Delphine Arnault is the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton and heir apparent to her father Bernard Arnault's luxury conglomerate LVMH. In an interview over sashimi, she discusses her career path from studying business to working at Dior and now Louis Vuitton, where she helps oversee the transition to new creative directors. She also talks about mentoring young designers and curating an exclusive bag collection with collaborations from designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Cindy Sherman. While private about her personal life, Arnault expresses her passion for the luxury industry and pride in Louis Vuitton's heritage.

1. – 1 –– 1 –

2. – 2 –
As we begin the countdown to next season, I thought you
might appreciate seeing our coverage of the last spring/summer
collections in the newspaper and on FT.com.
All the show coverage for autumn/winter 2015 will be updated
every day during the collections, starting with New York fashion
week. The coverage will include a daily round up, and dedicated
features within the Weekend edition. There will be additional
coverage on www.ft.com (www.ft.com/fashionweeks). The reports
will be featured on our exclusive and comprehensive luxury
section, www.ft.com/luxury360, which includes interviews with
luxury leaders, a share library with the latest market news, and all
coverage of the industry from across the FT.
I look forward to working with you this year, and hope you enjoy
the enclosed.
Best wishes,
Jo Ellison
Fashion Editor, Financial Times
Research by Tatjana Mitevska, Editorial Fashion Assistant
– 2 –

3. – 3 –– 3 –
11 October/12 October 2014 ★ FTWeekend 3
Life
D
elphine Arnault arrives
three minutes late for our
meeting at Kinugawa and
not before having a brief
conversation with the din-
ersataneighbouringtable.Assheapol-
ogises, she explains that they are old
acquaintances anxious to share their
condolences about the recent death of
Yves Carcelle, former chairman and
chief executive of Louis Vuitton, who
workedalongsideherfatherBernardfor
morethan25years.
“It’ssadbecausehewassoyoung,”she
says of the 66-year-old, who died in
August from a rare form of kidney can-
cer.Hisroleatthehousewasmonumen-
tal,shesays.“I’vebeenworkingatLouis
Vuitton for one year and every day I
hearabouthim.”
It is, in fact, exactly a year to the day
sinceArnaulttookherpositionasexec-
utive vice-president of Louis Vuitton,
assumingarolethatmanysaywaswrit-
ten in her destiny at birth. As the eldest
child of Bernard Arnault (she has a
younger brother Antoine, and three
stepbrothers from her father’s second
marriage),sheistheheiressapparentto
LVMH, the vast luxury conglomerate
that has made her father a fortune of
$33bn. Her appointment at Louis Vuit-
ton,themostglitteringjewelinLVMH’s
portfolio, and her role on the executive
board of LVMH since 2003 suggest a
future that will one day see her take
more control of the company: Delphine
byname,dauphinebynature.
Certainly, the 39-year-old has inher-
ited her father’s somewhat sphinx-like
inscrutability and willowy carriage.
Blondeanddelicate-looking,shecutsan
impressivefigure,standingwellover6ft
in her LV stilettos, with a large gold
crescent-moon pendant necklace and a
woollen two-piece from the new collec-
tion by Nicolas Ghesquière, the house’s
incumbent creative director. Wool
seems somewhat warm for a day on
which the thermometer is tipping 26C
but she seems unbothered. “I’m always
feeling cold . . . ” she says with a shrug.
“At work, I am constantly asking them
toturndowntheairconditioning.”
Despite her height and stature,
Arnault shrinks from media attention,
approachinginterviewsascautiouslyas
one might an electrified fence. Perhaps
herreluctanceishardlearnt.Therewas
lavishpresscoveragewhenshemarried
Alessandro Vallarino Gancia, heir to an
Italian wine fortune, in 2005 – she wore
a dress designed by John Galliano and
Karl Lagerfeld took the photos. But her
divorce five years later and her subse-
quent relationship with tech billionaire
Xavier Niel have been extremely pri-
vate.Shedeclinestoconfirmwhetheror
notNielisthefatherofherdaughter,or
even her daughter’s name. “I’m quite
discreet,” she explains in a soft, soft
voice that drops still further, and
becomes almost inaudible, when she
spies the recording device on the table.
“IthinkI’dratherfocusonmywork.So,
I only speak when I have something to
say.‘Livehidden,andlivehappy’.Isthat
thesameinEnglishasitisinFrench?”
For someone so powerful, there’s
something touchingly vulnerable about
Arnault in person. A colleague likens
hertobeingcastintheroleofvestalvir-
gin opposite her brother’s playboy
prince, and certainly Antoine, with his
supermodel girlfriend, Natalia Vodian-
ova, and his world-class poker playing,
isthemoregarrulousofthepair.Imen-
tion that a recent piece in Paris Vogue
described her as “fragile” and ask
whether she thinks it’s a fitting descrip-
tion. “I don’t like to describe myself,”
shereplies,withawhisperofalaugh.
So, instead, she describes the menu.
“Normally, I take the carpaccio of yel-
lowtail, which is very good,” she
explains. “And I’ll have the mixed sash-
imi plate.” I order the same but skip on
the bowl of rice she orders to go along-
side, which seems altogether too fiddly
and chopsticky to concentrate on.
ArnaultordersaDietCoke,andweboth
drinklotsofwater.
T
ucked away just behind the
spangly flagship stores on
Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris’s
first arrondissement, Kinu-
gawa is one of the few sushi
restaurants in town. Such rarity makes
for an exclusive clientele and, at lunch-
time, the minimal, double-storey
dining rooms burble with the cross-
table chatter of the haute bourgeoisie
and Hollywood stars in Paris craving
carb-free food. “It’s close to my office,”
Arnault explains of her dining choice.
“It’sabitlikeNobu.Butthere’snoNobu
in Paris. I wanted to take you to Tch’a, a
small Chinese restaurant very near my
office. It’s almost all vegetables:
still very privileged to receive a Louis
Vuittonbagforyour18thbirthday.”
S
tudious and sporty, as a child
Arnault was more musical
than fashion-fixated. Her
stepmother, Hélène, was a
concert pianist, and the
young Delphine played the piano from
the age of five to 20, when she quit for
good. Her father and brothers continue
to play. “My family are very talented at
music,” she says. “My father is very
good.” She only discovered fashion as a
teenager, “around 16 or 17”, and learnt
her earliest style tips from her mother,
Anne Dewavrin (her parents separated
in 1990), who would wear “beautiful
dresses and suits”. Did she ever want to
be a designer? “No, never,” she laughs.
“Ithinkit’sgreattoworkwithdesigners,
and fascinating to work with creative
people, but it’s the business side that
fascinatesme.”
To that end, she went to school in
Paris (via a detour in New York state
betweentheagesofsevenand10,where
sheattendedaFrench-Americanschool
with her brother and became fluent in
English) before going on to graduate
from EDHEC Business School in Lille,
and the London School of Economics.
She left London in 1997 but recalls hav-
ing had “fun” and, miraculously for a
Frenchperson,havingeatensome“very
good food”. After graduation, she
workedatconsultingfirmMcKinseyfor
twoyears.Itwasaneye-openingexperi-
ence.“Iwaslearningstrategy,”shesays.
“In a presentation in America they
would start with the conclusion and
say how they got there, and I found
that very interesting. It was straight to
thepoint.”
Butitwasn’tuntilshearrivedatChris-
tian Dior in 2001, another starry house
intheLVMHportfolio,thatshesaysshe
“grew up”. She spent 12 years there,
startinginshoes,beforegraduallywork-
ing her way up to deputy general man-
ager, learning beside chief executive
SidneyToledano,andDior’scharismatic
creative director John Galliano. “I was
26 when I went there, and I left at 38,”
she says. “I was working on leather
goods – the Diorissimo and Lady Dior
bags–ontheleathergoodsstrategy,and
alsoonthecommunicationsstrategy.”
After Galliano’s abrupt departure in
2011,followingarantinaParisbarthat
led to him being convicted of making
anti-Semitic remarks, Arnault was
widely credited for minimising the
scandal’s fallout. She also handled the
smooth transition of Raf Simons into
hisroleascreativeatDior.Sincearriving
at LV, she has helped usher in
Ghesquière, his design team and a radi-
cally new look for the brand. Together
with LV’s chief executive Michael
Burke, she is helping the house
undergoaradicalyetseamlesstransfor-
mation. Her diplomatic skills must
beconsiderable.
She describes her managerial style as
“quite calm” – a fact born, she says, of
her need to negotiate with so many dif-
ferent strands of the organisation – but
it’sclearthatshe’salloverthehouse,not
least in her “surprise” visits to various
globalstoresthatshelikestoundertake
onaSaturdayafternoonwhentheshops
are at their busiest. “I am always on my
phone but it’s good to meet people, to
see them. To send a clear message.” She
is also passionate about meeting young
designers and nurturing upcoming tal-
ents, such as Thomas Tait, who was
awardedtheinaugural€300,000LVMH
Young Fashion Designer prize, or
JW Anderson. LVMH has a minority
shareinthe30-year-oldIrishdesigner’s
label and has since placed him as crea-
tive director of Spanish luxury house
Loewe, which is also part of the group.
“It is really important for the group to
identifytalentsandtohelpthemgrow,”
she explains. “It’s very difficult to man-
age a company and, at the same time,
be very creative. I find that it’s our
responsibility as leaders of a group to
helpthem.”
It’s a clever strategy, spending time
nurturing the names who may later be
absorbed into the luxury group, but
Arnault’s mentoring instinct seems less
cynicalthanthat.“Imeetalotofdesign-
erseveryweek,”shecontinues.“It’spart
of my job and I’ve been doing that for a
long time.” What are the biggest prob-
lemtoday’syoungdesignersface?“They
have treasury problems,” she replies,
picking over her bowl of rice. “They
have to pay for the fabrics, and then
make productions, and pay for things
wholesale. They are trained to create
but they don’t learn business at school,
so it’s difficult. And they are very small
companies so they can’t hire people –
they have to manage their own sales,
collections, and to create. And some of
them are really good at it but some are
morefocusedonthecreativity,andcre-
ating the products, rather than the day-
to-day management.” Does such men-
toring make the fashion world a friend-
lierplace?“Ithinkit’simportanttohave
a point of view,” she replies carefully.
“There’salotofcompetition.”
Despiteheralmostallergicaversionto
credit taking – “I wasn’t the only one,”
she insists of almost any decision for
which I try to applaud her – she admits
tohavinginheritedherfather’sthrillof
the deal. “I’m very competitive. At
everything.Ilikecompetition,it’sfun”,
shesmiles.
Arnault has learnt a lot from her
father.Nevertheless,shestillmarvelsat
his innate ability to spot a future It bag:
legendhasithecansniffoutabestseller
by merely glancing at a table of wares.
“It’s almost magical,” she laughs. “We
had this meeting yesterday. He saw a
bag and said, ‘This one.’ He often does
that, and I’m always very impressed.”
Doesshehavethatsameskill?“Itwould
behardtocompare,”shesaysenigmati-
cally. “It’s always hard to know. But
I’ve been going to shops since I was
very small,” she adds. “I’ve got used to
seeingproducts.”
