Japan Fashion Week Rolls On PAGE 4 ▼

FASHION: As Japan Fashion Week enters its final days, designers continued to show an eclectic mix of styles, from flowing dresses to avian-inspired looks. La Rinascente’s New Plan PAGE 2RETAIL: The Italian department store group aims to boost its number of tourist customers while continuing to invest in upgrading its stores. Same Place, Different Time PAGE 9EYE: Studio 54 was revived for one night only — and was as wild now as it was then.

WWD

PHOTO BY THOMAS IANACONNE; STYLED BY TYLER RESTY

IN WWD TODAY

RETAIL’S BIG DREAMER

Chris Burch PlotsSlew of Ventures

Eye Tech Guerlain is staking its claim in the prestige mascara category with Noir G de Guerlain, due in

January. The Lorenz Bäumer-designed packaging takes its

inspiration from an earlier launch, Rouge G de Guerlain lipstick, featuring a pop-up mirror and

engraved refillable compact, while the formula is said to add volume

and curl to lashes. In the U.S., it will be available in about 150 department and specialty store

doors. For more, see page 6.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011 $3.00 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

PLUS: Sephora to Open First Store in Mexico. PAGE 7

BRIDGET FOLEY’S DIARY ON HAL RUBENSTEIN’S NEW BOOK, “100 UNFORGETTABLE DRESSES” PAGE 12

DRESSES GALORE

By SHARON EDELSON

NEW YORK — Call Christopher Burch the “Whirling Dervish of Retailing.”

“I’m going to launch one retail concept after the other,” said Burch, displaying some of the rest-lessness that manifested itself as Attention Deficit Disorder when he was a child.

On Saturday, Burch, 58, will unveil the 5,000-square-foot C. Wonder store at 72 Spring Street in SoHo, the latest in a series of planned retail projects from his venture capital firm, J Christopher Burch LLC. He’s mainly been known in fashion circles as the ex-husband of Tory Burch and one of the driving forces in her brand’s success. After spending years in the background at Tory Burch as an investor and co-chairman of the board, he is now stepping firmly into the spotlight with a string of high-profile ventures that could, if they all work, establish him as a major force in retailing with up to 1,000 stores nationwide.

Burch has plenty of concepts up his sleeve. In fact, he’s developing at least four other ideas that would launch from next spring into mid-2013 and range from mass to the very high-end.

The opening of C. Wonder follows the launch of the fashion brand Monika Chiang, designed by his girlfriend, which opened its first store earlier this month on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles. A “preview” shop will bow in early November at 136 Prince Street between Wooster Street and West Broadway. The permanent store is slated to open early next year, around the corner, on Wooster. The brand will ultimately have 150 stores, Burch said. He has said he plans to invest $15 million to $20 mil-lion in the brand over the next four to five years.

Then there’s Electric Love Army, a sportswear line and related boutiques that Burch developed with downtown public relations woman Kelly Cutrone. With an initial investment north of $5 million, the company will open the first of several

SEE PAGE 5

■ FASHION: See the latest from Tokyo Fashion Week and more from Hal Rubenstein’s “100 Unforgettable Dresses” at WWD.com/fashion-news. ■ EYE: More pictures from the God’s Love We Deliver annual Golden Heart Awards and Swarovski’s “Brazilian Style” party at WWD.com/eye.■ BUSINESS: More business news and daily markets coverage at WWD.com/business-news.■ ONLINE THIS WEEKEND: Story of the Week

WWD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 20112WWD.COM

CorreCtion

Craig Leavitt is chief executive officer of Kate Spade, a division of Liz Claiborne Inc. His title was incorrect in a story on page MW1, Thursday.

To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is firsTname.lasTname@fairchildpub.com, using The individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2011 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 202, NO. 84. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, October and December, and two additional issues in February, March, April, August, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For reprints of articles, please contact Scoop ReprintSource at 800-767-3263 or via e-mail at sales@scoopreprintsource.com. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

Daily Quote

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Looks from Somarta for Spring 2012.

rETAIL 1,2,5FASHION 2,4,10,11,12TrADE 4

BEAUTY 6,7,8MEDIA 9pEOpLE 10

By JoeLLe DIDerICH

PArIS — Activist investor group Knight Vinke Asset Management LLC has called for a change in the management structure of Carrefour SA, days after the troubled French re-tailer issued the latest in a string of profit warnings.

In an open letter to the company’s board, shareholders and employees, founder eric Knight cited “serious gover-nance issues” at Carrefour and advocated splitting the roles of chairman and chief executive officer, which Lars olofsson has been holding concurrently since June.

“This situation is far from ideal and we call on the board to name an independent chairman as soon as possible,” said Knight, whose asset management firm has a 1.5 percent stake in Carrefour.

Knight Vinke also recommended splitting the role of ceo, with one executive in charge of high-growth emerging markets and another overseeing France and neighboring countries, whose poor performance has impacted Carrefour’s results.

The retailer last week cut its full-year operating income target for the second time in three months, predicting a de-crease of 20 percent versus an earlier forecast for a 15 per-cent fall. This came on the heels of several profit warnings in the last year.

Knight Vinke stopped short of calling for olofsson to re-sign, though it evoked the possibility of his replacement. “regarding the role of chief executive officer, the company has within its ranks a number of highly experienced pro-fessionals with a real expertise in the retail sector, both in France and abroad. We do not believe the board would be justified in bringing in another external candidate to fill this position,” it said.

officials at Carrefour declined to comment on the letter.

By KATyA ForeMAn

PArIS — Leonard has tapped hot young Paris de-signer Maxime Simoens as its new creative director, WWD has learned.

Simoens, 26, is to take over from Véronique Leroy, whose contract ends this month after eight years at the house. Leroy presented her swan song collection for Leonard on oct. 3, shortly before the two parties revealed that they were parting ways.

on the new appointment, Leonard’s president Daniel Tribouillard, who founded the house in 1958, stated: “I greatly admire Maxime’s talent. His youth and cre-ative impulse will be a

major asset for the development of this family-owned company that has enjoyed a global presence for over 50 years.”

Simoens, who joined the Paris couture schedule in January for his signature ready-to-wear line, is to present his first collection for Leonard in March.

Celebrity fans of the designer’s own label include Mélanie Laurent, rachel McAdams and Astrid Bergès-Frisbey.

By LUISA ZArGAnI

MILAn—The new owner of Italy’s La rinascente department stores is tapping into the increasingly wealthy tourists from emerging markets, with plans to promote the chain internationally, leveraging Italian design and quality.

“La rinascente draws a combination of tour-ists and local customers, it’s the perfect scenario,” said Tos Chirathivat, chief executive officer of the Thailand-based Central retail Corp., which took control of the Italian chain in May. “europe is the number-one destination for the aspiring popula-tion with a rising income from emerging countries. They are traveling more and more, they are becom-ing bigger than Americans and Italy offers four cit-ies that are top locations: Milan, rome, Venice and Florence. This is exactly what we want, major cities, with a mix of domestic and international visitors.”

In particular, Asians are looking for luxury brands, he added, which are the cornerstone assets put in place by La rinascente ceo Vittorio radice, who joined the chain five years ago to revamp the format.

Sitting in one of the several restaurants on the top floor of the company’s Milan unit overlook-ing the gothic pinnacles of the city’s cathedral, Chirathivat and radice outlined future strate-gies for the retailer on Thursday, hours before the official unveil-ing of an improved men’s floor, which now carries designer brands ranging from Fendi and Dolce & Gabbana to Jil Sander and ermenegildo Zegna.

“This is what tourists expect from an Italian department store, this is what La rinascente offered in the Sixties, before it moved into private labels and more mass market displays,” said radice, noting that tour-ist business for the location was “negligible five years ago.” radice said russians now are “the biggest group” for La rinascente, including shoppers from the former Soviet Union countries, followed by Chinese. “But this is bound to change,” he added, expecting Chinese visitors to overtake russians in the near future.

neither executive was concerned about the economy. “In this situation, department stores are even stronger, with shoppers finding pieces ranging from 60-euro jeans to 600-euro coats ($83 to $827), and each customer attended to with the same ser-vice and packaging,” said radice. “only in depart-ment stores do you have such variety. you can enter without buying anything, it’s an open place where you don’t have to dress up, and where your wealth or lack of it do not necessarily show.”

next year, radice hopes La rinascente will reach sales of 300 million euros, or $413.6 million.

Chirathivat said he was organizing press trips from Asian countries to spend days here. “We will promote La rinascente as an Italian, Milanese brand. These trips are not about telling them that Central retailing owns the group, except perhaps

with Thais, who are proud to have a store in Milan,” he remarked, with a smile.

