CLIMBING THE RANKS

Puig’s Net Climbs,Market Share Grows

By JENNIFER WEIL and MILES SOCHA

PARIS — Puig is gobbling up market share.The fragrance and fashion group on Thursday re-

ported a 19 percent leap in net profits last year to 155 million euros, or $215.8 million, driven by gains in in-ternational markets. Overall, Puig grew its worldwide market share in the selective perfumery sector to 7.6 percent last year from 5.1 percent in 2007, putting it in seventh place in the global fragrance ranking.

Revenues at the Barcelona-based fashion and fra-grance group — parent of the Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci, Paco Rabanne and Jean Paul Gaultier houses — increased 12 percent in the period to 1.34 billion euros, or $1.87 billion. The growth was fueled mainly by sales in international markets, which accounted for 80 percent of Puig’s business last year, versus 65 percent in 2007.

Dollar figures are converted from euros at average exchange rates for the periods in question.

“The results of last year are the consequences of a certain strategy that we chose to pursue a few years ago, when we said that we wanted to focus our activ-ity in building brands through fashion — and that has to do with the brands that we have in our portfolio — and then translating the image of those brands in the fragrance category, whether ours or from third par-ties through licensees,” said Marc Puig, Puig chair-man and chief executive officer, reached by phone Thursday evening.

“In 2011, we have grown in Europe, we have grown in the international markets, we have grown in the U.S. And the launches of certain products this last year plus the good performance of some of our pillars over the last few years has also contributed to this growth,” said Puig, who explained, save for in Spain, the com-pany posted gains in every market and brand.

Puig’s domestic market now accounts for only 20 percent of its net revenues, versus 36 percent in 2007.

The company highlighted the launches of 212 VIP Men and CH L’Eau by Carolina Herrera as growth contributors in the fragrance category.

Sales in Puig’s fashion division, now headed bySEE PAGE 4

SEE PAGE 8

By DAVID MOIN

MADEWELL HAS MOVED past the early develop-ment stage and is ready to go.

That’s according to Millard “Mickey” Drexler, who has led the reinvention of the former workwear label into a casual and modern young women’s collection. After much work over the last six years establishing a distinct fashion identity, the chairman and chief ex-ecutive officer of Madewell’s parent, J. Crew Group, has green-lighted a heady Madewell rollout.

“Starting a company like this, where there is a com-mitment to fashion, quality and design, is not an easy pro-cess,” said Drexler, in an exclusive interview. “We weren’t ready to take a more ambitious stand until we felt confi-dent. It takes longer [with a fashion brand] than perhaps going into a discount or price-oriented business.”

Years passed, he said, before Madewell achieved a level of performance, and before he felt comfortable enough with the product and marketing to justify a rollout, which is in the works. Madewell will increase retail square footage by 30 percent this year, on top of a 50 percent leap last year. It’s seen operating 46 stores by yearend, compared with 31 last year, and in 2013, the pace of openings will quicken.

“The key is to have a viable concept and enough quality volume to pencil out locations,” Drexler said.

Madewell’s marketing intensified with last year’s catalogue launch. The third edition of the editorially

PHOTO BY STEVE EICHNER

WWDFRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00

Madewell’s Rollout Mode

GALA GOINGMODELS AND SOCIALS

TURNED OUT FOR THE NEW

YORKERS FOR CHILDREN

SPRING GALA. PAGE 9

NEW YORK — A Dolce & Gabbana-clad Madonna did a personal appearance at Macy’s Herald Square Thursday night for the launch of her first fragrance, Truth or Dare. It was a crush as the Material Girl walked the midnight blue carpet on a repurposed pedestrian plaza before heading into a large white tent that shook with bass notes where 300 Madonna enthusiasts waited for a “fan conference.” For more, see Fashion Scoops, page 11.

Madge Does Midtown

WWD.COM2

By KELLY WETHERILLE

TOKYO — Fast Retailing said Thursday that due to strong perfor-mance at home and abroad, both its profit and sales for the six months ended Feb. 29 grew, prompting an upward revision of the company’s full-year earnings outlook.

Net profit for the six-month period grew 38.7 percent year-on-year to 57.8 billion yen, or $747.3 million at average exchange rates for the period.

Operating income increased 11.8 percent to 91.75 billion yen, or $1.19 billion.

Sales for the half totaled 525.5 billion yen, or $6.79 billion, an in-crease of 14.9 percent compared with the same period last year.

Uniqlo’s sales in Japan in-creased 6.6 percent overall to 364.59 billion yen, or $4.71 billion. The company opened 24 Uniqlo stores over the six-month period, bringing it to a total of 828 loca-tions throughout the country.

The retailer continued its in-ternational push with 53 store openings overseas throughout the half in cities such as New York, Taipei and Seoul, for a total of 234 Uniqlo stores outside of Japan. Uniqlo’s international sales jumped 68.8 percent to 84.82 billion yen, or $1.1 billion.

On Wednesday, Uniqlo re-vealed plans to open its first store on the U.S. West Coast on San Francisco’s Powell Street this fall. At a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday, chairman, presi-dent and chief executive Tadashi Yanai reiterated his ambitious

plans for international expansion.“We project that Uniqlo’s in-

ternational sales will overtake Uniqlo Japan’s sales by the fiscal year 2015,” Yanai said.

To that end, the company aims to open between 200 and 300 stores a year outside of Japan in the near future, including 100 stores in Greater China and an-other 50 to 100 elsewhere in Asia. Ten years from now, the company envisions both of these numbers will be more than 1,000.

The first Uniqlo in the Philippines is set to open in June, and this fall the company also plans to open a store in New Jersey. It also hopes to open 20 to 30 shops in and around New York and an additional 20 to 30 in and around San Francisco and Los Angeles, although the time frame for this expansion has not been set.

“In New York, the places where a great number of people actu-ally live are on the outskirts....

So, opening stores in the suburbs is a prerequisite for progress,” Yanai said. “I think San Francisco is a great city. It’s a place with some good culture and it’s close to Silicon Valley, so I think it will definitely be a plus for our digital commerce in the future.”

Yanai said he also has his eye on European cities such as Berlin, Milan and Barcelona.

When asked what he thought of increasing competition in Japan from international retail-ers such as American Eagle, which is due to open its first store here next week, Yanai said he welcomes the challenge.

“I want them to keep coming. We’ll make a great effort to com-pete against each other, and that’s how growth starts,” the execu-tive responded. “This is the age of global players — international players from around the world will pop up around the world — so if we can’t win and advance to the next round, I don’t think there will be any hope for us.”

Fast Retailing upped its guid-ance for the full year ending August 31, due to better-than-expected performance at Uniqlo. It now expects net profit to grow 49.9 percent to 81.5 billion yen, or $1.01 billion at current exchange rates. Operating profit is expect-ed to increase by 18.6 percent to 138 billion yen, or $1.71 billion. The company forecasts full-year sales of 941.5 billion yen, or $11.65 billion, which would represent growth of 14.8 percent. The com-pany increased its forecasts for Uniqlo in Japan but left its inter-national guidance unchanged.

WWD FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Cucinelli Road Show Set After Final OK for Listing

Talbots Posts $53.3M Loss in Fourth Qtr.

Fast Retailing Ups Earnings Forecast

TO E-MAIL REPORTERS AND EDITORS AT WWD, THE ADDRESS IS FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME@FAIRCHILDFASHION.COM, USING THE INDIVIDUAL’S NAME. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2012 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 203, NO. 76. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012. 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 all request for reprints of articles please contact The YGS Group at condenast@theygsgroup.com, or call 800-501-9571. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.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.

ON WWD.COM

THE BRIEFING BOXIN TODAY’S WWD

Puig on Thursday reported a 19 percent leap in net profits last year to 155 million euros, or $215.8 million, driven by gains in international markets. PAGE 1 Millard “Mickey” Drexler has green-lighted a rollout of Madewell, the former workwear label reinvented into a casual and modern young women’s collection. PAGE 1 Apparel and textile imports to the U.S. fell 6.4 percent in February to 3.9 billion square meter equivalents from a year earlier, according to a Commerce Department report. PAGE 4 Stacy London’s digital venture Style for Hire will make its official launch today. PAGE 4 Kate Walsh is out to build a lifestyle brand how she wants, without the bonds of licensing or sponsorship, based around the Boyfriend fragrance concept. PAGE 6 Parfums Christian Dior is set to launch this fall its next generation of Nude foundation, whose evolution is billed to be in line with the current fashion trends. PAGE 7 Natalie Portman talks producing, philanthropy and the role beauty plays in her life. PAGE 7 Lord & Taylor today opens its most unconventional and contemporary store to date in the Westchester’s Ridge Hill shopping center. PAGE 8 New Yorkers for Children held its ninth annual spring dinner dance Tuesday night at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. PAGE 10 Event planner Barton G. Weiss’ new magazine Vault is dedicated to the art of being social. Its 238-page debut May issue is said to be a mash-up of socializing, entertainment and fashion. PAGE 9

The scene at New Yorkers For Children’s ninth annual spring dinner dance.

