prompted by Glass and have their experience recorded and uploaded onto the artist’s Web site, datuna.com.

“The images reflect the positive and the nega-tive, depending on your perspective, allowing the

viewer to form their own opinions,” said Datuna. “They tell a story that reflects on the past and touches on some of the achievements and contro-versies in the present. With each piece I create, [select-ing the moments] is one of my favorite parts of the process.” Datuna said he hoped to cre-ate a thoughtful piece of work that prompts the viewer to think about where, what, how and when we arrive at our individual destinations and point of views, and to encour-age respect amongst people for a more positive future.

Despite the tech-heavy in-fluences, Datuna insists that the art — which stands firmly on its own, sans Glass — comes before the technology. “I am not a technology artist,” he said. “For me, Glass is a great tool that acts as an exten-sion, allowing me to better communicate my narra-tive and to connect with the viewer in thoughtful ways.…My plan is to only create 10 flags globally that utilize Glass, and they will all communicate with each other. After that I don’t think it will [be] part of my work,” he said. “We will see.”

The exhibition, open to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium, ends today. The second flag in Datuna’s series — a French flag — is slated to make its debut in Paris in March with Kiwi Arts Group and Gallery Shchukin.

Google Puts 2013 in Focus, From Versace to Kohl’s{Continued from page one}

By ARNOLD J. KARR

AMAZON.COM’S Jeff Bezos and Michael Kors Holdings Ltd.’s John Idol both found a home on Sydney Finkelstein’s first list of best chief executive officers of the year.

Finkelstein, professor of management and associate dean at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, has long issued an annual worst ceo’s list. This year, both former J.C. Penney Co. Inc. chief Ron Johnson and Sears Holdings Corp. ceo Edward S. Lampert qualified for worst-of mentions.

In an interview Webcast on Yahoo, Finkelstein cited Bezos’ “unbelievable focus on customers” and “nonstop in-novation” for his selection as the best ceo of the year. The educator also pointed out that Bezos is setting Amazon on a collision course with the fashion industry, which Finkelstein considers “rife for disruption….No one is bet-ter at it than Amazon.”

Citing Michael Kors’ successful initial public offering two years ago and stock appreciation since, Finkelstein credited Idol with bringing the company “open-minded-ness, debate and discussion” and an ability to “break down the silos” in plotting the company’s course.

The other outstanding ceo’s for the year were Akio Toyoda of Toyota and Pony Ma of Tencent in China.

Johnson took second place to Eike Batista of Brazil’s EBX/OGX/OSX among the list of worst ceo’s. He was de-scribed by Finkelstein as among the worst ceo’s of the de-cade for making the fatal mistake of thinking that, as was the case with Johnson’s stewardship of Apple’s retail oper-ations, there was no need to discount because people “are in line for your products.”

“It’s almost like he fired his customers,” Finkelstein said.Lampert was faulted for following “a classic financial

strategy at Sears” in which one cuts costs, sells off assets and then buys back stock. He acknowledged that Sears’ real estate still has value but that, with the stock off 70 per-cent from its highs of a few years ago, there’s no advantage in buying it back.

He referred to Lampert as “the anti-Mickey Drexler,” contrasting the Sears ceo’s lack of understanding of mer-chandising, his customers and of “how to manage the stores” with the superior instincts and insights of the J. Crew Group Inc. ceo.

Thorsten Heins, now ousted ceo of Blackberry Ltd., qualified as the third worst ceo in Finkelstein’s ranking, between Johnson and Lampert.

Datuna’s Flag: Art Meets Google Glass Bezos Tops Best CEO List

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Rank Apparel Brands and Retailers High-Fashion Brands

David Datuna and his Viewpoint of Billions

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10 WWD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013

JULIAN MEDINA is not what you’d expect of a burgeoning Manhattan restaurateur on the verge of opening his latest eatery. It’s around four in the afternoon on Friday, two days before Toloache Thompson, lucky number seven in Medina’s lineup, is slated to open.

