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Beauty Services in High Demand as Women Prep for Coachella

By Rachel Brown

Barely-there clothes and beauty services go hand in hand at Coachella. Katie Jones

What goes with short shorts? A spray tan, of course.

The scorching heat and young bodies at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival have spawned a skimpy Boho style that’s become big business for fashion brands, and beauty services and products purveyors have piggybacked on the barely there looks to benefit greatly, too. Up and down California, salons and spas of all types are filling with Coachella-bound women getting bronzed, buffed and waxed to be Instagram-ready for their desert excursions.

“April is probably the busiest time of year because of Coachella, and immediately after that is Stagecoach [country music festival],” said Christina Lewis, owner of three-unit tanning concept Organic Shimmer. “We are pretty booked from open to close during the weekdays, and we see a huge increase in sales and foot traffic.” Lewis elaborated that, coupled with the services, purchases of Organic Shimmer’s tan extender products rise during the music festival period as tanning customers try to make sure their tans don’t disappear until they return home.

Celebrity spray-tanner Katrina Brown’s schedule is packed from Tuesday to Friday with appointments. She’s detected an interest in dark brown tans heading into Coachella this year. “No one is looking for a subtle glow at Coachella,” said Brown, owner of The Bronzing Boutique. “What goes with the really, cool ethereal hippie fashion is a really deep bronze. It is more of a party tan than anything done for red carpet or black tie.”

Hair removal is also a key element of Coachella prep. Cutoff shorts, tank tops, crop tops, swimsuits and flowy dresses, and flowy body hair aren’t a desired combo. “People are definitely getting groomed. There is no way they are going to go to the festival, then lay out at the pool, wear a bikini and show a lot of pubic hair,” said Paz Stark, owner of Stark Waxing Studio, which has locations in New York and Los Angeles. She added, “Especially in the transition out of winter, this might be their first full leg [wax] of the season.”

In the lives of festival-goers, Coachella is an important moment to see and be seen, and enter the social media spotlight. It’s no surprise, then, that they pay attention their appearances. “The young people are looking at this as a potential hook-up event. It is like a date, and you want to look your best for a date,” said Stark. “There is lot of excitement when people come in this month, and there is a feeling of adventure.”

Brown’s clientele changes as Coachella approaches with Millennial customers flocking to get spray tans. “I have a huge influx of twentysomethings all the way to clients in their early 30s. Normally, my market would be 30 percent that clientele, and the rest of it is Hollywood Hills, Beverly Hills or Malibu housewives or career women,” she said. “They have found me on Google or Instagram, and they have found me from the celebrities I do. They are local to L.A., but they come from out of town as well.”

Although Millennials certainly constitute the core clientele for Coachella-spurred services, Stark pointed out the audience for Coachella and related beauty maintenance is broader than people might imagine. “There are plenty of 40-year-olds. I have two kids, and I went to Coachella the first few years,” said Stark. “We get the teenagers whose parents are taking them, and a lot of men who are taking their shirts off and don’t want to have hair on their chests. Coachella is such a huge brand now.”

How huge is Coachella? Tickets to the festival, which takes place April 15-17 and April 22-24, sold out in less than an hour, and some 500,000 people are expected to visit the Coachella Valley region for it. According to Billboard, Coachella is the highest-grossing music festival in the world. In 2015, its windfall was $84.3 million, more than three times what Outside Lands in San Francisco, the second highest-grossing festival, generated. The Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, and Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau estimate the economic impact of the colossal concert event at in excess of $704 million.

Large beauty brands are clamoring to take part. Kylie Cosmetics is unveiling three metallic matte lipsticks timed with Coachella; false lashes brand Ardell has started a social media contest with a music festival tie-in using the hashtag #EyeHeartFestivalsContest; and NYX Cosmetics is partnering with Nylon on the magazine’s Coachella kickoff party. And scores of other cosmetics companies and retailers are creating content and curating products to take advantage of Coachella beauty trends.

For beauty service providers, though, occasions like Coachella are especially crucial to building clientele. Mike Concannon, vice president of marketing for Sunless Inc., owner of Mystic Tan and Versa Spa, noted events commonly serve as introductions to spray tanning. In the case of Coachella, women frequently visit tanning salons together before attending, multiplying its effect on future business — and salons often encourage the behavior by offering deals for friends and family.

“One of the truisms of this business is that events spark usage,” said Concannon. “When the social stakes are the highest, spray tanning follows.”

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Vogue Publishes Special Issue on Kendall Jenner

Kendall Jenner on Vogue's Special Issue.

Kendall Jenner's profile just keeps growing. The model and "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star, who already has 52 million Instagram followers and 16.3 million Twitter followers, now has an American Vogue cover — well, almost.

Vogue is giving Jenner her own special issue in April. This comes on the heels ofrumors that Jenner was shot for Vogue. It is believed she will star in a video for the magazine's Web site.

Long gone are the days when cover stars were judged solely on social status — now it's social media status. Editor in chief Anna Wintour has dabbled with social media stars on the cover of Vogue, with the most surprising and controversial example inApril 2014 when Jenner's sister Kim Kardashian posed with then-fiancé Kanye West. It had been long rumored that Wintour wasn't eager to embrace the Kardashians, but times have changed.

Fast forward two years and, fresh off of sitting with the white-wigged fam at West's mega Yeezy/Pablo production at Madison Square Garden, Wintour just might be eligible for Honorary Kardashian status. Jenner's dedicated issue will come polybagged with Vogue's April edition, which will feature Rihanna on the cover. Jenner's 52-page issue goes out this week to New York and Los Angeles subscribers only, and it contains a mix of new and repurposed content, which focuses on the model's social media reach. Readers can also access the Jenner issue at vogue.com.

Estée Lauder is the sole advertiser in the special glossy, with three ad pages from Estée Edit. Coincidentally (or probably not), Jenner is the face of the beauty brand, and she recently became a guest editor of Estée Edit, which courts younger consumers. Vogue emphasized that the issue is editorial — not sponsored content — and created by the magazine's editors. What's new really is the front of the book portfolio and single multipage feature on Jenner's "brand"; the rest of the issue contains repurposed photos.

The cover shows the model in a Proenza Schouler cropped top and bikini bottom photographed by Mario Testino with the cover line: "The Kendall Effect 64M Followers and Counting."

Inside, there's a front of book fashion spread by Testino depicting the model in a host of summer looks, including a scarlet Michael Kors Collection faille dress, various swimsuit shots and a sportier shot of Jenner on a horse wearing a Marc Jacobs sweater and Eberjey bikini bottom.