Fool’s Game: Doutzen Kroes, Selita Ebanks and Coco Rocha were among the crowd at New Yorkers For Children’s Annual Fool’s Fete spring benefit. For more photos, see WWD.com/eye.

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ERCORRECTION

Michael Kors founded his own brand in 1981. This was incorrect in a fashion scoop on page 7, Thursday.

MILAN — Brunello Cucinelli SpA’s public listing is nearing reality.

On Thursday, the luxury fash-ion firm received the green light from Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa, or CONSOB, Italy’s equivalent of the Securities and Exchange Commission, for an initial public offering. This fol-lows the approval from the Italian Stock Exchange earlier this week for the company’s shares to be listed on the Electronic Stock Market, or MTA, and allows Brunello Cucinelli to kick off its road show on Monday. A press conference will be held that same day in Milan to present strategies and details of the listing.

A maximum of 20.4 million ordinary shares, or 30 percent of the company’s share capital, will be put on the market. Ten per-cent of shares will be directed at the general public in Italy and 90 percent of the shares will be aimed at Italian and foreign in-

stitutional investors (excluding Australia, Canada and Japan).

Main shareholder Fedone Srl, controlled by Cucinelli, is ex-pected to grant a purchase option of up to 2.04 million shares, or 10 percent of the shares offered, as part of the Greenshoe option. This can be exercised, either partly or in full, within a month from the initial trading day. If the Greenshoe option is fully exercised, the number of shares placed will total 22.4 million, equal to a free float of 33 per-cent of the share capital. Eight million shares, or 40 percent of the offer, are part of a capital increase by Brunello Cucinelli SpA, while 12.4 million shares, equal to approximately 60 per-cent of the offer, are provided by Fedone Srl and Fundita Srl.

The road show will end on April 27, when the share price will be determined, and trading is expected to begin on May 3.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Mediobanca are global coor-dinators and joint book runners.

Cucinelli, known for its cash-meres and Italian craftsmanship, is valued at about 500 million euros, or $655.2 million at cur-rent exchange.

In the 2011 fiscal year, the firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amorti-zation climbed 68 percent to 40 million euros, or $55.6 million at average exchange, on sales of 243 million euros, or $337.7 million, up 19 percent compared with the previous year.

The company has registered 50 percent growth over the past two years. Exports account for 70 percent of sales. There are 1,000 points of sale that carry the brand and 60 Brunello Cucinelli boutiques around the world. Based in Solomeo, near Perugia, the company has more than 700 employees. — LUISA ZARGANI

AGGRESSIVE MARKDOWNS pushed The Talbots Inc. to a $53.3 million fourth-quarter loss and the company said it contin-ued to explore its “strategic al-ternatives” — corporate speak for looking for a buyer.

The retailer said there was no definitive timetable for its strategic review, which is being conducted with the help of Perrella Weinberg Partners. The Hingham, Mass.-based chain plans to continue shuttering stores and searching for a suc-cessor for president and chief ex-

ecutive officer Trudy F. Sullivan as that process winds on.

The quarterly losses trans-lated into 77 cents a diluted share and compared with losses of $2.8 million, or 4 cents, a year earlier. Revenues for the three months ended Jan. 28 decreased 1.1 percent to $289.4 million from $292.6 million.

“Our fourth-quarter perfor-mance reflects an aggressive pro-motional and markdown strategy in a challenging retail environ-ment,” Sullivan said. “This result-ed in a sequential improvement

in both customer traffic and sales trends compared to the third quar-ter. We were able to clear through excess merchandise to better posi-tion ourselves for spring, ending the year with total inventories up approximately 4 percent.”

Talbots finished the year with 517 stores, having closed 82 doors last year. The retailer plans to shutter another 30 stores over the next year or so.

For the full year, Talbots post-ed net losses of $111.9 million on sales of $1.14 billion.

— EVAN CLARK

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NEW YORK — Stacy London’s digital venture Style for Hire will make its offi-cial launch today.

Billed by co-founder and chief execu-tive officer Cindy McLaughlin as a “tur-bocharged agency with a celebrity face,” the Web site serves as a network of inde-pendent wardrobe stylists located in 24 cities nationwide that offer their fashion expertise to “real” people.

This ranges from personal shopping (either with or for the client) to a closet audit that donates discarded clothing to Goodwill (through one of a few corporate partnerships McLaughlin and London have secured thus far). There’s also “clos-et shopping,” where a stylist might come in and put together outfits with one’s exist-ing wardrobe and even shopping tourism, where an individual or group can book a stylist for a retail tour of stores in a city.

“Style isn’t a privilege of the young, skin-ny and wealthy. It’s a right, and everyone is entitled to it,” London told WWD as she geared up for the site to go live, a passion project for the host of TLC’s “What Not to Wear” that’s been nearly four years in the making. “People thought personal shop-pers in a particular store were the closest they could get [to this], and they thought it was a splurge. Or, if a shopper didn’t have a fee, you became wary they would get a commission based on what you would buy.”

The 130 stylists currently on the site go through a two-day workshop where they are schooled by London in her body-centric “science of styling” method that’s based on geometry and the “basic under-standing of shape.” They are also trained in strategizing a budget for a potential client to avoid impulse buys or purchas-ing something too trendy.

Stylists meet all clients for a consulta-tion so they can document who they are, take measurements and get a feel for per-sonal style, London said. The stylists each work as independent contractors with hourly rates from $65 to more than $300 (based on experience and location). Style for Hire takes a cut of this — ranging from 25 percent if the stylist introduced

the client to the network to a third of the hourly rate if the stylist worked with an existing Style for Hire member. Stylists, on average, charge $120 an hour with ap-pointments lasting 2.5 hours each.

The Web site has been in beta since 2010 in Washington, D.C., but the initial busi-ness plan was hatched in 2008. London ad-mits the project’s launch took longer than expected, partially because it took time to figure out the right way to pitch the concept to investors. In November, the company re-vealed that Golden Seeds led a $1.1 million round of financing along with other inde-pendent investors — a year after the initial launch in D.C. entered the trial phase.

In the past 18 months, McLaughlin has found that nearly 50 percent of clients re-turned to book additional appointments and 25 percent have come back three or more times. McLaughlin also has worked with London to build affiliate retail part-nerships that give discounts or access to special services at places like saks.com, Lord & Taylor, Net-a-Porter, Ann Taylor, frenchconnection.com and Rent the Runway. The two also work with Westfield in locations in New Jersey, Connecticut or Maryland, where Style for Hire provides styling as a benefit to the retailer’s employ-ees, offers its stylists to shoppers, hosts style tours and has stylists give free 10-min-ute, in-store shopping consultations.

� —�Rachel�StRugatz�

By JENNIfER WEIL

PARIS — L’Oréal expects to achieve another year of sales and profit growth in 2012.

The french beauty giant reported Thursday that it posted first-quarter revenues of 5.64 billion euros, or $7.39 billion, up 9.4 percent versus the same prior-year period. At constant ex-change rates, sales gained 7.1 percent, and on a like-for-like basis, they in-creased 6.4 percent.

Dollar figures are calculated at average exchange rates for the three-month period ended March 31.

The company reg-istered increases in all of its geographic branches and product divisions.

Jean-Paul Agon, L’Oréal chairman and chief executive of-ficer, outlined three “key facts” of the quarter during a con-ference call Thursday evening. The first was an acceleration of growth “compared to the end of last year and compared to every quarter of last year, which is good.” Agon noted a strong performance of the Luxe divi-sion, as well.

Lancôme, designer fragrances and Kiehl’s particularly drove that business.

“Also a very important event this first quarter [is that] for the first time in the history of L’Oréal — in 103 years — the new markets have become the first region in terms of sales of our compa-ny, which is an historical milestone,” added Agon.