Agreeing with radice, Chirathivat challenged the idea that the concept of department stores is “dying. It’s a matter of execution, if it’s done right, it’s ex-citing.” With sales of $4 billion, the Bangkok-based Central retail owns 41 stores in Thailand, and three in China, and its business also includes property, hotels and restaurants. The group is in the process of upgrading a number of these stores, with the ad-dition of brands such as Gucci and Bottega Veneta, said the executive.

radice, who will keep his position under the new owners, was pleased with the transaction that saw Central retail take control of the retailer for 260 million euros, or $358.4 million at current exchange, 11 times the store’s 2010 earnings before inter-est, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Previous shareholders included real estate developer Prelios with a 20 percent stake; investment fund Investitori Associati (46 percent); rreeF-Deutsche Bank Group (30 percent) and Tasso, controlled by chair-man Maurizio Borletti (4 percent).

“[Central retail is] bringing commitment to retail as opposed to finance. There is more financial atten-tion, but this is a long-term player with vision, that is willing to take on more risks,” said radice.

Central retail plans to invest 10 million to 15 mil-lion euros, or $13.7 million to $20.6 million, a year in the refurbishing and renovations of La rinascente’s 12 stores. next year, Milan’s La rinascente will re-vamp the women’s floor, followed in 2013 by the ca-sual, denim and sportswear area, completing the renovation plan initiated in 2006. La rinascente was founded in Milan in 1917 with the first store opposite the city’s imposing cathedral.

next up are the restorations at the rome, Venice and Florence stores, equally strategically located in central and prestigious streets. “each is entirely different, de-pending on the building and the mood of the city. We are not building a chain, but a collection of stores,” said radice. “Local department stores are as big as a muse-um tourist destination. Last year, the Milan unit totaled 8.8 million visitors, as many as the Louvre,” he noted.

La Rinascente Plots Its Future

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Investor Seeks Change at Carrefour

Leonard Taps Simoens

La Rinascente’s new owners hope to reach sales of more than $413 million next year.

Maxime Simoens

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More From Japan Fashion WeekBy WWD Staff

tOKYO — Japan fashion Week is continuing to deliver an in-triguing mix of spring-summer fashion, featuring everything from scout uniforms to flowing chiffon dresses and sculptural clothing inspired by birds.

Here, some highlights from the week: n Jenny fax designer Shueh Jen-fang tapped into her memories of boarding school and rolled out takes on classic school uniforms and beauty queens. there were pleated skirts galore, tiaras and princess dresses reminiscent of Disney heroines. But there were plenty of subversive twists as well. Manga illustrations fea-tured prominently, including a set of eyes that appeared on the chest of a few looks. n Johan Ku is well known for his textured knitwear, and he dem-onstrated that again this season with amped-up showmanship. His models emerged from back-stage looking like alien beings, thanks to special lighting that made his nearly all-white col-lection glow in the dark. the designer showed what seemed like countless variations on the sweater dress and knit tops in varying textures. n Shiho Shiroma showed a col-lection of skin-baring, sensu-ously feminine dresses in soft-ly flowing chiffon and fluidly draped jersey. abstract prints in pastel purple, pink, blue and gray mingled with white shirts and layered skirts for a distinc-tively spring feeling. Shiroma added a modern edge to her de-signs with athleticwear-inspired details like drawstrings, zippers, metal snaps and hoods, as well as a series of pieces made from raw deerskin in a unique texture cre-ated by a metallic foiling process. n Yoshio Kubo generated a hipster-appropriate men’s collection with influences both beachy and urban. His bottle-blond lads wore a mix of striped tailored wear and colorful boardshorts. a few multicolored knit suits, one with short pants and one with full-length trousers, were par-ticularly eye-catching, as was a shirt with a trompe l’oeil ban-dana print. Unfortunately, a live band’s rather loud instru-mental rock-style jam upstaged much of the proceedings.n again this season, Sara arai mixed Western and asian influ-ences into a collection that con-tained an abundance of luxuri-ous fabrics and artful details for her label, araisara. Silhouettes were soft but sculptural, with

round puff sleeves, cascading ruffles, wide pleats and belted waists. Particularly striking were a pair of flyaway chiffon dresses with straps made of patchwork squares of Chinese silk jacquards in silver, gold, white and black. n tamae Hirokawa’s spring of-fering for Somarta was inspired by falcons and thunderbirds, and for a collection that didn’t use a single feather, many piec-es accomplished the feat of resembling winged creatures while still remaining wearable. the designer employed an al-most Escher-esque geometric design, which was printed on dresses, embroidered onto stiff vests and knitted into fishnet bodysuits. Jackets that came to protruding points at the back re-called birds’ tails, and thin ruf-fles in chiffon and tissue jersey on necklines, sleeves and hems fluttered like feathers. n Né-net’s Kazuaki takashima kept things youthful this sea-son, rolling out scout uniforms, rugby shirts and varsity sweat-ers with a funky Harry Potter vibe. Patchwork denim and wide trousers gave off a whimsical Seventies feel. One of the more distinctive styles was a pair of pants resembling a miniature jumpsuit with a button-down front and sleeves swinging down from the waist. In a few light-hearted moments, models made their way down the runway with stuffed dogs on leashes and plush hawks on their arms.

By JOHN ZaROCOStaS

GENEVa — Of 183 nations studied, 125 implemented reforms between June 2010 and May 2011 to reduce the cost and dif-ficulty of doing business, including major apparel exporters such as India, turkey and Sri Lanka, a World Bank report said

“at a time [of] persistent unemploy-ment and the need for job creation…governments around the world continue to seek ways to improve the regulatory

climate for domestic business,” said augusto Lopez-Claros, World Bank direc-tor for global indicators and analysis.

the report, “Doing Business 2012,” shows governments in 125 markets im-plemented a total of 245 more business-friendly regulatory reforms, up 13 per-cent compared to the year before.

Exploring 10 areas in which business practices could be simplified or made more economical, such as procedures for starting a business, trading across borders and legal protection of investors,

progress was seen in Colombia, which moved up five slots on the global rank-ings to 42nd; turkey, up two rankings to 71st; Sri Lanka, up nine places to 89th, and India, seven slots to 132nd. India took a series of steps to ease the payment of taxes, turkey simplified the regula-tory procedures for starting a business and Sri Lanka improved procedures for protection of investors, the report noted.

However, it also revealed that China fell four slots to 91st, Vietnam eight places to 98th, Pakistan nine rankings to 105th and Bangladesh four places to 122nd.

the price for exporting a 20-foot container in China averaged $500;

in Vietnam, $580; Sri Lanka, $715; Bangladesh, $965; India, $1095, and Colombia, $2,270. the lowest cost for ex-porting a container was from Malaysia, at $450. the time to export goods averaged 12 days in Egypt, 14 days in Colombia, 16 days in India, 21 days in China and 22 days in Vietnam.

By comparison, it took only five days to export goods in Singapore, Hong Kong and Denmark and six days in the U.S.

this year, Singapore led the global rankings in the overall ease of doing business, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, the U.S. and Denmark, the re-port said.

Countries Reform to Boost Trade

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Johan KuBy KEVIN O’fLYNN

MOSCOW — Salvatore ferragamo held its first fashion show here on thursday with models strid-ing down a hall in the 18th-cen-tury Pashkov House, opposite the Kremlin.

Hollywood and local celeb-rities saw ferragamo present its spring 2012 runway col-lection with design director Massimiliano Giornetti mak-ing an appearance at the end of the show.

“It is very impressive,” said Giovanna Gentile ferragamo, vice president of the company and the daughter of Salvatore ferragamo, of the venue deco-rated with beige chairs and mirrors. “It has a very nice fla-vor to it, of the good times in fashion when shows were in ateliers, [it’s] more intimate.”

“We wanted something tradi-tional, like a home, a villa. this palace has been used for official functions but never for fashion shows and it has a great view of the Kremlin,” said ferragamo chief executive officer Michele Norsa, “It’s an institution.”

ferragamo decided on Moscow because it is almost 10 years since it opened its first store in Russia, said Norsa. today, the company has seven stores in the coun-try, five in Moscow and two in Saint Petersburg, as well as another 15 official selling out-

lets east of Moscow as far as Vladivostok, he said.

“Moscow is very important but it is often neglected by the fashion world,” said Norsa. “Russian buyers are strong in Europe — in London, Milan, Paris. this is a good way to be visible to them.”

In the future, ferragamo aims to expand its store in the GUM department store, so that it can show all the brand’s wares.

Hollywood actresses Camilla Belle, amber Heard and Carmen Chaplin were among the VIP audience for the show.

“I’ve always been a fan of ferragamo, I went to the mu-seum in florence. It’s a chic Italian brand and I couldn’t turn down the chance to be here and support it. It is a love-ly event to come to,” said Belle.

“I’m a black-and-white type of girl and I love their new take on feminine sophistica-tion,” said Heard, who, like Belle, had flown in from Los angeles the day before.

the night was also part of the launch of the company’s new fragrance, Signorina, with an after party held at Moscow’s White Rabbit restaurant. the scent is aimed at women be-tween 25 and 35 years old and at the american market, said Luciano Bertinelli, the ceo of ferragamo Parfums.

“the smell is fruity floral with a top note of jasmine,” he said.

Ferragamo Puts Wares On Display in Moscow

More Tokyo Fashion Week coverage

WWD.com/fashion-news.