Jo Ellison is the FT’s fashion editor
‘I remember the 100-year
ceremony, in 1996.
There was a big party, and
at the top of the room was
Naomi Campbell arriving
on stage on a giraffe’
Can Louis Vuitton’s
executive vice-president
reconcile a desire for a quiet
life with her destiny as
heiress apparent of a huge
global brand? Oversashimi,
she tells Jo Ellison about
celebrating luxury and her
father Bernard’s ‘almost
magical’ instincts
KINUGAWA
9 rue du Mont Thabor,
75001 Paris
Hamachi Yuzu x2 €36.00
Sashimori x2 €74.00
Rice €4.00
Diet Coke €5.00
Bottle of Evian x2 €16.00
Coffee x2 €8.00
Total €143.00
everything is very rare. But I didn’t
know if you would like it,” she laughs.
“It’sveryhealthy.”
In fact, she eats far fewer lunches out
now she has a daughter to get home to.
Which she does, as often as possible. “I
don’t know how many kids I’m going to
have but it’s important to enjoy the
moment,” she says, before revealing
that today has been a maternal land-
mark: her daughter’s first day – well
“onehour”–ofpre-school.
Part of the reason we’re here is to dis-
cuss the culmination of a project: an
exclusive collection of bags, the Mon
Monogram, that were commissioned in
collaboration with herself, Ghesquière
and six big-name creatives, who were
giventhetaskofreinventingthehouse’s
iconiclogoonleatherwares.
“LouisVuittonhasalonghistorywith
collaborations,”saysArnault,aswepick
atthelightlyseasonedslithersofyellow-
tail before us. Indeed, the logo, created
in 1896 by Georges Vuitton as a tribute
to his father, Louis, has made an excel-
lent canvas for reinterpretation. In
2001, the graffiti-scrawled Leo scarf
designedbyAmericandesignerStephen
Sprouse(andMarcJacobs,thethencre-
ative director of LV) became one of the
most covetable accessories in recent
fashion history. In 2012, the Japanese
artist Yayoi Kusama imagined a spotty
reinvention where bags, shoes, clothes
andevenstorefrontswerecoveredwith
vividgraphicdots.
The latest collaborations, with six
“iconoclasts”, including shoe designer
Christian Louboutin and architect
FrankGehry,haveproducedaplayful,if
prohibitively expensive, set of accesso-
ries. Karl Lagerfeld, inspired by his lat-
estsportingpassion,hasfashionedbox-
ingglovesandapunchbag,encasedina
steamer trunk; artist Cindy Sherman
has created a bespoke vanity case with
drawers to store her tools of reinven-
tion. “She wanted to do a trunk with all
the things she uses when she does her
make-up,” says Arnault, who seems
thrilled by every item. “The fake nose,
the fake eyeballs, the wigs. She decided
on all the compartments and
she labelled them herself by hand.”
The vivid green and yellow drawers
were “inspired by her parrot, Mr
Frieda”. Other interpretations are
more prosaic. Gehry’s gently sinuous
handbag, with the logo hand-etched
inside, stretched the capabilities of the
technicalteamtotheirlimits.
For Arnault, the process has been a
cherished opportunity. “It’s important
tocelebratethemonogram.It’stheDNA
of Vuitton,” she says, when I ask what it
means to her. “I think – I hope – there is
an interest in the philosophy and cul-
ture of the Vuitton name. It’s quite
coherent, and intellectual, and the
productsaregreat.Thesearethingsyou
will want to pass on, things you treas-
ure,” she continues. “We did an earlier
collaboration in 2006, where one of the
bags was an Azzedine Alaïa. I still have
thatAlaïabag,it’sfantastic.They’recol-
lector’sitems.”
Cultural legacy aside, the appeal of
developingtheseartworks-come-acces-
soriesisobvious.Launchedthismonth,
and accompanied by a glossy campaign
shotbyUSfashionphotographerSteven
Meisel, the collection will ensure maxi-
mumbrandexposurewhileunderlining
LV’s cultural reach. “Have you seen
the new Fondation?” she asks of her
father’s gigantic new Gehry-designed
edifice now anchored in the tip of Bois
deBoulogne.“It’ssoexciting.Gehryisa
genius.” Arnault is a regular visitor to
the studios of various contemporary
artists, especially those based in LA.
Does she have her father’s appetite for
art collecting? “I buy a few works,” she
splutters with laughter. “I wouldn’t call
itacollection.”
As we are presented with a plate of
mixed sashimi, I ask when LV’s
entwined initials were first imprinted
on her consciousness. Quite late, it
seems. “I remember very well the 100-
yearceremony,in1996.Therewasabig
party and at the top of the room was
Naomi Campbell arriving on stage on a
giraffe,” she says. “And I remember the
first Louis Vuitton bag I received: it was
abrownNoébag,whenIwas18.”
Inthosedays,thehandbagwasstillthe
hallmark of an exclusive, largely Euro-
peanclientelebuttheluxurymarkethas
boomed since then, steered in no small
waybyherfather’sinsatiableambitions
for the brand. In an age when every-
thing, from baby-changing bags to bicy-
cle seats, is branded with the LV logo,
does she think that luxury has become
moreaccessibletothemasses?Shelooks
at me coolly, before replying. “You are
LunchwiththeFTDelphineArnault
‘Live hidden
and live happy’
FT Weekend
Interview
Series
Google’s Eric Schmidt and
Jonathan Rosenberg will
be in conversation with
John Gapper on October
16 at Logan Hall, London.
Tickets from £29 (or £50,
including a hardback copy
of their book How Google
Works). To make a
booking, visit ft-live.com
SebJarnot
OCTOBER 11 2014 Section:Weekend Time: 10/10/2014 - 16:04 User: crawfordm Page Name: WKD3, Part,Page,Edition: WIN, 3, 1

4. – 4 –– 4 –
FINANCIAL TIMES SEPTEMBER 13/SEPTEMBER 14 2014 ★ 11
now stalk the entrance at
every show, ready to
pounce upon their muses.
Editors and stylists have
become stars of a vast
sideshow, which, at the
risk of this sounding like
the bitter rant of someone
ignored by the lenses (I
mean, seriously?! Does no
one want to shoot me!!?), is
a circus act that all but
ignores the clothes.
And there were some
great clothes here. Fabled
for its focus on minimal,
rather dull, wearable
wardrobes, New York
Fashion Week has never
been the most exciting of
showcases. But times are
changing. At Proenza
Schouler, designers Jack
McCollough and Lazaro
Hernandez riffed on sporty
separates and traditional
fogeyish fabrics – Argyle,
Prince of Wales check and
houndstooth – that they
had put to modern purpose.
These weren’t bonkers
The star accessory at New
York Fashion Week didn’t
even appear at the shows.
But its presence was felt
on every catwalk – not
least in the seats left
vacant by the international
style editors who had been
diverted to San Francisco
to witness the unveiling of
the iWatch.
Whether the fashion
industry will be
persuaded to switch their
Cartier “Cape Cods” or
vintage Rolexes for the
new wristwear is
uncertain; surely part of
the iPhone’s appeal lies
in the myriad ways in
which it can be pimped
and personalised? But
the Apple logo still
loomed large over every
catwalk. At Michael
Kors’ HQ, the designer
lamented seasons past:
“I remember when
people actually used to
applaud at the end of a
show,” he sighed. “They
even applauded during
it. Now all you see is the
raised hands of people
taking photos on their
phones.”
That smartphone
technology has transformed
the fashion industry is not
news. “It’s a hungry
beast,” shrugged a fellow
fashion editor. “It needs
feeding. Constantly.”
Today’s online fashionista
is a sophisticated creature.
Blurry pics tweeted from
the front row are no longer
enough to sate their
appetites. They crave more
and more access. In all
areas. All of the time.
Hence, at the end of each
show, a rush of fashion
journalists would stream
backstage, possessed with
the task of snapping
exclusive shots, or
grabbing Vimeo footage.
But I’m wary of such a
cosy intimacy between
critic and creative. Doesn’t
it further compromise the
judgement of an already
compromised industry?
Could I have said I found
Victoria Beckham’s spring/
summer 2015 collection a
tad derivative if I had just
thrust my phone in her
face for a selfie? Would I
have suggested that a
show lacked focus if I had
secured backstage time
with Prabal Gurung?
Would I have described
100% Lost Cotton, the play
written by director Spike
Jonze and actor Jonah Hill
for Opening Ceremony, as
an indulgent diversion had
I palled around getting
pictures with Elle Fanning
and Dree Hemingway for
my social media feed? No,
because I would have felt
like a fraud.
Fashion critics have
become brands as big as
the labels they dissect.
Street-style photographers
combinations for the
fashion-forward but elegant
pieces befitting the sharp
Wall-Street interior-style
setting. So, too, the
Rodarte sisters, Kate and
Laura Mulleavy, whose
show took inspiration from
the sea to arrive at
delicate, asymmetric
mermaid dresses and
military parkas, all washed
with sparkling, iridescent
paillettes, netting and lace.
Theirs was a very modish
Little Mermaid, big on
couture-level craftsmanship
capturing the independent
spirit of their LA home.
Flat shoes and ballet
skirts underscored the
mood at Michael Kors and
The Row. These were two
of my favourite collections,
with easy silhouettes that
allowed for a collective
out-breath amid a schedule
in which skinny-minny
skirts and form-fitting tops
slunk down every
walkway. The Row sent
out a ceremonial collection
of loose, layered tunics,
cropped trousers and wrap
tops that were part Jedi
warrior, part lady-in-
waiting. Mr Kors offered
lust-worthy suede separates
and day skirts, and a
terrific alternative to
traditional eveningwear –
a huge black Mikado skirt
and white shirt, with
exaggerated cuffs – that
was as sophisticated as it
was subtly sexy.
There was nothing subtle
at Versus, the first
collection by red-hot
Belgian Anthony
Vaccarello and the va-va-
licious Donatella Versace.
Vaccarello went back to
basics in his stunning
debut for the label: here
were the house’s classic
motifs – Medusa heads,
lions, gold belt buckles and
the Greca graphic print, all
banded around black jersey
minidresses and shirt
sleeves. There was even a
magnificent take on the
safety-pin dress (cue much
Google fumbling to revisit
that Liz Hurley pic. Again).
Hi-wattage sex appeal
doesn’t ordinarily sully the
New York schedule – it’s
far too demure. But it was
inescapable this week. At
Joseph Altuzarra, the
French-born Council of
Fashion Designers of
America womenswear
winner looked to
Rosemary’s Baby and
Barry Lyndon to deliver a
subversively sensual look
that we’ll call “slutty
chic”. Slashed gingham,
lattice leather skirts and
pearl-embroidered chiffon
gowns breezed down his
catwalk in a brazen yet
beautiful collection.
So was Alexander Wang
feeling racier? The 30-year-
old sharpened up his
slouchy silhouette for
something tighter, brighter
and sportier for spring.