The one — and only — story is written by Robert Sullivan, who followed Jenner around during New York Fashion Week, and it includes interviews with Karl Lagerfeld, Estée Lauder group president Jane Hertzmark Hudis, Tory Burch and Michael Kors, who compares the model to Ali MacGraw. Jenner's brand power and social media tips are explored, in addition to a friendly exchange with NBA player Carmelo Anthony at a basketball court at Terminal 23 in New York.

Images accompanying the feature include shots by Theo Wenner. The story depicts Jenner with Anthony on the court, as well as the model with Burch in the designer's New York studio. Jenner recounts her meeting with Burch, whom Sullivan identifies as the "seventy-third most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes."

After congratulating her on a February cover of WWD and other small talk, Burch asks: "Are you thinking of going to college?"

Jenner replies: "You talk to people and they say the reason they went to college was to get a job, but I already have a job, so…"

Jenner explained that seeing the world as a model has been a big part of her education. While rifling through Burch's Tory Sport Line, the designer gives her two cents on being a businesswoman, after Jenner talks about her various projects.

"One of the things I always really stress is to start a foundation. I meet with entrepreneurs all the time, and this is something I always stress," said Burch, who would go on to explain that she doesn't like the words "brand or entrepreneur."

Nodding, Jenner offered: "That's got me thinking because that's something my family has always been into, whether it's charities or working at soup kitchens….I mean, I have a number of different issues I'm interested in, and I love animals."

Kendall Jenner shot by Mario Testino

By Alexandra Steigrad

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Kardashian Beauty Licensees Vow to Press Ahead, Despite $180M Lawsuit

Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Kourtney Kardashian (MediaPunch/REX/Shutterstock)

Licensees continue to bank on the Kardashian name to sell beauty products despite a whopping $180 million lawsuit from a principal investor accusing Kim, Khloé and Kourtney of failing to support theKardashian Beauty makeup line.

Although its principal investor Hillair Capital Management LLC launched the lawsuit, Haven Beauty Inc., the Lake Forest, Calif.-based marketer of Kardashian Beauty makeup, is — not surprisingly — pressing forward with its business. Kardashian Beauty makeup is available at Ulta and the Web site Kbeauty.com, and contains 83 stockkeeping units, including faux lashes, mascara, bronzer, eye shadow and lip products, priced predominantly from $8.99 to $14.99.

A Haven Beauty employee reached Tuesday by WWD is soft peddling what is a complicated legal challenge, saying, "I don’t anticipate there being any impact from the lawsuit." The employee, who declined to divulge her name, stressed, "Haven Beauty is not a party to the lawsuit. The lawsuit is strictly between the Kardashians and the equity fund partner."

Attorneys for the Kardashians were not available at press time.

According to legal documents, Haven Beauty was intended to be a joint venture between Hillair and the Kardashians. The documents detail that, under the terms of an agreement between Hillair and the Kardashians, Hillair expected the Kardashians to receive 40 percent of the fully diluted equity in Haven, but the Kardashians have rebuffed efforts by Hillair to give them the equity interest. According to Hillair, the Kardashians had wandering eyes for other partners.

Haven is the repository of assets Hillair won in Oct. 17, 2014, after Boldface, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based company that originally introduced makeup under Kardashian Beauty umbrella, went into receivership. The lawsuit states Hillair transferred those assets, including the license to produce Kardashian Beauty, to Haven; injected millions into Haven to fund Kardashian Beauty and, in return, imagined the Kardashians would be committed to promoting the makeup.

In total, Hillair discloses in the legal documents that it has spent nearly $10.2 million to salvage the Kardashian Beauty makeup with the understanding that the Kardashians would be the faces of the line. Instead, the firm claims the Kardashians pursued new partners to distribute the makeup line and buy out Hillair’s interest. When new partners with enough funds didn’t materialize, the lawsuit asserts the Kardashians threatened to terminate Hillair’s license.

"Not only did the Kardashians fail to take the steps necessary to market, promote and support the line, the Kardashians took affirmative steps to delay or undermine the ability of Haven to effectively distribute the Kardashian Beauty line," the lawsuit reads. In the lawsuit, Hillair is seeking to recoup its almost $10.2 million investment in Kardashian Beauty and additional damages of between $64 million and $180 million.

Gregory Fayer, a lawyer for Hillair, further said, "We are extremely disappointed that it has come to this. Hillair entered into this venture with the Kardashians with the expectation of a long, mutually beneficial relationship. Unfortunately, having poured over $10 million into saving the Kardashians’ makeup line, the Kardashians failed to hold up their end of the bargain, and Hillair was left with no choice but to file a lawsuit."

Meanwhile, Haven Beauty endures with the purpose of growing Kardashian Beauty. "We have a very experienced, very capable team that works on the products," said the unnamed Haven Beauty employee. "We have intentions of building out the business, but we have not yet done so." She said the objective of Haven Beauty is to "make the best product possible at the price point it [Kardashian Beauty] is in mass."

Separately, Farouk Systems markets hair care products under the Kardashian Beauty name. Its products have been pictured in news reports about the lawsuit filed by Hillair, although Farouks Systems is not connected to Hillair or Haven Beauty. Talking to WWD in 2014, when Kardashian Beauty hair care products launched, Farouk Systems executive chairman and founder Farouk Shami projected the products would generate $200 million in retail sales during their first year on the market.

By Rachel Brown

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Jean Paul Gaultier, a Spice Girl & Rebel Wilson Will Make Cameos in a Very Fashionable Film

By Lorelei Marfil

SEEN ON SCREEN: Jean Paul Gaultier will join the cameo lineup in the upcoming Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, and Giles Deacon is expected to, as well.

They will join fellow designer Anya Hindmarch and models Kate Moss, Abbey Clancy and Cara Delevingne, all of whom are making brief appearances in the film.

Related: Cover Girl Announces Zendaya as Its Latest Brand Ambassador

A spokesperson for Gaultier confirmed that the designer will be taking part, while Deacon declined to comment.

Related: Christian Dior Haute Couture: A Retrospective

Speaking on the sidelines of a business launch event at Number 10 Downing Street last week, Hindmarch called her role “a dream come true.” The designer said she was on the Ab Fab set a few months ago, but declined to provide further details.

Related: Balmain to Launch Children’s Line

Former Spice girl Emma Bunton and Australian actress and comedian Rebel Wilson will also join the cast.

Pitch Perfect actress Wilson posted a picture of herself on Instagram dressed as a flight attendant on set. The film’s star Jennifer Saunders, who plays Edina, tweeted: “This hostess tried to check in my under-eye baggage.”

The comedy is based on the hit television show that follows fashion publicist Edina Monsoon and magazine editor Patsy Stone, played by Saunders and Joanna Lumley, as they bumble around London, decked in designer clothing, swilling Champagne. The movie will launch on July 1 in the U.K. and Ireland.

