STEVE FLORIO DEAD AT 58/3 BEAUTY TAPS INTO SOCIAL SCENE/8Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • December 28, 2007 • $2.00

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Flower PowerThrough a partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation for

the Visual Arts, fragrance marketer Bond No. 9 is introducing

its second Warhol-inspired fragrance, dubbed Andy Warhol

Union Square. The scent, which is available in a collection

of 10 bottles, each featuring a design based on Warhol’s

“Flowers,” is set to launch in March and industry sources

expect it to generate up to $5 million in fi rst-year

wholesale sales volume. For more, see page 6.

WWDFRIDAYBeauty

See Fashion, Page 13

Dialing a New Market: Fashion Designers Set To Invade Cell PhonesBy Katya Foreman

Brrrrring, brrrrring.

Cell phone companies are the latest sector calling on fashion designers. Label it a triumph of form over function — or part of the continuing push to extend their reach — but designers are increasingly being tapped to create their own phones.

The Apple iPhone is proof of the growing demand for stylish handsets from known brands, becoming one of the hottest sellers of the holiday season even as apparel sales — including those of designer labels — lagged. The mobile phone industry is the biggest consumer

WWD.COM2 WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

WWDFRIDAYBeauty

GENERALWhether it’s a triumph of form over function or the push to extend their reach, designers are being tapped to create their own phones.

U.S. economic concerns and fear of instability in Pakistan following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto sent stocks south on Thursday.

BEAUTY: With her latest Andy Warhol-inspired fragrance, Bond No. 9 founder Laurice Rahme is trying to turn niche marketing into an art form.

Groupe Clarins’ newest line of moisturizers, HydraQuench Multi-Climate, is meant to suit and soothe any face anywhere on earth.

Color cosmetics and skin care brand Lorac, founded by makeup artist Carol Shaw in 1995, plans to more than double its distribution next year.

Spurred by the enduring “It” bag trend, a growing number of fi ne jewelers are extending their brands and glitzy heritage to leather goods.

DESIGN: True to its name, rapid manufacturing, which involves layering material to make objects, is quickly altering the face of design.

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● SOME DELAYS AT WAL-MART: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday that it has corrected the problem in connection with the processing of gift cards. The discounter said that on Wednesday it “discovered that several retailers, including Wal-Mart, were experiencing sporadic issues with gift card verifi-cations due to processing errors with our third-party verifier’s systems.” This delayed the processing of a “small percentage” of the retailer’s gift card transactions, and the issue was re-solved Wednesday afternoon, Wal-Mart said.

In Brief

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WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2007 FAIRCHILD FASHION GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

VOLUME 194, NO. 134. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in January and December, two additional issues in March, May, June, August, October and, November,

and three additional issues in February, April, and September) by Fairchild Fashion Group, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by

Condé Nast Publications: S. I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, President/CEO; John W. Bellando, Executive Vice President/COO; Debi Chirichella Sabino, Senior Vice President/CFO; Jill Bright, Executive Vice President/Human

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“The consumer is a big winner. They’re getting incredible values. That will continue into ’08, particularly the fi rst quarter.”

— Arnie Orlick, ceo of Fortunoff, on the holiday season.

Quote of the Week

Must ReadGet Women’s Wear Daily anywhere, anytime. A new issue is available at 12:01 AM EST. For more information, visit wwd.com.

WWD. COM

Economic, Consumer Data Pour InBy Vicki M. Young and Liza Casabona

NEW YORK — Wall Street head-ed south on Thursday due to economic concerns in the U.S. and fears of global instability in Pakistan, where many apparel goods are produced, following the assassination of opposition leader and former prime minis-ter Benazir Bhutto.

Bhutto’s assassination at a political rally outside of Islamabad raised concerns of unrest abroad, sending inves-tors fl eeing from equities to the safety of U.S. Treasuries.

Domestically, the government said durable goods orders rose by 0.1 percent last month, far lower than the 2.2 percent gain econo-mists had expected. In addition, the number of workers seeking unemployment benefi ts rose last week to 349,000 instead of an ex-pected decline to 340,000.

At the end of the trading ses-sion, the Dow Jones industrial average skidded by 1.42 percent, or 192.08 points, to 13,359.61. The S&P retail index slid by just under 1 percent to 410.23.

One semi bright spot on the do-mestic economic front, although the jobs picture was mixed, was consumer confi dence.

Consumers were in a slight-ly better mood in December, sending The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index higher during the critical retail holiday selling period.

The overall Index climbed to 88.6 from 87.8 in November. While the Present Situation Index component dropped to 108.3 from 115.7 last month, the Expectations Index rose to 75.5

in December from 69.1.“This month’s slight gain in

confi dence was due solely to an increase in the Expectations Index,” said Lynn Franco, di-rector of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

She noted consumers’ short-term outlook regarding business conditions, employment, infl ation and stock prices improved mar-ginally, while they were less neg-ative about the near-term future. However, Franco also pointed out that persistent declines in the Present Situation Index indicate the economy is still losing mo-mentum. And this month’s report now has pessimists outnumber-ing optimists in their assessment of the current job market.

Overall, the jobs front was a mixed picture. Consumers who said jobs are “hard to get” rose to 23.5 percent from 21.4 per-cent, while those claiming jobs are “plentiful” declined to 22.7 percent from 23.3 percent in November. Yet the future short-term jobs outlook was brighter. The percentage of consumers who said they expect more jobs in the months ahead inched up to 11.2 percent from 10.6 per-cent. Still, the proportion of consumers who expect their

incomes to rise in the months ahead fell to 19 percent from 19.4 percent.

In addition, consumers who expect business conditions to worsen in the next six months fell to 14.1 percent from 16.6 percent. Those who anticipate business conditions to improve rose to 13.8 percent from 12.4 percent.

Separately, as fi nal numbers start to come in, the holiday season looks like it will be only moderately successful.

That was the conclusion of Michael Niemira, chief economist and director of re-

search, International Council of Shopping Centers, who spoke Thursday on a conference call hosted by Dana Telsey of the Telsey Advisory Group

A slowdown in consumer spending, a continued shift toward gift cards as a preferred option, discounting, growing concerns

over a possible recession and other factors combined to keep holiday results mild, he noted.

ICSC still forecasts a gain for same-store sales in the November-December period of 2.5 percent, Niemira said.

“I think it was a moderately happy holiday,” said Niemira. “Essentially our view is the trends that we see continue to paint a picture of a moderate performance for the season.”

Previously ICSC said that weekly chain store sales in-creased 2.8 percent in the week ended Dec. 22. Anecdotal evidence suggests there were strong sales over the weekend prior to Christmas as well, but final numbers aren’t in yet. Going into the weekend, sales were expected to account for 9 percent of total holiday season sales, Niemira said.

However, the sales over the weekend on their own prob-ably weren’t strong enough to soothe fears about holiday re-sults, he said.

Gift card redemptions, which start mostly after the holidays and continue through January, could also alter the fi nal picture for the year. Typically consumer surveys show that 30 percent of

gift cards are redeemed after Christmas through the end of January, Niemira said. That number could increase this year.

Initially strong results in November surprised the indus-try, but the season was heavily promotional as it ran its course, he said.

Since the beginning of the year, ICSC had said that there was a pronounced and consis-tent decline in the pace of con-sumer spending. Starting last winter, chain store numbers showed a decline, which contin-ued all year and into the holiday

season, Niemira said. “The consumer clearly pulled

back this year; the holiday sea-son performance is pretty much just an extension of the same trend,” he said.

Not everything was dismal during the holidays, though. Income levels have been better than other economic indicators, which helped offset some of the drag from factors like higher energy costs, Niemira said. The perceived sales strength in November was due in part to that, combined with pent-up de-mand, he added. The boost was temporary, as the remainder of the holiday season did not sus-tain those results, but it explains the perceived strength, he noted.

Discounting occurred across the board through the holiday season, Niemira said, but the apparel sector in particular struggled due to more long-range factors.

“Apparel has been losing market share as a gift, so it’s working against some long-term trends,” he said.

In looking at results from the holiday season, Niemira said, it is important to note where consum-ers’ holiday dollars are moving. Consumer surveys indicate that more is being spent on services.

The electronics sphere has also been picking up share, defy-ing general trends for the season, Niemira said. By comparison, general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other similar products have all declined as a share of total consumer dollars spent during the season.

The continued popularity of gift cards impacted holiday re-sults. Gift cards reached a re-cord 18 percent share of holiday spending last year, and Niemira said this year the cards are ex-pected to claim between 18 and 20 percent of holiday sales. Final results won’t be available until after January, when consumers typically redeem the cards.

The scene at Tampa’s International Plaza on Wednesday.

“I think it was a moderately happy holiday. Essentially our view is the trends that we see continue to paint a picture of a moderate performance for the season.”— Michael Niemira, International Council of Shopping Centers

WWD will not publish on Monday, Dec. 31 and Tuesday, Jan. 1 in observance of the New Year’s holiday.

3WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

Obituary

Steven T. Florio, Former Condé Nast CEOBy Irin Carmon

NEW YORK — Steven T. Florio, former chief executive officer of Condé Nast Publications Inc., died Thursday due to complications from a heart attack. He was 58.

Florio was hospitalized several weeks ago and had a history of heart problems. He had surgery to replace a faulty valve in 1999 and a second surgery a few years later to correct a manufacturer’s defect on the replacement valve.

Condé Nast chairman S. I. Newhouse Jr. said in a statement, “Steve was a great executive and a great leader. I am very glad that we had many years together.”

Credited with growing Condé Nast and shaping its culture as a personality-driven star system, Florio stepped aside as ceo in January 2004, but remained under contract as vice chairman until last January. After relinquishing the ceo title, he served as adjunct professor at New York University in the entertainment, media and technology program, and was an investor in Tutto Il Giorno, a res-taurant in Sag Harbor, N.Y.

Florio’s two children, Kelly and Steven John, still work in business capacities at Condé Nast, and his brother, Tom, is the publisher of Vogue. He also is survived by his mother, Sophie; his wife, Mariann, and another brother, Michael.

The family will be receiving visitors at the Frank Campbell Funeral Home at 1076 Madison Avenue on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral services will be held Monday at St. Ignatius Church at 980 Park Avenue.

The phrase “larger than life” came up in nearly every recol-lection of Florio.

“Steve’s whole being and identity was wrapped up in his job at Condé Nast, and I think he was pretty aware that his person-ality — big, colorful, swaggering in a kind of primary colors way — was his most vivid asset as an executive and as a salesman,” said New Yorker editor in chief David Remnick.

“He was a consummate super-salesman from the fi rst day that I met him,” said Chuck Townsend, who succeeded Florio as ceo and with whom he shared a great love of sailing and membership in the New York Yacht Club.

Many saw Florio as the ex-emplar of a bygone era at media companies. “It was a smaller world,” said Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour. “It was much less involved in the Internet. The com-pany wasn’t as large as it is now, and he ran it based on relation-ships he had. It was more like an old boys’ network.”

She added, “People liked him so much because he was respect-ful and in awe of people’s creativity.”

Florio was born at Jamaica Hospital in Queens and raised on Long Island. After graduating from NYU’s business school in 1972, he began his career at Esquire, where he rose to the position of vice president/advertising director. He went on to serve as publisher of GQ and, in 1985, when The New Yorker was purchased by Condé Nast parent Advance Publications, he took over at the magazine as president. Three years later, he was given the title of ceo of The New Yorker.

Former New Yorker editor in chief

Tina Brown recalled working with Florio in the early days. “We had so much fun; we laughed all the way,” she said. “He brought enormous buoyancy to the offi ce and knew how to keep spirits up in the bad times.”