New markets — including Asia and the Pacific region (which combined particularly spurred gains), Eastern

Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East — posted first-quarter rev-enues of 2.09 billion euros, or $2.74 bil-lion, up 14.1 percent.

Sales in Western Europe rose 2.3 percent to 1.95 billion euros, or $2.56 billion, and revenues in North America grew 13.1 percent to 1.26 billion euros, or $1.65 billion.

By division, Consumer Products’ sales were 2.77 billion euros, or $3.63 billion, up 7.2 percent. Revenues at the Luxe division were 1.37 billion euros,

or $1.72 billion, a 17.8 percent increase, while the Professional Products divi-sion registered revenues of 755.6 mil-lion euros, or $989.5 million, a 5.6 per-cent gain. And the Active Cosmetics division’s sales increased 5.3 percent to 468.6 million euros, or $613.6 million.

Revenues at The Body Shop grew 6.4 percent to 180.4 million euros, or $236.2 million, while L’Oréal’s Dermatology business generated sales of 153.5 million euros, or $201 million, an 18.4 percent uptick.

Looking ahead at full-year 2012, Agon said, “Our ambition is to be above the growth of the market.”

By KRISTI ELLIS

WASHINGTON — Apparel and textile imports to the U.S. fell 6.4 percent in february to 3.9 billion square meter equivalents from a year earlier, a re-port from the Commerce Department’s Office for Textiles and Apparel showed Thursday, as the Obama administration continued to tout Made in America and export opportunities.

On the import front, retail-ers and brands kept an eye on inventories in february, fol-lowing a long-term downward import trend.

“I think we’ve had this downward trend that has been continuing since the second half of last year,” said Julia Hughes, president of the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel. “We are definitely seeing some re-trenching, and we’re not quite ready for overall growth….A lot of companies are not ordering as much product as they did last year, due to costs, and people don’t want to hold inventory.”

Apparel imports fell 7.1 percent to 1.7 billion SME in february, while tex-tile imports fell 5.9 percent to 2.1 billion SME. The overall trade deficit narrowed to $46 billion in february from $52.5 bil-lion in January.

Apparel and textile shipments from China, the top supplier to the U.S. that has seen its shipments decline for sever-al months, fell 12.7 percent in february to 1.6 billion SME compared with a year

earlier. Combined industry shipments from Vietnam, which had been taking share from China last year but fell in January, dropped again in february by 11.4 percent to 227 million SME. India was one of two key supplier countries that posted an increase in textile and apparel imports. Its shipments rose 14.6 percent to 279 million SME in february compared with a year earlier. Pakistan’s apparel and textile imports gained 0.6 percent to 169 million SME in february.

Cambodia posted the largest apparel import increase of 11.3 percent to 89 mil-lion SME, while Bangladesh posted the second-largest apparel increase of 0.55 percent to 139 million SME.

Meanwhile, Made in America and a shift in production back to the U.S. and Western Hemisphere were among the topics discussed at an all-day White House conference on “Connecting the Americas” with business leaders across the country, in advance of President Obama’s participation in the sixth Summit of the Americas later this week in Cartagena, Colombia.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron

Kirk said U.S. trade with the Western Hemisphere is roughly $645 billion, out of total trade of $2.1 trillion.

“We think we can grow that exponen-tially,” said Kirk, adding that the country is on pace to meet the President’s goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014, based on a record year in 2011. “I can tell you that as I have traveled around the world in my capacity as trade representa-tive, the words ‘Made in America’ are still three of the most treasured words in the

world. It is still one of the most powerful brands in the world.”

Small Business Administration administrator Karen Mills said, “This Made in America brand is hot, and we see it in a lot of small businesses all around the country. When I travel around the country, the number-one thing they ask me for is a level playing field.”

Kirk said U.S. trade officials have found that more U.S. com-panies are relocating back to the

U.S. to produce their goods.“for a period of time 20 years ago,

American businesses decided to go to places like China and Malaysia because there were hundreds of millions of work-ers who would work for $2 a day and transportation costs were cheaper,” he said. “But what we are beginning to find in many cases — and not just China but in many countries — while it is cheaper to get the workers there…our productiv-ity has gone up….Businesses are finally deciding, ‘You know what? I think I’m just going to make this here in North America and in the U.S.’ It is the begin-ning of a trend.”

4

Imports Down, Made in America Pushed

Stacy London’s Style for the Masses

president Ralph Toledano, advanced 31 percent last year.

“All brands grew,” said Puig. About the business, he said,

“Although fashion is a small part of our activity, it’s one that is showing consis-tent growth over the past few years.”

Asked to comment on the ongoing rumor that Puig is interested in acquir-ing Valentino, the fashion house, whose fragrance license the company already holds, the executive said, “I can say two things in that regard. Number one, that basically we are very happy with the re-lationship that we started two years ago with Valentino. And as licensee, we have launched last year our first product as a result of this collaboration, and we are more than happy of the relationship, of the results and of the ongoing potential.

“In general, I would say that our aim going forward is to grow the brands we have in our portfolio and the activities we have in our portfolio,” continued Puig. “We think that there is plenty of potential with the brands that we have in our portfolio today. So we’re not looking at adding new brands.”

Sales at Puig accelerated in the first quarter of 2012, advancing 20 percent thanks to a double-digit trend in inter-national markets and single-digit de-creases in Spain.

The company expects to surpass 1.4 billion euros, or $1.85 billion at current exchange, in net revenues this year.

L’Oréal Growth Accelerating

International Boosts Puig

{Continued from page one}

Style for Hire’s homepage at styleforhire.com.

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I can tell you that as I have traveled around the world…“Made

in America” are still three of the most treasured words in the world.

— Ron KiRK, USTR

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By Belisa silva

For alterna, lately there’s no such thing as a bad hair day.

after sales gained 54 percent in fiscal 2011, alterna — positioned as a natural but high-performance professional line — is poised to generate between $35 mil-lion and $55 million by end of fiscal 2012, according to industry sources.

alterna hopes to continue its momen-tum this year with a focus on product innovation, domestic and global expan-sion and a direct-to-consumer model to increase brand awareness.

“our main driver of growth is staying nimble and ahead of the curve in inno-vation, which we’ve become known for, and the expansion of organic business,” said company president Joan Malloy, who took the helm in august 2009. since then the los angeles-based brand, owned since 2005 by tsG Consumer Partners, has been focused on growth through in-novation, rather than promotion, which had been the company’s previous model.

industry sources estimated new products contributed to 25 percent of sales in 2011.

last year’s upswing was also bol-stered by introductions like alterna’s Bamboo line, launched at the end of 2010 into sephora stores, which marked the brand’s first entry into the retailer’s

doors. Bamboo now has six sublines, including Bamboo shine, Bamboo volume, Bamboo Uv+, Bamboo style, Bamboo Men and Bamboo smooth, which is currently alterna’s best-selling collection the U.s.

Malloy said last year “represented un-precedented innovation with the intro-duction of new Bamboo collections and key Caviar sku’s. Going forward, it’s about increasing the penetration in our existing channels and continuing to expand pro-fessional and international distribution.”

in February, alterna appeared on QvC, which has some 90 million viewers, and will return to its airwaves through-out the year. Upcoming shows include an eight-minute segment on saturday and one-hour shows this month and in september. alterna has also named its first education expert, beauty strategist alberti Popaj, to appear on air and at in-store events.

on the international front, alterna, which is currently available in 45 coun-tries, will roll out to sephora Mexico, Brazil, latin america and southeast asia in the coming months. it also plans to double its salon presence, with plans to increase its door count to 4,500 this year from its current count of 2,500, by expand-ing into markets such as China, south america, Japan, vietnam and Malaysia.

the brand also is entering new prod-

uct categories. in January, it introduced 1 night Highlights, a mineral-based, tem-porary color mousse for $29, which al-lows users to test out highlights and wash them out that same day. it’s currently available in three shades — caramel, red and blonde — and more colors will be added seasonally.

this month, alterna will launch Caviar

Clinical, its first entry into the hair-grow-ing category. it is formulated with ingre-dients like red clover extract, nettle root and saw palmetto, and is expected to help drive growth in the antiaging hair seg-ment by 25 percent. the line includes a detoxifying shampoo, $32, root and scalp stimulator, $36, and weekly boosting treatments, $50, for six weekly doses. For this launch, alterna also tapped its first spokesperson, Debra Jaliman, a board-certified dermatologist and american academy of Dermatology spokeswoman, and conducted clinical studies.