It LOOKS LIKE Prada’s Luna Rossa yacht could be back in the game for the 2013 america’s Cup after all.

Prada Spa filed a voluntary notice at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it has been publicly traded since June, on the pending sponsorship of the Luna Rossa yacht for the america’s Cup in 2013, slated to be held in San francisco.

In the announcement, the company stated that its subsidiary Prada Sa “has been invited to sponsor the participation of Luna Rossa in the XXXIII edition of the america’s Cup.”

and who is it in negotiations with about the sponsorship? Maestrale Holding Srl, which is indirectly controlled by none other than Miuccia Prada Bianchi and her husband Patrizio Bertelli — who are president and chief executive officer of Prada Spa. So the duo are negotiating with themselves — or the company they head and its board — to sponsor the boat.

the total cost of sponsoring the yacht would amount to about 40 million euros, or $55.1 million at current exchange rates, which the company said would be paid in installments between this December and September 2013.

the company made no further comment.this wouldn’t be the first go-round for Luna Rossa in the

america’s Cup. Bertelli first entered the famed yacht race in 1997 with the boat, and competed in it in 2000, 2002 and 2007. although the Luna Rossa never brought home the cup, the in-vestments have helped boost the brand’s visibility and retail sales, with Luna Rossa-branded accessories and apparel collec-tions, featuring high-tech fabrics tested by the sailing team.

Prada Mulls America’s Cup

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WWD.COM5WWD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

freestanding stores in 2012. “It’s a look back to the Seventies when everybody was wild and crazy,” Burch said of the line.

“I get really excited about new ideas,” said Burch, who gave his two older daughters, Pookie and Louisa, carte blanche to develop their own brand. “It’s priced similar to Uniqlo but it’s got twists of uniqueness. It will be simple, sophisticated clothes that are a mix of high European style and Americana sportswear, stylish clothes with a utilitarian edge. I’m providing a little bit of adult supervision. It’s their business and vision.”

The as-yet-unnamed concept will launch in fall 2012.No. 9 Christopher is a concept Burch has been nurtur-

ing for six years. The 50,000-square-foot store will feature “the most elegant furniture you’ll ever see,” he said. “You’ll be able to order a custom kitchen and custom library. It’s a comprehensive style that touches every detail of a well-lived life. There isn’t a category that will not be addressed.”

Burch has set the launch for 18 months from now.There’s also Poppin, an online store devoted to col-

orful office supplies. Sources said Google was so im-pressed with the initial products that it ordered all of them for its offices worldwide. “We did beta and are doing our major launch in seven months,” Burch said.

And these are only his retail projects — he has plen-ty of others on the go, including several in real estate and construction.

Now there’s C. Wonder, for which Burch has high ex-pectations. Offering affordable products in an upscale

environment with a high level of service, three more C. Wonder stores with 5,000 square feet of space each will bow in mid-November at Westfield Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, N.J., The Westchester Mall in White Plains, N.Y., and the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y. Burch envisions 300 stores worldwide, with 25 to 50 units opening next year, including some pos-sibly overseas. “We want to be extraordinarily special,” Burch said. “There will only be 140 stores in the U.S.”

Burch alluded to a concept that will be launched in two years and will have many more stores than C. Wonder, but declined to discuss it further.

As fascinated with sourcing and technology as he is by product, Burch is test-driving many of his retail ideas at C. Wonder. It’s one of the first stores with totally inte-grated radio-frequency identification (RFID) and point of sale technology. “We know when a person’s picked up a sweater and when they put it down,” he said. “We can follow a customer through the store. We know when to replenish. We know everything about you. There’s sen-sors all over the store. We looked at the industry and saw big lines in stores. We didn’t want that.”

He doesn’t think he’ll sell the system, but it could be of use to the industry because “they can see that it actually works. For me, it’s exciting.” Burch is clearly turned on by technology. “I put up all the capital for Powermat, a wire-less battery charger. I’m working on all this new technology.

“I’m inspired by change and evolution and revolu-tion,” he added. “People come to me with cool s--t.”

Burch is always looking for that diamond in the rough, and is willing to throw in a few million dollars here and there to get an idea off the ground in hopes that it turns into a hit. He met Cutrone on the street and after talking with her told her he’d back her own fashion line. People who have worked with him say such impulsiveness is both a strength and a weakness — but they admire his willingness to take a chance in an era when caution rules the landscape, and praise his creativity, enthusiasm and energy. Sometimes, that en-thusiasm gets the better of him. Not unlike many high-powered executives, Burch’s temper has been known to flare up, resulting in a torrent of expletives.

“I’m leaving for Asia on Saturday for two weeks,” he said. “I’ll walk one million square feet of trade shows. I’m bringing 50 people. I go to factories that are way off the beaten path. I’ll find these shows that no one goes to. I’ll say, ‘How do we work together?’ I bring them an iPod as a gift.”

Burch will be looking for that one product that stands apart from the rest or the one partner he can see eye to eye with. “I start from a sourcing perspective first,” he said. “At shows, something will hit me.”

Amy Schecter, president of C. Wonder, confirmed her boss’ painstaking approach to sourcing. “We drove to factories surrounded by rice paddies that were seven

or eight hours outside Shanghai or Beijing or Hong Kong. We saw 150 factories. Chris is in China almost every month.”

Burch used this approach when he started his first business, Eagle’s Eye, as a student at Ithaca College, where he sold sweaters door-to-door. “I spent 20 years on Eagle’s Eye,” he said. “It got up to $120 million in sales. We had stores and outlet stores and wholesale ac-counts. The apparel at C. Wonder is from what I did back then. I reinterpreted it. We took the Eagle’s Eye merchandise I did in the Seventies and tweaked it and put it back on the floor.”

Only 6 percent of C. Wonder’s assortment is apparel. It’s preppy and classic. A fake fur vest is $149, a cable crewneck sweater with gold buttons, $78, and a quilted jacket with “C” pat-tern lining, $128.

C. Wonder’s dominant color is apple green, which shows up on floors, striped walls, sofas and two huge front doors with gold “Cs.” The store is divided into rooms with names such as Palm Springs, Hollywood Regency and Aspen. C. Wonder demonstrates Burch’s approach to re-tailing with a wide variety of merchandise across many categories. Besides apparel, handbags and jewelry, there are reading glasses — he couldn’t abide by the ugly drugstore readers. The large home area includes everything from dishes and glassware to pillows and picture frames. Burch thinks his customers are dog people, so there’s a section devoted to bowls and leashes. The odd “wow” items include a bicycle with leather seats available in blue, purple, green or pink, $249; mo-torized scooters, and motorized skateboards.

A soft opening exceeded Burch’s wildest ex-pectations. He said he’s committed to making the shop-ping experience more enjoyable. Returns will be easy, no questions asked. “How can we make women comfortable?” he wonders, especially in the dressing room, that dreaded “black hole.” Burch’s answer is a device that lets shoppers select the type of music they want to hear, adjust the light-ing and call a sales associate. He obsessed about the clean-liness of the bathroom, saying he knows that women squat, but hopes that at C. Wonder they’ll be inclined to sit down.

According to employees, Burch is not a micromanager, but he’s very involved. “He loves to roll up his sleeves and be a part of it,” said one staffer. “The company is very entrepreneurial. He allows employees to own their areas and make a mistake and take risks. He funded other people’s brands and now he’s doing his own thing.”

Asked about the other company he helped fund, and rumors that he is looking to exit Tory Burch, Burch declined to discuss his stake in the company. He did say, “My role has been limited to board meet-ings and an emotional [connection] and wishing them well. I was fortunate to be involved in the beginning. I’ve done other things and I’ve always remained in the background. It’s Tory’s business. I’m so proud of Tory and the company and [Tory Burch president] Brigitte Kleine. The vision Tory provided, I’m in awe of.”

Now it’s his multiple visions — and they’re at five and counting.

’’

Chris Burch’s Expanding Universe{Continued from page one}

Looks inside the C. Wonder store in SoHo.

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’’I start from a sourcing

perspective first. At shows, something will hit me.

— Christopher BurCh

Christopher Burch

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WWD friday, october 21, 20116

By Julie NaughtoN

guerlaiN is back in black with a new mascara which takes its design cues from the brand’s rouge g de guerlain lipstick line and its formula from proprietary new technology.

launching in January, Noir g de guerlain is, like rouge g de guerlain, packaged in a refillable compact with a pop-up mirror. Noir g’s packaging — which was, like rouge g, de-signed by lorenz bäumer — is black.

bäumer explained they chose to make the mas-cara’s packaging black — specifically, it’s made of Zamac with black lacquer — since it reflects the color of the product it contains. its design is simi-lar to the form of the rouge g de guerlain lipstick, which was inspired by a gold ingot but “we tried to push the idea yet further,” he said.

some commonalities of the two products’ packaging are that they have mirrors and are refillable. With the mascara, the liquid formu-la and brush are changeable together. bäumer called the manipulation needed to open the mascara packaging “excessively simple.”