More from WWD: Elle France Names Caroline de Fayet Fashion Editor in Chief McQ Alexander McQueen Taps Nan Goldin for Spring Ads Chelsea Handler Discusses Her New Netflix Show, ‘Chelsea Does’ at Sundance

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Would You Buy Your Child a $5,955 Balmain Dress?

By Miles Socha

YOUNG AT HEART: One can never be too young for fierce fashions. Olivier Rousteing and Balmain are launching a children’s line in June, initially at Balmainboutiques and online at Balmain.com, WWD has learned.

Instead of farming out the range to a licensee, as many designer companies do, Balmain’s 55-piece collection, for boys and girls ages six to 14, is to be produced in-house.

Related: Coco Rocha Unveils Co + Co in New York

Styles riff on Rousteing’s men’s and women’s runway shows over the past five years.

Related: Chelsea Handler Discusses Her New Netflix Show, ‘Chelsea Does’ at Sundance

“These are the same looks that, over the years, moms and dads have repeatedly pleaded with me to produce for their kids,” said the designer, who has Kim Kardashian on speed dial.

Related: Chanel Boutique on London’s Brompton Road Robbed

The offering includes jeans in Japanese denim, quilted perfectos, pea coats, a white tuxedo jackets, a fur coat, an embroidered cavalry jacket, a zebra-patterned top and a selection of shoes miniaturized from the runway. Retail prices are range from 190 euros, or $205 at current exchange rates, for a sleeveless patterned T-shirt to 5,500 euros, or $5,950, for an embroidered black dress.

More from WWD: Accessories Trend: In-store Winter Boots Priced to Sell Jennifer Lopez’s Las Vegas Show Costumes: Versace, Balmain and the Yankees Cover Girl Announces Zendaya as Its Latest Brand Ambassador

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Taylor Swift’s Clothing Collection Made Its Fashion Week Debut (in Hong Kong)

By Amanda Kaiser

Hong Kong Fashion Week, which kicked off its three-day run on Monday, is not a generally a draw for international celebrities. But the trade event did manage to score a bold-faced name this season: Taylor Swift.

Related: Gigi Hadid Wins MasterChef Celebrity Showdown

The singer herself did not make the journey east but her newly launched clothing line for the Chinese market staged a small runway show amid the booths of garment manufacturers. Nashville-based Heritage66 launched Swift’s brand last year on JD.com and Alibaba’s Tmall platforms in a bid to capitalize off the singer’s massive popularity in China and counterbalance the proliferation of fakeTaylor Swift products flooding the market. Now Heritage66 is hoping retailers, both in China and other countries, will pick up the new brand.

Related: Jada Pinkett Smith, Spike Lee to Boycott Oscars

The show — a mix of spring and fall merchandise — featured pieces like cropped T-shirts, body-hugging minidresses and slim pants emblazoned with the singer’s name or the letters comprising it.

Related: Marc Jacobs Celebrates Velvet Noir

Much of the merchandise had a sporty feel to it — like a short frock with a tie at the waist resembling the sleeves of a varsity jacket. The models bounced around the stage — decked out in musical instruments and faux records — to a soundtrack of Taylor’s hits like “Bad Blood,” “Blank Space” and “Shake It Off.”

Kate Liegey, chief operating officer of Heritage66, said she could not provide sales figures but said the line is seeing “phenomenal” success in its first few weeks on Tmall and JD.com.

“We realized that the demand was just incredible for the store business and we decided to do this show,” said Liegey, who added that hundreds of retailers from locales as diverse as Dubai, Uruguay and Mexico have expressed interest in the collection. “Everybody wants the product line.”

More from WWD: Fire Breaks Out at Ritz Paris Hotel Gucci: The Evolution of a Model, From Frida Giannini to Alessandro Michele Derek Zoolander Scores Vogue Cover

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Hedi Exiting YSL? Vaccarello Said in Wings

By Miles Socha

LONDON —­ Speculation is mounting that Hedi Slimane may be poised to make his second exit from Yves Saint Laurent.

According to sources, the designer has so far failed to reach an agreement on the renewal of his initial contract with theKering-owned fashion house and is preparing to part ways with a brand he revved up with his rock ‘n’ roll-inspired fashions and a top-to-bottom reform of the storied house.

What’s more, Saint Laurent is said to have identified a frontrunner to succeed Slimane and has held extensive talks with Anthony Vaccarello, a Belgian designer partial to the racy, fast-paced side of fashion, having been recruited by Donatella Versace for her reboot of the Versus brand. He was named its creative director last September.

Related: Kendall Jenner to Star in Mango’s ‘Tribal Spirit’ Campaign

Reached for comment, a Saint Laurent spokeswoman said the house “does not comment on rumors.”

Vaccarello could not immediately be reached for comment.

Slideshow A Look at Anthony Vaccarello’s Past Collections

The possibility of a Slimane exit and designer change adds an extra dash of intrigue to the fall 2016 fashion show season.

Late on Tuesday via Twitter, YSL announced that Slimane would show his men’s collection, and the first part of his women’s range, on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles as part of a “Saint Laurent at the Palladium” event. The men’s show had been scheduled for Jan. 24 at the tail end of men’s fashion week in Paris, and is typically a megaproduction akin to a rock concert, complete with a front row packed with musicians and Slimane groupies.

Saint Laurent recently cancelled its usual venue, the Carreau du Temple, which Slimane had secured for a multiseason exclusive after the Marais location underwent an extensive renovation.

In a release, Saint Laurent described the event as a tribute to the music scene in L.A., Slimane’s home since 2008. It also coincides with 10 years of the designer’s photo blog, “Hedi Slimane’s Diary,” which has frequently documented the California scene.

“Part 2” of the Saint Laurent women’s collection is to be presented in Paris on March 7.

Should it come to pass, a Slimane exit would deliver another shock to the French fashion scene, wracked late last year by the exit of Raf Simons from Dior and the ousting of Alber Elbaz from Lanvin. Successors for those two houses have yet to be named.

Those dramatic changes seem to signal a seismic shift in the fashion industry, as star designers buckle under the pressures ­and/or restrictions of an accelerating and high-stakes industry.

Slimane, who ushered in more than a decade of skinny tailoring with his overhaul of Dior Homme, exited that brand in 2007 and pursued a photography and art career before returning to the fashion fold in 2012 at the creative helm of YSL, which he rechristened Saint Laurent to return to the initial impulses in the Sixties that drove the late, legendary couturier to introduce ready-to-wear.