Vanity Fair editor in chief Graydon Carter struck a similar note. “Steve was very much an editor’s publisher. He re-alized that good journalism and good magazines produced good profi ts,” he

said. “Inasmuch as it seemed he could talk the birds out of the trees, I can only imagine his powers of persuasion as a publisher.”

He became president of Condé Nast Publications in January 1994, and added the ceo title two years later, overseeing all of the company’s then 18 titles.

Florio often cast his rise to head one of the world’s leading magazine pub-lishers as an example of the American dream. In 1995, he told Interview maga-zine, “I was invited to the White House recently as part of a group that Ralph Lauren put together for breast cancer

awareness. I went there with Ralph, and as we were walking into the White House, and the fi rst lady was walking toward us, I looked at him and I said, ‘Jesus, it’s a long way from Queens.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘It’s a long way from the Bronx, too, but we’re here.’”

But throughout his tenure, he had his share of detractors, many of whom were rivals. In 1998, Fortune magazine pub-lished a scathing profi le of Florio that

accused him of running a company with below-average profi t margins built large-ly on buzz and image. The article got per-sonal, claiming that “even his supporters acknowledge that in Florio’s hands, truth is a fungible commodity.”

On Friday, friends and former em-ployees either declined to comment on the criticisms or attributed them to competitive agendas. “You had a lot of folks on the outside who compete with Condé Nast who weren’t going to go out of their way to make it easy for him,” said Portfolio publisher and Condé Nast group publisher David Carey. “Others

would take potshots, and it came with the territory for him.”

Carey said Florio taught his team “about the art of publishing more than just the science of it….He was a tireless champion for the magazine medium. He believed very much that clients wanted their media partners to help them think big, and I think he instilled in all his ex-ecutives the thought that there’s no idea that’s too crazy or outlandish, that almost

anything was possible.” He was praised by people who

worked for him as a mentor and an identifi er of talent, as seen in the number of current high-level executives at the company whom Florio hired.

“He believed in me before I believed in myself,” said Richard Beckman, recalling the day, 22 years ago, when Florio inter-viewed him for a position in the London sales offi ce of The New Yorker. “The interview lasted about two-and-a-half hours, and as he walked me to the door and put his arm around me, he told me that one day I’d be the pub-lisher of Vogue.”

Florio kept his promise, 13 years later. “I think I probably reminded him of it 10 times a day up to that point,” joked Beckman.

“He was smart, he understood people and their motivations, he was creative and ambitious and literally unmatched in his optimism and confi dence,” said Condé Nast group president Mitchell Fox.

When he stepped down as ceo in 2004, Florio said he wanted to lead a less hectic lifestyle. Health problems were believed to play a role, and the vice chair-man’s position was seen by many as largely symbolic.

He returned to the headlines in 2005, when WWD reported that he was circulating a book proposal full of sharp words for his former colleagues. In it, Florio referred to himself as “the Godfather, the Samurai, the lead-er, the Warrior,” and described himself as “not short on nerve or ego, and I carried a heavy chip on my shoulder. They’ll bury me with it, too. I was still Steve Florio. I was there to get the job done.”

But he later canceled the project, telling The New York Times: “I would never sacrifi ce my integrity to write a book.”

His legacy at a company that has grown exponentially with more magazines, Web proper-ties and other publications (in-

cluding WWD) can also be seen through the prism of how much it has changed since his tenure.

“He was the last of a breed, in a sense,” said Beckman. “He was the perfect person to create, above all, a personality for the company. In the beginning, I think we had a presence greater than our scale,

and I think he did that.” Since succeeding Florio, Townsend

has been credited with establishing more business discipline at Condé Nast.

Said Townsend: “The company was younger and less complicated and didn’t have the pressures it has on it today….This is not the roaring Nineties. This is a much more sober and complicated time in business.”

“It’s really hard for me to know if Steve was perfectly suited for the times in which he worked, or whether he helped defi ne those times,” said Fox. “And I would strongly suggest the latter.”

“Steve was very much an editor’s publisher. He realized that good journalism and good magazines produced good profi ts.”— Graydon Carter

WWD.COM

With her latest Andy Warhol-inspired fragrance, Bond No. 9 founder Laurice Rahme is trying to turn niche marketing into an art form.

Rahme plans to launch Andy Warhol Union Square, a fragrance sporting a bottle decorated with 10 variations of a famous “Flowers” series, done by the pop artist in the Seventies. The fragrances are being offered in a variety of 10 different bottles, each with a slightly different version of the fl ower print based on original silk screens of the “Flowers” print. For avid collectors and hard-core Warhol fanatics, the com-plete portfolio of 10 100-ml. bottles will be offered in a box for $1,500. For those con-sumers on a budget, they can buy one bottle featuring a representative version of the fl ower print for $195 for a 100-ml. bottle and $135 for a 50-ml. one

This second fragrance in a series of 12 Warhol projects follows the launch of Bond No. 9’s fi rst Warhol fragrance dubbed Silver Factory, which launched earlier this month. For Rahme, various New York locales, as well as Warhol designs, go hand in hand.

“It’s not just about the art on the packaging, but it’s about taking the neighborhoods and places associated with Warhol and connecting it to his art,” said Rahme.

Much like Warhol, who was known for breaking down the boundaries between art and commerce, Rahme has continuously challenged the fragrance business with her unconventional methods. After building a fragrance business by naming her scents after New York neighbor-hoods, Rahme has increasingly looked beyond traditional methods into the art and retail worlds to generate new ideas. This past fall, Bond No. 9 broke ground by partnering with specialty retailer Saks Fifth Avenue to create an exclusive fragrance tailored to the retail chain.

The Andy Warhol Union Square scent will be launched in March in the U.S. at Bond No. 9 boutiques, Saks Fifth Avenue and mu-seum gift shops. It will then be rolled out to 20 different markets a month later, including retailers Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges in the U.K. Bond No. 9 doubled its global distribution over the past year from 10 markets, and plans to launch the brand in additional markets next year.

Andy Warhol Union Square by Bond No. 9 is a fl oral fragrance with a musk and spicy twist. Created by Stephen Nilsen of Givaudan, Andy Warhol Union Square is com-posed of top notes of lily of the valley and green stem; middle notes of sweet blue freesia and white birch wood, and bottom notes of amber and silver-cloud musk accords.

According to industry sources, Union Square could generate up to $5 million in fi rst-year wholesale sales volume.

As part of the Andy Warhol Union Square fra-grance launch, Bond No. 9 has partnered with an-other of Warhol’s licensees, Robert Lee Morris, to create 400 limited edition Warhol-inspired sterling silver Flowers necklaces. The jewelry will feature a Warhol quote engraved on the

back: “My favorite smell is the fi rst smell of spring in New York,” as well as the Bond logo. Launching in time for Mother’s Day, the 36-inch necklace will be available with a 100-ml. bottle of the fragrance for $575. Not yet determined is how prominent a role jewelry will play in future Bond No. 9 projects.

“It’s a way to lift the brand with artistry in a way that satisfi es customers,” said Rahme, who sees jewelry as a quickly growing business.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, located on Bleecker Street in the only building designed by Louis Sullivan in New York, foundation executives

noted, hopes the long-term partnership with Bond No. 9 presents an oppor-tunity to strengthen what the foundation stands for. The Warhol Foundation previously dabbled briefl y in the fragrance business in the late Nineties with

Cofi nluxe, who acquired the license for Andy Warhol Perfumes in 1998.“We wanted to work with a company that was creative and artistic,

but what attracted us to Bond No. 9 was that it challenged the fra-grance industry to do things differently,” said Michael Hermann, director of licensing at the Warhol Foundation, who has been with the foundation for more than a dozen years. “The partnership with

them was synergistic since we’re both all about New York City. It made sense for a New York artist to be with a New York-centric fragrance company.”

Started in 1987, the nonprofi t foundation has given out more than $200 million in grants — both through cash and art. According to Hermann, this year the organization will donate $11 million to other art organizations through art sales, investments and endow-

ments. Last year, Warhol’s licenses generated more than $2 million. Previous partnerships include Burton snowboard apparel, Levi’s,

Seiko and Royal Elastics footwear by Gwen Stefani.To celebrate the launch of Silver Factory earlier this

month, an olfactory ode to the pop artist’s foil-papered and silver-painted work and play space, Bond No. 9 cohosted

a VIP shopping party with W magazine, a sister publica-tion of WWD, and crammed over 400 guests into the NoHo-based perfumery’s fl agship. Silver Factory is served up in Bond No. 9’s signature star-shaped bottle

emblazoned with a graphic inspired by Warhol’s famous “Campbell’s Soup Can.”

Warhol Superstars and friends, along with celebrities who were on hand at the launch — including Geraldine

Smith, Robert Heide, Ivy Nicholson and Robert Lee Morris — agreed that Warhol himself would have approved of the fragrance. Said Heide: “He would

have loved the scent — and the attention.”Silver Factory “serves the dual purpose of

introducing the artist to a broader audience while generating funds to benefi t The Andy Warhol Museum,” said Hermann. A portion of

the sales from the evening were donated to the Andy Warhol Museum located in Pittsburgh.

— Michelle Edgar, with contributions from Jennifer Laing

6 WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

The Beauty Report

Bond No. 9 Expands Warhol Fragrance Collection

PARIS — Groupe Clarins’ newest line of moisturizers, HydraQuench Multi-Climate, is meant to suit any face anywhere on earth.

That’s because the fi ve creams and lotions in the collection, due out worldwide in January, are blended to allow people to chose formulations adapted to their type of skin or local climate, according to company executives.

“[The line] takes into account skin type — normal, combination, dry and very dry — and surrounding climate — hot, cold and temperate,” explained Stella Wong, marketing director of Clarins France.

“It’s like the clothes you wear according to the climate you are in,” added Brigitte Decaux, Clarins’ international market-ing manager.

HydraQuench is Clarins’ key treatment launch for 2008, ac-cording to the company. While its executives declined to reveal revenue targets, industry sources estimate HydraQuench will generate fi rst-year retail sales of $60 million.

With moisturizing as its key claim, HydraQuench has a broad target base, company executives said.

“Everyone needs hydration,” said Wong, adding the line complements other Clarins face care products, which target specifi c concerns, such as wrinkles.

For HydraQuench’s formulas, Clarins sourced ingredients it claims are rarely used in cosmetics, including katafray bark, said to boost skin’s moisturizing mechanisms by increasing the production of fi llagrin, a protein. In Madagascar, where it is sourced under Clarins’ fair trade program, katafray is used as an anti-infl ammatory and a face mask.

Clarins also developed a complex from wheat containing two forms of hyaluronic acid, which forms a fi lm on skin to lock moisture in, according to the company. Sorbier tree extract is said to regulate the size of blood capillaries, which are par-ticularly sensitive to climate change. Clarins’ E3P complex is included to protect skin from electromagnetic waves and pollution, according to company executives.

While the formulas for the fi ve moisturizers are largely the same, each was adapted for a skin type and most to a particular environment. The HydraQuench Cooling Cream-Gel Normal to Combination Skin or Hot Climates, for example, is

meant for the exact demographic its name suggests. That is thanks to a pomegran-ate extract included to help skin combat heat by tightening dilated pores, Clarins said. Meanwhile, for colder climes, HydraQuench Rich Cream Very Dry Skin or Cold Climates contains an extract of Arctic cloudberry, a fruit found in Finland, which Clarins said acts as a sort of antifreeze for skin due to its nourishing essen-tial fatty acids.

The line also contains a product deemed as emergency re-pair for dehydrated skin in any climate. HydraQuench Intensive Serum Bi-Phase Dehydrated Skin contains oil from the Inca pea-nut to rebuild skin’s barrier against moisture loss plus an extract of alfalfa grass, deemed to boost collagen production, according to the company.

HydraQuench products come in a range of textures, including creams, cream-gels and lotions.