Inspired by the cult of the
sneaker, he drew on Nike
Flyknit meshing to sculpt
neon minidresses and
crafted bra tops woven
from electric-coloured
threads. Bra tops turned
up a lot: at Donna Karan
they were black, worn with
whip-slim pencil skirts and
topped off with tall, woven
Mountie hats, in the
manner of Pharrell; at Marc
by Marc Jacobs (the second
collection from Brits Luella
Bartley and Katie Hillier)
they were pastel, plastic
and popped with polka dots.
Yet uptown glamour still
reigned. At his own label,
Jason Wu showed subtle
florals and sequinned
dresses that split to mid-
It lacked the warmth of
the artisanal knits he
showed last season but, as
an exercise in brand
purity, on a sombre
memorial day, it made a
sober statement – as
patriotic as they come.
See Life & Arts, page 4
for New York Fashion Week
trend report
For all the spring/summer
reviews from New York,
visit ft.com/fashionweeks
A loose silhouette
and a sexier
sensibility undid
the usually demure
New York line­up
Wall Street meets the Little Mermaid
New York is fabled
for its focus on
minimal, wearable
wardrobes – but
times are changing
NEW YORK fashion week
Proenza Schouler
Riffed on sporty separates
and traditional fogeyish fabrics
put to modern purpose
The Row
Loose, layered tunics, cropped
trousers and wrap tops were part
Jedi warrior, part lady­in­waiting
thigh, while his second
collection for Boss offered
a relaxed take on the
label’s traditional tailoring.
Derek Lam reimagined a
1970s folkster in a
patchwork of lavender,
lilac and emerald suedes
while at Thakoon, Mr
Panichgul celebrated his
label’s 10th birthday with a
swellegant trip to Tahiti.
The week closed with
classic collections from two
titans of American luxury.
At Ralph Lauren, sage-
Audience interaction
Marc Jacobs’ headsets win out over holograms
Can a fashion show ever
successfully break beyond
the boundaries of the
catwalk? It was a question
that many designers were
experimenting with at New
York Fashion Week, which
kicked off with a dance
spectacle staged by Gareth
Pugh, saw an art/fashion
installation at Reed Krakoff,
a theatrical debut at
Opening Ceremony, a
holographic light display at
Polo Ralph Lauren and
closed with Marc Jacobs
placing Beats by Dr Dre
headsets on every seat
at his Armory show to
draw the audience into a
private communion with
his clothes.
Their attempts met with
varying degrees of success.
Pugh’s presentation was
woefully weak: an ill­fated
marriage of corporate
cash, from Lexus, and
contemporary dance, by
Wayne MacGregor, that
featured jazzy holographic
projections of cars but
failed abysmally to showcase
the clothes.
At Opening Ceremony a
coup de théâtre took the
audience backstage at the
Met, peering out on to an
empty auditorium, an effect
so enchanting I didn’t mind
the rather naive “fashion
drama” that followed. Did
I remember the clothes?
Kind of, but I marked the
coolitude of the brand,
and perhaps that’s all
that matters.
Reed Krakoff staged an art
show, in a gallery in which
films projected moving 4D
images of each look that
will be later used on the
brand’s ecommerce site. It
was clever, if ultimately a
little underwhelming, unlike
at Polo, where, despite the
whizz­bang light show, the
clothes got lost in a
holographic fog.
Jacobs did best of all: he
refrained from jettisoning
the basic format of the
catwalk show and the
headphones really did draw
us into the spectacle.
Phones were ignored and
eyes were drawn to the
bauble details, 1960s
silhouettes and military
tailoring. Not so much
immersive as cleverly
interactive, this was a risk
that paid off. It’s just a
shame those headphones
muffled the rapt applause.Marc Jacobs
green safari jackets and
butter-soft suede cargo
pants in khaki set the tone
for a super-chic adventure
– all accessorised with
bands of jelly-bright semi-
precious stones. At Calvin
Klein designer Francisco
Costa was inspired by
menswear to present a
pared-down tricolour of
marine blue, white and
red-lacquered papyrus rib-
knit tanks, tunics and
sheer fluted skirts, cinched
at the waist with belts.
Donna Karan
Whip­slim skirts were topped off
with tall, woven Mountie hats, in
the manner of Pharrell Williams
Calvin Klein
As an exercise in brand purity,
on a sombre memorial day, the
collection made a sober statement
Catwalking
Jo Ellison
Rodarte
Washed with sparkling,
iridescent paillettes,
netting and lace, this
was a very modish
‘Little Mermaid’
SEPTEMBER 13 2014 Section:Features Time: 12/9/2014 - 18:26 User: stokest Page Name: FASHION, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 11, 1

5. – 5 –– 5 –

6. – 6 –– 6 –

7. – 7 –– 7 –
16 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3 2014
A fellow smoker is
sucking up to my
stinking new boss
A new boss has been parachuted into my department, and
he sits next to me. He is a decent guy, but at least
10 times a day he goes outside for a cigarette, which is
annoying if I need to ask him something. He returns with
stinking clothes and breath. I find the smell absolutely
repellent, particularly while I’m eating lunch. More annoying
still, another smoker in the team has used their shared
bad habit to suck up to him. It’s all unfair, inefficient and
revolting. What can be done?
Associate, male, 20s
Lucy’s answer
Your advice
You are right. Your
smoking colleague has an
advantage with your boss
that you don’t, as there is
nothing like shivering on
the pavement and being
pariahs together to form
a bond. Yet that
advantage is hardly
unfair as he is paying for
it with a layer of tar in
his lungs, bad breath and
lower life expectancy.
Your boss sits next to
you. That strikes me as
even more unfair. The
smoker has to put his life
at risk to spend a few
three-minute breaks with
the man, while you have
him all day. If you can’t
bond with someone at
such proximity, you need
to wonder what you are
doing wrong. Wrinkling
up your nose and edging
further away in your
chair might have
something to do with it.
You then complain that
his smoking is inefficient.
Is that because he has the
audacity to leave his desk
from time to time?
Everyone needs breaks
from work and I bet you
take lots of them to buy
things online or to check
Facebook. If so, your
boss’s breaks are
healthier as at least he
gets up and walks about
and escapes the tyranny
of the computer screen
every now and then.
What really worries me
is that you feel such a
powerful need to have
your superior by your
side every minute of the
day, and get agitated
every time he goes away.
If you are going to
survive in the rough
world of work that means
being self-sufficient
enough to take your own
decisions for five minutes
while the boss nips out
for a quick ciggie.
Your final complaint is
that his habit is revolting.
I’m with you on this. But
working with other people
in open-plan offices
simply is revolting. They
smell of all sorts of
unpleasant things. They
click their knuckles. They
cough. They break wind.
The workplace is a
human zoo; the good
news is that in time the
senses deaden.
You are already doing
the only thing possible.
You are retaliating by
doing something even
more revolting than an
occasional gasper outside.
You are crunching,
slurping and masticating
at your desk, doubtless
looking, sounding and
smelling revolting to your
colleagues – though all
too tempting to the mice
that will surely come
along and clean up
behind you.
This will pass
When I was your age I
had a boss who chain-
smoked sitting right next
to me, looking over my
shoulder while he tried to
learn how to use his new
computer terminal. You
could barely see the
screen for the smoke. He
spent two years doing
this until he was
eventually sacked for
having an affair with his
secretary (on expenses)
and lying about it to the
CEO. I subsequently took
his place and no, I didn’t
snitch.
This may sound a bit
like the Monty Python
Yorkshire sketch, but the
point I’m making is that
there are things in life
you can control and some
you can’t. Learn not to
worry about what you
can’t control and your life
will be so much better
from now on. Nothing is
forever, he (or you) will
move on.
Male, anon
Muck in or go
Some years ago I was
faced with a similar
situation where several of
the guys I was working
with, including the boss,
used to take regular
smoking breaks. I was the
only non-smoker on the
desk but I made the effort
to join them, sometimes
strategically when the
boss was going for his
smoke. I usually took a
fruit or another snack to
eat while they smoked
and just joined in the
banter, had a laugh, and
got back to work. Moral
of the story: regular
breaks are good for you
and muck in or get out –
you don’t stand a chance
otherwise.
Male, anon
Graphic hint
Leave a sheet on your
boss’s desk showing how
smoking shortens life.
Each day add more
information about the
harm it causes and finish
the week with a gruesome
photo of a lung diseased
by smoking with a
description of the painful
death it can cause. Sign it
from a well-wisher!
Male, non-smoker
Smell of success
I suggest you take up
smoking with gusto. As a
result, you will enjoy
numerous breaks (hence
it will be fair), which you
will be able to spend with
your new boss (and
nothing prevents you
from talking shop while
puffing away, hence it
will be efficient), and you
will soon be reeking of
tobacco (hence you will
no longer notice the
“stinking clothes and
breath” of the offender).
Manager, male, 50s (non-
smoker)
Next problem: stalled internship
I’m on an internship at a start­up accelerator of a big
German company, but two months in I have nothing to
do. I’m meant to be carrying out due diligence but
other interns are being given more work. I’ve tried
asking for work. I now wonder if it’s because I’m a
young English woman with a BSc, while the other
interns are male, German, older and have MScs. I’m
blogging about start­ups so the experience isn’t
completely wasted. Can I do anything to make it better?
Female, 20
Please send answers and new problems to
problems@ft.com. This column appears fortnightly
Dear Lucy
Work problems
answered
F
ive years ago Chris Morton
was a young venture capitalist
sharing a London flat with
two twenty-something female
professionals who had a penchant for
pricey online fashion sites. His domes-
tic set-up, coupled with working on
the initial public offering of online
luxury retailer Yoox, started Mr Mor-
ton thinking about the ecommerce
revolution. He thought it was going
wrong.
“Shopping online – particularly for
clothes and accessories – was mor-
phing into an increasingly fragment-
ed, impersonal and inefficient proc-
ess,” he says. “It soon struck me that
there was an opportunity to create
individualised sites for every shopper,
based predominantly on data.”
The more he saw companies touting
themselves as game changers, the
more he too wanted to “build my own
start-up that offered a bespoke shop-
ping experience”.
He is speaking in the UK offices of
Lyst, the company he then set up in
2010, which is located in the building
that used to house the White Cube
gallery on Hoxton Square, a few steps
from Silicon Roundabout. This is the
hub of the technology scene in Lon-
don, which has become an incubator
for innovative, world-leading fashion
ecommerce companies, including Net-
a-Porter, Asos and Farfetch.
While Lyst’s largest market by far is
in the US, Mr Morton says London
remains the tech industry’s digital
fashion powerhouse. Lyst has a New
York office, but he is staying put in
London. “There’s not much that Lon-
don does best, but when it comes to
fashion-focused ecommerce the UK
players are streets ahead – partly due
to the ideas and talent, but also
because no British bricks-and-mortar
department stores or retailers have
made their mark online in the same
way as US contemporaries have,” says
Mr Morton.
“Silicon Valley may be the epicentre
of the web, but it doesn’t believe in
margins and many of the biggest
power players – and investors – fail to
really understand fashion either.”
Mr Morton focused his initial res-
earch on the search technology used
by popular travel sites, and the way
travel companies aggregate hundreds
of thousands of options to help a user
find the best possible one for a trip.