Outside, bundled-up workers polish the fogged windows spanning the length of the storefront. They’ll open out onto the street in the summer. The interiors are rustic. The floors are mosaic with chunks of inlaid stone and terra-cotta swirling around each other. Traditional Mexican Talavera tiles line much of the 3,000-square-foot space. Bottles of Mexican soda and tequila stand tall above the long marble bar.

Underneath them, Medina happily chats with partner Louis Skibar as a WWD photographer snaps away. When asked if he wants to see the shots, Medina looks up. “Oh,” he says, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him. Quiet talk with Skibar aside, he’s

been practically silent until now. “Sure.”

This is not how most restaurant walkthroughs go. Typically, the restaurateur spins around the place like an Ari Gold-esque Tasmanian devil, barking orders at workers, the stress of the imminent opening palpable.

But Medina is downright mellow. “It’s always the same,” he shrugs. “The past few weeks were a little stressful, but it always comes together.”

It’s the third Toloache (well, actually fourth, if you count Toloache Taqueria, a casual concept spot in the Financial District) for Medina. The first was opened in 2007 in Midtown Manhattan, the second opened in 2011 and is on the city’s Upper East Side. Toloache Thompson in

the West Village rounds out the reach. “For the larger brand, we thought we could use something more downtown,” Medina says. His other, non-Toloache spots include Yerba Buena, Yerba Buena Perry and Coppelia.

All of his restaurants are rooted in Mexican and Latin cuisine. Medina learned to cook from his paternal lineage in Mexico City. “My father used to wake up at 5:30 every morning to cook us breakfast before we

went to school, and this wasn’t just a bowl of Cheerios and a yogurt,” Medina says. “He’d squeeze fresh orange juice or grapefruit juice and make us something hot. I use to go to my grandfather’s house after school for comida, which is a late lunch, and he used to make chile rellenos or green mole with chicken. That’s where I got inspired from, my grandfather and my father.”

The menu is a refined version of Medina’s roots, with cuisine that’s somehow simultaneously unexpected and authentic. Standouts include tacos de langosta — tortillas filled with spicy lobster, morita salsa and avocado; callos de hacha — seared scallops over a bed of quinoa risotto, porcini mushroom and huitlacoche butter, and Medina’s quesadilla de huitlacoche y trufas with manchego, corn, black truffle and huitlacoche salsa. “That’s definitely a signature dish of the restaurant,” he says with a smile. “And it’s really, really good.”

— TAYLOR HARRIS

Toloache Thompson205 Thompson Street, New York212-420-0600toloachenyc.comOpen Sun. through Thur. 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; Fri. and Sat. 5:00 p.m. to midnight.

THE NEW YORK social set made its annual trek to the Bronx on Friday night for the Botanical Gardens’ Winter Wonderland Ball, one of the last big bashes on the 2013 social calendar, this year underwritten by Bergdorf Goodman, Glamour magazine and Perrin Paris 1893. Chaired by Alina Cho, Cristina Cuomo, Alexandra Lebenthal, Annie Lansing, Alexandra Lind Rose and Genevieve Bahrenburg as well as a noticeably absent Byrdie Bell, Hannah Bronfman and Linda Fargo — the evening benefited the Garden’s children’s educational programs.

“I come every year and it’s one of the events where I really think about what I’m going to wear in advance,” Gillian Miniter said during cocktail hour, where floor-sweeping gowns dominated, making for some tricky sartorial terrain — traversing to the bar without slipping on a train or

getting an elbow full of tulle was virtually impossible.