Product prices range from 49.50 euros, or $71.20 at average ex-change, for a 50-ml. jar of HydraQuench Rich Cream for Normal to Dry Skin to 57 euros, or $82, for a 30-ml. bottle of HydraQuench Intensive Serum Bi-Phase Dehydrated Skin.

Single- and double-page advertising, showing a model re-laxing in water and the HydraQuench products, will break in February magazines.

Also in the realm of products for more on-the-go use is Clarins’ Body Shaping Supplement, due out Jan. 1 in the U.S. and February elsewhere. It contains the same ingredients as the com-pany’s best-selling Clarins Body Lift Minceur slimming product, but has been reformulated so it may be added easily and effec-tively to any of the fi rm’s other products — from creams to lotions to gels, according to company executives. While they would not talk numbers, industry sources estimate the product will ring up $10 million at wholesale in its fi rst year worldwide. Each pair of 25-ml. Body Shaping Supplement bottles will sell for $75.

In retail news, Clarins opened its fi rst European freestanding store — a retail environment including treatment rooms — in Paris, called Boutique Clarins. The 1,500-square-foot space opened in October. Industry sources estimate it generates $44,000 a month.

— Ellen Groves, with contributions from Jennifer Weil

Clarins Treatment Line Tailored for Skin Type, Climate

The Andy Warhol Union Square fragrance collection.

HydraQuench items from

Clarins.

The Andy Warhol Union Square fragrance collection.

BOND

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From art and architecture to eyebrows? It’s not the most

common of career switches by any stretch of the imagination, but it works for Anastasia Soare.

“Studying technical design and art gave me the ability to see things in 3-D,” said the Los Angeles-based brow expert. “Back then, we didn’t have computers — we fi gured things with pencils. Once I became an aes-thetician, I took that knowledge and studied the bone structure of every ethnic group. It has helped me to fi nd the perfect shape for anyone’s bone structure.”

Born and raised in Romania, Soare earned a degree from the Romania College of Architecture. But after taking time off to be with her husband and newborn daughter, she found it challenging to fi nd work in that fi eld. Switching gears, she enrolled in cosmetology school, earning an aesthetician’s license — which fueled her pas-sion for brows and products.

“Keep in mind that this was Romania in the Communist era,” said Soare. “We would go to the pharmacy and buy in-gredients so we could mix up products for our aesthetics cli-ents. To do that well, I studied a little cosmetic chemistry, and that was the genesis of my fi rst brow products.”

In 1989, Soare and her family emigrated to the U.S., where she began working as an aesthetician at a small salon on Melrose in L.A. “I didn’t speak the language and I didn’t know how to drive on the free-ways,” Soare said with a laugh. “I drove everywhere with a Thomas Brothers [the pre-GPS bible of Southern Californians] map on my lap!”

In 1992, Soare struck out on her own, fi rst renting a small space at the Juan Juan Beauty Center in Beverly Hills and in 1997 signing a lease for her own space on Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. “There were not salon boutiques at that time, to speak of,” said Soare, whose salon has just celebrated its 10th anniver-sary. “So after two years, we had to have our own product line, at least for makeup — none of the big pres-tige companies wanted to sell to small boutiques at that time. And there were no brow products com-mercially available.”

Today, Soare produces 42 brow-related stockkeeping units, as well as a makeup line she sells in her Beverly Hills location. A treatment gel called NuBrow — a serum said to help eyebrow hair regrowth — and implements and concealers are also part of the mix. Soare plans to eventually take the NuBrow fran-chise into a full treatment line.

In 2000, Soare’s products entered Nordstrom, followed by Sephora. Her distribution now includes 400 doors in the U.S., such as Ulta, Sephora and Nordstrom; 80 Nordstrom stores include Anastasia Brow Studios, where clients can go in for a shaping performed by a licensed aestheti-cian. “We are 62 percent ahead of last year’s revenues at our Nordstrom Brow Studios,” said Soare.

Two of Soare’s Brow Studios operate at Sephora, one in

Times Square and a second on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. She is planning to open a freestanding Brow Studio in Manhattan next year — one is already operating in Beverly Hills — and has her eye on a slew of additional freestanding Brow Studio locations domestically and internationally. “We are very bullish about expanding for next year,” she said.

Globally, Soare’s products can be found in Canada, Japan — where 10 Brow Studios are in opera-tion — Finland, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Slovenia

and France. She’s in talks to enter China, Croatia, Dubai, the U.K., New Zealand and Australia, among other markets, and hopes to tap the South American market as well. A beauty school is also on Soare’s to-do list.

She will also launch several new brow-related products in January. Brow Wiz, an $18 me-chanical brow pencil that will be available in three shades; Brow Filler, a new brow color applicator that contains brunette and blonde powders to give the user custom-blending opportunities, $20, and Tweezers Anonymous, a compila-tion of Soare’s products — Brow Stix, a stencil kit; Brown Filler, a mini duo brush, and NuBrow, a gel intended to condition, repair and restore overplucked brows, $55. While Soare declined to discuss sales projections, industry sources estimated that the new sku’s could add $2 million at retail in their fi rst year on counter.

All of Soare’s products are being repackaged — and several products that were not previously boxed will be packaged that way. “We want to make it easier for customers to reach for us,” she said, adding that the new packaging “shows what’s in the box.”

“I still do eyebrows every day,” said Soare. “Doing that gives me an advantage — it helps me to refi ne my products, and to realize from a customer perspective what is still needed.”

— Julie Naughton

7WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

WWD.COM

The indie spirit continues to grow at Lorac.

The color cosmetics and skin care brand, founded by celebrity makeup art-ist Carol Shaw in 1995, plans to more than double its distribution next year, thanks to two recently inked initiatives. The fi rst will take Lorac into 290 Ulta doors na-tionwide in March. The brand currently is available in 185 freestanding Sephora doors, 47 of the Sephora/J.C. Penney joint stores, sephora.com and 16 independent cosmetics boutiques. Lorac is also giving its Web site, loraccosmetics.com, a face-lift in January.

“The Ulta deal allows us to reach a new and different consumer,” said Shaw. “It also gives Lorac additional sources of revenue and expanded promotional opportunities. It is helping to transition from being an entrepreneurial company to a bigger business.”

Shaw gives Barry Alan, Lorac’s se-nior vice president and chief operating offi cer (and, incidentally, her brother), and David Hirsch, an attorney with an MBA who does “everything from legal work to product development,” in Shaw’s words, much of the credit for the brand’s growth trajectory.

“My intention, when I started Lorac, was to have a makeup line I could sell at Fred Segal in L.A.,” said Shaw. “Being a working makeup artist and someone with extremely sensitive skin, I wanted to have a line that I could use on my clients and on myself. I’m lucky to have Barry and Dave — they’re the ones who brought it to this level, not me. I love to create prod-ucts and work with celebrities, but they are the business minds. They’ve helped me to move from 300 bottles of founda-tion in a one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood to owning our own warehouse. That’s when I knew we’d truly made it — when we bought our fi rst forklift!”

As part of the Red Carpet Authority positioning Lorac introduced earlier this year — a nod to Shaw’s other career, making up stars for major Hollywood

events and photo shoots — the brand will release what it is touting as the fastest runway-to-reality makeup ever, the Best Dressed Palette. The bejeweled $37 com-pact contains six neutral eye shadows and a rose-bronze blush. Shaw said she plans to use the palette on celebrity cli-ents for the 2008 Academy Awards. It will be available at retail the next day, as an exclusive for Sephora.

“The whole idea was to bring that im-mediacy of the awards shows to the con-sumers while they were still excited about the looks,” explained Shaw. “Plus, with the shimmery neutral eye shadows, and gold-accented packaging, it’s also very much on trend.”

Also coming for spring 2008: Breakthrough Performance Foundation, an oil-free, antiaging foundation, $38; Visual Effects Mascara, intended to curl, separate and lengthen lashes, $19.50, and On Screen Duo, a compact powder high-lighter and cream eye shadow team, $24. Shaw said she is particularly proud of the foundation, which is powered by the brand’s proprietary SMS Complex: “This complex works on the ‘second messen-gers,’ which stimulate and amplify the molecules that enhance the skin’s natu-ral intercellular activity, leading to im-proved cell turnover.” It will be available in seven shades.

While Shaw declined to discuss sales projections, industry sources estimated that the spring Lorac introductions would add about $5 million in retail sales to the company’s revenues.

Earlier this year, Lorac retrofi tted its gondolas in all Sephora doors, replac-ing wood with black accent units with black and Lucite displays adorned with black-and-white editorial images. While gondolas aren’t yet final for the Ulta doors, Shaw said that “the positioning is the same for Sephora and Ulta, but the execution isn’t. Both retailers will have fi xtures customized for them.”

The Web site, when it is relaunched, will be an e-commerce site, noted Shaw. “We’ll carry the full line, plus old favor-ites which might not still be available in-store,” she said. “Gondolas are fi nite selling spaces, but on a Web site, you can have an unlimited range of products — so we’ll help out our customers if we can. The timing is right for Lorac to relaunch the Web site: We’ve rebranded and have a great Red Carpet strategy, and it’s time to tell our new story.”

Lorac also has begun to repackage its stockkeeping units in black outer boxes with fl ashbulb imagery on the front and a red velvet rope image on the back — an-other nod to Shaw’s ties with Hollywood. The repackaging effort will continue through fall 2008.

— J.N.

Lorac Doubling DistributionArchitecture InfluentialIn Brow Expert’s Work

Anastasia Soare

Above: A new palette and foundation from Lorac. Carol Shaw does Susan Sarandon’s lips.

WWD.COM8 WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

The Beauty Report WWD.COM

Tinsley Mortimer has no concept of the undone look. But even though she rarely sails forth for an evening on the town without the reassuring touch of hair and

makeup stylists, she’s no society windup doll.After appearing on the red carpet at a social event in Manhattan, Mortimer

seems more interested in hanging with her friends than working the room to con-nect with power hitters, always with an eye out for the next photo op. Neither is she afraid to try something different and experiment with her look.

During the New Yorkers for Children Gala in the fall, Mortimer wanted to try a new look — a departure from her signature loose blonde curls and demure pink cheeks and lips. While a hairstylist and a makeup artist worked on her simultaneously, Mortimer ad-vised them on every detail — from the length of the black eyeliner on her top lid to the blending of her eye shadow shades.

“I almost wanted to make myself feel a little uncomfortable,” confi ded Mortimer. For the sake of change her hair was slicked back and pulled around to one side, while darker, more dramatic makeup was applied.

Refl ecting on the change after the event, she said, “Overall I re-ally liked it, but I defi nitely felt fi dgety and I don’t like feeling that way while I’m out.”

Flexible she may be, but she certainly has her standards. In addition to being a fi xture of New York Society, the 31-year-old blonde moonlights as Dior’s U.S. Beauty Ambassador, attending cosmetics events on behalf of the company and consulting on its product lines.

“For me, Dior is synonymous with luxury,” said Mortimer. “The Dior girl is someone who loves to get dressed up but isn’t afraid to have fun. It felt like a good fi t to me.”

Mortimer feels comfortable in the role. After all, her fi rst job after graduating from Columbia University was as an assistant in the beauty department at Vogue. What’s more, Mortimer’s mother starting giving her “beauty lessons” at a young age.

“I have a very Southern mother who loved her makeup and would remind me each time I left the house to have my lip gloss on, and she started reminding me when I was in fourth grade,” recalled Mortimer, who was raised in Richmond.

“I’m not afraid to dress like a girl with feminine details on my clothing from ruffl es to poufs and puffy sleeves.”

Mortimer added, “I might be the girl who’s a little more dressed up, but it makes me feel more comfortable. I’ve never done effortless chic well. I do better looking very feminine with everything tucked into its place.”