From his home base in Los Angeles, Slimane overhauled the house with a new collection architecture and graphic identity; a widely copied store concept involving acres of veiny marble and gleaming shelves; and influential, mostly black-and-white campaigns lensed by the designer himself featuring a cast of music personalities and edgy models.

Related: FIT’s ‘Fairy Tale Fashion’ Exhibition Opens Friday

While he received some barbs from critics for repetitive collections inspired by grunge and other music subcultures, Saint Laurent under Slimane charted rapid growth, outpacing most other designer brands as the luxury sector entered a period of more moderate expansion.

In the third quarter, revenues at Saint Laurent vaulted by 26.6 percent on a comparable basis to 243.4 million euros, or $270.8 million. Retail sales were up 32 percent in the quarter, with even Mainland China recording a sharp increase, a testament to ongoing customer demand for the brand’s $5,000 biker jackets and $2,000 leather satchels.

By contrast, organic sales at Gucci, which accounts for more than a third of total revenues at Kering, fell 0.4 percent during the three-month period while revenues at Bottega Veneta were up 4.3 percent on a comparable basis.

Reflecting the increasing role of Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta in the group’s growth, Kering appointed Saint Laurent ceo Francesca Bellettini and Bottega Veneta ceo Carlo Alberto Beretta as new members of its executive committee. Kering is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and full-year results on Feb. 19.

Saint Laurent revealed in March 2012 that Slimane would rejoin the house as its creative director, a dozen years after he exited YSL Rive Gauche Pour Homme to heat up Dior Homme. At that time, Elbaz helmed YSL Rive Gauche for women in the wake of the founder’s retirement from rtw.

Slimane was granted total creative responsibility for the brand image and all its collections, succeeding Stefano Pilati after a fruitful, if turbulent, eight-year tenure for the Italian designer, who would go on to join Ermenegildo Zegna.

“As one of the most important French fashion houses, Yves Saint Laurent today possesses formidable potential, which I am confident will be successfully harnessed and revealed through the vision of Hedi Slimane,” François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of YSL parent Kering, stated at the time of the appointment.

Slimane’s return to the fashion spotlight — and foray into women’s wear — generated much excitement in the French capital, especially as Raf Simons, another men’s wear power player and proponent of minimalism, was shortly after named the couturier at Dior, succeeding John Galliano.

An art history graduate from the Ecole du Louvre, Slimane emerged from fashion’s shadows during his first stint at YSL. Hired as an assistant in fashion marketing at YSL in 1997 and then quickly promoted to designer, Slimane successfully revved up the label’s Rive Gauche Homme collection with sleek, androgynous tailoring: leather trenchcoats, pinch-waist suits and plunging shirts. He was a pioneer in inviting contemporary artists like Ugo Rondinone to put works in YSL stores, positing his clothes in a broader cultural context.

Slimane resigned from YSL in 2000 to pursue exclusive negotiations with its parent, then known as Gucci Group, for the launch of his own label. He ended up signing on with luxury rival Dior, embarking on an ambitious project that electrified men’s wear with his glitzy fashion shows and minimalist boutiques.

Slimane has been floated as a possible successor to Simons at Dior, although sources close to the house describe such an appointment as unlikely, given his penchant for demanding a wide creative birth. At present, Dior has Kris Van Assche designing men’s wear, Victoire de Castellane in charge of high jewelry, Peter Marino masterminding the store architecture — and a host of famous ambassadors, including Jennifer Lawrence and Marion Cotillard.

Slimane is said to covet control over YSL’s beauty business, but he does not hold any sway with the operation, controlled by L’Oréal, which acquired the business in 2008. As a result, he has distanced himself from its products and marketing messages.

Born in Brussels, Vaccarello studied sculpture at La Cambre, and came onto the international fashion radar in 2006 when he won first place at the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography for his collection inspired by Italian porn star La Cicciolina.

He subsequently went on to work at Fendi and in 2009 launched his namesake collection in Paris, where he continues to show. Two years later, he scooped the ANDAM fashion award.

Impressed by his provocatively sexy and audacious styles, Donatella Versace in 2013 tapped him as a guest designer for her revamped Versus brand. Last September, she named him the creative director of Versus, putting him in charge of the men’s and women’s collections under her supervision. His first full collection was for fall 2015 retailing. Like Slimane, he has a penchant for severe, razor-sharp designs that look best on a thin figure.

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Designers Create Bespoke Footballs for Super Bowl 50

By Jean E. Palmieri

Football and fashion make strange bedfellows. Sure, the uniforms evoke all-American style and some — emphasis on the word some — of the players can dress with a certain élan. But, let’s face it, when being pummeled by a 300-pound lineman, it’s understandable that the last thing players have on their minds is the latest looks on the runway or whether their uniform fits well.

Related: Jerry Hall, Rupert Murdoch to Wed After Whirlwind Romance

But this year’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 7 is the 50th — and naturally the National Football League is pulling out every play in its book. Coldplay and Beyoncé will perform at halftime and there will be a packed week of events around the Bay Area leading up to the Big Game.

Related: Celebrity Report Card: Golden Globes Fashion

As for those fans who will be watching the game — and the commercials — sitting on their sofas and eating chili and nachos, theNFL wants them to have a memento of the occasion, too. And that’s where fashion — specifically the Council of Fashion Designers of America — comes in. The NFLand CFDA have formed a special collaboration, CFDA + NFL Super Bowl 50, to create bespoke footballs marking the anniversary.

Related: Key Trends From London Men’s Fashion Week

Fifty designers including Betsey Johnson, Kenneth Cole and Nicole Miller have designed the balls, which will be auctioned off on the NFL.com Web site to benefit the NFL Foundation. The balls will be unveiled Jan. 20 at an event at the NFL’s offices in New York.

This isn’t the first time the CFDA has linked with the league. When the Super Bowl was at MetLife Stadium in 2014, 48 designers created bespoke helmets that filled the windows of Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship and were then auctioned off. The NFL declined to say how much that auction raised, but said the John Varvatos helmet was the top seller, going for $5,055.

The success of that initiative led the NFL to turn to the CFDA again.

“When we did the helmets in Bloomingdale’s, it was really successful,” said Rhiannon Madden, vice president of consumer products for the NFL. “So we wanted to partner with them again to bring the worlds of football and fashion together.”

“Lightning doesn’t always strike twice, but in this case it did,” said Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA. “The Super Bowl is a huge global event, and to be able to play a small part is really rewarding.”

The balls all have a gold theme — tied in to the anniversary — but beyond the color, the rest was left up to the individual designers.

“Mine is a chino football,” said men’s wear designer Todd Snyder, who is known for his American-skewed sensibility. “My helmet was gray flannel. I take things I think are iconic to American style, but have more of a modern edge.”