“It seemed like the perfect model for
an online fashion business, with
brand and product inventory tailored
to a user’s past preferences – plus
price transparency and time effi-
ciency,” he says.
“If we harnessed the online travel
model for a fashion site, we could
have a one-up on physical stores that
can’t physically optimise themselves
when you walk through their doors.
“But a fashion purchase should
never be exclusively search-based –
there also has to be an element of
serendipity for the shopping
experience to really resonate. And
The fashion shopping shake­up
Question time: Chris Morton
Biggest deal? “As a
venture capital investor, I
passed on a few young
start­ups that later became
multibillion­dollar
companies. Those sorts of
decisions stay with you for
a while, but I learnt a lot
from watching those
businesses grow. I was
lucky to be involved in
some of the billion­dollar
companies we backed, but
strange as it sounds my
‘biggest deals’ were the
ones where I didn’t invest.”
Best mentor? “I’ve been
involved with start­ups for
my entire career and one of
the things I love most . . . is
the culture of helping and
supporting. I’ve been helped
so much by the wider
community. So rather than
name a single person, I
think the sharing principle
underpinning start­up
culture has been my best
mentor.”
Biggest mistake? “When I
left my job in venture
capital at the end of 2009,
I had an idea for a business
and not much else. So on
my first day at Lyst, the
first thing I did was start
my search for a co­founder.
I needed to find someone
who had very different, but
complementary, skills to my
own, and who I would want
to spend virtually every
waking moment with. Pretty
soon it became apparent
that finding this person was
not going to be easy.
“I’d got things the wrong
way round: the real
challenge in starting a
business is not the idea –
it’s finding the best people
to help you turn that idea
into a reality. So my biggest
mistake was quitting my job
before I’d found the right
person – who turned out to
be Sebastjan Trepca, my
co­founder and our chief
technology officer.”
that’s what I wanted to capture.”
In 2010 he quit London-based ven-
ture capital fund Balderton Capital to
launch Lyst, a platform using algo-
rithms to aggregate more than 12,000
single and multibrand fashion sites
into one personalised location. While
the company remains tight-lipped
about profitability, it is currently
increasing sales volumes at 400 per
cent year-on-year, it has about 2m
users a month in 180 countries, and
expects to have annual sales of $100m
by the end of 2014.
“Our name comes from the fact
shoppers can ‘list’ the items they like
via wish-lists, and share them pub-
licly too. But what they really love is
that they no longer have to waste
time browsing multiple stores to find
their preferred labels or designs,” says
Mr Morton.
In four years Lyst has established a
valuable core customer base: 90 per
cent of its customers are women in
their mid-twenties to early forties who
spend $500 to $1,000 a month on fash-
ion. Lyst’s affiliate model is to redir-
ect shoppers to the site of a brand or
retailer, making a commission if a
sale transpires.
But the company also has a second-
ary – and arguably more lucrative –
means of generating revenue. Data
scientists in low-key jeans and
T-shirts hunched over state of the art
information systems in Lyst’s offices
analyse how people behave and spend
online and sell the information back
to retailers and brands: “We can help
streamline inventory by monitoring
what sizes and colours are the most
popular, or what products are the
most likely to be returned. We can
advise companies on the peak hours
shoppers peruse their sites and how to
prepare for that – 6pm for example, is
where we see the greatest spike on a
normal working day.”
Lyst, having raised a total of $20.5m
after three investment rounds from
backers such as Balderton and DFJ
Esprit, aspires to be a leader in har-
nessing some of the disruptive online
and omnichannel technology emerg-
ing in retail.
It came up with a universal shop-
ping cart for US users last year, in
which a shopper can add items from
several third-party retailers to their
cart before checking out all the items
in a single transaction via Lyst.
“Forty per cent of our traffic comes
from mobile – on a handset people
don’t want to be constantly redi-
rected . . . The 21st-century customer
doesn’t mind where she shops as long
as it’s easy,” says Mr Morton.
Despite the lofty ambitions and Mr
Morton’s confident assertions, he
freely admits that Lyst’s progress has
involved changes of direction and
delays. The universal cart has yet to
be deployed outside the US, and a
much hyped partnership with PayPal
Beacon, bluetooth-enabled in-store
hardware that alerts a shopper’s
smartphone with information, deals
or speedier checkout options, has
been shelved until the infrastructure
of bricks and mortar retailers can
“catch up”.
While Lyst’s business model insu-
lates it from handling inventory or
delivery and overhead costs, any serv-
ice shortcomings from retail partners
will inevitably reflect badly on it. If
user ratings for a retail partner drop
below a certain benchmark they do
not stay on the platform.
A
n overhaul of the Lyst home
page took place last month
after criticism – including
from British Vogue – that the
site was confusing. “Ultimately, we
are more of a tech than a fashion
company and some customers strug-
gled to get their head around the serv-
ice we were offering because of the
way we were presenting it,” Mr Mor-
ton says. “We hadn’t focused on criti-
cal things for the consumer, like our
logo. We’re hiring an editor in chief
and have recognised we need a
homepage that can really tell the
story.”
Mr Morton seems unfazed by this
about-turn makeover. Entrepreneurs
must evolve with sector trends and
the demands of the consumer, and
this was just the latest change of tack,
he explains. “When we launched we
thought we needed to base ourselves
around social following, where people
could share what they were buying
with one another.”
In 2010 Lyst’s initial model centred
on following and imitating the pur-
chases of friends. “But we soon learnt
that consumers aren’t clones, they’re
more like tribes. And we also realised
people love following brands.” The
business model changed.
With an increase in users, an
expanding staff and booming sales,
Mr Morton says he truly believes Lyst
could change the way people
approach online shopping for clothes.
“The web can do phenomenal things
and we haven’t even scratched the
surface of what it can do within fash-
ion ecommerce. User experiences
should no longer be constrained by
ideas – and the previous limitations –
of retailing operations in the physical
space,” he says.
Tailored tech:
Chris Morton
harnessed the
online travel
model for
fashion purchases
Rosie Hallam
‘A fashion purchase
should never be
exclusively search­based
– there also has to be an
element of serendipity’
Entrepreneurship
The thrill of
searching
for the
right site
F
inding the right sites for one
of our retail operations is a
favourite occupation. I
suppose it must be the thrill
of the chase. But despite having
been involved in launching over 500
restaurants, cafés and shops over the
past couple of decades, sadly I still
don’t possess a magic formula which
guarantees success. In this game, the
priority is to secure the correct
property: as Ray Kroc, who
developed McDonald’s, said: “I’m not
in the restaurant business. I’m in the
real estate business.”
There is nothing more exciting
than coming across a new
neighbourhood, and alighting upon
the perfect building for a branch of
Patisserie Valerie, Gail’s, Philpotts,
Rocket, Draft House, Feng Sushi or a
Grand Union bar. The search
involves persistence and patience.
Some streets are clearly appropriate
yet a suitable retail unit isn’t
available. I love opening stores in
emerging neighbourhoods, where
rents are still affordable but the
major brands are absent. I remember
when we brought PizzaExpress to
gentrifying streets in the 1990s: our
arrival boosted their desirability and
even increased home prices.
You need expert and committed
real estate advisers on your team,
who understand your specifications
precisely and know your budgets and
brand well. I prefer corner locations,
with as high a footfall as you can
afford. The frontage, layout and
square footage must meet minimum
criteria. Transport links and parking
are helpful but not essential.
Typically I am biased towards
traditional high streets and away
from shopping malls. The former
generally have independent
landlords, who are often more
flexible than institutional property
owners. But even retail parks and
travel terminals can work given
decent terms. Obviously the size of
the store must fit local demand.
The vast majority of retail
operations I’ve owned have been
located in renovated structures,
rather than new build sites. Often
they are attractive period properties,
which add to the outlet’s character.
This means the physical fabric of the
building is vital, which is why a
structural survey is usually
necessary.
I push for new leases wherever
possible, with certainty of renewal at
the end. I almost never take
premises with less than seven years’
lease duration – and really want 10,
15 or 20 years to justify the
substantial investment we make.
Frequently landlords make capital
contributions and offer rent-free
periods for tenants with good
covenants, which is why corporate
scale and financial backing help so
much when growing a retail chain.
Of course you need locations that
are actually to let or for sale.
Sometimes one can pay a premium
to buy out an existing tenant but
that tends to be expensive. The
advantage might be the existing
planning permissions, and facilities
like air-conditioning, plumbing and
kitchen extraction.
Construction costs always play a
part in the final decision of whether
to open in a specific site: often one
has to walk away because the
building estimates are not justified
by the level of income the site is
expected to generate.
Each concept has different
demands. Some outlets can afford
higher rents because they have
higher spends per head, sell higher
margin items and so forth. Mostly I
avoid super-prime strips because the
occupation costs are prohibitive but
Metro Bank, where I’m a non-
executive director, actively seeks
them out – the economics of a
successful retail bank mean it can
afford stiffer rents. Meanwhile the
prominent retail frontage provides
permanently visible marketing.
It is essential to study day and
night time traffic, and at different
times of the week and even months
of the year. The demographics of the
spot should be researched: nearby
competitors analysed; the logistics of
supplying and staffing the new
branch must be taken into account.
Firms like Apple have an advantage
when scouting for retail sites: they
have a database of registered users,
which identifies the highest customer
concentrations.
Locale doesn’t only matter for
physical stores: it matters massively
in the online world. A new book by
David R Bell, called Location Is
(Still) Everything, demonstrates how
physical and virtual shopping are
connected and that location, location
and location remain the most
important three factors in all forms
of retailing.
lukej@riskcapitalpartners.co.uk
Twitter: @LukeJohnsonRCP
The writer is chairman of Risk Capital
Partners, a private equity firm, and
The Centre for Entrepreneurs
I push for
new leases
wherever
possible,
with
certainty
of renewal
at the end
The founder of Lyst tells
Elizabeth Paton about
selling clothes online –
and why he feels that
London beats the US
BUSINESS LIFE
Luke Johnson
The entrepreneur
SEPTEMBER 3 2014 Section:Features Time: 2/9/2014 - 16:38 User: provans Page Name: BizLife, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 16, 1

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10. – 10 –– 10 –

11. – 11 –– 11 –
14 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES MONDAY SEPTEMBER 8 2014
Cool students are
more toxic than
rich ones
W
hen I arrived at
university in 1978 I was
driven by my mother in
an orange Citroën Dyane
with a cardboard trunk containing a
few books and my Patti Smith and
Talking Heads LPs in the back.
This year students starting
university can make a bigger
entrance, arriving by helicopter,
private plane, MacLaren P1, Aston
Martin, Rolls-Royce – or by horse
and carriage. This is thanks to the
Very Important Fresher service
launched last week by Uni Baggage,
which charges up to £35,000 to
transport teenagers and their
belongings to uni in style.
The service is not only aimed at
unconscionably loaded foreign
students who have not been told that
Brits don’t do that sort of thing.
According to the company, there is a
small but growing slice of Britain
that hasn’t been told this either.