She acknowledged that she is unable to control how she is perceived, or stop the stories that might appear in the tabloids, which she charged are fi lled with inaccuracies and lies. Mortimer — who is married to Topper Mortimer, the great-grandson of an oil tycoon and a descendant of John Jay, the fi rst chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court — said she has learned to shield herself from media scrutiny by avoiding certain magazines and blogs. She admits, however, that she is fl irting with the idea of a reality TV series with a fashion bent, but no plans are in place at the moment.

Over a recent lunch at Frederick’s, Mortimer said, “Comments scrutinizing my appearance and the way I dress don’t bother me, but people making up lies is dif-

fi cult. You feel a sense of helplessness when people lie be-cause you can’t even really defend yourself. But I guess it’s just something that comes along for anyone who’s involved and visible.”

The trouble is, she pointed out, the media attention tends to overshadow activities and causes that she feels strongly about. For instance, she said she frequently recruits spon-sors for charity events. She sits on the associates committee for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Young Friends committee for New Yorkers for Children, while also acting as one of the chairs for the American Museum of Natural History’s Winter Dance.

Her biggest gripe is the negative press that portrays her as a socialite using the charity circuit to land on the invite lists of New York’s most exclusive events.

“This frustrates me, because I work hard — from helping with sponsorships to raising money and awareness. I pay for my own tickets, but on occasion I get invited as a guest to sit at someone’s table,” she said.

She has parlayed her high-profi le social calendar into gigs in the fashion and beauty industry. In January 2006, she inked a deal to act as a spokesperson and a designer for

Japanese company Samantha Thavasa, where she has her own line of handbags and clothes. She was named Dior’s Beauty Ambassador in May.

Despite her perfectly polished appearance at fashion shows and black-tie af-fairs, Mortimer unwinds by walking her two Chihuahuas in Central Park or at-tending boxing classes at her Upper East Side gym. What you won’t fi nd her doing is getting a facial or massage, since she indulges in these luxurious treats only when traveling on business to Japan or on vacation.

Mortimer, who attends about three events a week, declared, “Believe it or not, I’m very low maintenance with my beauty regimens, although I always get my hair and makeup done when I go to events.”

— Michelle Edgar

When Blow Styling Salon opened its doors in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District nearly three

years ago, socialite-turned-fashion designer Lucy Sykes Rellie was an eager customer.

A self-described blowout, manicure and pedicure buff, Sykes Rellie’s interest had been piqued before the salon was fi nished. She remembered that when she met Blow’s co-founders, Jennifer Denton and Vigdis Boulton, “They said, ‘We know who you are,’ and I said, ‘Well, I know who you are.’”

Then the idea eventually came up that the three might work together. Sykes Rellie and Denton were al-ready (and still are) neighbors in the West Village. And tapping into the social network of a woman-about-town could only help Denton’s fl edgling business.

Now, Sykes Rellie is on Blow Styling Salon’s advi-sory board.

“I’m strategically involved with the girls,” she said, from “what color the walls should be” to “where they should be next — L.A.? Downtown? My job is really being a sounding board.”

Said Denton: “From the beginning, we’ve had a tremendous amount of support from Lucy. She sends people in from the fashion and beauty industries. She credits us prior to getting photographed. She refer-ences us in interviews.”

Relationships such as these illustrate a point lux-ury beauty brands have come to recognize: It’s hard to beat word-of-mouth endorsements by the socially prominent. As a result, beauty’s fl irtation with high so-ciety has turned into an affair.

While brands such as Darphin, La Mer, Lancôme and Chanel have had informal ties to the social set — “devotees” who frequent lunches, teas, dinners and parties held by the brands — others have taken the re-lationship a step further.

For instance, Dior Beauty hired Tinsley Mortimer as its U.S. beauty ambassador in the spring (see story, this page). In September, Natura Bissé signed Cristina Cuomo as its U.S. ambassador. And Orlane expects to sign ambassadors in the U.S. and Europe in the near future.

Not to be forgotten is Olivia Chantecaille, whose omnipresence certainly hasn’t hurt her mother Sylvie’s 10-year-old beauty brand, which has developed a healthy business with Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York and Bergdorf Goodman.

These women of infl uence are just the type of consumers high-end brands are targeting, espe-cially those selling skin creams for $500 to $1,000 a jar — which, in some cases, include liquid gold, diamonds or other gemstones on their lists of ingredients.

In September, to launch its 1.7-oz., $650 jar of Crème Royale, Orlane held a luncheon hosted by Byrdie Bell, Muffy Flouret, Zani Gugelmann, Olivia Palermo and Carly Steel. Naturally enough, the 400 attendees included many of the hostesses’ friends.

“Socialites are like our royalty in the States,” said Naz Toloui, vice president of sales and edu-cation for Orlane. “They expose brands to their friends. If she’s using a cream, everyone wants to use that cream.”

In the company’s search for an ambassador, “we are looking at twentysomethings in New York, the Hamptons and Los Angeles,” Toloui added, declining to name names. “We’re an established line, but our clientele is getting young-er and younger. They represent the future of Orlane.”

In an industry that’s celebrity-obsessed, socialites can present an attractive alternative. “Socialites rep-resent luxury,” said Toloui.

“Socialites are tastemakers,” said Beth DiNardo, general manager of Darphin, which launched its Arovita C skin care line in May with a luncheon host-ed by Ivanka Trump and, in 2004, had Sally Albemarle host a series of afternoon teas. “They have exposure to the best of the best, so they have infl uence. They can be more meaningful than celebrities. They are the real users of our products.”

“We looked at celebrities,” said Patricia Fisas, chief executive offi cer in the U.S. for Natura Bissé, “but we wanted someone with a lifestyle that refl ects all the women who use our products.” The fi rm hopes to make its relationship with Cuomo a bit more formal with the

eventual launch of a national ad campaign featuring her.Beauty retailers also are turning to society. Sephora

tapped socialite-turned-model Lydia Hearst as the face of its holiday marketing program. Hearst appeared on the cover of the retailer’s holiday catalogue as well as on visuals in stores, windows and at sephora.com.

When it comes to compensating their socially elite ambassadors, beauty companies don’t hesitate to pile on the products and cover brand-related parties and travel expenses. In Dior’s case, an undisclosed fee for Mortimer is slated to go to a charity of her choice. Natura Bissé is said to have a year-to-year contract with Cuomo worth less than $50,000 in the fi rst year, according to market sources.

Executives were mum on naming prime candidates for a beauty deal lest a competitor snap them up.

— Matthew W. Evans

Beauty’s Social Engagements

Out on the Town With Mortimer

From left: Lucy Sykes Rellie, Cristina Cuomo and Olivia Chantecaille.

Tinsley Mortimer

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By Georgia Lee

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — With growth slowing, the spa in-dustry is shifting focus from pampering the elite to health and wellness for all.

To keep loyal devotees, spas are moving beyond basic treatments to more personalized experiences that treat the whole person. Using music, biofeedback, meditation and yoga, spas are not only touting stress relief, but nu-trition, fi tness and how to get a better night’s sleep.

By stressing healthy lifestyles, the industry hopes to demystify the spa for the estimated 75 percent of Americans who’ve never visited one.

“Spa is no longer just about lotions and potions,” said Jim Root, chairman of the International Spa Association. “Spa is not a place, but a lifestyle of well-ness, aliveness and happiness.”

The inclusive tone was refl ected in products, ser-vices, education and speakers at the International Spa Association’s conference, held Nov. 12 to 15 at the Gaylord Palms here, where the event drew more than 130,000 attendees to view an eclectic mix of products from 280 exhibitors. Over 40 educational and network-ing events included keynote speeches by writer Maya Angelou, who closed the event.

“The show has gone beyond skin care and equip-ment exhibitors to include the softer side, with music, clothing and candles,” said Root. Though high-tech equipment is still a part of the show, “it’s now more about high-touch,” Root said. ISPA, based in Lexington, Ky., is expanding internationally, with 3,000 members in 76 countries.

In the U.S., the spa industry’s rapid growth of the past decade has slowed, according to the Spa Industry Study presented during the conference. Total revenues of $9.4 billion in 2006 declined from $9.7 billion in 2005. The number of U.S. spas, 14,600, is still rising, but at a slower pace, with medical, resort and destination spas outpacing the growth in day spas.

Industrywide, profi ts increased, more attributable to price increases than consumer demand, which has changed little since doubling from 1999 to 2001.

“We have to eliminate barriers of price and time constraints to be accessible to everybody, and change the perception from pampering to staying healthy,” said Lynne McNees, president of ISPA. She urged spa owners to consider niche markets, including men, who make up 31 percent of U.S. spagoers, as well as teens, who still offer opportunity.

With recyclable print materials, water coolers rath-er than plastic bottles and other programs, the ISPA show refl ected a larger trend toward environmental concerns, along with exhibitors who had individual green and social initiatives.

“We’ve seen a recent explosion, with this industry

leading in social environmental causes,” said exhibitor Keith West-Harrison, president, Preston Spa Business Solutions, in Sante Fe, who represents Yum Gourmet Skin Care, a company that has partnered with organi-zations such as Care.

West-Harrison said social and global awareness is also revving up interest in indigenous treatments, in-cluding Eastern and ayurvedic medicine, herbal rem-edies and Native American rituals.

At ISPA, natural, organic and botanical were the big skin care buzzwords, as exhibitors served up a cornu-copia of products with tropical fruits, coffee and tea as key ingredients.

The crossover of fashion in the spa industry was also evident, not only in the number, but in the changing na-ture, of the clothing and accessories exhibitors at ISPA.

Anatomie, an active lifestyle brand, bills itself as “spa chic.”

“Our customer wants something besides the basic silhouettes and dull colors that have been in the mar-ket,” said Katlin Boyer, sales director of the Nice, France-based line that offers fi tted leggings, jackets, tanks and T-shirts in luxury French and Italian fabrics that wholesale from $40 to $145. Boyer said she picked up 70 accounts at ISPA, from spas who are adding or expanding clothing in their retail offerings.

Responding to increasingly “green-minded” con-sumers, ISPA attendees shopped the exhibit fl oor for natural, eco-friendly skin care, cosmetics and acces-sories that would make their spas stand out.

“I’m looking for product lines that support the mes-sage of collective well-being,” said Jeremy McCarthy, director of spa operations development and marketing

for Starwood Hotels and Resorts. “People are so time-starved and bombarded with technology. We want ways to make them feel better.”

Creating an uplifting experience is the lynchpin of Starwood’s new Heavenly Spa brand, open in six Westin hotels, and expanding to a dozen others, said McCarthy. Among other “rituals,” guests are encour-aged to symbolically place their cares is “burden bas-kets,” before services and treatments.

McCarthy bought eco-friendly robes and spawear in soy and bamboo fi bers from Calispia, and T-shirts with inspirational messages such as “Breathe Deeply.” He also considered Sleep Garden’s DVDs that promote better sleep.

To provide the most personalized experience for guests, Barbara Stirewalt, spa director for The Spa at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, N.Y., shopped ISPA for “partners, rather than vendors, that will work with us for special private label products, services and brands,” she said.

She bought customized colors in mineral cosmetics exclusively for her spa from La Bella Donna and special-ly programmed playlists and CDs by Prescriptive Music.

She also bought environmentally conscious bamboo spa uniforms from Yeah Baby and spawear by Calispia to sell in the spa.

“Our consumers are extremely concerned with the green movement, so we’re always careful about recy-cling, and using products that are environmentally friendly,” she said.

The spa has beefed up meditation, stress relief and antiaging programs, offering many on a year-round basis, said Stirewalt.

By Barbara Barker

BARCELONA — Several prominent hair trends for 2008 emerged at Wella’s fifth International Trend Vision, held Oct. 28 at the Catalan capital’s Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona.

