International Herald Tribune
14 Saturday-Sunday, September 29-30, 2007
Les Copains
offers intrigue
t is one thing to be a fashion house with an artistic vision
I U
and wildly creative clothing whose impact can be seen for
years to come.
But it is no less important to be able to create clothing that
can sell, and sell well. That elusive formula was found at Les
Copa ins, where well-cut clothing and interesting knits
combined to form a show full of wearable yet intriguing
clothing. The collection kept to an overall palette of neutral
colors with a bit of orange sherbet and shimmering gold
mixed in to spice things up.
The clothing focused on the graphic impact and power of
sharp lines. They were seen in a patchwork quilt effect on
white pantsuits, black-and-white zebra stripes on tops or by
mixing opaque and transparent fabrics on a sundress.
The daywear was the real winner in this show, while the
finale of black dress and harsh gold knits took a wrong turn
by moving away from the distinctive style of the rest of the
collection and turning it into something a bit more . . .well,
generic.
— Jessica Michault
LES COPAINS
Photographs by Chris Moore/Karl Prouse
Department store shopping
By Robert Galbraith
A
MILAN
fter years of tough trading, de-
partment stores are begin-
ning to reap the benefits of re-
structuring and a tighter
focus on the luxury end of the market.
And one of those benefits has been an
increased interest from prospective
buyers.
‘‘Many department stores are find-
ing ways to reinvent themselves to be-
come more compelling to consumers,’’
said Darrell Rigby, head of the Global
Retail practice for the Boston-based
consulting firm Bain & Co. ‘‘Those
chains that have not yet made the tran-
sition are seen as improvement oppor-
tunities and potential acquisitions.’’
Macy’s, the biggest U.S. department
store operator, is being perceived as
one such target. Its attempt to integrate
the Marshall Field’s chain, which it
bought last year, may not be working,
and its recent sales figures have not
been strong. In May, for example,
Macy’s sales dropped 3.3 percent; other
chains had increases.
On Sept. 14, the company share price
rose 4 percent following rumors that
private equity firms were interested in
buying it.
In contrast, the recent story of
Barneys New York, the prestigious de-
partment store brand that began life as
a cut-rate men’s store in 1923, has been
very different.
In 2004 the Jones Apparel Group
bought Barneys for $397 million; on
Sept. 7, it sold the 25-store chain for
$942.3 million — much more than
twice what it originally paid — to
Istithmar, an investment company con-
trolled by the Dubai government. The
transaction was the culmination of a
late summer bidding war that also in-
volved the Japanese clothing retailer
Fast Retailing.
Istithmar has said it sees Barney’s as
a “unique global asset” and that it in-
tended “to grow the company in inter-
national markets.”
Rigby says the U.S. Census retail fig-
ures offer a snapshot of what the global
department store sector has faced in
recent years.
In 1992, U.S. department store sales
totaled $177 billion, or 11 percent of all
non-automotive retail sales. Sales
peaked at $232 billion in 2000 but, by
2006, they had fallen to $212 billion —
just 6 percent of all non-automotive re-
tail sales and a decline of $20 billion.
Where did those sales go? From 2000
to 2006, specialty clothing and accessor-
ies stores grew from $168 billion to $215
billion, an increase of $47 billion.
Maurizio Borletti, part owner and
manager of two European chains, Prin-
temps in France and La Rinascente in
Italy, says that department stores must
forget their past if they are going to
prosper. “The traditional department
store tried to sell everything to every-
Fashion
MAX MAR A
Risks pay off
at Max Mara
ax Mara, stalwart standby for well-made coats and
M tailored suits, decided to take some risks with its
spring/summer 2008 show. Taking a page from the Japanese
handbook of deconstructing wardrobe staples, the design
team turned traditional men’s suiting and the iconic trench
coat into form-fitting bustiers, voluminous handkerchief-
hem skirts and strapless asymmetrical dresses.
Other Asian inspiration included oversized koi fish out-
lined in sparkles across roomy translucent T-shirts, and the
‘‘a rms’’ of the trench coats wrapped tight around outfits’
waists to form modern-day obi.