Increasingly, Brits want to be Very
Important Freshers too.
Even those who can’t afford the
helicopter are nevertheless arriving
at university with much more
luxurious kit than they used to. The
other day I was in John Lewis – the
department store patronised by the
terminally un-flash, middle classes –
to find it festooned with “Off to
University” signs over expensive
saucepans, duvets and cushions. On
the website, the “essentials” list for
students consists of more than 60
inessential items including an office
chair. Click on the link, and it takes
you straight to the Herbert Miller
model, priced at £899.
At university in the late 1970s, the
first rule for students with lots of
money was to pretend they had none
at all. I knew only one man who
sometimes took me out to dinner in
smart places – but he had the excuse
of being American.
The new ostentation is so
obviously a bad thing it is dull to
say so. It’s bad for those who splash
it about, and it’s bad for those with
none to splash. Being poor as a
student not only seems the natural
order of things, it surely motivates
you to be less poor later on.
While it is depressing that vast
riches are a socially acceptable
status symbol for 18-year-olds, they
are no worse than more traditional
ways of lording it over others.
Two of my children have recently
graduated from two different British
universities and tell me that to stand
out, money helps a bit, though not
nearly as much as being cool. This is
– and was – the top way of
differentiating yourself and is done
by following six pernicious and
foolish cool rules.
The first way to be a Very Cool
Fresher is to treat with disdain
everything laid on by the university,
shunning all freshers’ activities and
holding your own parties instead –
which is hard if you don’t know
anyone. Next you must act
unfriendly to almost everyone, save
a few people you’ve deemed cool
enough. This rather defeats the point
of university which is to broaden,
not narrow, horizons.
Taking drugs, getting very drunk,
chain-smoking roll-ups all help at
being cool – as they always did –
and they are still just as bad for you.
Being from London is eternally
cool. Being from Swansea, anywhere
in the countryside, Southampton,
Hull, and everywhere else in the
world save a few capital cities – is
eternally not cool. This is tough,
since there is not a lot you can do
about where your parents live.
Looking gorgeous is cool. And
looking thin. So is wearing the right
clothes. The first is unfair, the
second dangerous, and the third a lot
of hard work.
Being clever is also cool, and
getting good marks in all
assignments and getting a first-class
degree is very cool – the catch being
that visibly working hard is not.
Being in the library at opening time
is only cool if you’ve been up all
night.
While all these rules are familiar
to me, they are more lethal now as
the cool bar is set far higher. On my
first day at university I felt passably
cool in my apple green OshKosh
dungarees – but that was only
because half the girls were in tweeds
and twinsets. Now that everyone can
buy the same clothes online, to be
really cool you have to spend half a
lifetime combing vintage shops.
Being a VCF is also more
punishing physically because no
night out ends before breakfast time;
in my day it was no shame for a
cool person to go to bed at midnight.
This makes it fantastically tough to
be cool and do well, and doing well
itself is even more important than it
was for us, as we knew we’d all get
decentish jobs at the end anyway.
So which is more lethal: the Very
Cool Fresher, or the very rich one?
I’m going for the former: at least the
VRF might buy you a drink or take
you for a ride in the Ferrari, having
failed to notice that you are not cool
enough to be worth bothering with.
lucy.kellaway@ft.com
Twitter: @lucykellaway
Taking
drugs,
getting very
drunk,
smoking
roll­ups –
all help at
being cool
and they
are still just
as bad for
youLucy Kellaway On work
in the long-term success of the com-
pany. It’s the formula that worked for
me,” he says.
A crucial part of Tommy Hilfiger’s
history is longtime chief executive
Fred Gehring – who moved to the role
of chairman this summer – and who
oversaw the group’s rapid interna-
tional expansion, fuelled by numerous
licensing deals.
Mr Hilfiger, meanwhile, became an
early pioneer of fashion branding
through celebrity relationships, forg-
ing deals with rappers and hip-hop
stars to take the brand to cult-like
status as the urban streetwear
uniform of choice. The product
portfolio sprawled from babywear to
underwear, perfume to home furnish-
ings.
“The beauty of our brand was that it
appealed to a broad audience of age
groups and economic backgrounds,
colours and creeds. It had credibility
via star power,” says its founder.
Today, some of the biggest players
in the global fashion market are US
affordable luxury brands such as
Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Ralph
Lauren, aided by aspirational spend-
ing by the middle classes in mature
and emerging markets. Mr Hilfiger
says he has been operating in that
pricing sweet spot for decades.
“For years we weren’t truly
respected by the haute fashion
crowd – they didn’t consider us
‘luxury’ enough. But we knew
that brand-driven dressing
isn’t something that only
resonates with consum-
ers at the highest end
of the spectrum. We
understood this
long before any-
one else.”
There have been
what Mr Hilfiger
wryly calls “a few
bumps in the road”.
After being adopted
then abandoned by the rap
community and teen mar-
ket, there was a sharp
decline in sales in the early
2000s. Oversupply meant
the Tommy Hilfiger brand
and I don’t think he gives a damn
what the sceptics say,” says luxury
brand consultant Robert Burke. “Per-
haps what ultimately held him back
creatively was he was always a little
too eager to make money. But he and
his partners have been laughing all
the way to the bank.”
I
n PVH’s most recent quarterly
results, announced last week,
Tommy Hilfiger revenues rose a
healthy 9 per cent to $870m. Mr
Hilfiger is wealthy enough to stop
working if he wanted. But he still
“obsesses relentlessly” over honing
details, colour and fit across his col-
lections, as well as advertising and
social media campaigns.
A contemporary art collector with a
property portfolio that includes a New
York penthouse that went on the mar-
ket last year for $80m and a Miami
hotel that he calls a “dream renova-
tion project”, Mr Hilfiger says per-
sonal pastimes often spark his profes-
sional vision. “Colours and cultures
from my hobbies, travel, conversa-
tions with my family so often under-
pin and inspire the point of view of a
new collection. A life outside the
office is essential for any creative,
operating in any area of design.”
The designer says there has been a
tectonic shift in the fashion sector,
triggered by globalisation. He points
to “fast fashion” brands such as Zara,
H&M and Topshop “on every street
corner, offering great product and
great prices”. Still, he argues that in
the battle for the hearts, minds and
wallets of shoppers, there will always
be a place for labels that are selling a
dream alongside a pair of jeans.
“Those companies will ultimately
never have true brand equity because
they’re first and foremost retailers.
Our flag logo is one of our biggest
assets – it’s a visual association that
resonates with people wherever they
are and lets them know the lifestyle
they are buying into,” he suggests
with a grin.
“There will always be shoppers buy-
ing what we’re selling. Ultimately, the
star power of designer brands is some-
thing that will never wane.”
A
s New York Fashion Week
got under way last week, the
Manhattan offices of Tommy
Hilfiger were a frenzy of
activity. The preppy Americana that
has come to define the brand was evi-
dent at every turn. Young workers in
pressed chinos scurried down corri-
dors, past walls covered with artfully-
distressed Stars and Stripes flags and
Pop Art posters. The phones rang
relentlessly and the underlying mood
appeared to be one of polished panic.
But a chirpy Mr Hilfiger, who today
will take a catwalk bow following the
unveiling of a spring/summer 2015 col-
lection, remained unflappable in the
middle of the storm. “I’ve been in the
fashion business for a good 40 years
so I’ve seen it all before,” he says with
a smile.
The 63-year-old’s career has cer-
tainly included a lot of twists and
turns. The second of nine children,
born and raised in small-town upstate
New York, Mr Hilfiger had early aspi-
rations of playing American football
professionally before being told that
he was too small. In 1969, aged 18, he
turned his attention to starting a busi-
ness selling jeans and bell-bottomed
trousers to kids on college campuses,
who wanted to emulate their rock and
pop star idols.
“My parents were furious – they
were desperate for me to go to col-
lege,” he recalls. “I wasn’t listening. I
knew I was an entrepreneur. I had
found this great gap in the market.”
But without any real understanding
of the mechanics of a business, he was
bankrupt by 23. Mr Hilfiger calls the
experience “my version of an MBA –
and a hell of a rude awakening”.
He remained undeterred when it
came to his long-term goal, later mov-
ing to Manhattan to freelance. In 1985,
with the financial backing of Indian
businessman Mohan Murjani, Mr
Hilfiger felt ready to launch an epony-
mous label.
He did so with a brash Times
Square billboard that bracketed the
newcomer alongside great menswear
designers such as Calvin Klein and
Ralph Lauren: “It was a huge gamble,
and at the time I was terrified the old
guard would bury me, a cocky young
upstart jostling his way straight past
the velvet rope.”
But the risk paid off and the brand
became a hit. Mr Hilfiger realised that
this time round he was not interested
in managing the business, so in 1989
he sold it to Canadian entrepreneur
Lawrence Stroll and Silas Chou, the
Hong Kong-based fashion and textile
tycoon. While the deal saw Mr
Hilfiger retain a 22.5 per cent stake,
he relinquished control of his own
name. He insists that the loss of own-
ership is not something he has grap-
pled with.
“There was a stage when I consid-
ered just running the business and
keeping the rights to myself. But I
knew it would have remained a small
business, and I wanted to build an
enduring global brand – and we did,”
he says leaning back in his chair, add-
ing that the group’s sales doubled
year on year consistently until it
floated on the New York Stock
Exchange in 1992.
“You build a highly talented team
around you who excel where you have
weaknesses – collectively, you have a
share in the assets, and are invested
The CV
Strong spring:
Tommy Hilfiger
praises the set­up
at owner PVH. The
brand’s sales were
up 9 per cent in
the second
quarter. Beyoncé,
below, is one of
the celebrities to
have endorsed it
Laura Barisonzi
A name traded for an empire
‘It was a huge gamble,
and at the time I was
terrified the old guard
would bury me, a cocky
young upstart’
Education: High school graduate;
immediately sets up own business,
People’s Place, in 1969
Career:
1985 Tommy Hilfiger label is founded
in New York
1989 Tommy Hilfiger is acquired by
Sportswear Holdings, run by Silas
Chou and Lawrence Stroll
1992 Tommy Hilfiger goes public,
floating on the New York Stock
Exchange
2006 Bought by private equity firm
Apax Partners for $1.6bn – HQ
relocated to Amsterdam
2010 Tommy Hilfiger acquired by
PVH; Mr Hilfiger becomes “principal
designer and visionary”
Family:
Married second wife Dee Ocleppo in
2008. Five children and two
stepchildren
Monday Interview
Tommy Hilfiger
Founder, Tommy Hilfiger
Affordable luxury has
proved to be a resilient
niche for the preppy
fashion designer, writes
Elizabeth Paton
became commoditised in the US and
the company’s stock suffered heavily.
A $1.6bn buyout by Apax Partners
fuelled an expansion in Europe as the
group struggled with a drop in orders
from American department stores,
before the private equity firm then
sold it on to PVH for $3bn in 2010. The
listed PVH, which also owns Calvin
Klein, remains its owner.