And as a sports fan, it was fun. “I’m a big football fan,” he said. “I’m from Iowa, so I love college football, and since I grew up in the Midwest, I played every sport. If you could walk, you played sports.”

Rachel Roy may not have played football, but she’s become a follower.

“My daughter’s boyfriend has a full scholarship as a quarterback, so I’ve learned a lot. It’s our American entertainment.”

For her football, Roy said she wanted to design something that would work in a professional setting. “It’s elegant, chic and strong.” It’s mostly python with a gold-plated jewelry handle on top “that frames it all. It was all done by hand, their logo and mine were hand-painted. I think it’s elegant for a home or office.”

She said the project allowed her to get back to what she loves most about fashion. “We create for a living and that’s what I enjoy the most. When a company becomes a business, things change. So when I get to create hands-on, it’s fun and challenging.”

Betsey Johnson agreed. “Mine was quite a bit of work,” she said. “But I think it came out wonderfully.”

While her helmet was decorated with pink satin rosettes — “the base of everything I do” — the gold theme made her change the version on the ball to gold roses. “But I thought, that’s not enough.

“One of my favorite possessions are these vintage mannequin hands with shiny red nails. I had them stuck in my garden around a rose bush, but I finally pulled them out because they freaked out my granddaughters.” So she resurrected the hands, painted the skin gold while the nails got a fresh coat of glossy red polish, and the result was “fashionable, feminine and woman-y.”

Men aren’t the only ones who are fans of football, she said. “I was a cheerleader at Syracuse University and [dated] a quarterback. So football became very important to me,” Johnson laughed. “I really know nothing about it, though.”

But she does know fashion, and she wound up very fond of her football — so much so that she’s going to try to buy it back at the auction. “If I get it, it’ll stay on my shelf with my Syracuse letter sweater,” she said.

This story first appeared in the January 13, 2016 issue of WWD. See More.

More from WWD: Rihanna Named ‘Most Marketable’ Celebrity Hedi Exiting YSL? Vaccarello Said in Wings Milan’s Next Wave: Men’s Designers to Watch

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Kendall Jenner to Follow in Kate Moss’s Footsteps

By Lorelei Marfil

KALLING KENDALL: Mango is on a mission to match its marketing plans with the pace of its fast-fashion business and it’s tappedKendall Jenner as part of the plan, WWD has learned.

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Jenner will star in “Tribal Spirit,” the first of the four separate themes that make up the spring 2016 campaign. She will model the collection, which is inspired by the African savanna, and includes a tribal print dress with a high slit, and a leather fringe minidress.

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The campaign was photographed by David Sims in a London-based studio last month.

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The brand is seeking to align its marketing efforts with the pace of fast-fashion, and it plans to unveil a new mini-campaign — with a different face — each month for the spring season. A new ad will drop in the months of February, March, April and May.

“We are organizing our marketing strategy to be as close as possible to the strategy of the product,” said Mango vice president Daniel López in an interview. “We are creating and detecting and launching trends very quickly on the sales floor. And we’re also shooting the campaigns with the trends that we will have in the stores in that relevant month.” He said the celebrity that will star in each campaign will reflect “the relevant trend” for that month.

He said Jenner fit in well with the mood of the savanna. “We thought that she was the best model to embody this trend. And obviously the upside with that is that, as a model, she’s very professional, she works fantastically. As a celebrity she has huge repercussions in the market and among her followers.”

He called Sims “a master of the photography, with a huge talent, undisputed prestige and experience. Moreover, we knew his work and we thought he would be the best to shoot the campaign. We knew he was going to be able to bring his unique, creative energy and expertise to Mango.”

Jenner said it’s the first time she worked with the Spanish brand, and called the experience “unbeatable. I felt very comfortable with the garments and with the entire Mango team,” she added.

The campaign will run in the March issues of glossy publications, although the company would not specify which ones. It will be featured on the label’s advertising platforms on Feb. 1.

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Brides Can Rent a Fashion Editor for $12,500

By Alexandra Steigrad

Condé Nast’s Brides has developed a new experiential service for readers in search of the ultimate wedding dress but there’s one hiccup: It will cost a pretty penny.

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Called “The Bridal Style Package,” brides-to-be will be able to meet one of the magazine’s editors for up to $12,500. The package includes a one-hour pre-consultation via Skype, followed by half a day at the Brides’ offices at Condé Nastheadquarters at One World Trade Center. The day includes a breakfast — not lunch — with one of Brides’ senior fashion editors, followed by a style consultation in which the soon-to-be bride will try on dresses pulled by staff. She will receive a digital look book with photos of the experience, which will be posted to Brides’ Instagram account, as well as a luxury gift bag. (The dress isn’t included.)

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“I would love for this package to lead to her finding her dream dress,” said Brides editor in chief Keija Minor, explaining advice would extend to shoes, veils and other accessories. “It’s definitely about the consultation now. We’re not trying to sell dresses out of our [fashion] closet. It’s more about arming her with the information she needs.”

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The package can be extended to the mother of the bride, maid of honor or bridesmaid for another $2,500. That offer — called the “Wedding Style Package” — includes a 30-minute style session and custom look book. The bride-to-be can also purchase the “Honeymoon Package” for an additional $2,500 should she need an insider honeymoon itinerary guide compiled by the editors of Brides.

Minor noted that the packages do not replace wedding planners, but instead will serve as a way for brides-to-be from all over the country and abroad to gain access to Brides’ editors in order to “streamline the [wedding] process.”

According to Minor, there hasn’t been any pushback from her staff about the project; in fact it has been the contrary. “It’s a new way to connect with our audience,” she said, adding that only two to three editors will work on the project.

When pressed further about the expanded demands of not only putting out a magazine but also serving as a stylist-for-hire for readers, Minor added: “Gone are the days where any editor wears just one hat. We’re all exploring brand extensions and what it means to be an editor.”

She also noted: “We’re not pushing certain brands — it would be one thing if we were pushing certain dresses or hawking a certain shoe brand.”

Clients can purchase Brides’ Private Access packages at bridesprivateaccess.com.

Although there won’t be any discounts applied to the purchase of goods or services, Brides chief revenue officer and publisher Michelle Myers justified the hefty price tag of all three offers by pointing to research.

“What I’m seeing from our research is that the Millennial girl wants experiences,” she said, noting that couples are registering for experiences in addition to appliances.

“Girls want their wedding to feel customized,” Myers offered, noting that while she and Minor developed the idea to speak to a “white space” in the market, it was nurtured by Jill Bright, Condé Nast chief administrative officer.

Bright heads up a new brand experience group that facilitates the development of new revenue streams for each magazine via new licensing deals and product launches across the company.

