SCHIAPARELLI’S NEW HOME ATELIER VERSACE PAGE 10 DONATELLA VERSACE KICKED OFF PARIS COUTURE WITH A STAR-STUDDED SHOW AND INTIMATE DINNER AT THE RITZ. PAGES 8 AND 10 FALL OFFERING SEEN Coty’s $700M Gamble: Will IPO Be a Beauty? By EVAN CLARK COTY INC. IS READY for the bright lights of Wall WWD Street — the question is whether the fragrance com- pany will be able to convince investors that it can keep growing in developing markets. MONDAY, JULY 2, 2012 Q $3.00 Q WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY After failing in its bid to buy Avon Products Inc. and get a leg up in Brazil, Coty on Friday filed for an initial public offering that could raise $700 million for current shareholders. The offering would be the first major beauty IPO since the Nineties and a sign of just how far the 108-year-old firm has come over the last decade, when annual revenues tripled to about $4.5 billion, accord- ing to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the IPO comes at a time of instabil- ity in the European economy, growing uncertainty Eyes over the strength of the U.S. recovery, a slowdown in growth in China and Brazil and a few lackluster IPOs in recent months, including Facebook. The key will be whether the beauty firm can con- vince Wall Street that it is a company well positioned for further growth or one that, having failed in its bid for Avon, is simply falling back on the IPO as a conve- Wide nient plan B. Coty’s growth has been fueled by both a series of ac- quisitions and by its pioneering moves in the celebrity fragrance category via deals with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Beyoncé Knowles, Halle Berry and Heidi Klum. The deals are a win-win for both sides: Shut they have delivered a steady revenue stream for Coty while giving the stars a major source of cash. Coty has promised to pay licensing royalties of $300.5 million in PARIS — An SEE PAGE 12 athletic pulse reverberated Couture’s Booming Markets through the men’s shows in Paris, By MILES SOCHA which wound PARIS — In global economic terms, it’s among the down in the French worst of times. In the cosseted, hand-wrought world capital on Sunday. of high fashion, it’s practically the best of times. “Our best year ever in couture,” said Bruno At Givenchy, Riccardo Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, citing re- Tisci applied prints of cord couture sales in revenues and units, and hail- female religious icons ing Karl Lagerfeld’s spring collection — based on the color blue and paraded through a jetliner set — as to sporty shapes and well suited to its global clientele. added sharp, muscular On Tuesday, Lagerfeld will parade his “new vin- tage” collection for Chanel in the newly renovated tailoring, too. Here, Salon d’Honneur at the Grand Palais. one of his painterly “The superrich are still superrich,” added Ralph apparitions, ING 2 Toledano, president of Puig’s fashion division, which R 01 includes Jean Paul Gaultier, which saw revenues jump splashed over a P 3 23 percent for his Amy Winehouse-inspired spring glossy bomber S couture collection, on top of a 28 percent gain in 2011. jacket and Gaultier’s couture operates profitably, Toledano noted. MEN’S COLLECTIONS Despite the euro-zone debt crisis and signs of a T-shirt. For slowdown in China and elsewhere, executives agreed more on the the prospects remain sunny for 2012, with an influx of men’s shows, PARIS new couture clients from Asia — and on the horizon, South America — offering a promising growth avenue see pages 4 to 6. for the future. And designers are increasingly taking their shows on the road to tap into the new clientele: Gaultier, for example, is slated to parade couture in Cali, Colombia, in October. The couture shows kicked off Sunday night with Donatella Versace returning to the runway after an eight-year absence, and could hit an early crescendo today when Belgian designer Raf Simons makes his debut as Christian Dior’s sixth couturier. “We have a lot of demand for the first show of Raf,” said Dior chief executive officer Sidney Toledano, who was upbeat about the company’s couture prospects, buoyed by a “big increase” in sales for the spring col- lection designed under the creative leadership of Bill Gaytten, now fully devoted to the John Galliano brand. PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI SEE PAGE 7 2 WWD MONDAY, JULY 2, 2012 WWD.COM Unger to Exit Kay Unger New York the Briefing Box while we are sad to see her de- By Lisa LoCKWooD Kay Unger part, we are confident in our fu- in Today’s WWd ture success thanks in part to the neW