“Where else are you gonna find a train show in the middle of a black-tie gala?” remarked Cho, referring to another kind of train — the large-scale model railway train cars and trolleys making up the garden’s exhibition. Guests such as Ariana Rockefeller, Ally Hilfiger, Adelina Wong Ettelson, Alvin Valley, Keegan Singh, Kate Lanphear and Karen Duffy roamed the narrow Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and snapped Instagram shots of the model locomotive as it whizzed by. “This is one of the most magical events of the year,” Cho said. “On a Friday night, around the holidays, it’s a bit of commitment to come here — but it’s well worth it.”

After a dinner of salad and steak au poivre, guests took over the dance floor,

shimmying to a mix of Rihanna, Lykke Li and Daft Punk. Sally Perrin, in a white tuxedo and flowers peeking out of her hair, danced with husband Michel and daughter Chloe, who

represents the fifth generation of her family’s leather goods brand. “I save everything in my closet and hand it down to her,” said Perrin.

“Ninety percent of my

wardrobe is my mom’s, so I inherit a lot of awesome stuff, like this Rick Owens dress,” Chloe added. “We’re the same size, thank God.”

— KRISTI GARCED

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Mex Factor

Training Day

Julian Medina

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Thompson.

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margarita.

Alexandra Lebenthal

Arrachera dish.

Alexandra Lind Rose and Genevieve Bahrenburg

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WWD.COM11WWD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013

By Etta Froio

ShE waS a supermodel long before that term existed. when Gillis MacGil addison, known in the fashion world by her maiden name, MacGil, strode down a runway, it was with plenty of attitude — elegant, with just a touch of arrogance. her arresting beauty and catwalk man-ner set a high standard.

MacGil, who died Monday of cancer in Manhattan at age 85, built a success-ful career of glamour tempered by hard work, not only with modeling, but also by creating a unique modeling agency; winning numerous fashion awards, and achieving an enviable social status as a hostess in New York and the hamptons.

“My life began at Bergdorf Goodman,” MacGil, who was born in New York City on Sept. 2, 1928, recalled in a recent in-terview with wwD. “Everything wonder-ful happened there.” She started at the store as a stock girl in the lingerie de-partment, a part-time job she held while attending hunter College. Before long, however, she became an in-store model showing customers the latest tea gowns and robes. Soon she had dropped out of school and was caught up in a whirl-wind life of parties, private clubs and an extraordinary modeling career that spanned two decades. “the world was my oyster,” MacGil said.

at one of those Bergdorf Goodman shows, designer Nettie rosenstein spot-ted MacGil and hired her as one of her in-house models, who would tour the country presenting the newest fashions at major retail stores. She worked for many other New York designers, includ-ing Norman Norell, Bill Blass, Geoffrey Beene, Pauline trigère, James Galanos and arnold Scaasi.

She also walked the runways for top French and italian creators, appeared on many tV shows and even modeled on Panam’s first promotional jet flight — a round-trip between New York and washington.

Fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert used MacGil in most of the group shows she staged and, along with rosenstein, urged her to try photographic modeling. almost immediately, MacGil landed a Vogue cover. her distinctive style, knowl-edge, beauty and, yes, brains caught the attention of educators at Pratt institute, Drexel and the Fashion institute of technology, who invited her to lecture at those schools.

She was a vice president and member of the board of governors at the Fashion Group; was elected to the international Best Dressed List in 1972 and 1973; par-ticipated in an episode on the world of the model in Barbara walters’ “Not for women

only” series in 1972, and was an honoree at the Fashion Group’s 1981 gala tribute, “50 Years of american women in Fashion.” Small wonder that andrew Goodman, then president of Bergdorf Goodman and son of its founder, said, “Gillis MacGil is our most illustrious alumna.”

She formed close relationships with prominent designers, whose admira-tion for her went beyond her modeling skills; they considered her a confidante and counselor. “i loved Norman Norell so much,” MacGil said. “he was a sweet, gentle man, so droll and modest. Geoffrey Beene was brilliant — weird, but bril-liant. as for cutting and draping, Pauline [trigère] and Scaasi were terrific.” Yet, it was a French designer — Coco Chanel — who inspired the way MacGil dressed. “i preferred a tailored look, but always with something soft — a pleated skirt with a soft jacket or nubby wool sweater, per-haps,” she said. “i love white shirts and could wear one every day.” her signature look, in fact, was a black sweater with a starched white collar and cuffs peeking out from beneath.