Carlin Int., Wella’s Paris-based research and trend fore-casting agency, pinpointed four of the most likely trends. One called for the continuation of loose, deconstructed shapes via see-through curl variations, à la supermodel Gisele. Another followed modernity with one-length, head-hugging cocoon styles — as opposed to layers — with elaborate color tech-niques and lots of shine and smooth texture. Asymmetrical shapes are expected to become more prevalent in 2008, ac-cording to Carlin, and styles that mirror Victoria Beckham’s bob are also planned.

“Next year will be about circles, curvatures and rounded shapes,” said Teri Dougherty, creative director of Wella’s Colors of the World educational initiative. Wella’s Germany-based color expert, Klaus Nolte, summed up the basics of next year’s hair color story to “ubershine and blends of high- and lowlights.”

The evening’s award ceremony featured runway presenta-tions, multicultural dances and a rousing “Parade of Nations” with patriotic, Olympic-style fl ag waving. A lively competition for the most cre-ative interpretation of the German hair care company’s 2007 trends included en-tries from stylists hailing from 53 countries. Ultimately, South Korea won fi rst place for an edgy design based on slight asymmetrical movement and panels of color including butterscotch and soft, rusty red.

Dougherty, who was one of the competition’s fi ve jurors, praised the style’s construction, as well as hair color, which she said “sings.”

Ukraine took second place for a decadent, theatrical cut and coordinated makeup.

Thailand’s simple lines and subtle colorations took third place.

“What’s so good about this design is the execution and har-mony of color. It’s quite an interpretation — and such beautiful shine,” Dougherty commented.

Wella, the second leading hair care brand in Europe after L’Oréal, was acquired by Procter & Gamble in the spring of 2003 for $7 billion. Currently, the brand operates 100 studios and training centers worldwide reaching 1.6 million hair-dressers, said P&G’s Kevin Otero, manager, North America, P&G Professional Care. He reported a 2 to 5 percent growth rate in the color category over the last fi ve years in the North American market, citing in particular this year’s third quarter, which saw an increase of 27 percent over the same period in 2006. “We think there is an opportunity for much more growth to be driven by product innovation,” Otero said. “Asian coun-tries will be the most important markets down the road, es-pecially China and India. They represent tremendous growth areas.”

Otero declined to reveal projections for next year “but I will say we’re off to a strong start.”

Speakers and Wella executives said the one-day event brought innovative ex-ecutions and new technical skills and ideas to the hairstyling community, which was represented by 2,500 salon-industry professionals and 80 foreign journalists.

“This competition is the only international event where upcoming trends and new talent take center stage,” said Robert Jongstra, president of Procter & Gamble Global Professional Care.

9WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

WWD.COM

Upcoming Hair Trends Take Center Stage at Wella Event

Spas Seek to Move Beyond Pampering

Exhibitors at the International Spa Association’s conference.

South Korea won fi rst place at Wella’s International Trend Vision.

10 WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

The HBA Report WWD.COM

By Rachel Brown

Christopher Dove and Sonya Dove Legendre bypassed ritzy salon haven

Beverly Hills in favor of the seaside en-clave of Santa Monica, Calif., to cultivate an unpretentious vibe in their first namesake U.S. outpost.

“There is an affluence down here [in Santa Monica], but there is more of a real feeling that appealed to us,” said Dove Legendre. Dove, who has been Dove Legendre’s collaborator for nearly 30 years, added, “We didn’t want to do the predictable thing of Beverly Hills.”

The duo, along with business partner Philippe Legendre, who is also Sonya’s hus-band (Dove and Dove Legendre used to be married), decided upon a 2,300-square-foot space, which opened last month in the Archstone building, a new mixed-used devel-opment with retail, apartments and eateries. “It was a completely empty shell. We were able to do everything from bare walls,” said Dove.

They set out to transform the unsul-lied spot into an industrial salon with ele-ments of warmth and gave architect Kaveh Amirdelfan an understanding of the seem-ingly contradictory style by showing him their Los Angeles area homes. “We wanted it to have a very clean, modern feeling, but we didn’t want it to be too sterile and stark,” said Dove. “You can see how confusing it would have been for someone that doesn’t really know your character.”

With Amirdelfan, interior designer Greg Bleier and the partners all on the same page, they vetted some 150 different tiles and woods and searched all over the world for appropriate fi xtures and furniture. Red, stain-proof chairs in the salon are from Italy, clear shelving lit up from within hails from Japan and a curved concrete sign behind the reception illuminated by fi ber optics was made in Hungary.

The fl ooring and lighting gave them the most trouble. They settled upon a soft maple for the fl oor that didn’t soak up color like a sponge. And they worked hard to create even lighting by melding four different types of lights that didn’t overly spotlight customers’ hair to the determinant of their faces and vice versa.

The focal point of the salon is a stain-less steel color bar that fi ts fi ve stations and houses thousands of possible color va-rieties. “A lot of people say they have never seen a color area that big,” commented Dove Legendre. Explained Dove, “When you are bringing a client over, you can carry on a conversation and keep everything nice and social. The feeling is that you are at your fa-vorite cocktail bar.”

The partners have decades of experience together. The former couple met in England when Sonya was 13 and Christopher was 15, and eventually ran a salon there for 13 years. In 1994, they moved to the U.S., where Shelton Ogle, owner of salons and schools in Texas, hired the pair to be creative direc-tors. They then held those posts at Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salons before jumping to Wella Professionals U.S.A., where they cur-rently are creative directors. Throughout their career, they gained a following for elaborate stage shows and commitment to educating up-and-comers.

For Dove and Dove Legendre, compro-mise has been critical to an enduring profes-sional relationship. “I have been a bit more outrageously creative and out there, and Sonya is a lot more practical,” said Dove. Dove Legendre added, “Philippe is more in the middle….There is not a right or wrong. When you put them together, it creates a stronger person.”

They foresee several salons in the U.S., including possible locations in Las Vegas,

Newport Beach, Calif., and elsewhere in greater Los Angeles. First, they have to fi ll the Santa Monica location with a staff of 15 stylists and colorists that they choose to pay with a salary rather than on commission. “We have interviewed about 500 hairdress-ers,” said Dove. “A lot of time we are getting people who say, ‘I have this amount of cli-ents, and you need me in this salon.’ It was such a turnoff. We have gone for people who have great personality.”

Dove Legendre said that, in year two, the goal is for the salon, which ended up cost-ing $700,000 to complete, to generate $1.7 million in revenues, about 20 percent from retail, 40 percent from color and 40 percent from cuts and styling. The salon carries Wella, Sebastian and Crazy Color by Renbow products. For color, prices range from $40 for a consultation to $450 for creative tech-niques from the creative director. Haircuts are priced from $65 to $175.

“We have always maintained a level of modesty….Truly, we are people that will work hard to do everything we can to do our best,” said Dove. “So far, every time we have put our heart and soul and mind into some-thing, it has worked out.”

THE DOVE SALON LANDS IN CALIF.

New Year Brings New SalonsBy Andrea Nagel

The owner of one of the newest salons in Chelsea — and there have been at least half a dozen in the past year — said his will

have staying power, citing loyal clients, a high regard for service and the salon’s Upper East Side-meets-Chelsea atmosphere as a formula for success.

Adrian De Berardinis is no stranger to Manhattan’s salon mecca. His hairstyling career began fi ve years ago at Chelsea’s thriving Antonio Prieto salon, where he rose to creative director and was re-sponsible for heading up the salon’s education program, as well as management responsibilities.

But working for someone else was not a long-term plan, De Berardinis said. His father, mother, uncle and aunt have all been in the salon business, and his family has owned salon chains in Toronto — where he was raised — and Italy and Hong Kong during the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. His father, Giancarlo, currently owns De Berardinis Salon in Greenwich, Conn.

Last New Year’s Eve while on a family vacation in Miami, the two had a heart-to-heart on the ups and downs of the salon world. “This is not an easy business, it can be very diffi cult,” said Giancarlo to his son at the time. But the duo decided to invest in their ultimate dream.

Open for less than a month is De Berardinis Salon, located on 155 West 21st Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, nestled between a barbershop and yes, another salon.

The 2,200-square-foot space sells and uses Kerastase products, as well as styling products by Shu Uemura. Designed by New York social-ite and designer Celerie Kemble of Kemble Interiors, the salon aims to be stylish yet approachable, with large antique mirrors and brushed gold light fi xtures, complete with a retail area, reception and lounge area and coffee bar. A center island on the main cutting room fl oor is dedicated to color (Wella and Redken brands are used), with 16 chairs in total fi lling up the salon. Currently, De Berardinis employs four col-orists and six stylists, and the importation of well-known hairstylist Cristian from Milan is pending for January. A manicure station is also in the works. Haircuts start at $100 and reach $175 for new clients of De Berardinis. Single process color starts at $95; highlights start at $145. Blowouts are $40.

De Berardinis owns 51 percent of the salon and holds the title pres-ident; his father owns a 49 percent stake and serves as its secretary. The salon cost upward of $700,000 to build. The two expect to generate about $2 million in fi rst-year sales beginning Jan. 1.

Entering the salon world seems a natural place for someone who has a family steeped in the profession, but De Berardinis did try his hand at several other careers before discovering hair was his thing.

“He liked music, he made a couple of demos,” said his father. “He was always very creative, he tried advertising. From a very early age he saw details,” he added.

De Berardinis, who recently styled the hair of Isabella Rossellini and Monique Lhuiller, and worked on a shoot for Uomo Collezioni, said he is halfway to success.

“It’s sort of mission ac-complished for me,” he said of completing con-struction of the salon. Of the rampant compe-tition in the area, De Berardinis said there’s only thing he’ll have to do. “We have to raise the bar higher for service. We have to be better than the next guy.”

DE BERARDINIS HITS CHELSEAThe hair color bar inside The Dove.

Inside The Dove salon.

Christopher Dove and Sonya Dove Legendre

A selection of Kerastase

products.

Inside the De Berardinis Salon

in Chelsea.

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By Susan Watters

WASHINGTON — For anyone who can’t resist betting on an underdog, Al Jazeera English is a 24-hour news net-work that might be worth watching. That is, if you can find it.

“Our great frustration in life is that except for the closed circuit cable systems of the Pentagon and State Department, which serves embassies in Washington, in America we are only seen on a few very small cable systems, two in Ohio, one in Vermont and one in the Watergate complex [in Washington],” lamented co-anchor Dave Marash, the award-winning, Jewish, former correspondent who spent 16 years working on “Nightline,’’ Ted Koppel’s nightly news show. Al Jazeera English recruited Marash several months after ABC laid him off in a post-Koppel move to revamp the show. At the time, Marash took a lot of heat for joining an Islamic-backed network that had weathered heavy attacks from then-secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld and was seen by many conservatives as an apologist for Al-Qaeda.

Rumsfeld is gone, Al Jazeera is now seen as a major source of international news, and Marash is still break-ing stories. The only hitch is that, even now, it’s easy for his colleagues not to know they’re take credit for “break-ing” a story he did fi rst.

Take New York Times reporter Michael Gordon, who last year reported that American troops and indepen-dent U.S. contractors had assisted Ethiopian soldiers in toppling the government of Somalia. When Marash broke the story days before, he asked Adm. Michael Mullen, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whether the tactic might become a paradigm for future U.S. military operations. Mullen agreed, calling it “one of the arrows in our quiver.”

“Michael Gordon probably never saw the show,’’ said Marash, knowing too well how public information spe-cialists can spin a story once it has already aired.

Difficulties reaching viewers in the U.S. — de-spite a worldwide audience of 800 million households — aren’t the only obstacles facing Al Jazeera English’s Washington news team, though. Even after a year on air, Bush administration cabinet offi cials continue to assiduously avoid the Al Jazeera English option. “Alas, we are fi nding that American offi cials are still some-what gun shy,” said Marash, noting that in Congress, only Republican Christopher Shays of Connecticut and Democrat Neal Abercrombie of Hawaii have appeared.