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Louis Vuitton Taps Léa Seydoux as New Face

By Miles Socha

Louis Vuitton has corralled another bankable actress as its newest face, WWD has learned.

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Paris-born Léa Seydoux, whose international profile vaulted recently with her role as a Bond girl in “Spectre,” joins Alicia Vikander, Michelle Williams, Jennifer Connelly and Doona Bae as an ambassador for a brand she considers “a strong symbol of French elegance.”

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Her first official duty is to accompany Nicolas Ghesquière, Vuitton’s artistic director of women’s collections, to the UNICEF Ball in Los Angeles on Jan. 12 wearing an outfit custom-made for her.

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As a face of the brand, she is to appear in advertising campaigns and participate in its major events.

Seydoux scooped up a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 for her role in “Blue is the Warmest Color” and has appeared in such diverse films as “Inglourious Basterds,” “Midnight in Paris,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.” Later this year she is to appear in Xavier Dolan’s newest film, “It’s Just the End of the World.”

A familiar face in fashion’s front rows, Seydoux has appeared in campaigns for such fashion brands as Miu Miu, Prada and Rag & Bone.

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The Kardashians Can Sell Just About Anything (Except Magazines)

By Alexandra Steigrad

The ubiquitous Kardashians continued their media reign last year with dozens of magazine covers, a set of new apps, more television airtime and more attention from the fashion industry. Yet despite their popularity, the Kardashians haven’t exactly been able to translate their enigmatic brand into newsstand gold for magazines.

While the newsstand is quickly deteriorating — MagNet characterized annual declines in the double-digits and said last year that it estimated newsstand magazine sales in 2015 to be $2.5 billion, which is just about half of what was generated in 2007 — editors continue to search for cover stars to stem the losses.

So who better than the Kardashians? The clan and its equally everywhere siblings the Jenners appeared on numerous magazine covers in 2015, including Cosmopolitan, Allure, Glamour, GQ, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Women’s Health, Complex, Interview, Paper and Redbook. WWD tracked available newsstand sales data from the Alliance for Audited media and found that many magazines saw a decline in copies sold when they featured the family members.

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Cosmopolitan, the largest U.S. women’s magazine, turned to the Kardashians twice last year in hopes that the family’s elusive charm could give it a much-needed sales bump. For the first half of 2015, Cosmo’s total single-copy sales hovered at 531,086, and weren’t helped by its February cover star, Kylie Jenner. Although Jenner has emerged as one of the most popular members of clan Kardashian, the issue delivered 495,423 in sales.

Still, that was better than Cosmo’s November issue, featuring all the Kardashian/Jenner daughters plus matriarch Kris. That cover, which dubbed the reality stars “America’s First Family,” ruffled a few feathers on social media — not to mention in the corridors of Hearst Tower.

At a recent luncheon, editor in chief Joanna Coles defended the cover and its provocative tagline, explaining: “People accused me of putting them on the cover to ‘sell a few magazines.’ Are you out of your mind? It sold f–k millions!”

Not so much. The issue garnered 436,500 in total copy sales, as well as almost 8,000 comments on Instagram, many of which were critical of the cover and tagline. (Nonetheless, the image of the cover nabbed about 35,500 likes).

During the lunch, Gayle King, editor at large of Cosmo sibling O, The Oprah Magazine, shared her disdain, interrupting Coles and adding: “I said I didn’t like them being called the first family.”

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WWD reached out to Coles for further comment Tuesday, but the editor was unavailable. It should be noted that while the issue was one of Cosmo’s worst sellers of the year, it still sold more copies than Vanity Fair’s big July Caitlyn Jenner cover, which sold 432,923 copies — although it ignited a flood of traffic to the VF Web site as well as a whirlwind of coverage online, on TV and across other media.

But back to Cosmo, which jumped at the chance to get the six family members on its cover, in part for social media pull and advertising dollars. Cosmo, which feted its 50th birthday with the Kardashian family, is said to have garnered 9 billion impressions on a live story that it partnered on with Covergirl for Snapchat. The live story of the Oct. 13 party was shared on Snapchat’s main landing page. It is believed that Cosmo’s Snapchat Discover channel grabs about 3 to 4 million views a day, and is one of the platform’s best performers.

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As for other titles, Condé Nast’s Allure sold 81,385 copies with its March Kendall Jenner cover, which is on par with its first half average of 85,249 copies sold. The model also appeared on the cover of big brother GQ in May, and sold 83,202 copies, which was off about 10,000 copies from its first-half average.

Glamour registered newsstand sales of 164,918 for its July Kim Kardashian cover, which was 14.6 percent off its first half average of 193,108 copies. Teen Vogue outpaced its first half average by about 1,000 copies with its May Kylie Jenner cover that sold 48,237 copies on the newsstand. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone got a lift from its racy cover of Kim Kardashian with 89,100 copies sold, as did Women’s Health, which sold 265,965 copies for its Khloé Kardashian cover, depicting the reality star in an unbuttoned chambray shirt that revealed what she called her “revenge body.”

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Lanvin’s Court Battle Has Come to a Close

A fine was issued Wednesday to the management of Lanvin, which has been in a legal battle with its works council following the departure of creative director Alber Elbaz in October.

Paris’ high court on Wednesday said the management must pay 3,000 euros, or $3,295 at current exchange, in damages and to cover legal costs.

The ruling has spurred contrasting reactions.

“This is a beautiful victory,” Charles Henry Paradis, a member of the works council who represents employees on the company board, told WWD following the decision reached by the Tribunal de Grande Instance.

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“All points put forward by the company have been rejected by the court. We now expect strong action on the part of the board of directors,” said Paradis, arguing that “this legal battle launched by the Lanvin management has damaged the company’s image.”

A spokeswoman for the house’s management, meanwhile, said that what the decision meant is “that the court declared itself incompetent to rule in the matter.”

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“It’s a legal issue,” Johann Sultan of CBR & Associés, which represents the brand, told WWD. “The court has decided that it has no jurisdiction to decide in the matter. It basically says: ‘Sorry this is too complicated. It’s more a case that needs to be discussed on the merit’ — and not via what we call a ‘procedure de référé’ or ‘summary procedure.’ The decision may seem strange, but it’s quite frequent under French law. To use football terms, this match has ended 0-to-0.”

But the work council’s lawyer Isabelle Schucké-Niel, of law firm Schucké-Niel Avocats, had another take. “This is not a draw. This is a victory for the works council, which never caused any trouble within the company, neither by e-mail nor via its messaging boards. What the judge said is: ‘There is no trouble, no urgency. Stop it.’”

“This decision is shameful for the company’s management,” she continued. “They should have respected the law in the first place instead of taking this case in front of a judge.”