“Caviar clinical addresses the thick-ening of every strand of hair and it mois-turizes the follicle,” said Jaliman, who added that testing revealed that eight out of 10 people saw increased strand thick-ness after six weeks. “every week, i see patients suffering from hair loss, seeking proven effective solutions to this very distressing problem.”

alterna’s third key 2012 launch is 48 Hour sustainable volume spray, touted as a first-of-its-kind volume enhancer, promising two full days of 105 percent increased hair diameter and thickness. “this is the strongest volume claim on the market,” said a spokeswoman, who added that the lightweight formula works even on the finest of hair types. launching later this month, the formula, $24, contains phytonutrient-rich, protein-binding, organic maca root, said to be “natural viagra,” and hair-strengthening organic bamboo extract, the hero ingre-dient of the Bamboo range.

6 WWD FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Kate Walsh’s View on BoyfriendsBy raCHel Brown

onsCreen as Dr. addison Montgomery in aBC’s “Grey’s anatomy” and its spin-off “Private Practice,” and off as the creator of the fragrance brand Boyfriend, Kate walsh is most certainly not the kind of woman who’s defined by a man.

if she was, walsh speculated, Boyfriend might be named hus-band. “But nobody wants to buy a fragrance called Husband. i think the idea of Boyfriend connotes fun, a kind of frivol-ity and romance. anything can happen as opposed to with a husband or a fiancé, where things get serious and heavy and possibly end in lawsuits,” she said, adding, “it was really about a nod to these guys. now, we don’t have to necessarily get married, [but i felt like saying,] ‘Hey fellas, we really like you, and we love romance. we like the simple things like wearing your shirt or your jeans.’ these are the kind of romantic, sen-sual things that i wanted to give a shout out to.”

walsh is also not the kind of beauty entrepreneur to be hamstrung by industry norms. she’s out to build a lifestyle brand how she wants, with-out the bonds of licensing or sponsorship, based around the Boyfriend concept she was amazed hadn’t already been mined. with her second fragrance launch, Billionaire Boyfriend, the actress is de-veloping a track record of successes in a field in which most celebrities are just pretty faces. “we love her as a part-ner. she’s an example of some-one who is completely engaged

in the fragrance process,” said Betsy olum, general manager, beauty and merchandising strategy at Hsn.

the Boyfriend brand is on pace to grow around 70 percent this year and crack $5 million in sales. Billionaire Boyfriend, introduced in February, has to date generated $750,000 at retail, according to industry sources. in limited distribution at Hsn and sephora, Boyfriend rivals fragrance behemoths. “this last year, our sales have been con-sistent in the top 25 fragrances at sephora,” said walsh. “we’re

neck and neck with big, big brands that have gazillion-dollar advertising budgets, and that’s really exciting.”

sephora’s vice president of merchandising, Jessica Hanson, declared walsh’s unique role at Boyfriend has had a lot to do with its performance. “while it is not unusual for a celebrity to enter the fragrance area as this is a growing category with immense exposure, what is unusual is the celebrity as the founder, creator and chief mar-

keter of the brand,” she said. “Kate personally develops and creates the scents and is dedi-cated to bringing only the best products to her fans.”

walsh entered the fragrance industry herself so she could have full control from start to fin-ish. the starting point is the in-spiration. For the first fragrance, Boyfriend, she intended to cap-ture a boyfriend’s scent that lin-gers on, even if only in memory. Billionaire Boyfriend puts the focus on a rich boyfriend, the type who can suggest a trip around the world and buy a yacht on a mo-

ment’s notice to make it happen. “this is a story of fun, indulgence and decadence. the sky’s the limit,” said walsh.

each fragrance has a scent and packaging that conform to walsh’s vision to communi-cate the inspiration. she avoids market re-search that might com-pel her into concocting a product that smells and looks like existing fragrances. “while nei-ther original Boyfriend nor the new Billionaire Boyfriend fragrance

smell ‘like a man,’ they are not the traditional commercial scents and differ greatly from other celebrity fragrances,” said Hanson. “we applaud Kate for her ingenuity in such a competi-tive market.”

Givaudan perfumer Mary Pierre Julien crafted both Boyfriend fragrances. the original Boyfriend is a woody scent featur-ing jasmine, vanilla and amber. Billionaire Boyfriend, which is priced at $75 for a 1.7-oz. eau de parfum and $45 for a 0.5-oz. edp, is

a floral oriental with notes of ber-gamot, tangerine, black jasmine, velvet orchid, gardenia, patchouli flower, vetiver, citrus, sandalwood and golden amber.

on a small advertising bud-get, walsh has generated buzz for the Boyfriend brand with short “webimercials.” she made six or so for Boyfriend and another four for Billionaire Boyfriend, including one shot in the Bahamas with a James Bond sensibility involving a jet ski and a tiny silver bikini. “Part of what i wanted to express and commu-nicate through this fragrance, the stories and the ads is a sense of humor,” said walsh. “the fra-grance ads i’ve always seen are superserious with really impos-sibly gorgeous people that are really upset about how sexy and good-smelling they are.”

Befitting the opulence of a wealthy boyfriend, walsh paid homage to an old champagne bottle with a crest on Billionaire Boyfriend’s bottle. “i knew i wanted it to look super luxe and gorgeous,” said walsh. “i literally took a picture of a Dom Perignon label on my iPhone or, at that time, a Blackberry.” to give bottles a vintage-seeming distressed surface, she enlisted Providence Metallizing Co. to achieve an antique finish that is distinctive on every bottle.

Perfecting the antiquing process took longer than antici-pated, pushing a planned fall launch for Billionaire Boyfriend to February. walsh welcomed the change, concluding a launch date timed with valentine’s Day would separate Billionaire Boyfriend from the fall launch crowds and speak to the brand’s message. in fact, going forward, she expects to launch addi-tional Boyfriend fragrances on valentine’s Day and has come up with many possibilities that hit on different olfactory categories.

“we want to have a collection of Boyfriends,” said walsh. she continued, “someone suggested broke-ass boyfriend, which i love. women just send in these ideas and stories, and it cracks me up. they’re fun for me. i can’t wait to tell the story. the next one might be a little edgy.”

while she still has a thriving acting career — a fifth season of “Private Practice” is currently airing, and she will appear in the movie “the Perks of Being a wallflower” premiering in september — walsh finds her fra-grance pursuits particularly re-warding. “it’s definitely really satis-fying,” she said. “i’m the sole owner of Boyfriend, and it’s nobody else’s money. so, i get to use it wisely and sometimes kind of indiscriminately. i’m having a great time.”

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Alterna Outlines 2012 Expansion Strategy

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w13a006a(7);6.indd 1 4/12/12 8:28 PM04122012202911

WWD.COM

PARIS — Parfums Christian Dior is set to launch this fall its next generation of Nude founda-tion, whose evolution is billed to be in line with the current fash-ion trends.

“We see different ways of wearing nude, and in the latest fashion show, the skin — like the dresses — flashes with color,” said Simona Cattaneo, business direc-tor of the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned brand’s makeup unit. “This is what we call the new nude.”

The introduction of Diorskin Nude founda-tion comes three years fol-lowing the initial launch of the franchise, whose product formula contains mineralized water said to have skin care benefits and allow for a light tex-ture and transparency.

“We have pushed all these assets forward one step by enriching this min-eralized water with 100 percent floral water,” ex-plained Edouard Mauvais-Jarvis, Parfums Christian Dior’s scientific communi-cation director, adding it’s made of three flower extracts: hibiscus, jisten and mallow. The combina-tion is intended to moisturize skin and help its glow, elasticity, soft-ness and homogeneity.

The foundation formula also includes “nude glow” pigments with transparent qualities thanks to a glass coating, a new red pig-ment, “skin-matching” shades and photosensitivity, so hues re-main stable in all types of light. Its binding agent of natural origin blends completely into skin, ac-

cording to company executives.Overall, there will be 17

shades of Diorskin Nude foun-dation, available as both a fluid and a powder.

The compact formula, which contains highly refined powders, can work like a foundation or powder, Dior executives said. In some markets, the line at launch will include a Nude Shimmer compact, plus there are to be four makeup brushes.