“I’ve worked with every type of
investor or backer, been public and
private, but where we are today – in
the stable of a global powerhouse who
offer us great growth acceleration and
a superior logistical set-up – is right
where we want to be,” says Mr
Hilfiger, who now holds the title of
“principal designer and visionary”.
The brand is not without vehement
critics. “An entire snow scene com-
plete with pines and ski lift could not
conceal the banality of a tartan-meets-
sheepskin ‘Rocky Mountain High col-
lection’,” ran the FT verdict on last
season’s catwalk show.
But others are more forgiving.
“Tommy is like a cat with nine lives
BUSINESS LIFE
Sexism in male-dominated
businesses, especially in
Silicon Valley, has been
in the spotlight recently.
But what happens when
the gender dynamic is
reversed? What challenges
do men face in female-
dominated organisations?
Research suggests they
do pretty well, says
André Spicer, professor of
organisational behaviour
at Cass Business School:
“You actually get the
phenomenon of a glass
escalator, rather than a
glass ceiling and, if
anything, men experience
positive discrimination.”
James Rickards is a
general manager for the
Kiehl’s brand at L’Oréal,
the cosmetics maker
where two-thirds of staff
are women (but work for
a male CEO). He barely
notices being part of a
male minority: “I’ve been
here 14 years, and the
gender balance doesn’t
really affect me.”
He adds, however, that
initially it was a
challenge dealing with
products of which he had
no first-hand experience:
“It was daunting talking
with mainly female
graduates about lipstick
and mascara when I’d
never used them.”
This forced him to be
very objective, though,
and in the long term
made him a better
marketer. Besides, times
have changed: in the past
decade, men’s grooming
and skincare products
have really taken off.
Corinne Mills, joint
managing director of
Personal Career
Management, says there
are cultural differences in
workplaces with a female
majority: “Men are very
good at being direct
whereas women tend to
be better at the subtle
stuff.”
However, she explains,
it is mainly a case of
acquiring the emotional
intelligence to function in
an environment more
geared to empathy,
relationships and
consensus than speaking
your mind.
There is a social side
too and (at the risk of a
sweeping generalisation),
if you are the only man
on a team you may
struggle to find colleagues
to commiserate about
your football team’s loss.
Prof Spicer says the
biggest issues that men in
largely female workplaces
face may in fact be pay
and the perceptions of
people outside the
organisation. Many
female-dominated
industries have lower
average wages and are
historically seen as
somehow less manly (Ben
Stiller’s nurse in the film
Meet the Parents captures
this nicely). “Men
working in these roles
may distance themselves
from their work or
rationalise it by saying
things like, ‘Of course,
I’m more of a manager’,”
says Prof Spicer.
Men do experience
sexism at work, although
it is generally rather soft,
Ms Mills observes. But
they are also unlikely to
be greatly offended – how
awful is it to ask
someone to lift the
printer paper off a top
shelf because they are
taller than you?
Ms Mills adds: “You do
sometimes hear things
like, ‘You only say that
because you’re a man’.”
While this would be
unacceptable the other
way round, it is a bit
ridiculous to take too
much offence when
generally the deck is
stacked in your favour.
workingsmarter@ft.com
Readers hotly debated
paper v digital after Lucy
Kellaway wrote last week
that ‘Digital diaries are no
match for our paper past’.
Here is a selection of the
best comments:
‘I’ve tried to get my paper
diary to send me
reminders, but it
didn’t work.’
Trappist
‘It’s called
“appropriate
technology”,
explained to
me by the
master of an
aluminium
foundry in the
1990s, with the addition of
a Black Country saying: “If
in doubt, mek it stout, out
of things you know about.”
Thumbscrew
‘My business operates
diaries for seven staff
servicing anywhere between
250 and 400 appointments
per week, all done on
paper. Super efficient,
quick, easy to recognise
individuals’ handwriting for
any queries and very easy
to highlight/asterisk/
underline particular points.’
RHAR
‘Can’t put items
more than one
year out in a
paper diary.’
JCJC
‘My A5
Filofax desk
diary is my
first point of
reference and the
only one I trust.
Having moved firms on
several occasions (with
previous Outlook calendars
abandoned in corporate
cyberspace each time) still
being able to access all of
the past years’ worth of
appointments and notes
has been a godsend.’ DAC
Feedback
Working smarter
When the men are
in the minority
A date with digital
Rhymer Rigby
‘It was daunting
talking with
mainly female
graduates about
lipstick’
SEPTEMBER 8 2014 Section:Features Time: 7/9/2014 - 14:31 User: provans Page Name: BusinessLife, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 14, 1

12. – 12 –– 12 –

13. – 13 –– 13 –
Thursday 9 October 2014 ★ 19
© The Financial Times Limited 2014 Week 41
Companies / Sectors / People
Companies
3i Infrastructure..........................................2
AFC Energy................................................35
AIG .................................................................22
AT&T...............................................................19
Actavis...........................................................18
African Minerals......................................26
Air France-KLM.......................................24
Ajax..................................................................19
Aldermore....................................................18
Allen & Overy...........................................26
Allergan.........................................................18
Amazon..................................................20,26
American Funds.......................................15
Anglo-Eastern Plantations................27
Antofagasta..................................................2
Apollo Tyres..............................................20
Apple.................................................20,22,24
Ardian............................................................24
Arsenal...........................................................19
Atomico........................................................20
BHP Billiton ..............................................26
BT.....................................................................27
Bankia...............................................................8
Barcelona......................................................19
Barclays...................................................18,26
Bayern Munich..........................................19
Bell Pottinger ...........................................16
Bellzone........................................................26
Borussia Dortmund................................19
Broadcom.....................................................22
CME Group.................................................34
Carlyle ..........................................................20
Celtic...............................................................19
Centamin.........................................................2
Cevian............................................................20
Chelsea..........................................................19
Chengshan Group..................................20
Chime Communications.......................16
China Investment Corporation.......26
Chiquita........................................................20
Cinda Asset Management...................9
Citigroup.........................................20,22,26
City of London Investment Trust...2
Dixons Carphone....................................26
EDF....................................................................4
EE.....................................................................27
ENRC..............................................................27
easyJet....................................................24,26
Enterprise Inns............................................2
Eurostar........................................................27
Ferrexpo..........................................................2
Fidelity Worldwide Investment......26
Financial Reporting Council.............27
FirstGroup.............................................26,27
Ford.................................................................22
Fortescue.....................................................26
Fyffes.............................................................20
GKN.................................................................35
GW Pharmaceuticals.........................3,35
General Electric.......................................20
General Motors........................................22
Germanwings............................................20
GlaxoSmithKline.........................................3
Glencore....................................................2,26
GoPro.............................................................35
Goldman Sachs........................................26
Google.....................................................20,26
Greentown China.......................................8
HSBC............................................................3,18
Honda Motor......................................22,24
Huarong Asset Management............9
IAG ...........................................................26,35
ITV.............................................................18,35
InterContinental Hotels.......................35
JD Sports Fashion....................................2
JTI.......................................................................2
Janus...............................................................15
Juventus.......................................................19
Keolis..............................................................27
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.20
La Senza......................................................26
Lehman Brothers.....................................21
Liberty Global...........................................18
Linklaters.....................................................26
Lloyds.............................................................18
London Metal Exchange....................36
London Mining.........................................26
Manchester United.................................19
Mazda Motor.............................................22
Mitsubishi....................................................22
Morgan Stanley........................................22
Murata Manufacturing........................24
National Express.....................................27
Netflix............................................................27
Newcastle United....................................27
Nissan............................................................22
Norton Rose Fulbright........................26
Olam...............................................................24
OneSavings.................................................18
Panasonic....................................................24
Perpetual Income & Growth IT........2
Petra..................................................................2
Phones4U....................................................26
Pimco..............................................................15
RBS...................................................................18
Rangers International FC...................27
Real Madrid................................................19
Rio Tinto......................................................26
Rocket Internet........................................24
Rolls-Royce.................................................27
Rosneft.....................................................10,19
Royal Bank of Scotland.........................3
Ryanair...................................................20,24
SNCF...............................................................27
Samsung .....................................................24
Sequoia Capital.......................................20
Shanghai Chaori Solar...........................9
Sky...................................................................27
Skyscanner.................................................20
Softbank.......................................................24
Songkick.......................................................20
Sony................................................................24
Spie.................................................................24
Sports Direct.............................................27
Spotify...........................................................20
Sprint..............................................................19
Stagecoach.................................................27
Starbucks.....................................................20
State Street................................................26
Swisscom......................................................18
Synchrony Financial.............................20
TSB..................................................................18
TalkTalk.........................................................27
Temasek.......................................................26
Tesco..............................................................35
Texas Instruments..................................22
Thomas Cook............................................26
Toyota.....................................................22,24
Transavia.....................................................24
Truecaller....................................................20
Tui..............................................................26,35
Twitter...........................................................20
Vale.................................................................26
Valeant...........................................................18
Vanguard......................................................15
Virgin Media..............................................27
Virgin Money.............................................18
Vodafone................................................18,27
Volkswagen................................................22
Yaskawa Electric.....................................24
Yukos..............................................................10
Yum..................................................................18
Sectors
Automobiles........................................20,22
Banks.......................................................6,9,21
Construction.................................................4
Electricity.......................................................4
Food Producers.......................................24
Gen Financial...................................9,26,27
Gen Retailers..........................................4,19
Investment Comp......................................9
Mining............................................................26
Personal Goods..........................................4
Real Estate....................................................4
Support Services.................................6,26
Technology HW & Equ.................22,24
Travel & Leisure.................................19,27
People
Abramovich, Roman..............................35
Almunia, Joaquín....................................20
Armour, Tim..............................................20
Ashley, Mike...............................................27
Crozier, Adam............................................18
Juncker, Jean-Claude...........................20
Mamedi, Alan............................................20
McGregor, Scott.......................................22
Verghese, Sunny.....................................24
Vestager, Margrethe.............................20
Wallace, Graham......................................27
de Juniac, Alexandre............................24
Air France-KLM said the two-week
pilots’ strike that crippled the airline
last month – the worst in the
Franco-Dutch carrier’s history –
will cost about €500m, wiping more
than a fifth off the group’s expected
full-year core profit.
Report iPAGE 24
Cost of Air France-KLM
strike put at €500m
ANDREW BOLGER –
CAPITAL MARKETS CORRESPONDENT
Arsenal might not have won the Euro-
peanChampionsLeaguein17consecu-
tive years of trying, but the London
football club has beaten more success-
ful rivals – including Manchester
United and Bayern Munich – in the
financialstrengthtable.
AccordingtotheCreditFootballLeague
of 44 public and private European
clubs, created by S&P Capital IQ, Arse-
nal is pipped only by Ajax of Amster-
dam on a range of debt and financial
performanceindicators.
However, while the English team glo-
ries in the highest credit score of BB+,
like all the clubs studied it is deemed
subinvestmentgrade–or“junk”,indebt
marketterms.S&PCapitalIQsuggested
thatArsenal’srelativefinancialstability
may be related to its unwillingness to
“buy” success, by spending heavily on
player transfers – an analysis also put
forwardbysomeoftheclub’sfans.