As reported, the management of Lanvin had engaged in legal proceedings against the works council to stop it from using the company’s e-mail and messaging boards to share information with members of staff regarding its star designer’s ouster.

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While Sultan asked the judge to order staff representatives to take down several documents posted on the company’s bulletin boards, including two letters written by Elbaz, Schucké-Niel asked to dismiss all the company’s requests, arguing the works council was up against “an opaque system of obstruction and autocracy” that did not approve of employees seeking information about the finances of the company, which is poised to post its first loss since 2007. She also added that the two letters written by Elbaz and put up on the board were specifically addressed to the employees.

Although the company has 15 days to appeal the decision, a spokeswoman for Lanvin told WWD on Wednesday that “the top management decided not to continue the legal proceeding which would take too long,” instead focusing on “building a nice, social climate” within the company.

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Tom Ford's Bringing Sexy Back to New York Fashion Week

By Samantha Conti

Tom Ford said Thursday he plans to show both his fall-winter 2016 women’s wear and men’s wear collections in “small, intimate presentations” during New York Fashion Week, on Feb. 18.

Ford has held similar presentations at his London design headquarters in past seasons, but this is the first time he will present both the women’s and men’s collections together in New York in this format.

The designer had previously planned to present his fall-winter 2016 men’s wear collection in London, as usual, but in a show format. However, a spokesman for the brand confirmed that the small, intimate presentations for men’s and women’s wear will take place in New York only.

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Last week, the up-and-coming London designer Thomas Tait announced he was giving up the runway temporarily to do one-on-one appointments with press and buyers in Paris. As the time and commercial pressures of the catwalk increase, designers worldwide are looking for new ways of speaking to their audience.

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“When I began my own company I wanted to create clothes with the highest level of workmanship and attention to detail,” said Ford. “Pieces that a customer would keep for life. This is one of the reasons that I launched my women’s collection in a small presentation in New York, where the audience could experience the clothes up close.

“In previous seasons, I have presented the collections in my London showroom to the press in an informal format that allows me to speak with journalists while they view and touch the clothes,” he continued. “As we all know, the way in which we show clothes, not only to the press, but also to the consumer, is changing.

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“Right now, I think that a certain fluidity is necessary in regards to how we communicate with the consumer, and I have experimented with different formats recently,” said Ford. “The most important thing to me with a presentation is that it communicates the message of the season and the point of view of the collection.

“Next season, it feels right to return to a format that is intimate and shows the detail of the clothes. The intimacy of small presentations affords that. We launched our first women’s collection in New York in 2010 and opened our first store there in 2007. I am very excited to present both collections in New York,” he added.

Ford has been experimenting with different formats to traditional fashion shows for the past few seasons. For fall-winter 2015, he presented his fashion show before the Oscars in Los Angeles, and this past season, he presented his spring-summer 2016 collection with a virtual fashion show featuring Lady Gaga and directed by Nick Knight.

Fall-winter 2016 will mark the first time that Ford will show both collections in the U.S. together.

The company said the American market has become increasingly important for the brand, with retail flagships opening this year in Houston and Miami. Atlanta is slated to open in February 2016, and joins directly owned flagships in New York, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, Dallas and Chicago.

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Nina Garcia’s Coming to Candy Crush

Marie Claire's Candy Crush Saga level featuring Nina Garcia (right).

By Alexandra Steigrad

For most women’s magazines, January means new year, new you — which usually translates to here’s how to become a more successful, definitely thinner and obviously much more beautiful you. But, the editors at Marie Claire wanted a slightly different approach for their January issue this time around.

Dubbed “The Next Big Thing Issue,” the Hearst-owned glossy is using technology as a lens from which to view its main coverage topics, which include work, wellness, culture, beauty and fashion.

“We were thinking about how we could do something smarter and more surprising….We wanted to reinvent the January issue,” editor in chief Anne Fulenwider told WWD. “Technology is touching all of our lives in such profound ways and it’s really changing the industries that we cover.”

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Fulenwider, who said Marie Claire is the only women’s magazine with a devoted monthly tech page, emphasized the importance of exploring the crossroads of fashion and technology. (She also hinted the future-leaning issue could have a live-event component one day, such as a conference.)

After bouncing off ideas with Marie Claire creative director Nina Garcia over the summer, Fulenwider approached her editorial team and asked them to think of the next big “thing” in their coverage areas. What came back was a slew of tech-heavy products and trends that are in the early stages of development.

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The editor rattled off a few, including a handbag that will change colors based on your outfit, a small machine that will do your makeup when you stick your face inside, a small golf-ball sized bubble ball of water for portable hydration and various virtual reality headsets.

A pleasant surprise that came out of the issue is a partnership with Candy Crush. On Thursday at 6 a.m., Marie Claire said it will become the first magazine to score its own level on Candy Crush Saga. Garcia teamed up with King Digital’s Stockholm-based team to design a challenging “timed” level that features the editor’s favorite colorful candies — and, yes, her very own doppelgänger. According to Fulenwider, who said there is no advertising or revenue share tied to the partnership, players can reach the live-in game Marie Claire level after they complete two levels without losing life. When the live in-game event is complete, the Marie Claire level will live permanently on the Candy Crush Saga level, she said.

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Readers of the January issue, which hits newsstands today, will get a look at the gaming franchise, and they will meet Yonna Ingolf, the lead producer for Candy Crush Saga, who worked with Garcia.

But back to the print issue, which also houses features on well-known subjects, such as a profile of Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso, who also serves as the magazine’s contributing editor, and a story on a new horror-comedy called Pride and Prejudice Zombies based on Jane Austen’s novel. The film stars actresses Lily James, Suki Waterhouse and Bella Heathcote, each of whom gets their own cover of the January issue.

The covers were shot in London were photographed for Instagram, as well, in what is being dubbed as an “Instashoot.” What that means is that photos from the cover shoot were captured just for Instagram to be posted on Marie Claire’s page, among other places. According to Fulenwider, Instagram is increasingly being viewed as a “virtual newsstand” for magazines, which are looking to drum up excitement around the issue, as actual newsstand sales continue to tumble.

Like competitors, newsstand sales at Marie Claire have taken a hit, as fewer readers buy magazines at retail. For six months ended June 30, total single copy sales were 117,882 a 21.4 decline over last year, the Alliance for Audited Media said. But total paid & verified circulation grew 3.6 percent to just more than one million.

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NYFW Could Open Its Doors to Fashion Industry Outsiders

By Lisa Lockwood

Power to the people.

In a move aimed at fixing what it describes as “a broken system,” the Council of Fashion Designers of America is getting behind a movement to turn the twice-yearly fashion shows into a consumer-facing rather than industry event by presenting in-season collections that are already in the stores.