Picking up on this season’s love of all things plastic, Ma x
Mara also showed both a raincoat and skirts in a transpar-
ent Saran Wrap-like material. While evening wear stayed
sporty, its only nod to femininity was the cloying satin col-
ors of sugar-sweet pink and a frosting-ice blue on boxy pa-
jama suits worn with clunky rubber-heeled shoes in a
matching satin fabric.
— Jessica Michault
holding company and the French su-
permarket group Auchan to take con-
trol of the La Rinascente chain.
At both chains, Borletti intends to
emulate the success that he believes the
British department stores like Harrods,
Selfridges and Harvey Nichols have
had, even to the appointment of the
former Selfridges chief executive, Vit-
torio Radice, to manage Rinacente. “De-
partment stores are no longer just about
the product,’’ Borletti said. ‘‘The sur-
roundings, service and creating a shop-
ping experience is very important.”
Alessandra Gritti, managing director
at the Milan-based Tamburi Invest-
ment Partners, one of the financial
partners in the Printemps acquisition,
points out that part of the interest in
the store was its real estate holdings,
not just its potential retail successes.
‘‘Trying to get more value out of the
real estate was part of the reason for in-
vesting in the deal,’’ she said.
Gritti says it also was the prospects
Two of Europe’s largest department for developing luxury in the stores that
stores, Printemps in Paris, top, and La appealed to her firm. “We could see
Rinascente in Italy, have been taken over that in a short time it would be possible
by the Borletti Group, which hopes to to reallocate the spaces and focus on
capitalize on their luxury reputations. luxury. In such a prime location, that is
very important,” she said.
one,’’ he said. ‘‘But hypermarkets and ‘‘Luxury department stores have ten-
specialty stores soon took over many ded to do better than traditional ones,’’
areas of their business. That is why the Rigby said. ‘‘The key to success is con-
department stores have had to rethink stant innovation — improving not just
their strategy.” the merchandise, but the information
In 2006 the French retail giant PPR systems, merchandise flows and store
sold Printemps’s 18 stores, including experience to sell the lifestyle prom-
the flagship on Paris’s Boulevard ised by the brand.’’
Haussmann, to the Borletti Group and Also, he added, stores must be able to
Rreef, a Deutsche Bank real estate distinguish themselves from their com-
management company, for ¤1.075 bil- petitors, saying that Neiman Marcus is
lion, or $1.52 billion. an example of such a success.
“PPR has concentrated its energies While the new owners of Barneys
on the luxury brands of the group. It have said they are planning to expand
was happy to sell to us because it abroad, Borletti said is not ruling out
knows we will be able to focus more ef- such expansion for Printemps or Rinas-
fectively on Printemps retail strategy cente but added that he is aware of the
and repositioning the department risks. “It is not easy to extend the brand
stores,” Borletti said. outside the home market,” he says.
Earlier, in March 2005, Borletti’s “The risk is that you adapt to the local
group and its real estate partner, Pirelli environment so much that you lose
RE, had paid ¤888 million to the Fiat your identity and damage the image.”
**** ****
International Herald Tribune
Fashion Saturday-Sunday, September 29-30, 2007 15
Tod’s takes Luxury market lures ‘second careerists’ of many stripes
the high road By Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni
nder a video sky filled with swaying trees or winging ome days it seems like just about everyone in the luxury busi-
birds, Tod’s accessories were presented with a hint of
romance to their sporty spirit. And so it was with the clothes
collection of special pieces from the American designer
Derek Lam.
A brief polo shirt grown down as a cute dress was matched
S ness attended design college, followed by internships or starter
jobs with a major brand. But often, finding another way into the
industry, with a background in something entirely different, can
be a real bonus. Enter the ‘‘second careerists,’’ people who are tapping
into their training in other professions and bringing it into play in the
by a version with a more feminine shape to the collar. That luxury marketplace.
essential street wear, the trench coat, was chopped at the
hemline and named ‘‘Corso,’’ or ‘‘street’’ in Italian. Among aryann Mihalopoulos, a 47-year-old mother of three, he shoe designer Tiffany Tuttle learned about what she Jacqueline Miller
the standout pieces was a fitted denim jacket to go with
shorts or Tod’s shapely jeans.