Diorskin Nude’s advertis-ing campaign, photographed by Mario Sorrenti, stars Natalie Portman.

Meanwhile, Rouge Dior Nude lipstick has a lip care balm formula with active ingredients — for moisturizing and replump-ing — giving a sheer, lu-minous effect, according to company executives. It will be available in 10 col-ors. There are to be four new shades of Dior Vernis nail polish and a transpar-ent lip liner, as well.

The fluid foundation is due out worldwide in September. In the U.S., a 30-

ml. bottle will retail for $48.Although Dior executives

would not discuss projections, industry sources estimate the new Nude foundation and lip-stick together will generate $5 million in retail sales during its first 12 months in the U.S.

In other company-related news, Dior announced the debut of its Makeup Designer Lab, cre-ated to come up with new tex-tures, application methods and products, plus reveal trends.

— J.W.

7WWD FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

By JENNIFER WEIL

PARIS — Flexing her muscles as a budding pro-ducer, actress Natalie Portman just finished the pilot for “Scruples,” a TV show based on the 1978 Judith Krantz book.

“It’s about a store opening in Beverly Hills modeled after the Dior salons,” said Portman. “Which is really fun, full circle.”

Indeed: Portman last week spent a whirlwind few days in Paris in her role as pitchwoman for such beauty products as Diorskin Nude founda-tion and Rouge Dior Nude lipstick.

After addressing more than 150 journalists to present a charitable tie-in and advertising photographed by Mario Sorrenti, Portman was later the guest of honor at a dinner at Dior’s couture salons.

At the end of the two-day stint, Portman —

sitting in a suite at Paris’ Hôtel Plaza Athénée — discussed wide-ranging topics from movies to beauty. Not surprisingly, the Oscar-winning ac-tress has numerous projects afoot.

She is to begin filming two Terrence Malick movies this summer — “Knight of Cups” and “Lawless” — and is relishing her producing projects.

“It’s really, really interesting to get a look at the other side of the process,” said Portman. “Scary sometimes — because you hear about how people talk about actors and about hiring directors and writers and all of that.”

She’s certainly after producing good mate-rial, “but we definitely tend toward female writ-ers and characters,” Portman noted, referring to

her partner, Annette Savitch, in the production company Handsomecharlie Films.

Other upcoming film projects count among them a documentary of Jonathan Safran Foer’s food manifesto “Eating Animals,” which is about to start production and will be directed by Christopher Quinn. (Portman is a vegetarian but generally a vegan.)

Her nonfilm-related projects include work-ing as an ambassador for Free the Children, set up to help liberate children from poverty and exploitation. As reported, proceeds from the sale of Rouge Dior’s Nude Grège lipstick — Portman’s pick — will go to the charity.

“I really have so much respect for both the legacy of [Dior] and also their tradition of very quietly being extremely generous,” she said. “There’s so much opportunity to do well by doing good.”

Portman — who signed on as a face of Dior in 2010 — said she’s fas-cinated by generational differences in the use of beauty products.

“My grandmother will not leave the house without perfect hair and perfect makeup and her splash of perfume. And my mom is really so much more functional and just really, really natural in her style,” she said. “So it was very fascinating to me how your era defines your process.”

To be sure, beauty has played a major role in Portman’s profession-al life.

“It really helps you get into a character to look different than you normally do, and make-up and hair can play such a big role in that,” she said. “You know, like in ‘Black Swan,’ to look in the makeup mirror and see that I looked evil, with these crazy contacts in, the crazy makeup, definitely transports you to a dif-ferent place.

“And in personal life, like all women, I want to feel natural, not like I have a mask on, but also like a heightened ver-sion of my natural self,” continued Portman. “So to have a splash of lip-stick for night, or some DiorShow mascara makes my eyes look more open. It’s a fun way to feel more glam-orous.”

Fashionwise, “I’ve been trying to look more like a lady recent-ly,” she noted. “I used to be happy in a T-shirt and sweatpants, and

now I feel like I want to make myself a little more grown up — now that I’m a mom.”

Portman has been wearing some vintage Dior as of late.

“I feel like you are sort of stepping into his-tory,” she said of the appeal of other eras’ looks. “It’s really amazing to get the story of where a dress has been; you know that it has lived through many people’s stories.”

Also since motherhood, Portman has some-what changed her beauty regimen.

“I think I’m much more aware of using clean products, you know, paraben-free and all of that, to make sure that everything I have around my child is OK to be eaten, basically, because that happens,” she laughed.

Farouk Unveils Touch-Screen DryerCALL IT THE MAGIC TOUCH.

Farouk Systems, the makers of the celebrated CHI Ceramic Hairstyling Iron, are hoping to again shake up the hair tool cat-egory with the launch of the first-to-market touch-screen blow-dryer. The CHI Touch Dryer, which industry sources estimate could generate $50 million in its first year, will be previewed on the May 6 episode of “Celebrity Apprentice.”

“We are known for innova-tion,” said vice president of sales and market-ing for Farouk Systems Jason Yates, who said the CHI straightener, launched in 2001, featured the first ceram-ic technology of its kind, and still accounts for 70 percent of Farouk’s business.

“This is the next chapter for CHI,” said Yates, who alluded to the Touch Dryer following in the footsteps of the brand’s original straightener, which sprouted its own namesake product line, a slew of limited edition versions from the brand as well as count-less imitations. “We are constantly reinventing ourselves. Every time we make a leap, it’s because we developed something that is a game-changer.”

Farouk’s newest implement features a three-inch, four-color LCD touch-screen display, with three navigation tools and slid-ing scales, for speed, tempera-ture and to activate the appli-ance’s ionizing feature.

“Most people get confused about ionization, about what it is and how much they need,” said Yates. “Infrared technology dries hair from the inside out, which moisturizes the follicle, prevents overdrying and adds shine.”

To take the guesswork out of the equation, Yates said users can choose their hair type (fine, medium or coarse) on the screen, and the dryer will adjust automatically to the amounts

of frizz-relieving, static-reducing ions needed. Each dryer comes equipped with a built-in

memory function to store preferred settings.

In addition to touting a touch screen, the dryer is also designed to be light-weight, quiet and efficient, promising to dry hair in

half the time of its competitors with 1,800 watts of power. “It’s long-lasting, but very quiet,” said Yates.

The body of the tool is made with soft-touch rubber, which prevents slipping because of moisture that might be on hands.

The CHI Touch Dryer will be the main element in the up-coming “Celebrity Apprentice” episode, in which the two teams will focus on the product’s na-tional launch. Yates said more than 250,000 preorders have al-ready been placed.

The dryer, which retails for $199.99, will be available at se-lect salons, J.C. Penney and Ulta. Farouk.com lists salons.

— B.S.

Dior Shows Some Skin Natalie Portman Talks Products and Producing

Diorskin Nude

Natalie Portman

The CHI Touch Dryer.

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8 WWD friday, april 13, 2012

A New Look for L&TMadewell Ready for Ramp Updriven book was issued in March. Madewell is also striving for greater exposure via social media initia-tives, which Drexler acknowledges is a necessity. “When we open a new Madewell store, about 50 percent of those coming in are not familiar with the Madewell brand or stores. So we have a ways to go in getting more recognition,” he said.

Drexler declined to comment on Madewell’s financial performance, but market sources said the brand is approaching $100 million in sales volume, and in the last quarter generated a profit, on an earnings before interest, taxes, deprecia-tion and amortization basis. It still needs to gain scale to offset costs and generate significant profits, but it appears to have moved past some growing pains.

On Thursday, Madewell com-menced a cross-country denim road trip, with a Seventies-style, 30-foot-long silver Airstream stocked with jeans and deals on the denim, as well as sportswear and stylists to put it all together, to give the un-initiated a dash of Madewell’s cool, whimsical and sophisticated casu-alness. The five-week tour through May 19 started on Manhattan’s Astor Place and will hit 13 other cities, including Boston; Boulder, Colo.; Los Angeles, and Chicago, and some college towns such as Lawrence, which is home to the University of Kansas.

“This will bring aware-ness to our jeans and the Madewell aesthetic,” said Gigi Guerra, Madewell’s vice president of mar-keting. The tour will be played out on Facebook, where Madewell has set up a hub for tweeting, a pin board for fans to display favorite items, video content and a live photo feed via Instagram that will spotlight customers as they shop Madewell. There will also be a scavenger hunt for gift cards with clues tweeted about their whereabouts.