In addition, out of a current staff of 140, with 40 journalists and four cameramen, only one Al Jazeera English reporter holds a White House press pass.

But none of this seems to bother Will Stebbins, Al Jazeera English’s Washington bureau chief, much. He puts a positive spin on the lack of access.

“When the White House makes a statement on im-migration, for example, we aren’t so much interested in being in the press room as we are in reporting from the border where the story is actually taking place,” ex-plained the 41-year-old, former Latin American corre-spondent for Associated Press Television, who recently hired Lucia Newman, CNN’s Havana bureau chief, to run the network’s Buenos Aires bureau.

Stebbins insisted he faces no shortage of talented journalists eager to join his staff, despite the pro forma chorus of criticism by administration offi cials who scorn the network for showing close-up shots of wounded American soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

“Frankly, it was sort of an embarrassment of riches really,” said Stebbins, who credits his stack of résumés to a growing frustration among journalists over news organizations trimming their international staffs. “Now would seem to be a time when U.S. viewers require much larger ingredients of international news in their evening newscasts, and yet, oddly enough, the coverage is shrinking rather than growing.”

For Lebanese-born Ghida Fakhry, the bureau’s lead female anchor, interviewing an undersecretary of state on matters of international policy is an oppor-tunity worth fi ghting for. “It’s always a bit of a boxing match,’’ said Fakhry, explaining, “I enjoy interviews where I can challenge someone in a position of author-ity. Interviewing analysts is not the same as interview-ing U.S. offi cials before an important U.S. move like the embargo of Iran.”

Voted one of the hottest on-air female news person-alities by Esquire magazine, Fakhry, a size 2 who favors Ann Taylor pantsuits for their fi tted jackets and hip-hug-ger waistlines, is a formidable interviewer, as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner recently discov-ered. Noting France’s own history of developing a nu-clear bomb in secret, she questioned his government’s saber rattling about the need to bomb Iran if that coun-try didn’t give up its nuclear aspirations.

“Can’t you ask me a positive question?” he winced in

the face of Fakhry’s grilling.“I am a journalist,” she replied, offering up a demure

smile as she went on to ask why the U.S. had sched-uled the round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks for November at a time when leaders of both regions were suffering historically low approval ratings at home. From there she wondered, in view of President Bush’s decision to fl out the United Nations and attack Iraq, whether the American President should be tried as a war criminal. Kouchner dodged the question without once rejecting the possibility.

Recalling her own journalism career start as a researcher for a leading Arab newspaper based in London, she said, “I remember reading about Christiane Amanpour in Time magazine, that she had been work-ing as a secretary when she asked, ‘Hey, why don’t you send me to the Balkans?’’’ said Fakhry, whose decision to adopt the same approach landed her an assignment covering the United Nations. “She paved the way for women journalists to go to a confl ict zone.”

“What makes Al Jazeera the best is we never waste our time with ephemeral non-news of the Paris Hilton and O.J. Simpson sort,” claimed Marash. “And most of all because we cover, perhaps even preferentially, 60

percent of the planet that our conventional competitors radically undercover. Places like South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.”

Of course, Al Jazeera can afford to focus on a global view because, so far, it doesn’t have any advertisers. Commercial pressures are growing on all areas of the Western media, a fact recently bemoaned by former vice president Al Gore on “The Daily Show” as one reason American newspapers and TV don’t cover more global issues.

In Al Jazeera’s case, the only vote that counts is that of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who founded Al Jazeera International in 1996 with a grant of $150 million. A decade later, he started Al Jazeera English. But even the emir is interested in measuring his success. In November, he ordered a Nielsen report to mark the network’s one-year anniversary, including an independent analysis of who is watching what.

Among Al Jazeera English’s viewers are three cable stations in Estonia, Global TV in Canada with 1.8 mil-lion households and YES satellite in Israel, which in January dropped the BBC in favor of Al Jazeera English. The network has also been successful on the Internet, with its English Web site receiving 4 million to 5 mil-lion page views a week, and 60 percent of its hits coming from America.

And the network continues to grab scoops — and gen-erate controversy — worldwide. On Thursday it broad-cast an interview with Vietnam’s Thich Quang Do, 80, a prominent dissident and deputy leader of the banned

Unifi ed Buddhist Church of Vietnam, who has been under house arrest in Saigon for more than 25 years. A week earlier, Al Jazeera ignited outrage in Algeria when it conducted a survey on its Web site asking whether Al-Qaeda’s attacks there were justifi ed. The channel subse-quently withdrew the poll and issued an apology.

Washington is one of the network’s three interna-tional bureaus, along with Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and London, connected to headquarters in Doha, Qatar, by a round-the-world fi ber ring. State-of-the-art equipment is strictly high-defi nition. No one here uses tapes. To put the shows together, producers rely on Samsung computers and the same Vizrt template graphics used by CNN and accessible through an Octopus newsroom system.

Housed in the same unmarked offi ce of a Washington building across the street from McCormick & Schmick’s seafood restaurant, Al Jazeera International and Al Jazeera English operate separately stretched over seven fl oors.

“We all joke that the place looks like the set from ‘The West Wing,’ ’’ said a receptionist on the third fl oor where the Al Jazeera English top brass have their offi ces.

Among those who rate are Riz Khan, a former BBC

trainee born in South Yemen and educated at the University of Wales in Cardiff, who previously hosted an interactive talk show for CNN where he interviewed world leaders including Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. In April 1998, he cov-ered the Muslim pilgrimage, the hajj, live for CNN, al-most a decade before joining Al Jazeera in 2006.

Also in the lineup is former U.S. Marine Josh Rushing, 35, the Texan who in 2003 was assigned to take questions from Al Jazeera as part of his duties as media affairs offi cer at the U.S. Central Command headquar-ters in Doha. He became something of a media star as the only American featured in Egyptian fi lmmaker Jehane Noujaim’s critically acclaimed documentary “Control Room.”

Earlier this year, when Al Jazeera English was con-sidering how to cover Gen. David Petraeus’ September report to Congress on the situation in Iraq, bureau chief Stebbins recalled, “Just before his report, we did a story on the Third Infantry out of Georgia. We didn’t just focus on what Petraeus was saying. We actually went to the place he was talking about. Josh was embedded and went with them to Iraq to give a fi rsthand report from the troops on the ground.

“The rest of the world doesn’t really have intimate knowledge of how the U.S. functions,’’ continued Stebbins. “They see a lot of the President, they see a lot of celebrity scandals and celebrity trials, but what they’re really interested in is the interplay between the legislative and executive branches.’’

11WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

Media/Advertising

Al Jazeera English: Fighting Through Stereotypes

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“We cover, perhaps even preferentially, 60 percent of the planet

that our conventional competitors radically undercover. ” — Dave Marash, Al Jazeera English

Al Jazeera English’s Washington bureau chief Will Stebbins and anchor Ghida Fakhry.

WWD.COM

WWD.COM12 WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

Jewelry Brands Look to Capitalize on AccessoriesBy Katya Foreman

PARIS — Jewelry brands such as Cartier, de Grisogono, Bulgari, Asprey and Chopard may bring to mind high-wattage sparklers but, spurred by the enduring “It” bag trend, a growing number of fine jewelers are extending their monikers and glitzy heritages to leather goods lines.

Having introduced bags in 1997, Bulgari’s “aggressive pursuit” of the leather goods category, according to chief executive officer Francesco Trapani, took off two years ago. Today, the brand counts fi ve accessories-only stores, including its new Rome fl agship.

“The traffi c in the accessories stores is different from that of the jewelry stores,” said Trapani, referring to a younger clientele on the hunt for products retailing for under $1,500.

Chopard is also looking to carve out a separate retail channel for its leather goods, having opened its fi rst ac-cessories-only store in Kuwait in 2006, followed by anoth-er in Dubai this year.

“There is a huge potential for our accessories in some regions and at the same time we need to protect [our] high jewelry clientele,” said Davide Traxler, director of Chopard in Italy.

Citing “high-double-digit growth” for the bag line since its launch in 2004, Traxler hinted that more accessories-only stores are in the works.

“It is in fact a response to demand,” he said, adding the spring line will include white ostrich, rose gold fi nishes and “reptiles galore.”

“The fashion world has invaded the bag world and that’s the real phenomenon,” said Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s director of strategy and patrimony.

Cartier launched its best-selling Marcello bag line in June, backed by a robust media campaign. While the event marks the jeweler’s fi rst foray into day bags, the house is no stranger to accessories.

“In the 19th century, it was common practice for a lady to go to Cartier for any variety of elegant accoutrements, be it an umbrella decorated with ivory and coral, say, or a bag,” said Rainero, adding that Cartier’s fi rst bag department opened in the Twenties, offering a range of leather and fabric styles. “We aim to resurrect that [universe]. We are a jewelry house, but we have always had in-house savoir-faire for bags. And we have an incredible ar-chive of designs.”

Eschewing come-and-go trends, many jewel-ry brands are aligning their collections with those of traditional leather goods houses, such as Hermès.

“The bags have nothing to do with our jewelry,” said Fawaz Gruosi, ceo of de Grisogono, which launched its fi rst bag collection last month. “They are handbags in the true sense, with no stones or precious metals. They repre-sent extreme luxury in terms of materials and fi nishing, but func-tion was also a priority.”

Gruosi said the bags retail from around $2,500 to $12,000. Each bag, from beach styles to evening clutches, sports a practical BlackBerry pocket, for example.

“Our bags are investment pieces, not ‘It’ bags, something that can be worn season after season,” said Asprey’s creative director Hakan Rosenius, who joined the fi rm 18 months ago. “The brief alongside the jewelry was to develop the leather goods and ready-to-wear, to bring it up to a level which was synonymous with the jewelry.”

Asprey has long been renowned for its leather goods, from handbags to luggage, but hasn’t been a major player in the bag category in recent years. With the release of the company’s python and gold Portobello bag for spring, as well as two to three sub-

sequent styles planned for fall, Rosenius’ aim is to establish fi ve to six permanent classics for the house. Currently rep-resenting 10 to 12 percent of Asprey’s sales, the percentage should grow in 2008, he predicted.

Cartier also hopes its nascent Marcello bag is a classic in the making.

“We’re not thinking in terms of short-term trends, but more of a way of life,” said Rainero, who declined to com-ment on sales targets for the bag.

For many jewelry brands, exclusive distribution is one strategy for standing out from the pack, generally limited to their own stores, as well as a sprinkling of high-end interna-tional fashion and travel retail doors.

“You will not see many de Grisogono bags around the world,” said Gruosi. “At the moment, we do very small pro-duction and small volumes. We want to keep it limited.”

And make no mistake: The jewelry brands are generally aiming for the upper end of the handbag market. An alliga-tor bag at Asprey, for example, goes from around $7,000 to $13,000.

“Our bags can range anywhere between a few thousand dollars and over $50,000 for a one-of-a-kind alligator Twist bag decorated with 18-carat gold and diamonds,” said Rosenius.

While fragrance and eyewear lines have become exten-sions for many jewelry brands, a number of players are di-vided on the matter of leather goods. Executives at Van Cleef & Arpels, for example, which founded the minaudière in the late Twenties and was the fi rst jeweler, in 1972, to launch a scent, equate straying from the house’s core jewelry business

with diluting the brand’s name.“Cartier has the policy of being a global brand with a large of-fering, whereas we view ourselves as the essence of the Place

Vendôme, and bags do not have their place there,” said a Van Cleef spokesman, noting the house is instead lining

up a series of one-off collaborations that will likely include accessories. “It’s more a question of artistic

expression for the brand.”Similarly, Boucheron, which launched an

eyewear collection in 1994 and also has a fra-grance, ruled out the possibility of branching

out into leather goods.“We’ll stick to some very exclusive col-

laborations,” said a spokeswoman for the fi rm, which launched a limited edition bejeweled Alexander McQueen Novak bag in 2006.