“there are two products for which you abso-lutely need a mirror: lipstick and mascara,” said olivier echaudemaison, global creative director for guerlain. “We have now solved both.”

the formula, noted echaudemaison, is also unique. a blend of waxes coat the lashes to ex-tend and add volume, and are set in position by film-forming polymers. the blend of waxes allows the formula to be supple during application and then firm up to set the lashes. a proprietary poly-mer is added in the water portion of the formula, and when the mascara dries and water evapo-rates, the particles of this polymer create a pro-tective and setting film, he explained.

its cornerstone is the proprietary new-gener-ation ultra black pigments, which are intended to amplify the intensity and depth of the black. the formula is also designed to lengthen and curl lashes, as well as deliver lash regeneration with artemia salina, said to be a cell revitaliz-er and intended to stimulate the production of

keratin. the mascara is scented with notes of peach, rose, jasmine and white musk.

the brush, noted linda Maiocco, senior vice president of marketing and public relations for guerlain in the u.s., was inspired by hairstyl-ing tools. it is round, easily maneuverable and made of flexible fibers to catch and style the lashes, she said.

the mascara will be available in one shade: black. “Mascaras in colors like purple and blue are an accessory,” said echaudemaison. “black is a basic that is used all over the world.”

the mascara and compact together retail for $49, while refills are $26. in the u.s., it will bow Dec. 26 at saks Fifth avenue and roll out in early January to about 150 department and specialty stores, including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, bloomingdale’s, sephora and bergdorf goodman.

While executives declined to comment on pro-jected sales, industry sources estimated that Noir g de guerlain could do upwards of $3 million at retail in its first year on counter in the u.s.

— With contributions from Jennifer Weil

Items from Guerlain.

Guerlain’s Latest Jewel: Noir G

A New Step for Nine West

beauty

NiNe West is steppiNg into the fragrance business with its first scent, love Fury, due out in mid-January.

“like shoes, fragrance has transformative powers,” said stacy lastrina, chief marketing officer of Nine West. “they both tie into emotion. they are both weapons of attraction. and we also see fragrance as a finish-ing touch on a 33-year-old brand which has expanded into many lifestyle categories.” in addi-tion to footwear, Nine West is in handbags, sunglasses, watches and hosiery.

“love Fury is our first collaboration with, and signature fragrance from, Nine West,” stated Jean Madar, chairman and chief executive officer of inter parfums inc., which is manufactur-ing and distributing the fragrance. “love Fury is for the woman who loves the privileg-es of being a woman — from wearing high-heeled pumps to using fragrance’s power to seduce. the love Fury woman is sexy and passionate, but above all, once noticed, she is not easily forgotten.”

tying back to the heritage of the Nine West brand, the love Fury launch will include a spe-cially designed love Fury-branded pump, a pointed-toe plat-form style available in black satin and an array of other colors and fab-rications, said lastrina. the shoe will retail for $89. “We wanted to illustrate the paral-lel synergy of footwear and fra-grance,” she added.

the scent, concocted with Firmenich, has top notes of rose bud FirNat, mimosa pet-als absolute, juicy mandarin and red berries pulp; a heart of tiare tahiti Natureprint, Jasmine samback Firabs and sandalwood, and a drydown of orris flower, sensual musk, precious wood and addictive amber. “the branding and packaging can get you pur-chased once; the juice gets you purchased more than that,” said lastrina. “the fragrance itself is covetable.”

the bottle is also a play on the shoe theme, featuring what looks like a black lacquered stiletto heel running through the center of the square glass bottle. “if you

look at Nine West and our ico-nography of the pump, the bottle brings it full circle,” said lastrina. “When we were founded, we were disruptive. We think we have achieved that level of creativity with love Fury. it’s completely in unison with the brand.”

the collection includes eaux de parfum in three sizes — a 0.3-oz. rollerball for $18, a 1.7-oz. bot-tle for $45 and a 3.4-oz. bottle for $55. a 6-oz. body lotion, $18, will also be sold.

the entire collection will launch in mid-January at 666

Macy’s stores, macys.com, 282 Nine West stores in the u.s. and internationally, and on ninewest.com, said lastrina. the scent will also be available in 68 countries globally, said Fred allard, creative director for Nine West, and all of Nine West’s freestanding stores will be scented with the new fra-grance. a sheer version is also being concocted, he added.

advertising, shot by Jessica craig-Martin, will begin running in March fashion, beauty and life-style magazines, said lastrina. an extensive digital campaign is also planned, which will include a mini-movie and social messag-ing marketing, she added.

While executives declined comment on projected sales, industry sources estimated that the scent would do upwards of $15 million at retail in its first year on counter.

— J.n.

102011-WW-NineWest-01-03

By DaviD lipke

gaNt Will lauNch a new men’s fragrance called gant on Nov. 1. it will be the first fragrance distributed in-house by the swedish sportswear brand since it ended a license agreement with elizabeth arden inc. in February 2010.

the product will launch in 250 gant stores in 26 countries, mostly in europe, as well as markets like the philippines, south africa and tunisia. in the u.s., the fragrance will be available in gant’s four stores, three of which

are in New York and one in New haven, conn. Worldwide there are more than 600 freestand-ing gant stores, with some of them to stock the fragrance at a later date.

“We started a process several years ago of re-evaluating our licenses to confirm and elevate the brand,” said Dirk-Jan stoppelenburg, chief executive officer of gant ab, of the company’s decision to develop its own fragrance business.

the new gant juice was created by pierre Wulff and Jerome epinette of robertet sa, the grasse, France-based aromatics supplier. the scent is meant to convey the fresh and airy sense of the ocean, melded with the dark woods and tar smells

of nineteenth century clipper ships. top notes in-clude calabria lemon, coriander and Madagascar cinnamon bark; mid notes encompass provence lavender, White virginian cedar and marine ac-cords; base notes are suede, australian sandal-wood, North african cypress and black amber.

“if you wear this fragrance, no one will mis-take it for something else. people will ask what it is,” said Wulff.

the bottle was designed by pierre Dinand, who has fashioned some of the most iconic fla-cons of recent decades, including Yves saint laurent opium, calvin klein obsession, calvin klein eternity, paco rabanne pour homme and Dolce & gabbana light blue. a basket-weave motif is etched onto deep blue glass, evoking the wicker baskets used by cargo ships in past centuries to transport delicate objects. the cap is made from bakelite.

the fragrance is available in a 50-ml. bottle for $65 and a 100-ml. version for $89.50. a free tes-ter comes in an unusually large 15-ml. size with a pump spray. beginning Nov. 1, all gant apparel and accessories orders on the gant.com e-com-merce site will ship with the free tester bottle.

gant expects to move about 100,000 to 150,000 bottles of the fragrance in the first year, which could have retail volume of up to $13 million.

For the launch, the fragrance will be promi-nently displayed in the windows of gant stores as well as in lighted displays inside.

previous gant fragrances with elizabeth arden included gant silver, gant liquid and gant summer, which are no longer on the market.

total gant sales in the u.s. are up more than 40 percent this year over 2010, according to David arbuthnot, ceo of gant usa. the com-pany plans to open new stores in boston and georgetown, va. in 2012, he added.

Gant to Launch Men’s Scent

The men’s fragrance

will hit 250 Gant stores

on Nov. 1.

Nine West’s Love Fury.

The ad visual.

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WWD.COM7WWD friday, october 21, 2011

A New Step for Nine West

By pete borN

sephora is opeNiNg its first Mexican store this morning in a swirl of colored light.

the new store, located in antara Fashion hall in the polanco section of Mexico city, occupies an un-derground space measuring 5,400 square feet and is entered through a large circular stairway descending from a mall entrance above. the stairwell is encased by a circular 30-foot-high wall of blue leD lights, “like a giant black seashell,” said David suliteanu, president and chief executive officer of sephora americas. the central shaft of the circular stairway is a media wall.

in 2012, sephora plans to open more stores in Mexico city and elsewhere in the country, suliteanu said, with-out elaborating.

a second Mexican store is scheduled to open in mid-November in the paseo interlomas Mall, also in Mexico city. sephora is entering the country under a joint ven-ture with grupo axo. the sephora store was designed by a joint Mexican and american team coordinated by paul loux, vice president of design for sephora usa.

suliteanu said the Mexican market reminds him of the american market 13 years ago when sephora ar-rived from France, a market dominated by “a handful of department stores” and a “handful of brands.” he indi-cated that sephora can appeal to consumers “who want a different kind of experience in a playful, open envi-ronment with sales help who is not there to promote the brands but to assist the clients.” suliteanu said he ex-pects to get the same kind of “wow impact.”

he noted that specialty stores in Mexico are much smaller than in the u.s., so he expects this store to

have “a much bigger impact than it would in the u.s.” he described the antara store as a “typical” size when compared with the u.s. it is located on an underground level because that is the only way the company could obtain the right size footprint it needed.

the product assortment consists of more than 100 brands, 20 of which are not now found on the Mexican market. some of them are bare escentuals, Make up for ever, bliss, boscia, brazilian peel, clarisonic, Dr. brandt, Fresh, gdh, hello kitty, hourglass, Josie Maran, kat von D, ole henriksen, ouidad, peter thomas roth, philosophy, sephora collection, sephora by opi, stila, temptu, tokidoki, urban Decay and amika.