“[The league ranking] could indicate
that Arsenal controls its finances in a
more conservative way than the other
largefootballclubs–somethingperhaps
mirrored by its manager Arsène
Wenger’s historically and compara-
tively frugal transfer policy,” the
researcherssaid.
Among the 17 publicly listed clubs in
its league table, S&P Capital IQ also
found a correlation between perform-
anceonthepitchandinvestors’viewsof
creditworthiness,ascapturedinameas-
urecalled“propensitytodefault”(PD).
During the 2014 pre-season period,
for example, the uncertainty surround-
ing Manchester United’s new manager
resulted in its PD rising to 1.12 per cent.
FollowingtheappointmentofLouisVan
Gaal,apparentlyrenewedconfidencein
theteamledtoamuchlowerPDof0.05
percent.Butaftertheclub’sdisappoint-
ingstart,itsPDhadrisento0.18percent
bymid-September.
Manchester United ranked fourth in
the credit league behind Ajax, Arsenal
andGlasgowCeltic.PavleSabic,director
of credit market development at S&P
Capital IQ, said Celtic’s position
reflected its dominance of the Scottish
PremierLeague.
FrugalArsenaltrouncesrivalsin
Europeanfootballfinanceleague
Getty
James
Mackintosh
Monsanto
1.8%
$109.75
Rio Tinto
1%
£2,989
CBOE VIX
12.7%
15.02
Gold
$13
$1,221
Brent
73¢
$91.38
Shanghai
Composite
0.8%
2,382.79
Rouble/Dollar
0.5%
Rb40.14
FTSE 100
0.2%
6,482.24
Short
View
Lean years, fat years
Source: Thomson Reuters Datastream
Total return in $ terms,
rebased
2000 04 06 08 10 12 14
50
100
150
200
FTSE 100
S&P 500
DAX 30
Both the Dax
and the FTSE 100
remain below their
2000 peaks
Seven lean years follow seven fat years, as the rock’n’roll
Pharoah learns in Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat (and, without so much hip-grinding, in the
Bible). Investors may think that seven years and many
panicsaftertheUSstockmarkethititsOctober2007high,
theydeservetobedonewiththeleantimes.Thedangeris
that,scaryastheywere,thoseweretheyearsofplenty.
Official warnings of complacency abound. The latest
came from the International Monetary Fund yesterday,
when it urged policy makers to tackle “excesses in finan-
cial risk taking”. “Elevated asset prices”, it said, have not
done enough to boost the real economy. Credit markets
offer too little yield to compensate for default risks, and
banksarenotlendingenoughtoproperbusinesses.
US equities have certainly had a better time in the past
sevenyearsthantheydidinthepreviousseven,evenwith
theroutof2008-9.Includingdividendsandafterinflation
USstocksmadeanannualisedreturnofonly1.2percenta
year from October 2000 to their 2007 peak. Since then
theyhaveaveraged3.5percent–farfatter,thoughstillwell
below the long-run norm of 6.6 per cent recorded by Jer-
emySiegelofWhartonbusinessschool.
Ifthenextsevenyearsproveworsethanaperiodwhich
included Lehman’s failure and the near-default of the US,
wewillbe,toquotethePharoah,allshookup.
Thereareotherwaystolookatthings.Stocksinmuchof
the rest of the world have had a dismal seven years, with
thepriceofGermanshares,forexample,almostaquarter
below their 2007 peak. Even including dividends, the
FTSE 100 is barely treading water over seven years. By
contrast, global shares did very nicely by international
investors in the previous seven: the real return in dollar
termsonGermany’sDaxaveraged6.9percentintheseven
yearstoOctober2007,withtheFTSE100at6.1percent.
A lot of that is down to strong currencies. In euros, the
Dax – excluding the dividends included in the headline
index–isdown11percentinsevenyears,afterbeingbasi-
callyflatinthepreviousseven.BoththeDaxandFTSE100
remainbelowtheir2000peaks,solocalinvestorshavehad
14 lean years. Confused? Well, as the Elvis-Pharoah sang,
“Uh-huh-huh”.
james.mackintosh@ft.com
Unfinished business
EU’s Almunia clears in-tray
SARAH GORDON – PAGE 20
chief of the FCC’s enforcement bureau.
Edith Ramirez, FTC chairwoman,
saidtheenforcementagencieshad“rea-
son to believe that AT&T knew these
charges were unauthorised but contin-
uedtoaddthem”.Shesaidbillstructure
made it “difficult if not impossible” for
customerstospotthebogusfees.
An AT&T spokesperson said: “We
reached a broad settlement to resolve
claims that some of our wireless cus-
tomers were billed for charges from
third parties that the customers did not
authorise. This settlement gives our
customers who believe they were
wrongfully billed for Premium Short
Messaging Services the ability to get a
refund.”
month. The carrier continued to levy
thechargesuntilJanuary2014andtook
acutofatleast35percent,theFCCsaid.
The$105menforcementisthelargest
in the FCC’s history and is made up of
$80mofrefundsforaffectedcustomers,
$20m for states participating in the
action, and $5m for the US Treasury.
TheFCCbroughtthecaseagainstAT&T
in conjunction with the Federal Trade
Commission and the attorneys-general
ofall50statesandtheDistrictofColum-
bia.“Wenowknowthatwirelesscompa-
niesprofitedwhiletheircustomerswere
fleeced by unscrupulous third
parties who added millions of dollars
in unauthorised charges to consumer
phone bills,” said Travis LeBlanc,
substantial percentage of the overall
amount in return. However, some
unscrupulous companies levy the
chargeswithoutthecustomer’sconsent,
ascamknownas“cramming”.
Tom Wheeler, FCC chairman, said:
“Consumers were charged on their
phonebillforthingstheydidnotbuy.It
is estimated that 20m customers are
caught in this trap every year. It stops
today for AT&T. Millions of customers
will be able to apply for refunds for
money that was taken out of their pay
cheques.”
The FCC launched its inquiry after
receiving complaints from customers
who alleged that AT&T had refused to
refund bogus charges of up to $59 a
DAVID CROW – NEW YORK
AT&T, the second-largest US mobile
carrier, has agreed to pay a record
$105mtosettleallegationsitallowedits
customers to be “fleeced” by adding
millions of dollars of bogus charges to
theirphonebills.
The Federal Communications Com-
mission accused AT&T of charging mil-
lions of customers a monthly fee, typi-
cally $9.99, for services they did not
request,includingringtones,wallpaper,
and premium text messages offering
horoscopes, flirting tips and celebrity
gossip. Wireless carriers often add
charges to a customer’s bill on behalf of
third-partycompaniesandcanreceivea
AT&Ttopay$105minfeescase
Mobile carrier settles claims it allowed customers to be ‘fleeced’ by adding bogus charges
VTBCapital,theinvestmentarmofthe
sanctionedRussianbank,isinadvanced
talkstoacquireamajoritystakein
ItalianfashionhouseRobertoCavalli,
accordingtopeoplefamiliarwiththe
matter,writeFTReporters.
Oneofthepeoplesaidadealcould
resultinVTBCapitalacquiringasmuch
as70percentofthefashioncompany–
whichisknownforitsexoticanimal
printsanddesignerjeans–butdenied
reportsthatacashpaymenthadalready
beenmade.
“Wecontinuetotalktoallsidesto
bringthistoasatisfactoryconclusion,”
thepersonsaid.RobertoCavalli
declinedtocomment,whileVTBdidnot
respondtoarequestforcomment.
Thediscussionscomeaswestern
sanctionshavecutoffthestate-owned
VTBfromEuropeanandUScapital
markets.
Sanctionshavealsomadeitmore
difficultforthebank–Russia’ssecond-
largestlenderbyassets–tocompetefor
newinvestmentbankingbusinessin
westernmarkets.
However,itsinvestmentarmwasable
toentertalkswithCavalliafterprivate
equitygroups,includingPermiraand
Investcorp,failedtoagreeadealtobuya
portionofthebusiness.
VTB Capital closes in
Russians’ talks for
Roberto Cavalli stake
‘Consumers
were
charged on
their phone
bill for
things they
did not buy’
OCTOBER 9 2014 Section:2Front Time: 8/10/2014 - 21:17 User: jacklinj Page Name: 2FRONT, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 19, 1

14. – 14 –– 14 –

15. – 15 –– 15 –
4 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES SEPTEMBER 13/SEPTEMBER 14 2014
Style
T
he conflict and turmoil of
events across the globe
were not lost on the
cadre of young designers
showing in New York this
week. In Manhattan, sev-
eral labels seemed to
reflect the current omni-
present anxiety, among
them Mark McNairy and
Shayne Oliver, who is
at the helm of streetwear
label Hood By Air.
Oliver has developed a
cult following for his
Hood By Air shows. On
Saturday he sent models
down the catwalk wearing
Plexiglas chokers and mini
medieval pillories around
their necks, evoking the
sudden militarisation of
the police (mind you, a Sen-
ate hearing was held earlier
this week on that very
subject). The clothes them-
selves were more wearable
than Hood By Air has
sometimes shown, with
distressed denim and the
company’s logo embossed
on black leather bombers
and tops. Oliver tends
to be a bit heavy-
handed with branding
but this season it
felt refreshing.
McNairy dipped into
the Vietnam era, open-
ing his show with the
sounds of artillery
shelling before show-
ing a string of cadet
shorts and army
fatigues, and a tank top
with the word “Saigon”
printed on a yellow floral
background. This is war,
McNairy was saying. At least
this was war in the 1960s.
For other designers – specifi-
cally Tim Coppens, Patrik Ervell
and Robert Geller – the idea
for spring was far more
technical and utilitarian.
Their three eponymous
labels have done some of
the more adventurous
work with fabrication
in the New York
menswear scene, and
all three continued to
drive that point.
Coppens’ 40-look
collection, which
included womens-
wear, was sharp
and slick. He opened
with a Nappa leather
and paper cotton
nylon hooded top,
colour-blocked with
sections of white,
navy and black, and
followed later with a
grey varsity bomber
and several fresh jet-
black perforated leather
scarves. Ervell and
Geller played with
polyurethane and
neoprene, respectively.
Ervell’s clothes included
several vented mackintosh
coats in cerulean and
concrete grey, colours
reminiscent of heavy
rain. However, the
connection Ervell
made in his show
notes between inte-
rior design, durable
clothing and the
show set of cheap
office blinds was
somewhat inscrutable.
Geller offered more
lively brushstroke prints
in navy on cropped neo-
prene trousers, as well as
collarless jackets and
bombers. Several outfits,
including a jacket, tunic
and pleated pant, were
heightened with a tactic
taken by many designers
this season of showing
head-to-toe looks in a sin-
gle colour.
Todd Snyder and Public
School took a similar app-
roach. Snyder’s clothes
demonstrated his com-
mand of fit – particu-
larly the slim cuts that
fell close to the body.
Several of the outfits
were presented in just
one hue: light-washed
white, earth brown or
olive green.