“A jeweler should remain a jeweler,” insisted de Grisogono’s Gruosi, who views his bag line as nothing more than a “fun exercise in creative whimsy.”

“Already, for me, it was a bit too much to extend into watches,” he added.

“If we want to remain true jewelry brands it has to stay separate. Otherwise we’ll all turn into

department stores.”— With contributions from Lucie Greene, London

DOING THE RIGHT THING: When American Apparel founder Dov Charney placed a quarter-page

ad in the business section of The New York Times on Dec. 21 stating the plight of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., he knew he would get a lot of bang for his buck. But he wasn’t quite prepared to deal with the resulting attention. “We didn’t want to spend a lot of money on [the ad]. We might be doing more, but one ad in The New York Times goes a long way. I think a lot of people are going to fi nd it historical because not many retailers speak out on this issue,” Charney told WWD.

But he wasn’t willing to verbalize any concrete plans for proposed action or legislation, locally or nationally. “I am thinking it through. I want to see if I can play a role in bringing some intelligence in this issue,” he said.

When pushed about specifi c action, Charney added, “I’m just a 38-year-old guy in the schmatta business here trying to fi gure out how to do something.”

The ad, which pictured a 24-year-old American Apparel employee of Hispanic descent, didn’t say whether the fi rm has illegal immigrants among its 7,000-person worldwide workforce. “I’m not making any statements or assumptions about my employees. This could be any employer in Los Angeles,” said Charney, though he added, “One of the major stakeholders in my company is my employees and we want to make sure we do the most we can to advance

their condition.” The purchase of the Los

Angeles-based American Apparel by Endeavor Acquisition Corp. became fi nal earlier this month, but Charney, who has said in the past that politics don’t sell, said he didn’t know yet what impact the ad would have on his business or what his shareholders would think. “I am not at all worried about my ability to sell T-shirts now or two years from now. But one can’t just crawl into a shell. It’s important that business leaders and celebrities start talking about this issue. From an academic, human and economic point of view, this is good information to put out there on behalf of our corporation.”

It remains to be seen whether “Mr. Charney Goes to Washington,” to paraphrase the Jimmy Stewart fi lm. But the long-controversial apparel fi gure aims to make an impact in his hometown, pointing to the example of Levi’s desegregating its factories in San Francisco during the civil rights movement. “Why did Levi’s do it? Probably because it was the right thing to do at the time. And they became known as a company that represented what America was all

about,” said Charney. “What Levi’s was to San Francisco, we aspire to be to Los Angeles,” said Charney. — Marcy Medina

HOLIDAY GOODIES: While no one complains about getting a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates as a corporate holiday gift (except, perhaps, for waistline watchers with little self-control), a few media gift-givers were extra creative this year. Time Inc.’s corporate communications department sent out a media sampling selected by their editors. An Amy Winehouse CD, DVDs of the television show “Friday Night Lights” and the Oscar-winning fi lm “The Lives of Others,” and Khaled Hosseini’s novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns” made the cut.

Vanity Fair, which last year gave a pocket-size copy of The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, ensured it would be remembered this year for its Christmas card, an Annie Leibovitz shot of Bono and Graydon Carter, with the latter giving Time Inc.’s Jim Kelly a run for his money in the Santa verisimilitude department. (A video of Carter’s transformation is on the magazine’s Web site.)

Architectural Digest turned to one of its AD 100 designers, Alexa Hampton of Mark Hampton, to design a gold lamé umbrella for its gift this year. “Hampton was inspired by the inherent architectural shape of the umbrella with its three-dimensional skeleton arches and spire,” said a spokesman for the magazine. Unfortunately, the umbrella itself is a bit more fragile than your average architectural landmark — it comes with a tag warning users not to fold it when wet. But at least it looks good. — Irin Carmon

MEMO PAD

A bag from Chopard’s spring line.

A bag from Bulgari’s

spring line.

Asprey’s Portobello bag in lilac

python.

WWD.COM13WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

Fashion Meets Function in Cell Phone Designelectronics market in the world, with more than one billion cell phones produced each year, and industry experts predict that by 2011 more than 200 million mobile phones a year will come from nontraditional brands, including fashion ones.

The linkup only makes sense. Hatching a new product every three months, the cell phone industry is one of the few consumer sectors that mirrors fashion’s breakneck turnaround cycles. And for designers, the numbers are nothing but attractive: Dolce & Gabbana’s limited edition MotoRAZR V3i cell phone for Motorola that retailed world-wide for about $550 and included a swinging gold pendant with the initials DG, three disco polyphonic ring tones and a voice that announces the name of the fashion house when the phone is switched on or off had sales of $256 million in 12 months, equivalent to more than 465,000 phones.

“The market is segmenting into those who want a phone with all of the latest technological whistles and bells and those who want to make a style state-ment,” said Chris Harris, global marketing director for Vertu, Nokia’s luxury mobile phone subsidiary. “It’s only just dawning on people to what extent the cell phone has become a ubiquitous status symbol.”

Lifestyle categories are also gaining prominence in the sector.“Demand is changing, with the cell phone market specializing in

[sectors] such as fashion, cars, sport and music,” commented Julien Le Tourneur, marketing manager for LG Group.

The fi rm produced Prada’s touch screen handset, which has sold around 500,000 units since its launch in the spring. “More than anything, it’s confi rmed our positioning as an aspirational, high-end brand,” said Le Tourneur of the collaboration.

During the past few months, an expanding smorgas-bord of fashion brands has unveiled cell phone ven-tures, including Giorgio Armani, Versus, Mandarina Duck, Ted Baker and Levi’s, which will launch its embossed-metal handset in the U.S. and Asian markets this spring. The LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Swiss luxury timepiece giant Tag Heuer also revealed its entry into the arena — a fi rst for a timepiece maker — with its release planned for the second quar-ter of 2008.

According to sources, Dior and Swarovski are also said to be preparing cell phones for 2008, along with two luxury jewelers whose names could not immediately be learned.

“It’s a market that lends itself to global brands, in particular those whose image fi ts with the [technological] universe,” com-mented Sylvie Ronchi, product manager for Alcatel’s Brand Design Lab, which has de-veloped cell phones for Elle Magazine and Mandarina Duck. Ronchi cited Prada, with its ultradesign store interiors, and denim brands, with their plugged-in youth consumer base, as suitable examples.

There are, however, daunting research and development costs and certain design restrictions.

“A cell phone is basically a radio and metal, so elements such as precious stones can affect the way it performs. You need to be really innovative to solve that problem,” said Matt Lewis, an analyst for ARCchart, a British research and consulting company that special-izes in the wireless communications sector. The fi rm will be hosting the Handset Fashion + Style congress at the RSA in London on April 23 to 24.

Experts attribute fashion’s tardy arrival on the cell phone scene to brands being cautious about making mistakes in unchartered waters swarming with electronics sharks.

But with market studies showing consum-ers are now satiated with high-tech features such as Bluetooth, MP3 and camera functions and are looking for something more, fashion players are eyeing the cell phone, which is seen as an increasingly indispensable gadget and a viable route for brand extension.

The cell phone’s potential global reach also exceeds that of any brand’s core consum-er base, in particular in view of emerging markets such as Russia, India and China, and increasingly wealthy ones such as the Middle East. As Shireen El Khatib, chief executive offi cer of the Dubai-based Al Tayer Insignia, pointed out at the WWD/DNR CEO Summit in October, one of the status symbols for male luxury consumers in the Middle East is the latest, most stylish mobile phone.

“For brands that are used to making 100 percent margins on certain items, there’s the opportunity to make a lot of money,” suggested ARCchart’s Lewis, referring to the high product volumes at play in the cell phone market.

While traditional cell phone manufacturers generate business via distribution deals with operators and not on margins from the actual phones, which on average represent just less than 10 percent, the per-device revenue for a phone branded by a global fashion label is potentially greater. “Just like a pair of jeans, consumers will not hesitate to pay top dollar for a premium product,” said Lewis, adding the arrival of Apple’s iPhone, which retails at $500, will pave the way for a new generation of premium phones that don’t come attached to a service provider contract. “The per-device revenue for a fashion phone is potentially greater.”

Since many fashion brands continue to be uncertain about the cell phone’s call, a growing number of “hand-holding” CDMs, or customized design managers, have

emerged to help them by proposing made-to-measure, “mobile-on-demand” services, such as the fi rm ModeLabs.

“It’s [fi rms like these] that are providing the fi nal nail in the coffi n of techno-ori-ented manufacturers,” said Lewis, adding that traditional cell phone producers such as Alcatel and Sagem have had to turn to assisting third-party brands come to market in order to keep up with consumer demand.

“Today a number of luxury brands are interested but not any old how. It’s about reinventing the cell phone for it to become the next fashion accessory,” said

ModeLabs’ Stéphane Bohbot, adding the role of his fi rm is to initiate brands to the world of cell phones “in the same way they might have entered

the world of watches and perfume.”It’s a process that now goes beyond cosmetic packaging codes. “Clients want cell phones to refl ect the intrinsic DNA of the

brand,” said Bohbot. For example, ModeLabs has been exper-imenting with phones that use ceramic and precious stones for one unnamed luxury brand.

“The fi nish has to have that ‘made in France’ touch,” he said.

Elsewhere, channeling style and function, ModeLabs has used embossed stainless steel for Levi’s fi rst cell phone, which

comes with an attachable chain belt. Consumers will also be able to log on to the Levi’s Web site to have their name engraved

on the phone, which will retail for around $600.“The phone is geared to the 15-to-24 age group, a group which has

proved ready to pay for an emotional purchase,” said Bohbot. “It’s an important age group for us.”

“It’s about shaking off fuddy-duddy associations and transforming a phone into a glamorous fashion accessory,” echoed Alcatel’s Ronchi. Having devel-oped Elle Magazine’s fi rst cell phone in 2005, she foresees the day when con-sumers will be able to browse editorial content from a magazine’s branded cell phone.

Mandarina Duck’s phone “package,” meanwhile, comes with a charm that can be used to clip the phone to a bag. “It’s a new approach to the cell phone market that involves presenting whole packages, from user interfaces and content to marketing and advertising,” said Ronchi.

But even as phone manufacturers and operators increasingly clamor for fashion-branded phones, distribution channels for them other than tradi-tional cell phone outlets remain lim-ited. The U.S., dominated by operators and run under two separate wireless technology systems, GSM and CDMA, is proving particularly resistant to the idea of phones that aren’t subsidized by operators.

“The idea of buying a phone with-out a contract is alien to 99.9 percent of the American population,” asserted Vertu’s Harris, adding that many U.S. citizens haven’t even come into con-tact with a SIM card, which is often an embedded element of subsidized phones. “It’s a challenging market, but we’re starting to see a bit of move-ment,” he said.

“I have less faith in the U.S. market, which is a paradox, as it’s there where

the branding is strongest,” echoed ModeLabs’ Bohbot. “But I believe that when we have the right brand with the right distribution channels, consumers will ex-press themselves.”

For brands seeking counters in department stores, meanwhile, the lofty rent, com-pared with those of traditional distribution channels, often means having to bump up margins. “Brands then have to create added value to warrant the higher mar-gins,” said Harris, adding that Vertu’s jewel-embellished phones range from $3,500 to $70,000.

Yet while the technical nature of phones may be off-putting for fashion retailers, some observers predict that contract-less phones may soon end up being as integral a part of fashion departments as sunglasses and other accessories.

“For now, the sector is positioning itself with the watch and jewelry departments but, who knows, in the future, phones could end up in the handbag department,” sug-gested ARCchart’s Lewis.