Makeup has a larger presence than in the u.s., suliteanu said, and fragrance also has a larger pres-ence. he added, however, that the store has a significant commitment to all the categories, including skin care.

Sephora Enters Mexico; Second Unit Planned for Nov.

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photo by hector ArmAndo herrerA

The store’s entrance.

An interior view.

For more images, see

WWD.com/beauty-industry-news.

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WWD.COM8 WWD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

beauty

NEW YORK — The industry may be focus-ing on the Look Boutique at Walgreens or wondering what CVS’ next upscale move could be, but that doesn’t mean smaller, regional players aren’t boost-ing beauty prototypes.

Examples of how other drugstore operators are putting a new focus on beauty are on display at chains rang-ing from Bartell Drug on the west coast to Lewis Drug in Sioux Falls, S.D. Even chic independents are revamping to stay competitive in a world where everyone is battling for the same customer.

“You can’t afford to stay the same,” said Allan Mottus, industry consultant who said shoppers don’t distinguish from one type of store to another.

Bartell Drug, based in Seattle, is combining its local knowledge with input from major beauty firms such as L’Oréal, Revlon, Colgate and Procter & Gamble to put a new spin on cosmetics and health and beauty aids.

The 58-store Bartell’s, which calls itself the nation’s oldest drug chain, has weathered industry consolidation by operating well-stocked stores that reflect the needs of shoppers in its region.

Its latest store prototype, called the Next Generation, was devel-oped in conjunction with the Hartman Group, a consumer consult-ing firm, which helped interpret what shoppers want from a drug-store. The debut of the updated motif was unveiled recently in a remodeled Bartell unit in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood.

The layout of the new store shuffles the traditional design with specialty boutiques under one roof including an Urban Market with locally produced products; a Wellness Courtyard with vitamins and supplements, and a Sweets & Snacks area.

Instead of just stocking a beauty department that looks like any other chain, Bartell merged the best of national brands with upstart brands. The department even has a new name, the Fresh Beauty Stage. According to Bartell executives, Fresh Beauty sports an ex-panded skin care department with an accent on natural and organ-ic products. Bartell is the only drugstore in the area to stock both LaRoche-Posay and Vichy skin products.

Unlike traditional metal gondolas, beauty products are highlight-ed with elegant wood fixtures and set off by a wood floor. To tie into the local market, Bartell has dedicated space to unique as well as local independent brands. The company said the success is being closely monitored to determine future expansion and rollout.

These upscale and natural lines afford Bartell an avenue to stand out from the competition. “Bartell’s engages its customers at the neighborhood level and offers a variety of locally produced products that national chains can’t match,” said Mark Jacobson, cre-ative director at InVerse, the Hartman Group’s retail division. “This concept is a result of our close collaboration with Bartell’s and re-flects their core values, including a dedication to customer service while offering a large selection of products.”

Bartell’s chairman and chief executive officer George Bartell said the new floor plan is designed to enhance the shopping experi-ence and serve the clientele.

Lewis Drug also recently upped its game in beauty with a new department offset by wood floors and a new positioning. Already, according to company officials, there is a sales payoff from upgrad-ing beauty lines.

And in upscale Ridgewood, N.J., a long-standing popular inde-pendent store called Town and Country is finding that having brands not stocked by chains isn’t enough as more and more premium lines open up distribution. Town & Country, which has long stocked Estée Lauder brands Clinique and Bumble and bumble, now is adding Smashbox and has recently added Frédéric Fekkai and several up-scale baby brands. To celebrate the store’s new ownership, which changed hands in February, there will be a grand reopening Nov. 5 with several beauty celebrities, such as Ramy performing brow shapings and Paula Dorf making a personal appearance.

By ANDREA NAGEL

COSMETIC EXECUTIVE WOMEN held its an-nual achiever awards ceremony Friday, Oct. 14, where in addition to honoring outstanding leaders in the beauty industry it also issued a Corporate Empowerment for Women Award to Procter & Gamble Beauty & Grooming, which was accepted by none other than Bob McDonald, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Procter & Gamble Co., while The Great Idea Award, a CEW first, went to Ouidad, often known as the “Queen of Curls,” who founded Ouidad hair care and salons.

Winners of the Achiever Award included Gina Boswell, executive vice president, Unilever Personal Care North America; Lisa Hawkins, se-nior vice president, marketing, educa-tion and events, North America, Dior Beauty; Barbara Zinn-Moore, svp, general merchandise manager, Cosmetics and Home, Lord & Taylor, and Leslie Marino, general man-ager, Kérastase, Shu Uemura Art of Hair and Essie, L’Oréal USA. CEW has been issuing the Achiever Award since 1975. This year’s honorees were recognized for a variety of their out-standing character-istics and qualities, at least according to their beauty col-leagues who present-ed their awards.

In the case of Boswell, Jill Granoff, former ceo of Kenneth Cole Productions, presented the award, recalling Boswell’s vast résumé, includ-ing a mergers and acquisitions role at Estée Lauder (Boswell was part of the team that led Lauder’s ini-tial public offering in 1995), a position at Ford where she oversaw its vehicle personalization team when her husband landed an important job in Michigan, a top spot at Avon, a leadership role at Alberto-Culver and most recently her current role at Unilever.

Hawkins accepted her award from Terry Darland, president of North America for Christian Dior Perfumes LLC. Hawkins talk-ed about her 25-year beauty career and her rise through the beauty ranks, from “coloring people’s faces” on the cosmetics floor to meet-ing “the amazing Pamela Baxter and Terry Darland,” who taught her to “shift her focus from being good at her own job to seeking the outcome that is truly best for the team.”

Ouidad accepted her award from Nicolas Mirzayantz, president of IFF Fragrances. Ouidad commented on how she started her business tar-geting curly-haired women by winning a coin toss with her husband, who wanted to open a restaurant. In 1984, the two borrowed money from family and friends, and Ouidad, as a woman from Lebanon, qualified for a $25,000 five-year bank loan. After opening their salon in April of that year they were able to pay back everyone within six months. Today the flagship has quadrupled in size, there’s a West Coast salon in Santa Monica, Calif., and a product line sold on HSN, among other outlets.

P&G’s McDonald accepted the CEW Award, saying how “it is humbling for me to be on the same stage” as the award winners that day. He added that can P&G proudly say that nearly

50 percent of its global work force are women and that half of its non-executive directors and board members are women. “That is something that is un-precedented among the Fortune 500.”

Carol Hamilton, president of L’Oréal USA’s luxury prod-ucts division, pre-sented Marino with her Achiever Award, commenting that Marino “is such a powerhouse, full of energy, so nice and really, really smart.” Marino started her career at Jordan Marsh on the cosmet-ics floor in Boston, and 21 years ago L’Oréal offered her a job as a Lancôme account executive, where she rose through the ranks in the firm’s designer fragrance division. In

2008, Marino became general manager of the de-signer fragrance division and “successfully navi-gated the business through the recession.” She was rewarded by being named general manager, Kérastase and Shu Uemura in 2011.

Zinn-Moore accepted her award from Liz Rodbell, executive vice president of merchandis-ing for Lord & Taylor, who described Zinn-Moore as a winner because of how she has achieved her accomplishments, not merely the accomplish-ments alone. As an example, she cited how Zinn-Moore worked tirelessly over the recent over-haul of L&T’s beauty floor, and instead of cutting the congratulatory ribbon herself, she had the floor’s various brand managers take the spot-light. “It wasn’t about Barbara, it was about the team. This is how she motivates people.”

Regionals Spotlight Beauty To Remain Competitive

criticalmassFaye Brookman

by

Inside Bartell’s new beauty area.

CEW award winners Gina Boswell, Ouidad, Barbara Zinn-Moore, Leslie Marino and Lisa Hawkins.

CEW Honors Annual Achievers

TPR Taps Richie for Global Scent DealNICOLE RICHIE HAS SIGNED a worldwide fra-grance license with TPR Holdings LLC. Brian Robinson, president of TPR, which also owns the Reem Acra fragrance license, said Richie presents an opportunity unlike many of the other celebrities he is constantly pitched to work with.

“She has a wide breadth of creative talents being an author, a jewelry designer, a fashion designer and an aspirational figure,” he said.

He noted that Richie has more than 2.3 million Twitter followers and a large amount of trade credi-bility. “They look favorably on her. She’s done a great job with her image.”

The scent and packaging will play off of Richie’s “very distinct image.”

“We have put together mood boards to get a feel-ing of where she sees herself positioned in the fra-grance world,” he said.

Robinson expects a scent that will be “cool, classy and edgy.” — A.N.PH

OTO

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Nicole Richie

Frédéric Fekkai; Gina Drosos, group president of global female beauty at Procter & Gamble, and Bob McDonald.