About eight years ago, one of Drexler’s friends told him about Madewell, a former workwear company in New Bedford, Mass., that dated back to 1937. Drexler bought the trademark and two years later began the reinvention pro-cess and leased the name to the J. Crew Group for $1 a year. In early 2007, the company became the full owner of Madewell by paying Drexler $240,000 for acquiring and developing the Madewell mark, and then invested $7.5 million into grow-

ing the business.The brand is

rooted in denim with a range of fits including the boy jean, priced $125 to $135; the “skinny skinny” ankle, priced $115 to $135; the high

riser at $125, and the rail straight at $98.50.

It also has a reputation for T-shirts, boots, skim-mers, flats and dresses. It’s big on stripes and lay-ering, as well, such as with color-blocked cardigans and T-shirts. For fall, some of the big fashion ideas are

silk boy shirts, chambray and Oxford shirts, skinny

ankle jeans and skinny ankle cords; textured tops, ankle

boots and T-shirts in prints and patterns, and a growing array of satchels,

totes and clutches.Typically, there’s some subtle

wit or design twist injected into

the products, such as this season’s scarves printed with sheep, or tea cups. Madewell — like its sister brand J. Crew — keeps building relationships with outside brands, selling Herschel backpacks, Barbour field jackets and Chimala jeans from Japan, for example, to round out the assortment. There’s a look and an attitude, and a bit of gravitas to the collection, and a young spirit without being teeny bopper, or novelty juniors. There’s no overlap with J. Crew, which is more about total wardrobing and operating larger stores. Madewell stores average 3,500 square feet; J. Crew averages 6,000 square feet.

“We do capture this casual ele-ment but have definitely expanded with more elevated pieces,” said Kin Ying Lee, Madewell’s head designer. “It’s not like we have to box ourselves into designing for a certain price.”

Twenty-five to 35-year-old women is the sweet spot, though Madewell embraces a wider range extending from college-age women to women in their 40s and 50s.

When Drexler launched Madewell, the name wasn’t uni-versally accepted, and sometimes people got it wrong, by saying “Wellmade.” But something about the name and its vintage character spoke to Drexler. “The name imme-diately resonated with me in a very positive way. For me, there was also a vision attached to the name.

“It’s a very personal exercise when you are naming a company,” Drexler said. “In a sense, it’s like naming your child.”

The Madewell story recalls what happened at Old Navy, which Drexler also started when he was ceo of Gap Inc. He took the Old Navy name off a bar on Rue St. Germain in Paris he happened to notice. The Gap board hated the name and hired two marketing companies to come up with alterna-tives, but Drexler won out. “No one will ever agree on a name,” Drexler said. “But the name really doesn’t mean much, until the business it-self becomes meaningful.”

With Madewell turning a corner, Drexler said he’s pleased by the progress, though “not at the point of feeling very gratified. I feel optimis-tic where it’s going. I will feel grati-fied down the road when Madewell has more stores, more earnings and more happy customers.”

Which raises the question of what Madewell’s ultimate store count could be, which market sources believe probably won’t rival some other major youth chains such as Abercrombie, with more than 1,000 stores, or American Eagle, with more than 900. “I can’t answer that yet,” Drexler said. “Ask me in about a year.”

By DAvID MOIN

NEW YORK — With its $1 million glass-steel facade and glossy all-white interior, Lord & Taylor today opens its most unconventional and contemporary store to date in the 1.3-million-square-foot, mixed-use open-air shopping center called Westchester’s Ridge Hill.

The 80,000-square-foot, two-level Lord & Taylor is a far cry from the suburban character of the department store’s other units, and according to sources, it cost roughly $30 million to build. That’s more than the company would normally consider spending, except that Forest City Enterprises, Ridge Hill’s developer, reportedly pitched in most of the cost. Its goal was to land Lord & Taylor as an anchor as a substitute for Saks Fifth Avenue, which reversed its decision to become a tenant. Lord & Taylor serves as the sole anchor in the center. Officials declined to comment on the store’s cost or projected sales volume.

The store is compact, with 32,000 square feet of selling space on each level, yet feels spacious. Large, four-by-two-foot Italian white tiles through-out further the effect. There’s also a unique asym-metrical racetrack aisle, for angular navigation, rather than the standard straight end-to-end ap-proach. The ceiling is adorned with triangular frames for the lighting, rather than the standard fluorescent tubes, and metal floor plates at the foot of the mannequins identify outfits, in a clever de-parture from the usual signage. “It’s definitely the future,” said Kerry Mader, senior vice president of store planning, design and construction at Hudson’s Bay Co., parent of Lord & Taylor. He noted that cer-tain elements of the store will be transported to the three or four remodels planned for next year, as well as the new Boca Raton, Fla. store, in Mizner Park, set to open in fall 2013.

Liz Rodbell, executive vice president of merchan-dising at Hudson’s Bay, said she expects Ridge Hill to be “a top producer from a sales-per-square-foot per-spective,” rivaling Lord & Taylor’s top branch store in Scarsdale, N.Y., about 3.5 miles from Ridge Hill. That unit generates between $90 and $100 million in 180,000 square feet, or over $500 a square foot. At that rate, Lord & Taylor in Ridge Hill would generate at least $40 million. “We are expecting big things here,” said Rodbell.

Much about the store is unexpected. For example, there are “strike zones” for certain brands, such as Lauren, that interrupt the wide open flow of certain aisles but are easy to get around. Or on another aisle, there could be big fiberglass columns that span out on the ceiling. “There is no real definition of aisles. Departments flow into each other,” observed Mader. “It’s very organic.”

More thought was put into the fitting rooms, too, where the lighting is angled to minimize glare off the mirrors. In addition, elements of Lord & Taylor’s Fifth Avenue flagship renovation were copied at Ridge Hill, including the latest in cosmetics brand installations.

Just like the architecture and fixturing, the mer-chandising is skewed to Lord & Taylor’s most mod-ern and contemporary labels, and many of Lord & Taylor’s best-selling vendors. “Absolutely, we had to make some choices,” Rodbell said, referring to how the store is edited given its smaller footprint.

Dresses, which Lord & Taylor has long been known for, occupy 4,800 square feet, and include Tadashi, Lauren, Adrianna Papell, Laundry, A.B.S., Jessica Simpson, Nicole Miller and BCBG. Other key ven-dors in the store include vince Camuto, BCBG, Free People, Ivanka Trump, Lauren, Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade. Still, while somewhat constrained by the space, the merchants didn’t hold back entirely. There’s a 7,000-square-foot shoe department situated where there will be heavy traffic, near an entrance by the parking deck. Shoes represent about 10 percent of the selling space, more than what Lord & Taylor typi-cally devotes for the category. “We really went after footwear,” Rodbell said.

A view of the first floor.

Fall looks from Madewell.

{Continued from page one}

The Madewell Airstream heading cross-country.

w13a008a;6.indd 1 4/12/12 7:32 PM04122012193352

WWDSTYLE

For the KidsPHOTO BY STEVE EICHNER

New York’s spring party season and fashions were in full bloom this week at a number of after-hours affairs. A Rachel Roy-clad Doutzen Kroes, Zac Posen-sporting Coco Rocha and Wes Gordon-wearing Oluchi Orlandi shared a laugh at New Yorkers for Children’s annual spring dinner dance. For more parties, see page 10.

IN THE VAULT: Event planner Barton G. Weiss’ new magazine Vault is dedicated to the art of being social. High-minded as that might sound, editorial director Glenn Albin said the 238-page debut May issue is a mash-up of socializing, entertainment and fashion. “This is not in any way about decorating or how to improve your social life,” he said.

For the first time out, Albin called on such old friends as Christopher Makos and Roxanne Lowit, with whom he first worked years ago at Interview. Makos shot the fashion-free artistic cover, a story about Golden Gloves boxer and professional model Charlie Himmelstein and another spotlighting Nicola Formichetti. Lowit shot socialites amid a throng of male models at the Villa by Barton G. (better known as Gianni Versace’s Ocean Drive house). Her archival photos of the manse’s 1993 opening night dinner featuring shots of Versace, his sister Donatella, Mickey Rourke and other guests are integrated into the story.

