Retailers gearing themselves up to meet growing demand for fast, on-trend, fashion-led styles also need to improve their speed and operational agility if they are to react quickly enough to engage with consumers.
At the risk of defaulting to ye old flagrant fashion cliché, Andrea Lieberman’s fall collection was based on “classics with a twist.”
The lineup was populated with essentials, such as striped T-shirts with subtle details on the back, knits that laced up the back, tailored jackets, a floral dress with a cutout back, cropped, flared leather pants and tracksuits — a nod to her early days as a hip-hop stylist. “The goal was to take a lot of those elements and elevate them,” Lieberman said. To her point, a range of cool fur coats in interesting colors — teddy bear brown and dusty pink — took track pants with zip-front legs to a new level.
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The three copresidents of Nordstrom Inc. — Blake, Peter and Erik — each ended 2016 with total compensation in the range of $5.8 million. That’s more than double the $2.6 million that each received in 2015.
All three had the same base salary of $751,152, along with stock awards of $1.6 million, option awards of $1.4 million and non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.2 million. Slight differences for each one were in the change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings and for other compensation. As for the latter, the company match for the 401(k) plan was the same at $15,900, as was the $565 paid for life insurance premiums. What was different for each was the value of merchandise discounts: $33,246 for Blake Nordstrom; $22,720 for Peter Nordstrom, and $29,757 for Erik Nordstrom.
Compared with 2015, stock awards jumped 80 percent from $906,175, while options awards rose 59 percent from $906,232. Non-equity incentive plan compensation cash awards under the executive management bonus plan were not given in 2015.
The compensation amounts were detailed in the company’s proxy filing — Form DEF14A — filed on Wednesday. The company’s annual shareholders’ meeting is scheduled for May 16 at 11 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time,
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A CANNES OF DIAMONDS?: Could Rihanna be set to bring her edgy Midas touch to Chopard? What looks to be a campaign image leaked by @rihannanews on Instagram Wednesday shows the “Diamonds” singer in a geometric jewelry set including a bracelet, ring, earrings and necklace in ice cube-shaped motifs, offset by skin and tattoos. The tag line reads: Rihanna [Hearts] Chopard.
With the jewelry label set to mark its 20th year as the official partner of the Cannes Film Festival this May, a hook-up revealed at the event would make for some major red carpet magic. And it’d be even more impactful given that Luc Besson’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” in which Rihanna costars alongside Cara Delevingne, is rumored to be a strong contender for the opening night film.
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SNEAKER PEEK: The Kooples has put its rock ‘n’ roll stamp on Puma’s Clyde sneaker in a hook-up between the Parisian contemporary lifestyle label and the German activewear giant due to go into The Kooples stores internationally on May 15.
Introduced in the Seventies, the low-top sneaker was originally made for NBA style icon Walt Frazier, nicknamed Clyde, after American outlaw Clyde Barrow, for the way he stole the ball from his opponents.
Available in all white and deep black leather versions, the revisited shoe sports perforated lines in lieu of the classic side stripes, and a signature silver metal skull at the heel.
Present in 36 countries, The Kooples counts around 450 doors worldwide, including stores in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as corners at Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s. The brand recently opened its first store in Australia, located in Melbourne, and in South Africa, in the Mall of Africa close to Johannesburg.
Among other recent collaborations, the French contemporary chain last spring partnered with haute fabric specialist and ready-to-wear brand Loro Piana on a range of men’s suits.
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PARIS — Grape leather, a vegetal leather using leftovers from winemaking, scooped the greatest number of public votes for the second edition of the Global Change Award by the nonprofit H&M Foundation, which rewards technology concepts that make the fashion industry more sustainable.
A grant of one million euros, or $1.1 million at current exchange, was split between a total of five winners selected by the foundation following an online vote held from March 27 to April 2, with the ranking of the prizes determined according to the number of votes. The other winning ideas included a biodegradable textile made from cow manure; denim dyed using a coloring powder derived from used denim; decomposable nylon made from water, plant waste and solar energy instead of oil, and a digital thread that facilitates recycling.
Italy’s Rossella Longobardo, who led the team behind the wine leather invention, was due to accept the top prize of 300,000 euros, or $320,000 at current exchange rates, at an awards ceremony in Stockholm on Wednesday.
“Our first objectives will consist in switching from a pilot to an industrial scale production of our fabric and starting a green, cruelty-free revolution within the leather industry, finally solving its related issues and overexploitation,”
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NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: Mario Testino is taking his London-based creative agency on the road, with plans to open an outpost of Mariotestino+ in New York.
He’s hired Brigid Walsh as global development director and she will open the New York operation. Walsh spent the past 10 years at Condé Nast, where she was executive director of communications, partnerships and special events for American Vogue, working with advertisers on collaborations.
Her remit will be to work with the company’s chief executive officer Suki Larson on developing global initiatives across multiple aspects of the business, including marketing and creative services, publishing and exhibitions, and on the group’s branded content platform Mira Mira.
She will also work with the company’s philanthropic arm MATE Museo Mario Testino, based in Peru, and on lateral brand partnerships.
Larson said the creative agency has an “ambitious future agenda,” and Walsh is a good addition to the senior global team. “She brings sophisticated and relevant experience, and immediately understood where we are heading.”
Walsh said Testino is scaling its business to encompass all aspects of content creation and distribution. “The development is unique in the creative agency space and is completely unhindered. It’s an exciting time to join this talented team
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AMAMI, Japan — On the island of Amami Oshima in southern Japan, sandwiched between beautiful white-sand beaches and lush forests, lies over 12 acres of land owned by the Koshima family. Here, brothers Tokuharu and Takaki Koshima carry forward the work their grandfather started more than 50 years ago: producing a very specialized, handmade type of Japanese silk that is unlike any other textile in the world.
Oshima Tsumugi is a type of silk pongee that has long been prized as one of the absolute highest quality kimono fabrics. But as the use of kimonos continues to dwindle in modern Japan, so too does the production of Oshima Tsumugi. Now the government is working together with manufacturers and contemporary fashion brands in an effort to keep this unique fabric alive.
There are many factors in its production that make Oshima Tsumugi special. It is believed that the fabric first started being made some 1,300 years ago, although recently tools used in its production have been unearthed that date back even farther.
The process starts with simple, white silk threads. Originally these also came from the island, but today they are mostly imported from Brazil. To create solid black threads, they are first dyed in a
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STREET SIGNS: Missoni and Pigalle Paris are fashion’s latest unexpected bedfellows.
Pigalle’s founder and designer Stéphane Ashpool took to Instagram to announce that he’d be collaborating with Missoni, but he didn’t reveal any details surrounding the collection, which he called the “Missoni Pigalle Collectable Collaboration.”
This news falls in line with what is expected to be a trend among luxury houses, who are starting to fully embrace streetwear brands, as evidenced by Louis Vuitton’s extensive collection with Supreme, which will be available in July.
Unlike Louis Vuitton, whose partnerships have typically been relegated to artists such as Stephen Sprouse and Yayoi Kusama, Missoni has worked with a variety of brands and retailers including Converse, Target and Havaianas. And unlike Supreme, Pigalle, which won the 2015 ANDAM Fashion Award in 2015, has operated more closely with the industry, putting on elaborate fashion shows that feature youth from Pigalle, the district in Paris the line is named after.
Ashpool, who started the line in 2008, is known for his vibrant designs with intricate details. He’s previously worked with Nike and operates shops in Tokyo and Paris. Earlier this year he opened a new atelier in Paris.
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