WWDSTYLE

PHOTO BY KRISTEN SOMODY WHALEN

Flashback PackCameron Diaz, Naomi Campbell and Bar Refaeli were among the

revelers at a one-night re-creation of Studio 54 in New York,

where a few of the disco era’s regulars mingled with partygoers

of more recent vintage. For more, see page 10.

LOVING HONOR:Calvin Klein was

among those who honored Carolina

Herrera at the God’s Love We Deliver event.

PAGE 10

STILL UP, BUT SLOWING: The New York Times sold about 43,000 paid subscriptions to its Web site in the third quarter, which is down from the 224,000 it sold in the paywall’s first full three months of operation in the spring.

New York Times Co. executives revealed Thursday that, through the third quarter, the newspaper had 324,000 total paid digital readers — which includes the Web site, e-readers and replica editions — but they did not initially make clear how many had paid exclusively for access to the Web site, as they had in the second quarter.

On an earnings call, analyst Craig Huber mentioned that between April and June the Times had said there were about 57,000 sales to its e-readers and replica editions — in addition to the announcement of 224,000 sales to its

Web site — and asked how that number compared to the third quarter. New York Times president Scott Heekin-Canedy said that the e-reader number was roughly the same, with some “modest growth.”

Doing some quick math (take the 324,000 figure and subtract 57,000), that leaves about 43,000 people who bought a subscription to the Web site in the third quarter. A Times spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about that figure.

Sales of 43,000 this quarter suggest that there’s still some demand for access to the Times Web site, but that it has slowed considerably. It also leads to the bigger question as to whether the demand for paid readership to its site is beginning, however slowly, to stall out. This isn’t lost on Times officials.

“The one thing you never know is: does that mean it’s going to keep going up and up and up or does it just mean that it got to the plateau faster than we anticipated?” said former executive editor Bill Keller, discussing second-

quarter paywall results at an event at the LBJ Library two weeks ago.

Keller stepped down as executive editor in early September.

He also candidly assessed why the Times introduced the meter.

“We were convinced that was the only way the paper could survive and grow again,” he said. He added that the printed paper is “pretty stable financially but you know that’s not going to last forever and you know it’s not going to start growing again. The only place for growth is online, where the audience is growing, where the demand is growing.”

To date, the third-quarter results suggest the Times has about roughly 267,000 paid subscriptions to its Web site. The Times reported earlier this year in a story on the paywall that executives had hoped to reach 300,000 sales within a year, but Times vice president Martin Nisenholtz said in May that that target was “inaccurate.”

Times chief executive officer Janet

Robinson said Thursday that the Times’ Web site is still bringing in about 33 million unique visitors a month, which is generally in line with where it was before the paywall launch. She said that page views in the quarter were down about 11 percent compared to prelaunch.

Robinson also said that there are 100,000 readers who have free access to the Web site through the end of the year due to a promotion from Lincoln and “we expect to see a high conversion rate among these users once this sponsorship ends.”

For the quarter, the Times Co. had a profit of $15.7 million, compared with a $4.3 million loss last year. Advertising for the company dropped 8.8 percent and digital advertising fell 4.5 percent (though for the Times Media Group, which includes the Times and The Boston Globe, digital advertising was up 6.2 percent). Circulation revenue went up 3 percent, and 6 percent in the Times Media Group. — JOHN KOBLIN

MEMO PAD

{Continued on page 11}

Writer Michael Gross knows a thing or two about the back-stories of the rich and famous, and now, in his latest book, he has turned his laserlike focus to the history of some of the great man-sions in l.a., “Unreal estate: Money, ambition, and the lust for land in los angeles” (Broadway Books). “real estate is the means to an end, the endlessly fascinating means to an end,” he says.

For many, the most remarkable of the california houses he writes about is the hilda olsen Boldt Weber residence at 10644 Bellagio road in Bel air, aka casa encantada and Bellagio house; its genesis is one of the odder — and sadder — stories in the book. “isn’t that something?” Gross asks. hilda, a rather plain-looking nurse, had married a millionaire widower, charles Boldt, whom she’d taken care of after he’d had a heart attack. they lived lavishly, but within their means; then he died. hilda promptly married her chauffeur, Joseph otto Weber, and went into real estate overdrive, building a 35,000-square-foot mansion designed by James e. Dolena, with furnishings by terence harold robsjohn-Gibbings. But for all its beauty, it didn’t bring her the social recognition she had wanted, and within a few years, she couldn’t afford to keep it. hotelier conrad hilton bought the house for a relative song, $225,000, in 1950, and owned it until he died in 1978. hilda herself took an overdose of sleeping pills shortly after the sale.

subsequent owners have included Dole Food owner David Murdock, who bought casa encantada

from the hilton estate and startled design buffs by removing the built-in furnishings created by robsjohn-Gibbings and changing the facade, and Gary Winnick, the Global crossings founder, who paid a staggering $94 million for it. Winnick, whom Gross calls “the ultimate corporate loser-as-winner,” has turned out, surpris-ingly, to be a good steward of the property and has restored it to its former glory, even going so far as to buy back robsjohn-Gibbings’ original furnishings and to re-create them when they don’t exist.

Gross ends his book with lynda and stewart resnick, who own Pom Wonderful, FiJi Water, teleflora, Paramount Farming — and 9481 sunset Boulevard, sunset house, in Beverly hills. that dwelling is a 16,621-square-foot house originally built for Francisca Botiller, the wife of an heir to a spanish land grant fortune, and designed by the French architect lourdou, which went to the resnicks in 1977. the two have no shortage of detrac-

tors. however, Gross says, “i think there’s a great deal about them that’s admirable, even as they are pugnacious and litigious. they learn from their mis-takes; they try to do good. these are qualities that you don’t run across in your average billionaire.

“i could have done just one house,” he notes. “But that would have been a leaner book in terms of narrative. it wouldn’t have had the epic sweep of my books. one fair criticism of my books is that they’re too fricking much — too many characters, too much scope....[they’re] christmas trees full of ornaments and stars and angels and maybe even some devils. But there is a plumb line running down the center of each of them.”

and his fascination with real estate isn’t over. Next, Gross will return to New York with “house of outrageous Fortune: 15 central Park West.” “Movin’ on up to the West side,” he sings. — Lorna KosKi

oN WeDNesDaY NiGht, God’s love We Deliver staged its annual Golden heart awards at skylight soho, where it honored Carolina Herrera for her contributions to the charity, and — to mark its 25th anniversary — the volunteers who prepare and deliver the meals the organization provides to the sick. one of the charity’s more recognizable delivery persons accepted on behalf of all the volunteers.

“i’m sure every client is happy to see every God’s love volunteer at the door,” city council speaker Christine Quinn said while introducing Uma Thurman. “But what a great kick [if] the first time you open the door, it’s Uma thurman.”

the actress performed a surgical strike of an appearance at the event. she arrived shortly before her remarks and left after her stage time. other attendees included Blaine Trump, Adam Lippes, Lauren Remington Platt, John Demsey, Alan Cumming and Calvin Klein, who dined alongside herrera.

Dinner committee member Sandra Lee, a longtime supporter of the charity, gave the night’s introductory remarks. her appearance was a bit of precipitous timing, as the night before in the same space, her boyfriend, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, accepted the huffington Post’s Game changer of the Year award.

“No,” the Food Network host said with a laugh when asked if the pair always followed each other. “Just a special week.”

Given the charity’s commitment to home-cooked meals, and her own kitchen empire, it felt appropriate to ask if she ever went the delivery route herself.

“Yeah, today on my photo shoot i ordered chinese,” she said.— Matthew Lynch

10 WWD friday, october 21, 2011

Special Delivery

“it’s PrettY debaucherous down there, but i guess that’s the idea,” Tony Hawk said tuesday night at studio 54, throwing a hand outwards to encompass the bodies bumping and grinding and swilling drinks on the dance floor below. sirius XM radio

had thrown open the doors of the grand dame of New York nightlife for “one night only,” and the club-turned-theater was besieged by friends and fans of the disco era. those who had

been there in decades past writhed against those whose parents had.

hawk was surveying the scene from the mezzanine level.

“it’s sort of crazy, isn’t it?” the professional skateboarder mused, considering the masses. “it’s sort of unbelievable. imagine what it was like when it opened.”

it was easy to. all of studio 54’s storied decor was on display. Neon light-up poles extended and

retracted from the ceiling alongside long, thick silver streamers in time with musical crescendoes and a large gold aztec-style sun against the back wall later made way for what Patti Hansen gleefully explained midshimmy on the dance floor as “the man in the moon with the cocaine spoon!” hansen was there with her husband, Keith Richards, and their daughter, Alexandra. Did she ever expect to be at studio 54 as a family? “the last time i was here i can’t say i was thinking about that,” hansen laughed.

Riccardo Tisci cut a dapper figure in a tuxedo and brought Naomi Campbell as his date. the pair held court by a pair of silver couches and the personal security that lined the dance floor.