The average story is 1,800 words but one that details the gossip swapped at a gabfest at Kenneth Jay Lane’s Stanford White-designed home runs on for a whopping 8,000 words. Simon Doonan offers advice about throwing the perfect party; Weiss interviews The Four Season’s Julian Niccolini, Paul Solberg shot a piece about Savannah cats and Tama

Janowitz’s short story about life inside the Villa by Barton G. will be serialized in the quarterly. (In a seemingly opportunistic tie-in, the April 26 opening night party will be staged at said location.) Adding a little levity would be Paris-based designer Olympia Le-Tan, who has been asked to re-create her Bettie Page-inspired fashion show.

Alberta Ferretti, Armani Casa, Graff, Osklen and The Webster are among the advertisers that publisher Renata Lopes-Merriam has rooted out. Other new hires include Eric Newill and art director James Timmins. Weiss came up with the eye-and-mouth cover idea after seeing a similar piece of Makos-made art in Albinn’s office. “Glenn had a piece I had given to him 20 years ago. It was of a butter queen from upstate New York,” Makos said.

As a Vault contributor, Makos is already drumming up his next assignment. The photographer plans to put to use some of the 72 shots he took of Tom Ford at the age of 16, when the yet-to-be-designer was someone passing in and out of Warhol’s Factory. Makos and Solberg, who collaborate

professionally as The Hilton Brothers, will also be shooting on the streets of Tokyo, Berlin and Moscow for the magazine when they travel to those cities.

— ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

LOSING HER RELIGION: Jordan Daly, vice president of brand strategy, marketing and public relations at True Religion Apparel Co., has left the company after a little over a year on the job and reportedly is involved in talks with an investor group about a start-up venture. Daly, who served as Burberry’s vice president of p.r. for the Americas before joining the faithful at TR, declined to comment on her plans, and officials at the company didn’t respond to a request for comment. — ARNOLD J. KARR

BRITISH ELLE’S EARLY REVEAL: The July issue of British Elle might not hit newsstands until May 30, but the title has already begun to trumpet the news of its cover star for the month. Hearst Magazines U.K., British Elle’s publisher, said this week that David Beckham will appear on the title’s July cover, in honor of London’s Olympics.

Beckham is also the first male to appear alone on the cover of the title: In the past men have featured on British Elle’s cover alongside a female celebrity, such as Kate Moss and Paul Weller in 1997 and Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger in 2003. “David Beckham is a national hero, so we saw an opportunity to shoot a celebratory cover to support an historical and patriotic year,” said Lorraine Candy, the title’s editor in chief.

The title is also keen to involve its readers in the cover shoot process. Beckham was shot for the cover in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and Elle posted behind the scenes images from the shoot on its Web site and via its Twitter feed.

The move follows the title’s decision last month to reveal Kristen Stewart as the star of its June cover, news it followed with live coverage of her cover shoot on Twitter. Elle said the news led to the highest volume of traffic to its site in the past two years, and noted that its magazine subscriptions doubled when visitors signed up to receive a special subscriber’s issue of Stewart’s cover. — NINA JONES

MEMO PAD

Christopher Makos’ cover shot for the debut issue of Vault.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION: Ricky Martin (and

his mustache) were

among those treated

to a preview Tuesday

night of “One Man, Two

Guvnors.” PAGE 10

10 WWD Friday, april 13, 2012

The sTep and repeaT was a hedgerow at Christie’s on Wednesday night for the auction house’s third annual Bid to save the earth Green auction.

This year, the proceedings benefited four different water-specific nGOs: Oceana, Conservation International, Central park Conservancy and natural resources defense Council. Glenn Close, Angela Lindvall, Lauren Bush Lauren and Olivia Chantecaille were all in attendance, sampling vodka-based cocktails by a display of one-off Fendi Baguette bags, vegan Stella McCartney totes decorated by artists such as Mr. Brainwash and Peter Tunney and a four-foot-high griffin constructed entirely of flora. Its eyes were mums.

“It was a little bit busy last year with Vogue and the runway to Green event,” co-chair Susan Rockefeller mused of the event. “This year, I think it will be a much more contained, focused event — the focus being water rather than this overarching ‘save the earth’ idea. For example, look at the [natural resources defense Council] initiative, Clean by design, which is how the fashion industry can begin working with factories in China to minimize water usage.”

Clean water preservation is a cause close to rockefeller’s heart. The philanthropist has a short film named “Mission of Mermaids” making its debut in early June.

“It’s a poetic ode to the ocean, my voice and words over found footage from the Internet and a day and a half of shooting out in Long Island,” she said of the film.

Christie’s auctioneer Lydia Fenet was enthusiastic about the evening ahead.

“The party is more streamlined this year, though every year it gets bigger and bigger,” she said. “It’s like building blocks. Last year we had Nicki Minaj performing, and it was really before anyone knew who she was. I remember people asking, ‘Is that Rihanna?’ and now look. so I’m excited for Grace [Potter, of Grace potter and the nocturnals.] I told her, ‘We launched nicki Minaj, you won’t regret playing tonight.’ ”

Coco Rocha mugged for photog-raphers, and appropriately so. she had donated a lesson in “posing and fashion movement” to the auction.

“I’m going to give it the full serious coaching routine,” the model grinned. “Like — here, yes, no, go. I’m going to be very strict.”

and does she consider herself to be environmentally conscious?

“Oh, yes,” she said. “I recycle. Tuesday is glass, Wednesday is paper. Very serious.”

� —�ALESSANDRA�CODINHA

There Is a Type of laughter unique to audience members of vicious comedy acts or theatrical experiences involving involun-tary audience participation. It is recognizable for its mixture of relief and riotous delight as one of its own is put literally on the

spot. such laughter rung out at Broadway’s Music Box Theatre on Tuesday night at a preview performance of London’s national Theatre company’s production of “One Man, Two Guvnors.”

“I’m just thankful not to be in the front row,” Claire Danes said,

safely ensconced in the middle of the orchestra seating and gig-gling as one not-so-lucky audi-ence member was doused with water and then covered in foam from a fire extinguisher. she later walked into a door while being led offstage.

Based on Carlo Goldoni’s “The servant of Two Masters,” and fresh from a much-lauded multiyear run in London, the play is a sort of musical comme-dia dell’arte cum pantomime, in which lead James Corden spends much of his performance either buttonholing the audience with asides and ad-libs or doubled over in laughter from their responses.

Following the performance, Corden and three of his co-stars — Tom Edden, Jemima Rooper and Oliver Chris — joined their direc-tor Nicholas Hytner for a dinner at The Lambs Club, co-hosted by Anna Wintour.

“anna Wintour is my best friend,” Corden said as guests such as Frédéric Fekkai, Topher Grace,

Damian Lewis, Ricky Martin, and danes and her husband, Hugh Dancy, sat for dinner. “she is, actu-ally. and when I arrived, she said, ‘here’s how it’s going to go. I’m going to say something, nicholas [hytner] is going to ask for money for the theater, and then you’re going to be funny. Because, you know, I haven’t done enough of that for the past three hours….”

ricky Martin, who is currently starring in “evita” on Broadway, praised the play.

“They’re amazing,” Martin said of the cast. “It’s so impressive. It’s so hard to be funny like that, off the cuff. and physical comedy, like that…it’s something else.”

Corden didn’t spare the singer.“I’d like to thank you all for

being here,” Corden said, “but I’d especially like to thank ricky Martin’s mustache. It’s the best I’ve ever seen in new york. Come on! The time and effort spent grooming that thing. Let’s hear it for his mustache!”

—�A.C.

Off the Cuff

In Their ElementneW yOrkers FOr ChILdren held its ninth annual spring dinner dance Tuesday night at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, where a ballroom’s worth of partygoers turned out to show off their seasonal best while supporting the child welfare and foster care charity.

as the event is officially known as the Fool’s Fete, it seemed as good a place as any to get the crowd, made up of the usual socially impeccable types, to reveal the last time they were made a fool of.

“I have this problem…if you scare me, I kind of faint and fall to the ground,” said Coco Rocha, who arrived with Zac Posen and Crystal Renn. “My husband thinks it’s funny to scare me, and then I drop.”

Selita Ebanks took a break from posing alongside Doutzen Kroes to consider the question.

“Oh, like an hour ago,” she laughed without getting specific. “I always say I’d rather have someone laugh at me than laugh at someone else.”