The CFDA has retained Boston Consulting Group to conduct a study to define the future of fashion shows. The study, which will begin after the holidays, should take about seven weeks, and won’t have an impact on the upcoming February season. BCG will survey industry experts to explore a possible shift to shows that are more closely aligned with retail deliveries.

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“We have designers, retailers and everybody complaining about the shows. Something’s not right anymore because of social media, people are confused,” said Diane von Furstenberg, chairman of theCFDA. She said that consumers see an outfit on Instagram or a Web site and go to the stores and can’t buy it for six months. “We have some ideas. Everyone seems to feel that the shows being consumer-driven is a very good idea,” she said.

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Von Furstenberg said the CFDA hasn’t figured out how the new system might work yet, but said designers could conceivably have smaller showroom presentations and appointments with retailers and press to show them the collection six months out and to place orders. They then would have a runway show with all the bells and whistles for a consumer audience showing in-season merchandise — and getting all the positive benefits from the social media phenomenon. The goal is to improve full-price selling at a time when fashion apparel sales continue to flag as consumers switch their spending to restaurants and experiences over clothes.

With the current system the way it is, von Furstenberg said, “The only people who benefit are the people who copy it.”

“It’s very confusing. Everything needs to be rebooted. We’re making this proposal and people can do whatever they want,” she said. “ I have a feeling people will be showing what’s available closer to what’s in store. I don’t have all the answers, otherwise we wouldn’t be hiring [BCG].”

Steven Kolb, president and chief executive officer of the CFDA, added that the organization is working with the industry to get people’s opinions. He and von Furstenberg are planning to meet with IMG, the show producers, on Tuesday to discuss the topic, noting that fashion shows have become entertainment and there are many opportunities.

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He said BCG will evaluate the pros and cons of making the shows consumer-driven. He’s had meetings with designers, ceos of companies and top retailers to talk about how to fix the system. It is not a foregone conclusion that a change will happen. “They might come back and say, ‘There’s nothing to fix. Keep it the same.’” Maybe it would be a hybrid scenario, he added.

“We want to take a broken system and create a new system,” he said. The study will help the CFDA evaluate who’s into the change, and who’s not. “Ninety-five percent of the people I’ve spoken to say, ‘Amen.’”

One of the main ideas is keeping the show dates but changing the seasons, such as showing fall in September and spring in February. BCG will also question whether shows should be in June and January and whether they should be more aligned with the pre-collection calendar. The U.S. fashion organization is leading the charge, but Kolb said he recently spoke to his counterparts in London and Italy. Patrizio Bertelli, ceo of Prada, years ago called on the women’s calendar to shift closer to that of the men’s shows, with women’s showing in June and January, in order to improve deliveries.

More and more companies are rethinking how they handle the overheated fashion system, with its chaotic fashion weeks, hordes of tweets and Instagram posts and accelerated product cycles. As reported Monday, Rebecca Minkoffsaid she would show her spring collection during NYFW in front of a consumer audience — 30 to 50 percent would be consumers — being among the first to take this dramatic step.

Minkoff is the latest designer to question the value of fashion shows that present collections four to six months before they land in stores — by which time consumers are so bored with the styles that they’ve seen on celebrities and social media that they don’t buy them. Just last week, Thomas Tait, the fast-rising London designer, decided to skip a full-blown fashion show and have one-on-one appointments with press and buyers in March. Proenza Schouler took a firm stand earlier this month when the designers said they would not release any pre-fall imagery or sanction outside photography and short-lead reviews of their collection until the clothes, shoes and bags begin to hit the stores around April. And, last week, Silas Chou’s daughter Vivian took a majority stake in Thakoon Panichgul’s company with plans to turn it into a show-now, see-now, buy-now, wear-now brand, and Thakoon is not on the February calendar to have a show. This past season, both Givenchy and Rag & Bone offered opportunities for consumers to attend their spring 2016 shows.

Then there is the Victoria’s Secret show, which remains a hype-generating event across Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube — not to mention network television.

In response to Minkoff’s move to have a consumer-driven event showing spring merchandise in February, Ken Downing, senior vice president, fashion director of Neiman Marcus, said, “I am an enormous proponent of relooking and recalibrating how we use the fashion show that has become a mega-marketing” event. “The history of fashion shows was to show the buyers and the press the message of the season. But technology has utterly changed everything in our industry. That customer continues to follow Instagram and Twitter and watches the live-stream of fashion shows. When they are seeing clothes, they are less aware of seasons. What they are seeing, they want,” he said.

This is the second time that the CFDA has retained BCG, having worked with the firm in 2013 to evaluate the organization’s priorities and create a five-year plan.

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Tory Burch Trims Jobs to Boost Spending on Tory Sport, Digital

Photo: Steve Eichner

By Lisa Lockwood

Tory Burch laid off around 100 employees last week throughout the company.

Although Burch would not confirm the number of layoffs, sources estimated it was around 3 percent of the company’s workforce. The firm has been investing heavily in technology and new businesses such as Tory Sport, as well as categories such as fragrances and watches, which are licensed to The Estee Lauder Cos. and Fossil, respectively. According to people close to the company, the firm has been reorganizing its business to put more emphasis on digital initiatives and investing in customer-facing technology. The company will open a permanent freestanding Tory Sport store in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in March.

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Sources said the cost savings will be used for further investment in Tory Sport, technology and hiring more people. “It’s about hiring people with the requisite skills and experience for the right jobs,” said a source. The fast-growing 11-year-old company is on track to generate more than $1 billion in sales this year.

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In an interview at the WWD CEO Summit in October, Roger Farah, co-chief executive officer, and Tory Burch, chairman, co-ceo and designer, said their priorities were the future development of Tory Sport, which was introduced this fall at retail, fragrances and watches, as well as strengthening the company’s Asian business and e-commerce.

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The Burch layoffs follow the news in May that Ralph Lauren Corp. was laying off 750 people on its staff as part of a corporate restructuring. The layoffs at both firms come as a myriad of fashion companies are adjusting their strategies to cope with the new consumer landscape, which has been especially evident in shopping patterns so far this holiday season. Fashion as a category has continued to struggle as consumers search for more experiences and spend more on such things as eating out. When they are spending, they are seeking more deals and shopping more online. Burch and Lauren’s competitor Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. last month revealed plans to cut back on distribution in the department store channel in order to protect its brand and margins.

Another source familiar with the Burch situation noted that “mobile is fast emerging as the biggest revenue driver, which makes the retail footprint hard to manage.” Also, Millennials are proving to be less brand loyal than their predecessors. They seem to be willing to shop for the deal among comparable items, not caring as much where it comes from.

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