“i’m too young to have been here before,” tisci shouted over the music, “but Naomi insisted that i come tonight and she’s a legend here and a legend in general, so how could i resist?”

campbell kissed his cheek with a flourish, roping in a nearby Cameron Diaz to dance. the actress obliged.

“i wanted everyone to come,” campbell cried. “i love this.…New York needs more of this. Where has this gone? really, where?”

— aLessanDra coDinha

One Night Only

House ProudMichael Gross at home in New York.

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The scene at Studio 54.

Kevin Bacon

Isaac Mizrahi and Bethenny Frankel

Calvin Klein and Carolina Herrera

Blaine Trump and Uma Thurman, both in Carolina Herrera.

The scene at Studio 54.Kevin BaconIsaac Mizrahi and Bethenny FrankelAlexandra Richards

Special DeliveryCalvin Klein and Carolina HerreraBlaine Trump and Uma Thurman in Carolina Herrera

Alexandra Richards

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WWD.COM11WWD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

A BOTTLE OF RED: Karl Lagerfeld is everywhere — including in fine wine boutiques. To help mark the 350th anniversary of

the Château Rauzan-Ségla vineyard, and an exceptional harvest, Chanel’s couturier has designed the label for the 2009 vintage, creating

a colorful sketch of the castle in the Margaux appellation of Bordeaux, France. Chanel acquired the prized winery in 1994.

COFFEE, TEA OR CASHMERE?: Pringle of Scotland has unveiled a capsule collection of 10 cashmere and merino wool separates designed by Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou and aimed

at frequent fliers. Called The Perfect 10 Travel Collection, it includes a kimono, a tank dress and top, a jumpsuit, and various sweaters and bottoms. “I wanted to create pieces that work on the plane and off. Wear it during your trip, put on a shoe, and you can go straight to your meeting,” said Neophitou-Apostolou, the owner and editor of 10 magazine. “These are evergreen, luxury basics and we plan to add to the collection each season,” she said.

The collection is sold at Harrods Heathrow Terminal 5 and through airlines including Emirates and Virgin Atlantic. Virgin customers can preorder their items on the airline’s Web site, and have them delivered to the airline’s lounge or their airplane seat. Prices range from 145 pounds, or $230, for a merino wool tank top to 450 pounds, or $710, for a voluminous cashmere wrap. The items come in black, charcoal and Yves Klein blue, and are vacuum packed in silvery gray Pringle branded bags.

GRAYSON PERRY CRAFTS WITH LOUIS VUITTON: In the latest of Louis Vuitton’s collaborations with the art world, the house has partnered with Grayson Perry, the British Turner Prize-winning artist who’s famed for dressing as his childlike female alter ego, Claire. Louis Vuitton is one of the sponsors of Perry’s new exhibition at London’s British Museum, called “The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman,” which exhibits Perry’s own works alongside objects from the museum’s collection created by unknown men and women over the past two million years.

To mark the show, Vuitton commissioned Perry to design his own distinctive take on the firm’s signature trunk. The trunk has been designed both to house Perry’s intricate, doll-like dresses and as a shrine to his teddy bear, Alan Measles — who also writes his own blog pontificating on the art world. The trunk, which is on display as part of an installation in Vuitton’s Bond Street Maison, is painted on the inside with images of male and female folk characters and an impression of the bear himself. When the trunk is on display, the teddy bear sits on a golden throne at its center, flanked by vases filled with white carnations.

SECOND THOUGHTS: David Emanuel, the British designer behind Princess Diana’s wedding gown, has been busy making the rounds this week checking out the bridal fair at the Piers and shooting a sizzle reel for what he hopes will be a CBS reality show that debuts next fall. Tough as it might seem to top dressing Princess Diana (who phoned him on her wedding night to personally thank him), Emanuel is intent on suiting up more middle-of-the-road type brides. “It’s really been my passport around the world. I am thankful and honored to have been a very small part of history,” he said. “But at the same time, I’m a designer and that makes me even more keen to prove that I am designing things other than that.”

To that end, Emanuel and his partner and manager, Seamus Lyte, are meeting with potential U.S. manufacturers to

develop a lifestyle brand — wedding gowns, ready-to-wear, perfume, home decor and the like — that will debut next fall. The launch will coincide with what they hope will be the show’s debut. Nothing short of exuberant, Emanuel seems like a natural for reality TV and the program, like the $200 wedding gowns, will be geared for the masses. With cameras in tow, the pair plan to drive cross country, visiting women in their hometowns and dispensing frank fashion advice. Emanuel, who will continue to design his made-to-order signature collection, makes no bones about catering to more everyday shoppers. “I’m a designer. I’m judged by my last project,” he said. “This is a huge challenge. It’s going to push me.”

ASHLEY ON BOARD: Donna Karan is about to make “Twilight” star Ashley Greene’s dreams come true. The actress, who originally aspired to a career as a model, has been signed to a one-year agreement to represent DKNY and DKNY Jeans in their advertising campaigns and serve as the brands’ ambassador. She’ll make her first appearance in the spring 2012 global ad campaign now being shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, but it will hardly be her debut in the designer’s clothes. Greene wore a Donna Karan custom gown to the 2011 Costume Institute gala and sported DKNY at Super Saturday in the Hamptons this past July.

Patti Cohen, executive vice president for global marketing and communications at Donna Karan International, described Greene as “on the forefront of what it means to connect with a global fan base through social media, a focus that is aligned with our digital and new media initiatives.”

Online and off, Greene’s going to be doing plenty of connecting — she’s scheduled to appear in five new films, stretching into 2013, including parts 1 and 2 of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.”

MAD ABOUT HELSINKI: Design fanatics who won’t be making the trip to Helsinki next year to celebrate the city’s World Design Capital 2012 status can get a sampling of the event in a pop-up store at The Museum of Arts and Design Oct. 21 to 28. The yearlong program in Finland will feature 300-plus events, projects and programs all meant to showcase how design can improve everyday lives. There were also be related initiatives in Milan, Berlin, London, Taipei, Tokyo and Saint Petersburg, Russia.

T-shirts from Aino-Maija Metsola and Jesse Auersalo, and sportswear from CTRL Clothing will be some of the Finnish-designed items up-for-grabs at the MAD shop. In addition, online retailer Fab.com will set up a pop-up

shop on its site starting Friday and running through Nov. 21. The latter will offer a number of Finnish designs never before available in the United States.

NEW ROLE: Michel Lhoste has been named general director of Italy-based Sixty Group. Lhoste, who formerly served as general manager of Clothing Company and as commercial director of Replay’s parent company, Fashion Box Industries SpA, and Slowear, reports directly to chief executive officer Pietro Bongiovanni. According to the group,

Lhoste will be managing the new business plan in order to reaffirm the company’s historic values, consolidate the main markets and reinforce its presence worldwide.

Sixty Group owns several brands, including Miss Sixty, Energie and RefrigiWear.

OATES TO EXIT HARVEY NICHOLS: Averyl Oates, buying director at Harvey Nichols in London, will leave her role at the end of this year, a spokeswoman for Harvey Nichols confirmed Tuesday. Oates’ next move has not been revealed, and the spokeswoman said the store has not yet decided on her successor. Oates had held the role at Harvey Nichols since 2004, before which she served as women’s wear merchandise director at Harrods.

GILDED LEATHER: The Domino magazine reader — or, rather, those lucky enough to be invited to their parties — will remember the stylish fashion week fetes at Allison Sarofim’s Bank Street home or cocktails at Tom Delavan’s place on Ninth Street. When Domino shuttered, Delavan’s home became the site of the magazine’s final tag sale, when fans lined up around the block for a chance at the publication’s merchandise, sold at steep discounts.

On Wednesday, a new era of shelter-related cocktail parties kicked off at Delavan’s home to celebrate the relaunch of Gilt Home, where he serves as editorial director. There were quite a few familiar faces, including former Domino editor in chief Deborah Needleman. Nate Berkus, who arrived with Brad Goreski, spent the evening chatting with Bunny Williams about design and their latest projects, while Hamish Bowles was striking a pose for the photographer. And Kevin Sharkey, who had asked for a plus-one to the party earlier that day, showed up with Martha Stewart, who had everyone talking about her skintight leather pants.

Miles Redd, the interior design/

creative director for Oscar de la Renta Home, showed up in a tuxedo and started tap dancing. When guests complimented him on his tux after the impromptu performance, he simply replied, “If you’re overeducated, you can be overdressed.” — AMY WICKS

IF ONLY…: Former model turned photographer Tatijana Shoan was the guest of honor at a cocktail party Monday evening to mark the launch of her artisanal, limited edition magazine, As If. Host Fawaz Gruosi, owner of the Upper East Side jewelry store de Grisogono, could barely move, as Champagne-swilling guest’s spilled out of the front doors.