M divides her time between running her law firm in Dal-
las — ‘‘we do business litigation and divorce” — and her
T calls “the line of the foot” and “how to complement the
leg” from her career as a professional dancer. “By the age of
Stewart and
Highland Park
Bag companies have taken to baptizing their latest deliver- company Xela Aromasticks (www.xelaaromasticks.com). 10, ballet was what I wanted to do.” Village in Dallas.
ies, so a new, soft and squishy shape in python or calf and The product is an ancient way of introducing fragrances in While at high school in Los Angeles, she used to do four
with braided handles is called ‘‘Goa.’’ If there is a touch of the the air: long bamboo reeds are placed into bottles of essen- hours of training after school and all day on the weekends.
hippie in the ruched sides, this Indian inspiration was hippie tial oils and, because the reeds are porous, the oils are drawn “Ballet has to be your 100 percent focus,” the 30-year-old Cali-
de luxe. up into them and scent the surrounding air. fornian says.
A general upgrading offered the iconic Tod’s pebble sole What started as a tiny backyard operation — ‘‘I used to But while she was working for the Nevada Ballet Theatre
loafers in crocodile and in a rainbow of colors. An accent on pay my hair stylist by the hour to investigate the oils,” she in Las Vegas, she suddenly “felt stifled, as if I was missing
purple this season went from glamorous little clutches to says — now employs seven people and has annual sales of someth ing.”
roomy bags. And to prove that Tod’s is moving upscale — so $1.5 million. “It was my turning point,” she says. She stopped dancing
are the heels. A company known for its sporty flatties put a She began Xela, which is Greek for ‘‘wooden stick,’’ in to study European history at Princeton; making handbags
thick high-ish heel on display, but still, as Tod’s president, 2000. “It was the Internet boom” and Mihalopoulos, born in and poring over fashion magazines then took her to the Fash-
Diego Della Valle, put it: ‘‘In our spirit.’’ Galveston, Texas, said she had “an itch to do something on ion Institute of Technology in New York. She worked for Al-
— Suzy Menkes the side.” Attracted to personal beauty products, she dis- Davide Dainelli exander McQueen at Givenchy in Paris and Rebecca Taylor
covered the method while she was on vacation in Greece. in New York, both experiences that gave her an idea of fash-
(Both Mihalopoulos and her husband are Greek and make Michael Teperson and ion as a business. “You can study books but you need to dis-
annual trips to see family.) his Opera Gray cover what makes things successful,” she says.
Keen to differentiate the brand, Mihalopoulos uses only Alligator bracelet After deciding to focus on shoes, Tuttle attended the shoe-
high-grade aromatherapy oils and produces the product in handbag. making school Ars Sutoria in Milan, and in 2005 she and her
Dallas. Some challenges — she dislikes the word ‘‘draw- husband, Richard Lindinsky, started her company, based in
back’’ — have been dealing with competitors who are “doing Los Angeles (www.ldtuttle.com). Speaking only “shoe Itali-
a cheaper version via China,” the problems of packaging and a n,” they spend six months or more at the factory in Vi-
convincing “big chains that we’re for real and can deliver.” gevano, in northern Italy, where the most exciting part of the
As an attorney, she said, exposure to a variety of business process, Tuttle says, is “seeing the first prototype.”
transactions and disputes has helped her “to recognize and With names like the Dilettante, the Dandy and the De-
avoid a lot of common pitfalls” like “avoiding one-sided con- butante, Tuttle’s work is architectural in look but “works
tracts” and “taking actions with employees without an un- he Florence-based handbag designer Michael Teperson with your foot.” Tuttle’s designs are sold in stores like
derstanding of the legal consequences.” T always wanted to sculpt. “I liked the material, the build-
ing, getting the movement and the three-dimensional side,”
Matches in London, Satine in Los Angeles and Adelaide in
Japan. Her ankle boots remain her best seller.
the 31-year-old says. But after doing his military service in acqueline Miller Stewart is the landlady at Highland Park
Israel — he was born in Kfar Shemaryahu, near Tel Aviv —
he stopped. “I didn’t think I could earn my keep,” he says.