yorK — Kay Unger, co- great example she has set,” said founder and creative director of feinberg. he said the firm, which Kay Unger new york and Phoebe manufactures mostly dresses, is Couture, is leaving the company positioned for the future with a to focus on philanthropy and team of designers who will con- other creative endeavors. tinue to carry the Kay Unger and “i’ve been toying with it for Phoebe Couture brands forward. quite a while,” said Unger, 67, “Kay and i have worked to- who told the staff friday. she gether for 32 years. i’ve outlasted said her primary focus will be two husbands. this was her de- the steven Julius foundation, are carried in specialty and de- cision,” said feinberg, who said which she started with her two partment stores throughout the they’ve been talking about this Feugere grown sons in 2010. the founda- U.s., such as neiman Marcus, for the past nine months. “Kay hane tion is primarily committed to saks fifth avenue, nordstrom, wouldn’t have left if we weren’t P cancer research and care and to Bloomingdale’s and Lord & [well] positioned. her name is Amar’e Stoudemire at the Ste by funding scholarships for inner- taylor, and in 20 international very important to her.” Kay Unger Givenchy men’s show. city children in the visual arts markets. in 2007, freestanding new york will own the rights to through Parsons the new school Kay Unger and Phoebe Couture Unger’s name. she will no longer Photo for Design. “i have several mil- boutiques were opened through- own the company, which is major- lion dollars in there, and i’m so out China and seoul. ity owned by feinberg, with some Luxury executives foresee a sunny 2012, with an influx passionate about it,” said Unger. “after founding three compa- private investors. of new couture clients from Asia offering a promising Unger co-founded Kay Unger nies, interacting with thousands Prior to forming Kay Unger growth avenue for the future. PAGE 1 new york in 1995 with rob of loyal customers and design- new york, Unger was the cre- feinberg, chief executive of- ing clothes that make women ative head and co-founder of the Coty Inc. on Friday filed for an initial public offering that ficer. the privately held firm look and feel their best, it is time gillian group, which included could raise $700 million for current shareholders and would will continue under feinberg. for me to focus on my other pas- the st. gillian and a.J. Bari lines. be the first major beauty IPO since the Nineties. PAGE 1 the company launched Phoebe sions,” said Unger, who also plans Before that, she had her own Couture as a younger, spirited to travel, work on her sculpture, namesake line using Liberty of Kay Unger, cofounder and creative director of Kay Unger brand in 2007. Both labels, which and continue collecting art. London prints. she started her New York and Phoebe Couture, is leaving the company to generate more than $30 mil- “Kay’s creative spirit has been career at geoffrey Beene after focus on philanthropy and other creative endeavors. PAGE 2 lion in wholesale sales volume, at the heart of our brands, and graduating from Parsons. Australian department store chain David Jones Ltd. received an unsolicited $1.66 billion takeover offer from British private equity firm EB Private Equity. PAGE 2 David Jones Receives Takeover Offer The first collection of Jockey intimates endorsed by Rachel aUstraLian DePartMent friday, the retailer disclosed the $1.76 billion at current exchange, Zoe, a line intended to marry comfort with style, will be store chain David Jones Ltd. re- terms of the offer, raising ques- more than the amount stated in hitting stores this fall. PAGE 2 ceived an unsolicited $1.66 billion tions over what was really being the offer for a 100 percent ac- takeover offer from British private acquired and for how much. quisition of the retailer. further, Jessica Alba, Pierce Brosnan, Lea Michele and Christina equity firm eB Private equity. David Jones said the proposal the mention of residual shares Hendricks were among the star-studded guests at the Atelier While there’s some confusion was 1.65 billion australian dol- raised the question that the offer Versace couture show at the Ritz Paris. PAGE 9 over what the private equity firm lars, or $1.66 billion at current might be just a partial bid. is actually offering to buy, the exis- exchange, for a 100 percent acqui- eB’s Web site says the Robin Givhan will be a contributor to a new blog called tence of an offer has fueled specu- sition of the retailer. the terms in Luxembourg and newcastle, FashionBeast, which will launch July 25.