Shoan’s 180-page, oversize magazine has no ads (it was privately funded) and features Dylan Walsh from “Nip/Tuck” and film director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, among others. “I like to shoot really easy — I don’t like a big group — and I was able to do that because I didn’t have people breathing down my neck,” said Shoan, who noted distribution will initially be limited to galleries and hotels, including The Four Seasons and The James. In November, As If will have a wider print run, with advertising. — A.W.

A Lagerfeld-designed Château Rauzan-Ségla label.

Ashley Greene

{Continued from page 9}

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WWD.COMWWD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 201112

A Good Dress Times 100HAL RUBENSTEIN knows from unforgettable. It’s a descriptive easily applied to him, a man of strong opinions expressed sans subtlety, whether the topic is fashion, food, politics, even tap dancing.

When Hal calls a dress unforgettable, you pay attention. When he calls 100 dresses unforgettable and binds them together into a smart, funny and extremely informative book, if you love fashion, pop culture or a witty turn of phrase, you’ve got to love it.

Published by the HarperCollins imprint Harper Design, Hal’s “100 Unforgettable Dresses” is a joy read, one that has him on a holiday-timed press offensive. No vanity project here; “I want this book to sell,” he states. To that end, and because of admitted populist proclivities, he rejected the publisher’s original pitch, finding it too insider. “I didn’t want this to be a book for the 500 people I sit with at fashion shows,” he says.

That said, there are moments of pure fashion, from McCardle sportswear and Kamali sweats to Halston Ultrasuede and Gianni Versace bondage. Hal calls the “Touring Dress,” from Miuccia Prada’s spring 2004 collection, perhaps his favorite of hers ever. “Basically, it’s a shirtwaist,” he observes. “This was around the time that Tom [Ford] was doing the white collection. Gianni was still alive. Fashion in Milan, it was Cavalli, it was Gianni, it was sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. It was Dolce. And she comes out with this dress that’s almost pristine, and yet is so incredibly sensual.”

Ford’s white collection made the cut as well: “Tom’s Sermon on the Mount. It was like, ‘Gucci is mine! Milan is mine. Sex is mine.’ ”

Along with great fashion, he identifies fortitude in Marc Jacobs’ grunge. “Marc is just the ultimate story in fashion of independence,” he notes. “And he’s the ultimate example of a designer that understands that fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum.” He sees professional pathos in Stephen Sprouse’s great graffiti work: “Luck has so much to do with people’s careers. It’s luck, talent and perseverance. He had perseverance, and he undeniably had talent. Stephen didn’t have luck.” Hal considers the Sprouse entrée illustrative of the book’s subtle education strain. “In a very spoonful-of-sugar way, I’ve tried to help people understand the business of fashion. Here’s a man with complete and utter talent, but he designed downtown dresses with uptown prices. The very people who would look great in those clothes at the Mudd Club couldn’t afford to buy them.…Stephen couldn’t find a backer.”

Mostly this is a storybook of tales with frocks as the central characters, a notion with which the author does not disagree. “I’m a storyteller,” he says. “There were other beautiful and unforgettable dresses, but these had the best stories, whether it was how Marilyn Monroe created that

dress for ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President,’ or the effects that Marlo Thomas’ Jonathan Logan A-line dresses had on the public.” (That Marlo-loving demographic included Hal’s cousin Audrey, who was around Marlo’s age, and for her first job “went out and bought 23 Jonathan Logan dresses.”).

The book’s structure is free-form, its randomness making for a surprise per page. One stretch features Julianna Margulies in Oscar de la Renta, Joan Crawford in Adrian in the film “Letty Lynton,” Phyllis Diller in “bar mitzvah attire,” Christian Lacroix’s Pouf and Grace Jones in a mammoth ballgown by Keith Haring, all with compelling backstories. “My feeling was,” he explains, “that if I sucker people in, and

I say that in a good way, with the stories, then you’ll pay attention to the fashion when we get to the fashion.”

Along the way, Hal mixes in celebrity icons. Though mostly obvious choices — Audrey, Grace, Tilda — the information fascinates. Hepburn, just 24 and working the power of her Oscar win for “Roman Holiday,” told the studio that for her post-Paris wardrobe for her next film, “Sabrina,” she wanted to work with Givenchy, 26, rather that with stalwart Edith Head. The studio consented, though Givenchy would get no credit and Hepburn had to finance his work. All agreed. When “Sabrina” won the best costume Oscar, Head accepted without mentioning Givenchy’s name.

“She wasn’t a nice lady, but she was a great designer,”

Hal says. “Her whole impetus in ‘To Catch a Thief ’ was to make Grace Kelly the most irresistible woman in the world. She truly achieved it. Travis Banton, Adrian, Edith Head. These were all the great designers of film, the people that made film such an extraordinary fantasy.”

Asked whether they get enough credit for being great designers, he offers that the last person who recognized them as such was Diana Vreeland. “She did the Hollywood exhibit at the Met, which I still think is the greatest one. I was a Glorious Food waiter at that one. There are three great exhibits at the Met, to me, in its history: Hollywood; the McQueen exhibition, which was unbelievable, and the

Jackie Kennedy exhibition, which had the greatest text by Hamish [Bowles].”

Hal digresses, although not too far, as Jackie is one of his icons (“she used the clothes as a political tool”), and the house of McQueen merits two dresses: Lee McQueen’s Kate Moss hologram gown and Sarah Burton’s wedding dress for Kate Middleton. The royal wedding occurred three days after the book closed, requiring a literal stopping of the presses. (It also required cutting one of the original 100 dresses, as Hal refused to do 101; out went Nancy Reagan’s white one-shoulder James Galanos gown from her husband’s first inaugural ball.)

Other wedding dresses are unexpected (actress Linda Christian’s for her

marriage to Tyrone Power) and expected (Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s and Princess Diana’s). “Princess Diana’s dress, good or bad, hideous as it was — and, as we state, hideous — it changed the way women thought. They wanted to believe in that fairy tale so badly. And we all did, frankly.”

When reality didn’t live up to the fairy tale expectations, Diana let her wardrobe do the talking, at least once, when she stepped out in what Hal dubs “The Revenge Dress,” a tight black ruched number by Christina Stambolian. Diana owned it for three years before wearing it, and only pulled it out of her closet when she was set for a gallery appearance on the night Charles went on television to acknowledge his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

Hal approves of the “Take that, buster” school of dress selection, offering another example: Reese Witherspoon’s choice for the 2007 Golden Globes, a dress by Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci. “She would show up at events, pure Southern girl, her hair in ringlets, in a pretty little Valentino. And then [Ryan Phillippe] cheated. This was her first public appearance since all the rumors had hit. Nobody wants to be an object of pity — certainly not somebody who names their production company Type A Productions. So she straightens her hair, puts on a pair of Brian Atwood pumps and comes up in a canary yellow strapless cocktail dress and basically it’s like one big…The book calls it the ‘Ryan Who?’ dress, but I originally called it something else.”

The list goes on. Hal includes Bob Mackie, not only for the sensation of Cher but for dressing Carol Burnett in “the greatest parody dress of all time,” her “Starlett O’Hara” getup with curtain-rod shoulders. And in “Gilda,” Rita Hayworth “shows women, ‘See, I can dance in this [strapless dress] and I won’t pop out of it.’ It’s because there’s literally a plastic corset that’s clamped your boobs together.” Then there’s Elizabeth Taylor, at 19 in “A Place in the Sun,” her fluffy strapless “becoming the blueprint for every prom for the next 20 years”; Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman” red, at the “moment when everybody fell madly in love with this girl,” and Ginger Rogers “Cheek to Cheek” with Fred Astaire in the dancing dress of her dreams — but not director Mark Sandrich’s. The outfit shed fitfully, requiring more than 40 takes. He begged her to lose it; she said she’d rather lose the movie. She won.

Hal sums up his unforgettable equation by quoting Calvin Klein, one of several designers he interviewed for the book. “In the Halle Berry segment, Calvin says, basically, an unforgettable moment is the combination of the right dress on the right woman at the right time.”

Still, his belief in major fashion of the runway variety reveals itself at times — and passionately so. Case in point: another feathered wonder, this one worn by Carmen Kass in Karl Lagerfeld’s remarkable spring 2011 Chanel show. “First,” Hal says, getting peeved anew in retrospect, “that show was one of the great fashion moments of all time. Why he didn’t get a standing ovation that day really [expletive] the [expletive] out of me. I was like, ‘What the [expletive] is wrong with you people?’ There were 80 looks and yet when Carmen Kass walked out, as voluminous as that dress was, all the feathers went behind her and I still saw her body. The look on her face said, ‘I’ve got the best dress here.’ This was the essence of fantasy, glamour, audacity.” In a word, unforgettable.

Bridget Foley’s Diary

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Rita Hayworth in “Gilda,” 1946.

Julia Roberts in that famous red dress, “Pretty Woman,” 1990.

Carmen Kass in spring 2011 Chanel — “one of the great fashion moments of all time,” says Rubenstein.

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Reese Witherspoon in her “Ryan Who?” Nina Ricci dress,

2007.

FOR MORE PHOTOS, SEE

WWD.com/fashion-news.