Earthy tones also
appeared at J Crew,
where menswear dir-
ector Frank Muytjens
presented a line with
weighty fabrics and
a heavy dose of
layering; a military
green fishtail parka
over a chambray suit
above a chestnut striped
sweater.
It was a look better
executed by Billy Reid,
who appeared a bit
more at ease. His col-
lection suggested a boy
rummaging through his
father’s closet – finding
a suit with soft shoul-
ders, slightly too big.
It worked.
Over a dinner held by
Details magazine before
most of the menswear
shows, I posed the ques-
tion to several design-
ers: was their work
influenced by recent
world crises?
Coppens said he
designed pieces for a
man to wear, something to
make him think. But, he
added, as a designer how
could you not be struck by
all that has happened?
Threads of
thought
From top: Hood By Air;
Mark McNairy; J Crew
Catwalking, Ryan Muir
Black and white,
and just about all
over. New York’s
love affair with
monochrome
showed no sign of
abating but it was
most interesting
when used as a
textural device – as
seen at Rodarte,
Versus Versace and
Boss, where the
deft interplay
between contrasts
took the look to a
new dimension.
Whimsical to waterproof
Jo Ellison on the trends from the spring/summer 2015 shows at New York Fashion Week
Gingham shook off
its infant­school
associations to take
on many guises. It
looked prim at Oscar
de la Renta, playful
at DVF, preppy at
Michael Kors and
utterly promiscuous
at Altuzarra. I’ve a
feeling we’re not in
Kansas any more.
Embroidered,
embellished, printed
and applied, flowers
bloomed everywhere.
Victoria Beckham
may have bunched
a first, with her big,
bold, bright pink and
yellow floral prints,
but these were tiny
compared to the
massive offerings
at Carolina Herrera
– where they were
so grand they
even made their
Rothko print partner
seem small.
Camping never
looked so chic:
rainwear made a
splashy appearance,
and it was relieved
from its cagoule
associations in all
sorts of hybrid
styles. The classic
kiddie­style yellow
mac got its most
elegant makeover at
Ralph Lauren, where
it was refashioned
as a bright leather
outback coat, worn
with sage green
stretch suede cargo
trousers. Essential
for the glamping set.
Florals
Hybrid macs
Maximal monochrome
Grown­up gingham
Versus Versace
Boss
Rodarte
Carolina Herrera Anna Sui
Delpozo
Proenza Schouler Peter Som
Marc by Marc Jacobs
DVF Altuzarra
Michael Kors
Ralph
Lauren
Victoria
Beckham
Catwalking
More on FT.com
For coverage of all the international spring/summer 2015 catwalk shows
in London, Milan and Paris, go to ft.com/fashionweeks. For a round­up
of New York Fashion Week by Jo Ellison, see today’s main paper
Oscar
de la Renta
Tommy Hilfiger
New York’s menswear shows reflected
sombre themes from the wider world,
writes Eric Platt
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16. – 16 –– 16 –
6 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES SEPTEMBER 13/SEPTEMBER 14 2014
NATIONAL NEWS
As London Fashion Week
kicked off yesterday, British
Fashion Council chairman
Natalie Massenet focused
on digital innovation, keen
to harness some of the
excitement surrounding the
launch of the Apple Watch
in New York.
Ms Massenet, who
founded pioneering e-com-
merce site Net-a-Porter, said
that when the council
launched its digital drive at
the start of 2013, only 33 per
cent of designers on the
London Fashion Week
schedule had e-commerce
sites. Now that number had
risen to 43 per cent.
She also highlighted sev-
eral new digital “firsts” for
London Fashion Week.
Twitter is introducing a
Buy button with Burberry
on Monday and British wel-
lies brand Hunter is work-
ing with Grabyo to evolve
live streaming with near
live edited highlights that
will be shared on Twitter.
Topshop is working with
Facebook and Instagram on
democratising its fashion
show by sharing looks with
their followers before they
appear on the catwalk.
Ms Massenet said: “Mintel
estimate that online sales of
clothing and footwear in
the UK will reach £10.7bn
this year – that’s 17 per cent
of total spending.”
Peter Fitzgerald, Google’s
UK sales director, was
present at the opening
breakfast via a video link.
He has been coaching Brit-
ish designers in becoming
more digitally savvy in his
role as president of the
BFC’s digital and innova-
tion initiative.
Mr Fitzgerald said: “We’re
showing designers that the
internet is truly borderless
and many of them are get-
ting over half of their sales
now from outside the UK
and for some of them it’s up
to 80 or 90 per cent.
“Through increasing
engagement they’re under-
standing what their fans
and audiences love.”
London Fashion Week
has become a more sophisti-
cated event in recent sea-
sons. The jewel in the fash-
ion week crown is Burb-
erry, and this will be Chris-
topher Bailey’s first show
as chief executive as well as
chief creative officer.
Paul Smith is another
commercial big hitter.
Other designers making an
international impact as
they mature commercially
are Christopher Kane and
JW Anderson: in 2013 Ker-
ing took a 51 per cent stake
in Mr Kane’s namesake
label, and LVMH took a
minority stake in JW
Anderson.
Roksanda Illincic, who
shows on Monday, has just
opened her own store on
London’s buzzing Mount
Street, increasingly the
Mayfair address for chic
London-based designers.
Erdem Moralioglu of
Erdem, and Christopher
Kane are also set to open
shops in London. They
promise stores with fittings
as luxurious as their
clothes, projecting confi-
dence in the commercial
strength of the “Brit set”.
Other spring/summer 2015
shows to watch this week
come from Emilia Wick-
stead, who dresses the
Duchess of Cambridge,
Simone Rocha, daughter of
designer John Rocha, who
is known for an imaginative
use of fabric and texture,
and playful new label Ash-
ley Williams. Expect to see
celebrity-studded front rows
at Burberry, Tom Ford and
Marchesa, which is
designed and co-founded by
Harvey Weinstein’s wife
Georgina Chapman.
The first show yesterday
came from Korea-born
designer Jackie Lee and her
label J. JS Lee. She picked
up on the movement
towards easy, wearable
clothing with her tailoring
with a sporty edge. A tennis
dress with tank top and
pleated skirt came in
numerous permutations of
colour, fabric and length.
Later in the day, British
heritage brand Daks
showed a dance-inspired
collection of multiple
shades of grey, from pale
silver to concrete.
New York Fashion Week,
Page 11
Digital in vogue as London’s fashion week opens
Catwalk models
wear Bora Aksu
outfits yesterday
Source: Mintel /Picture PA
Online sales
The number of
designers taking
part in the event
with ecommerce
sites has risen,
writes Carola Long
Business models
By John Aglionby
and Peggy Hollinger
Theresa May is to relax the
UK’s transit visa regime to
encourage more air passen-
gers – particularly from
China – to travel through
the country.
The home secretary’s
move falls short of meas-
ures demanded by airlines,
airport operators and busi-
ness groups, who say Brit-
ain’s costly, complex visa
rules deter Chinese visitors.
By contrast, a single visa
for the “open-borders”
Schengen area allows travel
to most other EU countries.
Holders of valid visas
issued by the US, Australia,
Canada and New Zealand
will no longer require visas
to pass through the UK,
even when they are not en
route to or from these coun-
tries. Irish biometric visas
will also be eligible for
exempt transit. This could
affect up to 6m travellers,
Mrs May said in a speech.
The government will also
extend the Schengen
Approved Destination Sta-
tus visa that will allow
about 210,000 Chinese a
year travelling to other EU
states to do so via the UK
without an additional visa.
The measures were
branded insufficient by the
Airport Operators Associa-
tion. “[They do] nothing to
help the UK secure addi-
tional air routes from these
developing countries, the
viability of which often
depend on the smallest mar-
gins,” said Darren Caplan,
association chief executive.
The AOA said ministers
should slash the prices of
the five- and 10-year visas
from current levels of £511
and £737 respectively to the
break-even figure of £136.
“This would encourage
customers to trade up to a
five- or 10-year visa from a
standard six-month visa,
thus saving the Home
Office money and providing
them with an incentive to
undertake multiple trips to
the UK and contribute more
to the UK economy,” said
Mr Caplan.
IAG, which owns British
Airways and Iberia, was
also dissatisfied. “It is a fact
that today other European
countries get five times the
number of Chinese visitors
than the UK,” the company
said. “These changes are
welcome but do not deliver
the step change we need.”
John Holland-Kaye, Hea-
throw’s chief executive,
stressed the importance of
making travel from China
to Britain less complex.
Mrs May said such
changes would be made “in
the coming months”.
About 90 per cent of Chi-
nese tour groups who come
to Europe omit Britain,
resulting in £1.2bn of lost
annual revenue, according
to a recent study.
In a separate move, the
UK and China have agreed
to increase the number of
authorised return flights
between the two countries
from 31 a week to 40.
Rules on transit
visas to be eased
By Mark Odell
A new type of nicotine
inhaler backed by British
American Tobacco has won
regulatory approval to go
on general sale as a med-
icinal product and could
appear in shops as early as
next year.
The product, which uses
the same propellant found
in an asthma inhaler to
deliver a quick hit of nico-
tine through a breath-oper-
ated valve, is thought to be
the first backed by “big
tobacco” to win approval as
a medical device.
It is designed to mimic
as many aspects of smoking
a cigarette as possible,
according to Paul Triniman,
chief executive of Kind Con-
sumer, the company that
has designed the device.
He said it was designed
for use by “mature smok-
ers” who have found the
social mannerisms of the
habit an added barrier to
their addiction.
The inhaler device is
shaped like a cigarette and
is designed to be stored in
the side of a cigarette-
packet shaped box that
contains the recharging
canister.
Kind Consumer, a small
company based in London
and backed by Sir Terry
Leahy, Jon Moulton and
Sir Peter Davis, has signed
a worldwide exclusive man-
ufacturing and distribution
deal with BAT, which could
see it sold in shops as early
as next year.
Mr Triniman said the
device differed from other
medically approved nicotine
replacement products
because of its patented
delivery system.
Big tobacco has increas-
ingly been pushing into
the fast-growing ecigarette
market through acquisi-
tions.
The global tobacco mar-
ket is worth $700bn annu-
ally, while ecigarettes and
nicotine replacement prod-
ucts register an estimated
$3bn in sales.
Mr Triniman said he and
the company’s founder had
initially been uncomfort-
able about getting into bed
with BAT but after being
rejected by a number of
pharmaceutical and con-
sumer groups it was the
only way to get the product
to the target market.
“It is a pragmatic
approach to life. We have a
product that could really
make a difference to public
health,” he said.
The Voke Inhaler could
go on sale in the UK as
early as next year but Mr
Triniman said it would
depend on how long it took
to scale up the production
process.
Nicotine inhaler
wins approval
14.5%
Rise in UK online
fashion sales of
clothing and
footwear this year
£10.7bn
Estimate of online
clothing and
footwear sales in
the UK this year
17%
Online sales as a
share of total UK
clothing and shoe
purchases
£19bn
Forecast for
online clothing
sales by 2019
SEPTEMBER 13 2014 Section:World Time: 12/9/2014 - 19:58 User: withersm Page Name: UKNEWS4, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 6, 1