Everyone’s favorite Italian design duo, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, were acquitted of tax evasion early today in an Italian court. Judge Simone Luerti said there wasn’t enough evidence to take the case to trial, and that’s that.
Dolce & Gabbana were accused of failing to declare over 840 million euros ($1.1 billion) in sales.
Read more »Laure Heriard Dubreuil, Frederic Dechnik, and Milan Vukmirovic opened Miami concept shop The Webster in 2009 to much fanfare. After all, Dubreuil and Dechnik were YSL alums and Vukmirovic helped found Colette.
Luckily for them–and us–their abilities far exceeded the impressiveness of their resumes. The Webster is now a go-to destination in Miami, much like Colette is in Paris or Opening Ceremony is in New York. And with that credibility comes the ability to expand your brand. The first step is an e-commerce site, which launched this month.
We recently met up with Dubreuil at Payard’s new downtown Manhattan location to chat about the web, why Miami is a great place for jet setters to…settle, and what’s next for her and her partners.
Read more »Jimmy Choo wants to buy back Jimmy Choo.
In case you haven’t heard, Jimmy Choo, the shoe designer, doesn’t actually own or design for his namesake label. In fact, he hasn’t been involved since 2000. UK private equity firm, TowerBrook, owns the majority of the company. (The other big shareholder is co-founder/chief creative officer Tamara Mellon, who owns 15% of the business.) TowerBrook is keen on selling. LVMH, Valentino, and a few private equity firms have been whispered as potential buyers.
But now Mr. Choo, the original designer and inspiration behind the brand, wants his label back. According to The Daily Mail, Choo has hired adviser Daniel Stewart to help him move forward with a £500 million offer for the company. (Choo will need investors to back his bid. Stewart will help him find the right ones.)
Does he have a chance?
Read more »Last night, we read the WSJ. profile on Anna Wintour with great interest. While there isn’t anything officially startling in the article, there are some nuggets that deserve a bit of chatter:
Read more »Former Alexander McQueen CEO Susan Whiteley has been confirmed as the new CEO of Givenchy Couture, reports WWD. Whiteley replaces Fabrizio Malverdi, who will now be running Dior Homme.
Rumors circulated saying as much last month, so whether or not this has anything to do with Riccardo Tisci‘s possible move to Dior is unknown. But it does bring up an interesting point: If Tisci moves to Dior, he’s likely to design the menswear as well. Which means Kris van Assche would be out of a job….
Read more »Innovations in retail are few and far between. In 2007, I remember hearing about Gilt Groupe and thinking, “this is going to change the way people shop.” Over the last four years, the flash sales site has certainly altered our idea of a discount.
But I’d argue that Moda Operandi–a new platform that allows users to buy pieces right off the runway–is equally as innovative, if not more so.
Read more »In light of its merger with the Huffington Post, AOL is laying off 900 staffers, and ridding itself of some of its most popular sites. Today, Racked reports that the company laid off its Editorial Director of Women’s & Lifestyle Programming, Colleen Curtis. The only remaining Stylelist staff member is beauty editor Dana Oliver.
Read more »I glossed over this subject in my review of the Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 2011 show, so let me reiterate. Ten years ago, this label–which we all know so well and love so much–changed fashion and retail forever. Sure, designers had done diffusion and bridge lines before (see Halston, Calvin, Ralph, and Donna), but those were mostly slick, grown-up brands. Marc Jacobs is nothing if not cool. He and business partner Robert Duffy made it okay for arty, hip designers to make money, too.
Read more »Forget about Hermes for a minute. LVMH just a bought a company whose family actually wanted to sell.
The French conglomerate has acquired a 51% stake in Bulgari SpA, whose founding family owned a majority of the firm’s shares up until yesterday. That stake translates to about $3.4 billion. While this gives the family less control over what happens at the company, they have gained two seats on the LVMH board of directors. What’s more, Bulgari’s CEO, Francesco Trapani, will take over management of LVMH‘s entire jewelry and watch division in the second half of 2011.
Read more »After months of struggle, J.Crew’s public shareholders succumbed to CEO Mickey Drexler’s offer, allowing the company to be taken private by TPG Capital and Leonard Green for $43.50 a share, or about $3 billion. They deal will close by March 7, according to Bloomberg.
That means J.Crew will no longer be a public company. You won’t be able to buy J.Crew stock, and the information that the retailer reveals about its financials will be less detailed, at least until its ready to go public again.
Read more »Less than two weeks after showing their fall collection at Milk, Vena Cava’s Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai took center stage at the fashion week hub once again as part of Fashion Group International and consultant Karen Harvey’s panel on entrepreneurship. The Vena Cava girls, along with Rent the Runway co-founders Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, and Opening Ceremony‘s Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, came together to share their own “How I’m Making It” stories.
The editors, designers, and consultants who circled back to Milk to hear them speak last night were well-rewarded, not with swag or a tote bag or any of the other requisite fashion event handouts, but with proof that while Milan may be the center of fashion news this week, these determined and ambitious New Yorkers have a lot of knowledge to drop if you’re looking to make your way in the fashion industry. Like how to find a factory, how to tap your customer base as an invaluable (and free!) resource, and why you should trust your gut instincts.
The take-home lessons:
Read more »A little biz news to shake up fashion week: Nordstrom has just announced that they are acquiring private flash sale site HauteLook for an estimated stock value of $270 million.
Considering HauteLook’s four million members (as of June this past year Gilt only had around three million but is valued at over 400 million), it’s not for a huge amount of money, but it’s significant nonetheless. Here’s why: The deal marks the first instance of a big brick-and-mortar retailer buying a private flash sale site. Big retailers like Nordstroms make a lot of money through outlet stores and flash sale sites have become the new outlets, so to stay alive, big retailers have to get in the game–only they lack the infrastructure. Nordstrom didn’t suffer as badly as many other major retailers did during the recession so they’re well placed to make this deal. It’s a good deal for HauteLook, too. While they sell everything from Omaha steaks to Cartier watches on their site, as part of Nordstrom the site will have access to more brands.
Read more »
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