J Village in Dallas. Hailed as the “genesis of the modern
ma ll” by the International Council of Shopping Centers, it
Now he hopes to make a success of fashion and eventually operates both as luxury central, with boutiques by Hermès,
return to art. “I think you can see with my bags that I did Chanel and Harry Winston, and as a neighborhood center,
sculpting,” he says, referring to the folds in the leather and
varied textures. Having squeezed clay also came in handy
with a shoe repair shop, Pinkberry, frozen yogurt and a
movie theater (www.hpvillage.com).
The Tod’s designer when working with his soft leather bags. “I knew how to Stewart, a youthful 57-year-old mother of four, is the
Derek Lam offers
the ‘‘Corso’’ short
squish them right,” he says.
After graduating from Central St. Martin’s, he designed
daughter of the Dallas real estate legend Henry Miller and a
cousin of the fashion legend Stanley Marcus of Nieman Mar-
trench, right, and women’s wear in Milan. Handbags happened when he was cus. From the age of 8, she wanted to be an actress, and after
the squashy ‘‘Goa’’ Mar yann horrified by another designer’s efforts. His first sketch was some early jobs in fashion and film production, she spent 17
handbag, below,
with braided
BR IONI Mihalopoulos and
her English
his Opera Bag, a portfolio shape on a bracelet, which remains
his best seller. And a lilac lining is Teperson’s signature, “a l-
years teaching acting and directing at the Booker T. Washing-
ton High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas.
handles. Garden scent. lowing clients to see inside,” he says. Stewart says she would have stayed there had it not been
Proportion remains the hardest element to achieve. “You for her father’s retirement in 2003, her brother’s turn to de-
Brioni’s can lose a good bag because of proportion,” he says. “It’s not
unlike sculpting in that way.” However, the big difference be- Monique Perrault, Ramona Rosales
velopment and their desire for a family member to join the
team. All her careers have paid off.
tween the two is that “sculptures stand on their own and “Releasing a property in a mall is like being a director,’’
womanly grace handbags have to be held.”
Teperson and his partner started his line (www.michael-
Tiffany Tuttle and
the Dandy Ink.
she says. ‘‘You have to have a concept because it’s a con-
stantly moving jigsaw puzzle.”
teperson.com) in 2003. During that first season, 12 stores Catering to the younger Chanel client who “ca n’t always
mong all the prints and drapes on the Milan run- took his bags; he is now up to 70 including Forty Five Ten in afford the entire suit,” Stewart was responsible for adding
A ways, there was an underlying sense of simplicity.
Br ion i picked up that vibe in an all-white collection,
Dallas and Isetan in Tokyo.
“Our prices are expensive because 90 percent of the metal
Scoop NYC, Jimmy Choo, Calypso and Tory Burch to the
mix of stores in the mall.
where a simple dress with a pleated skirt that is eleg- work is custom made and everything is handmade in Italy,” “What I realize is that you can’t take your eyes off the ball
antly tucked though the waistband expressed the wo- he said. Yet in spite of the complaints from certain U.S. de- for one minute,” she says. “But that applies to every industry
manly grace that is taking over from girly looks for partment stores — “They keep on telling us to make our bags I’ve worked in.”
spring/summer 2008. — Suzy Menkes in China, so they’ll be able to carry them” — Harrods sold
Carol Hensley out of his $5,000 Crocodile Opera bag in five days.
Long road to a Milan debut
By Eric Sylvers Cruz worked five years for Donna The designers also receive consulting
Karan and also designed for Ann services, including advice like how to
MILAN Taylor. But her path to Milan began two chose fabrics and how to make samples.
or Denise Cruz, a fashion de- years ago in Colombia. Cruz, who sells They also get help with their business
F signer born in New York to
Ecuadorian parents, it took
years of work, a pinch of luck
and some old-fashioned nerve to get
her first fashion show in Milan this
in dozens of boutiques in the United
States as well as Nordstrom depart-
ment stores, noticed that she and Mario
Boselli, the chairman of the Camera
Nazionale della Moda Italiana, were
plans as well as advice on financing,
marketing and administrative issues.