Co-chair Alina Cho didn’t have to go back too far, either. “Getting into the car tonight, it literally stopped

traffic,” she said of her very full and feathered dress by presenting sponsor Cd Greene.

new york Giants defensive end Justin Tuck came up empty.“I’m bigger than the average human, so if you make a

fool of me,” he laughed, “there’s consequences.”�—�MATTHEW�LYNCH

Fool’s Game

eye

For more photos, see

WWD.com/eye.

Alina Cho in CD Greene.

Erin Heatherton in Carolina Herrera.

Selita Ebanks in CD Greene.

Crystal Renn in Zac Posen with

the designer.

Grace Potter

Glenn Close in Armani.

Angela Lindvall

Ricky Martin

Claire Danes

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WWD.COM11WWD FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

MADONNA MAYHEM: Madonna met her fans Thursday night at Macy’s Herald Square for the launch of her first fragrance, Truth or Dare. Macy’s presold 300 of the $151 kits, which included a 2.5-oz. Truth or Dare by Madonna eau de parfum spray, a 1.7-oz. eau de parfum spray, a 6.7-oz. body lotion, a T-shirt, a deluxe copy of Madonna’s new album, “MDNA,” and the 1991 “Truth or Dare” documentary on Blu-ray disc. Unlike most of Macy’s celebrity events, those who shelled out for the sets weren’t allowed to get a photograph with the Dolce & Gabbana-clad Madge, or even her signature on the fragrance — instead, the group was herded into a tent erected in Herald Square for a press conference of sorts — but with the buyers. Just 10 were allowed to ask questions before the pop icon was ushered upstairs for press interviews.

The celeb-weekly press crowd on the carpet primed her with a peppering of inquiries on topics from her daughter Lourdes (“She’s a rebel, too,” Madonna said. “She told me whether she liked it or not.”) to that already infamous Truth or Dare TV spot: “I don’t think it’s raunchy. I think it’s great.”

The scent is, in the U.S., a Macy’s exclusive, and hit counters March 26. It will roll out to international markets beginning in May, adding up to about 20,000 doors worldwide, including the U.K., France, Asia, the Middle East and travel retail. Industry sources estimated that it is on track to do about $60 million at retail globally

from April through December. About 35 percent of that figure is expected to be done within the U.S. Macy’s is also the exclusive retailer for Madonna’s Material Girl junior apparel line.

— JuliE NAugHtON AND MAttHEw lYNcH

MiNi-ME: “The size is an ode to my mother [carolina Herrera] who is always complaining that I wear my bags

too big,” laughed carolina Herrera Baez at the Paris launch of the spring 2012 capsule Mini Matryoshka handbag collection that she designed for the CH Carolina Herrera brand.

The event took place at the brand’s Paris flagship on Wednesday, with the likes of Salomé lelouch and Pamela golbin in attendance. Made from an exclusive leather dubbed Goya, and available in seven bright color combinations inspired by the palette of the spring 2012 Carolina Herrera New York collection, the design is a miniature take on the CH Carolina Herrera brand’s iconic Matryoshka bucket tote.

Herrera Baez, who is creative director of fragrances for the Carolina Herrera New York and CH Carolina Herrera brands, and designs the children’s wear line for the latter brand, said the line is the first of a series of limited edition capsule collections she plans to design for the CH Carolina Herrera brand yearly. “I’m already working on next year’s, it’s fun, it’s a collaboration and it’s also an accessory,” she teased.

The Mini Matryoshka bag line has just entered CH Carolina Herrera stores and the main Carolina Herrera New York stores. Herrera Baez has also designed a ballerina on exclusive for the London, New York and Paris stores of CH Carolina Herrera, which is the lifestyle brand of Carolina Herrera New York. CH Carolina Herrera has 89 freestanding stores globally and 199 shops-in-shop. Around 15 store openings are planned

Fashion scoops

for this year, including one in Saint-Tropez over the next couple of weeks, as well as a second London store.

Herrera Baez said that after her Paris trip she would be jetting out to Brazil for the launch of a new CH Carolina Herrera men’s fragrance, CH Sport, and a matching capsule clothing line. She said the inspiration for the scent was summers spent on [America’s] East Coast, adding, “As I was creating the scent, I had in the back of my mind images of John F. Kennedy Jr., you know, images of him on a boat or with a football.” — KAtYA FOREMAN

DRAMA clASS: Jean Paul gaultier is to stage a runway show in Beijing on May 11 at the new Chaoyang Urban Planning Museum. About 500 people are expected to witness the fashion spectacle, a mix of Gaultier’s latest couture, ready-to-wear and men’s collections.

The show is to celebrate the French designer’s considerable presence in China, with a unit that opened last November at the Shin Kong Place mall in Beijing his latest addition. A new boutique is slated to open later this year in the northeastern city of Shenyang, bringing Gaultier’s store count in China to five.

The multitasking designer — who is slated to unveil his collaboration with Coca-Cola Light tonight in Paris — has also done costumes for a French production of “The Marriage of Figaro,” to premiere on June 20 at the Opéra et Orchestre national de Montpellier.

And if that wasn’t enough, rumor has it Madonna has asked the designer to create a costume for her upcoming tour in support of her new album “MDNA.” — MilES SOcHA

MulBERRY’S MuSic FESt: British brand Mulberry is once again planning a weekend of market appointments and music in Palm Springs, Calif., timed to the correspond with Coachella Valley Music Festival in nearby Indio. On April 13, Kasabian will perform at the Parker Palm Springs for a private fire-pit party DJed by The Vaccines. Both acts will also be performing at the festival. The next day, Mulberry creative director Emma Hill will host a pool party at the Parker’s Gene Autry Pool, featuring a live performance by Wild Belle and DJing by Metronomy and Sky Ferreira. Among other fashion brands hosting fetes are Lacoste, Hugo Boss, Guess, Planet Blue, H&M and Burton. — MARcY MEDiNA

NEw MONEY: The designer contingent was deep on Wednesday night at the New Museum’s 35th anniversary spring gala at Cipriani Wall Street. Proenza Schouler’s Jack Mccollough and lazaro Hernandez, Calvin Klein’s Francisco costa, Adam Kimmel, Narciso Rodriguez and cynthia Rowley all joined a crowd that included such contemporary art-world heavies as cindy Sherman, chuck close, Jeff Koons and george condo. The event, which honored artist Paul Mccarthy, raised $1.6 million for the downtown museum, thanks in part to an auction with lots that included a portrait session with Condo. “I want that,” said chloë Sevigny, who served as an honorary chair alongside Nadja Swarovski, before guests sat for dinner. “I brought my Amex.”

— M.l.

wEXNER’S PAYDAY: leslie wexner, chief executive officer and chairman of Limited Brands Inc., saw his total compensation fall 6.2 percent last year to $19.2 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wexner’s salary held steady at $1.9 million, but his nonequity incentive pay slipped 22.3 percent to $4.9 million. He also received stock and options valued at $11.4 million but might not realize all of those proceeds, given vesting schedules and stock price fluctuations. The rest of his pay came from changes in the value of his pension, deferred compensation and the grab-bag category of “other compensation.”

Compensation for Sharen turney, ceo and president of the Victoria’s Secret business, jumped 35.7 percent to $9.6 million. Turney received a salary of $1.3 million, stock and option awards valued at $4.3 million and incentive pay of $3.1 million. — EVAN clARK

Monika chiang Opens SoHo StoreNEW YORK — Monika Chiang opened her first store here last week, in SoHo.

This is the second store — Los Angeles opened in October — for the nightclub manager turned designer, whose con-temporary lifestyle brand launched for fall 2011 and is backed by J. Christopher Capital LLC, run by Chris Burch.

The 1,250-square-foot New York store is located in the space former-ly occupied by Georg Jensen at 125 Wooster Street. The store, designed by Mary McDonald of Bravo’s “Million

Dollar Decorators,” shares a similar aesthetic to its Robertson Boulevard counterpart, with velvet couches, a soft color palette and brass fixtures.

Chiang’s line includes ready-to-wear, shoes, bags and jewelry done with an edgy — read: lots of leather — vibe. Chiang said that more retail stores in New York — either uptown or in the Meatpacking District — Miami and Atlanta are part of the short-term strat-egy, as well as getting into wholesale.

— JESSICA IREDALE

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the Monika chiang store

in SoHo.

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carolina Herrera BaezMadonna at

Macy’s Herald Square thursday.

w13a011a;8.indd 11 4/12/12 9:04 PM04122012210530

1WWD, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

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