Early in her career, Gillis met the man who was to become her first husband — fashion photographer Philip Stearns, who hailed from Grosse Pointe, Mich., but grew up in Paris. “we met on a blind date, and by the second or third date, i fell madly in love with him,” said MacGil. “he was so continental, spoke French fluently and encouraged me to seriously pursue modeling.” they married in 1949, and he presented Gillis with a three-strand necklace of asian pearls that had belonged to his mother. But the six-year marriage ended in divorce.

in 1960, MacGil created Mannequin, a modeling agency specifically for runway models. when she attempted to move away from the catwalk and turn to management, however, designers weren’t receptive. So it was double duty for the tireless entrepreneur, who started her agency working from an office at henri Bendel rented to her by president Geraldine Stutz for $100 a month, with a dozen models that MacGil built into a stable of 75. MacGil organized workshops to train them, offering advice on makeup and hair, how to move in the clothes, how to maneuver a narrow runway and how to cope with stairs. She also found time to write a book, “Your Future in Modeling,” published by richard rosen Press in 1964.

“a model must be tenacious, am-bitious and a self-starter,” MacGil advised. “She must have a wonder-ful personality, an indomitable spirit, intelligence and a good sense of self-identity and presence.” She added, “Looking glamorous is hard work and very little play. it’s early to bed for bright eyes, no drinking for clear skin, no rich foods for a wasp waist. and there are grueling hours for fit-tings and dashing madly from one show to another.”

Sharing those early career ex-periences was her life-long friend Missy Bancroft, a socialite/actress/model. they became best friends — two young beauties, one blonde, one brunette, who were as popular on the social scene as they were on the run-way. “we were thick as thieves,” said MacGil.

at one of the many dinner parties they attended, the hostess, playing matchmaker, had planned to intro-duce Missy to Bruce addison, a hand-some ad executive. But by the end of the evening, it was Gillis and Bruce who connected. they were married in 1961.

MacGil recalled that their mar-riage was “like entering the Emerald City. it’s what i truly wanted. i grew up going to movies and always came

away from them thinking that’s a wonder-ful way to live.” For the addisons, this meant enjoying a wide circle of friends, gracious entertaining, weekends and summers in the hamptons. “Life with Bruce was fabulous, exciting, lots of fun in those early years,” she said. But the addisons also enjoyed a solid business partnership, mutually investing in real estate and other projects. “i always car-ried my own weight,” she liked to say.

Southampton in the Sixties demanded a rigorous weekend social schedule with two or three black-tie parties a night held in tents pitched on big patches of pristine lawn. the addisons’ parties were very popular and offered an added attraction — their twin sons, anthony and Blake, starting when they were seven or eight years old, often helped serve the dinner. the guests ate it up.

MacGil also made time to do some fund-raising for the Parrish art Museum, located in Southampton at that time. She and two friends created a thanksgiving weekend event — a combination flea market, auction and bazaar that over the

years became one of the most popular and successful holiday attractions.

after she stopped modeling, gave up her agency and ended her 20-year mar-riage to addison, MacGil devoted more time to her family — her twin sons, step-sons Bruce and Matthew, and two young granddaughters, anabelle and Carolina.

when asked which of her many ac-complishments gave her the most satis-faction, MacGil replied without hesita-tion, “Getting out of the Bronx.”

Funeral arrangements will be private. in lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Parrish art Museum or to the East End hospice in westhampton Beach, N.Y.

obituary

Gillis MacGil, 85 An early

modeling photo.

Model Gillis MacGil.

MacGil in her office.

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w18a011a;9.indd 11 12/17/13 7:30 PM12172013193105

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