Ten winners were chosen from more
than 150 applications for Fashion In-
cubator, which culminated in the fash-
week. staying at the same hotel during a fash- ion shows this week. Of the 10, 8 were
That was the easy part. Now the de- ion show in Medellín. Italian, 1 Argentine and 1 Brazilian. A
signer, 34, has to draw the attention of “I wanted to meet him because he in- new group will soon be selected to be-
buyers to her line of casual blouses and troduced a Colombian designer to the gin the program early next year.
dresses that distinguish themselves Milan shows who has since become While Milan is the heart of Italy’s
through a liberal use of lace. world famous, but I was too shy to act,” fashion world, there are other initia-
“It was a big accomplishment to have said Cruz, referring to the designer tives throughout the country to pro-
a fashion show, but that’s not enough to Silvia Tcherassi. mote young designers. For example, In-
make this a success — I also need some “I called my mom because she always ternational Talent Support holds a
sa les,” Cruz said. “I guess that is my pushes me and she told me to introduce yearly competition in Trieste for
American side speaking, but that’s the myself to Boselli,” Cruz said. “I did and emerging designers. It is not Milan, but
truth. I know it will be difficult because asked if he had five minutes to see if my it is Italy and for some designers the
there is so much competition. To collection could be suited for the Euro- country has a special draw that goes
emerge you have to be extremely creat- pean market. We ended up speaking for beyond the fashion world.
ive and you have to differentiate your- an hour. I guess he didn’t have his cell- The Indian designer Bahl, whose
self. That’s my goal.” phone ringing all the time because he creations mesh Western styles with his
Just getting a slot to show a new line was in Colombia.” Boselli invited Cruz Indian heritage, including an extensive
of women’s clothing is a challenge at to come to Milan to visit the shows and use of hand embroidery, said that
Mila n’s twice-yearly fashion week, now she has her own slot. someday he would like to move to Italy,
which crams about 100 shows into Another program to help young de- but not now because he has to be near
eight days, and actually getting noticed signers, Fashion Incubator, is run by the his production facilities in India.
can be a mighty undertaking, even for fashion chamber of commerce and fi- “Italy is my first love — I think I was
the most promising young designers. nanced by the city of Milan, which has Italian in my last life,” Bahl said. “The
“Being at Milan’s fashion week is invested ¤800,000 over two years. The moment I land every six months in Mi-
great, but if you put all the shows to- participants, who have to be younger lan I send a text message to my friends
gether, it’s the toughest,” said Varun than 40 and have to agree to establish and say, ‘Thank God I’m home.’ That’s
Bahl, 31, of New Delhi, who has had two their companies in Milan, are given of- why I’d really like to make it in Italy.
shows in Milan. “Paris, New York and fice space in the city center as well as With Milan, you have to try, try, try and
London are easier. Nobody goes to Lon- material and tools like sewing machines. hope you succeed.”
don. Nobody from Europe goes to New
York. The whole world comes to Paris
and Milan, but especially Milan. Every-
body is in Milan.”
The Camera Nazionale della Moda
Italiana, Italy’s chamber of commerce
in charge of the fashion industry, chose
Bahl two years ago for reGeneration, a
program that partially finances the
fashion shows of promising, young, for-
eign designers. Another program, Next
Generation, selects about five design-
ers younger than 30 and then arranges
to have their clothing line manufac-
tured and fashion show slots reserved,
all at no cost.
“It is much more difficult to emerge
now than it was 25 to 30 years ago when
there were so many fewer fashion de-
signers in Italy and the rest of the
world,” said Giulia Pirovano, the gener-
al director of the Camera Nazionale
della Moda Italiana.
“Nowadays, it’s extraordinarily diffi-
cult for a young designer to get no-
ticed,’’ she added. ‘‘There are a lot of
great designers out there who aren’t
getting discovered because a young de-
signer needs to have access to a large
initial sum of money so they can cover
the costs of promotion.”
The minimum cost for running a
fashion show, including promotion, is
about ¤80,000, or almost $113,000, al-
Sold exclusively in Louis Vuitton stores. www.louisvuitton.com though many companies spend as much
as ¤400,000 and the big names often ex-
ceed even that amount, Pirovano said.
Some designers, like Cruz, take part in Inset, Thierry Belliard; Giannoni Giovanni
joint shows to keep costs down. After years of work, Denise Cruz, inset, had her first show in Milan on Friday.