“Just look at the way Colette has positioned phones right at its entrance among the jewelry and beautiful design objects,” commented Sebastian Girard, head of marketing for Motorola. “Cell phones are clearly high on people’s shop-ping lists.”

Continued from page one

“The market is segmenting into those who want a phone with all of the latest technological whistles and bells and those who want to make a style statement.”— Chris Harris, Vertu

Levi’s fi rst cell phone.

The Ted Baker cell.

A Vertu phone.

WWD.COM

PARIS — True to its name, rapid manufacturing is quickly altering the face of design.

The process, which involves layering material to make objects (rather than using molds, assembly or carving), has been around since the Eighties. But to-day’s cutting-edge techniques, involving computers and lasers or jetting to cre-ate three-dimensional pieces printed layer upon layer of plastic, nylon or resin, give people virtual carte blanche to be creative.

“With this technique, there are no rules,” said Paris-based designer Patrick Jouin, who has used the process to create objects over the past few years and whose painted resin C2Chair was among his pieces recently on display at the St. Louis Museum of Art. “You are totally free. The computer allows you to do very complex forms.”

“These techniques are design nirvana, really,” added Richard Hague, pro-fessor of innovative manufacturing and head of the rapid manufacturing re-search group at Loughborough University in England.

Rapid manufacturing allows people to create a three-dimensional render-ing on a computer anytime, anywhere, that can easily be put into an electronic fi le, sent to a client and then manufactured, with barely any lead time.

“What you see on your monitor is what I give you,” said Giordano Redaelli, a designer who also oversees production at Industreal, in Milan. “It is fantas-tic. You can simulate perfectly what you want with many kinds of materials.”

So what’s the hitch? Most say the hefty cost (and subsequent price tag) of large art objects created through rapid manufacturing remain prohibitive and render the creations more collector’s items than mass products. That’s why the process is more widely used today for making small-scale prototypes for projects such as buildings, airplanes and cars than for everyday furniture or accessories.

But it is believed the technology can be used more widely in the near fu-ture, as faster and more accurate techniques are developed and costs con-tinue to fall. Once more, the use of new materials, such as metals, can widen the application’s reach to categories such as jewelry.

“We can make very nice jewelry — cuff links, pins — it’s very exciting,” said Janne Kyttanen, founder and designer of Freedom of Creation, based in Amsterdam, whose work was recently shown at Art Basel Miami Beach.

“There is enormous potential,” said Hague. Indeed, designers hope to work with other types of techniques and materi-

als in the near future. Kyttanen, for instance, envisions being able to make pieces in gradient materials that morph from one into another, like from silver to gold.

Hague said that at the onset of rapid manufacturing, there were many naysayers.

“I think certain people were laughing at us,” he said. “No one is laughing anymore. In the last few years, we’ve seen incredible growth.”

— Jennifer Weil

By Rosemary Feitelberg

What Bloomberg is to financial news, MutualArt.com aims to be to the art world.

Founder and chief executive offi cer Moti Shniberg has spent the past two years fi ne-tuning his plan to provide customized information to art lovers, dealers, collectors and artists. The by-invitation-only Web site offi cially bows in March, but members have already been signing up. A $300 annual fee allows members to track different categories of art or individual art-ists from thousands of sources. They will also get the heads-up about their areas of interest, whether that be exhibitions, lectures, opening parties, galas or auc-tions. But instead of being fl ooded with information, members can fi lter it in relation to their specifi c tastes. More than 250 publications, including Art Newspaper and Issue, have signed on so far as content providers. More than half of these aren’t available through search engines, Shniberg said.

MutualArt.com also has signed partnerships with more than 120 museums — including the Guggenheim Museum, London’s Tate, the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam, the Whitney Museum of Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art — to plug their exhibitions and to offer the news services to their patrons, and has partnered with leading pri-vate banks, auction houses and private cultural clubs. By the end of 2008, Shniberg expects to have 2,500 gal-leries signed up. Art Basel director Sam Keller said, “MutualArt.com helps to make the expanding art world a global village.”

During an interview a few blocks from his Fifth Avenue offi ce, Shniberg said, “Basically, it’s the aggre-gation of information from many different sources.”

With the help of special adviser Jerry Wind, the founder of the Executive MBA Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, more than 1,000 European and American art lovers were polled to see what they look for when buying art and what would make that process better.

Shniberg has assembled a heavyweight team to help him. Citigroup’s co-head of investment banking

Raymond J. McGuire is an investor and adviser, and banker Thomas Weisel and Warner Music U.S. head Lyon Cohen are investors. Shniberg also has been get-ting some guidance from Simone de Pury, chairman of Phillips de Pury & Co.; Lady Elena Foster, chair-man of the Tate International Council; Ruth Kaplan, former deputy director of the Museum of Modern Art; Wenda Harris Millard, president, Media at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., and oth-ers. Their objective is to serve up in-formation “that is only relevant to you,” Shniberg said.

The MutualArt.com concept dawned on Shniberg while he was working with new-to-the-fold collectors from the fi nance sector. He realized art-related information wasn’t always readily available and what was out there was diffi cult to sift through and tough to dis-tinguish from art-world hype, he said. Shniberg speculated about why such a service hasn’t existed until now. “It might have been delib-erate — people didn’t want all that infor-mation to be transparent,” he said.

MutualArt.com isn’t Shniberg’s fi rst business ven-ture in the art world. In 2003 he started the Artist Pension Trust, which offers long-term fi nancial plan-ning for emerging and mid-career artists. The pro-gram now operates in more than 40 countries, with more than 700 artists affi liated with eight trusts in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Beijing, Berlin, Dubai, London and Mumbai. Last year, Bijan Khezri took over as ceo and president to free up Shniberg so he could focus more on MutualArt.com. LTB Media’s founding president Ben Crawford serves as the online company’s chief marketing offi cer.

After developing the Artist Pension Trust, Shniberg dropped out of Hebrew University’s business school in Israel; the school’s dean and fi nancial expert Dan Galai joined him in establishing the venture. They

recruited the Whitney’s former direc-tor David Ross and consulted with such artists as Kiki Smith, Chuck Close and John Baldessari.

But art is only one vocation. In 1998, Shniberg founded ImageID, where he

invented the Image-code concept that is used in the fi elds of logistics and event

management for everything from Grand Slam tennis championships to White House

galas. A few years ago, Shniberg bought a beach in Panama, a destination considered to be increasingly popular, and he is executive producer of “Rachel,” a fi lm in development about the Russian poet Rachel Blawstein, from the scriptwriter of “Frida.”

One might expect a 34-year-old who has raised $10 million in fi nancial backing for MutualArt.com, which is essentially an Internet start-up, to speak excitedly, but Shniberg has a tempered cadence and a steady gaze. Perhaps due to the fact that he never studied art, he is able to look at the medium more objectively. One of the key factors in the art market, as in the fi nan-cial or any other market, is information, and the more you have and the more educated you are, the better, Shniberg said.

“I don’t consider myself someone who knows a lot about art, but I know a lot about the art market. For me, those are two different things,” he said.

14 WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

Moti Shniberg

A World of Art on the Web

Here: Patrick Jouin designs. Below: Freedom of Creation items.

Rapid Manufacturing Takes Off

An Industreal piece.

“Assisted Living” by Faris McReynolds, a member of the Artist Pension Trust.

“Assisted Living” by Faris McReynolds, a member of the Artist Pension Trust.

WWD.COM15WWD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

LONDON — Biographer Anne Sebba re-members the shocked reactions of some fellow Englishmen about the roots of her latest subject, Jennie Churchill.

“I told them Winston Churchill had an American-born mother, but a lot of peo-ple didn’t believe me. They said it wasn’t possible,” Sebba recalls with a laugh.

Indeed, while it’s common knowledge that England’s greatest 20th-century statesman came from the grand Spencer-Churchill family (Winston wisely dropped the double-barreled name so as not to appear too posh), few realize his mother was a nouveau riche, fashion-mad and often pushy Brooklyn girl called Jennie Jerome.

While the Spencer-Churchills were — and still are — among England’s fore-most clans with their fam-ily seat at Blenheim Palace, one of the country’s grandest stately homes, the Jeromes couldn’t even get invited to one of Mrs. William Astor’s fa-mous private balls in New York. But that didn’t stop Jennie Jerome.

In her book, “Jennie Churchill: Winston’s American Mother” (John Murray), Sebba argues that it was Jennie’s American pluck — and stage-mother personality — that helped make Churchill the great statesman he became. And while the passionately written book — which won rave reviews in England — is a biography, it’s really the story of a dynamic mother-son relationship.

“She was never a cuddly, nurturing mother — she was ambitious, well-edu-cated, knew her ground and her power

over Winston. She believed in her son’s destiny,” says Sebba during an interview at the English Speaking Union in Mayfair. “She may not have been the best mother when Winston was young, but she was the mother he needed. All of her ambitions were focused on him.”

Born in 1854 and raised in Brooklyn, the beautiful, dark-eyed Jennie was edu-cated mostly in Paris. Her upwardly mo-bile family had moved there to escape snobby, claustrophobic New York high so-ciety and try their luck at the more demo-cratic court of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.

“In those days, Paris was the place to break through — Empress

Eugenie loved Americans and accepted them,” says Sebba. During her years in Paris, Jennie was taught to play the piano to concert stan-dard, learned about world affairs — and the merits of

discretion — and developed a penchant for shopping, hap-

pily spending her father’s cash on dresses at couturier Worth.

“Her clothes were always remarked upon, and she understood the power of retail therapy. When she was living in England, and feeling down, she’d travel to Paris to shop and that would buck up her spirits,” says Sebba.

Jennie met her future husband, Lord Randolph Churchill, in the summer of 1873 while her family was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, off the southwest coast of England. She and her sister had been invited to a ball in honor of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Cesarevitch,

and Jennie Jerome and Churchill fell in-stantly in love on the dance fl oor.

They married the next April and Winston was born “prematurely” in November. Sebba is convinced the future prime minister was conceived before the marriage, but says the incident only testifi es to his parents’ passionate rela-tionship, and Jennie’s self-assurance in bedding her fi ancé at a time when most women rarely took such risks.

Sebba says so many of Jennie’s thwarted desires for Randolph, the Duke of Marlborough’s third-born son, were channeled into young Winston. “She had hoped that Randolph would become prime minister — it was some-thing that was being talked about,” Sebba says. While Randolph had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (the se-nior fi nance minister in the British gov-ernment) and leader of the House of Commons, he was never destined to hold the prime minister’s offi ce and died of syphilis at age 45.

Jennie would go on to marry twice more — to men young enough to be her son — and she certainly had her share of extramarital love affairs before she died in 1921. Sebba, however, argues that Winston was always “the number-one man in her life,” and she, in turn, was his staunchest supporter. “She was his confi -dante, literary agent and editor, and chief networker,” says the author.

For instance, while visiting soldiers injured during the various wars, instead of offering sweet words of comfort like most volunteers, Jennie urged them to “Vote for Dear Winston” in upcoming par-liamentary elections.

Yet the mother never did get to see her son become prime minister in 1940. “It was a tragedy — but she knew it was his destiny to take on that role. She had drama in her blood,” says Sebba.

That sense of drama followed her everywhere: Jennie died, “aged 67, and in her prime” according to Sebba, after breaking her ankle in a new pair of high heels. The fall brought on gangrene, fol-lowed by a leg amputation that resulted in a burst artery.

Sebba, whose previous subjects in-clude Mother Teresa and Laura Ashley — “I like writing about strong-minded women,” she says — doesn’t know who will strike her fancy next. “Jennie is a hard act to follow — and I’m still com-pletely obsessed and engaged with her.”

— Samantha Conti

A Brooklynite at Blenheim Jennie Churchill

ISSUE DATE: FEBRUARY 8 CLOSE: JANUARY 10

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