Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • March 3, 2009 • $3.00 WReady-to-Wear/TextileswDTUESDAY Head and Shoulders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s fall collection for Dolce & Gabbana had a Surrealist slant, expressed in playful trompe l’oeil looks and amusing visual tricks. Another important motif: strong shoulders. Here, a sheer-sleeve bustier look worn with leather gloves that have morphed into a hat and a clock-face necklace. For more on the MILAN season, see pages 4 to 11. collections/fall ’09 Fighting Back: Istithmar Says Barneys Not for Sale, CEO on Way By David Moin interview from Dubai on Monday. wants to unload the business amid Barneys New York is not for sale, hopes In addition to battling the recession, mounting financial pressures. to resolve its issues with factors in a few sharp declines in luxury spending, and But on Monday, Jackson went on the weeks and intends to have a new chief lately a handful of factors — including defensive, flatly denying the for-sale executive officer in place by midyear. Hilldun Corp. and Rosenthal & rumors and even contending Barneys is So says David Jackson, chief executive Rosenthal Inc. — that have stopped outperforming the competition. officer of Istithmar, the Dubai-based approving shipments, Barneys has been “There are a lot of rumors about parent of Barneys, in a wide-ranging dogged by speculation that Istithmar See Istithmar’s, Page 12 PHOTO BY MAURICIO MIRANDA MAURICIO PHOTO BY 2 WWD, TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2009 WWD.COM Retail Dragged Down in Market Sell-off By Arnold J. Karr and Alexandra Steigrad ernment will need to complete its “stress tests of the banks,” he said, essentially “telling the THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE banks to raise [their] own money” or prepare to WWDTUESReady-to-Wear/TextilesDAY tumbled through the 7,000 mark and kept fall- be “taken over.” ing Monday, hitting its lowest level in nearly 12 Publicly held fashion companies will con- FASHION years and pulling down retail shares 4.3 percent tinue to do what they can to curb costs as they Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Fendi were among in its wake. struggle for scarce disposable income from con- s 4 the notable collections as the Milan fall season Escalating global fears about the fragility of sumers. After seeing its shares fall 18.1 percent the financial sector and the drastic measures that to $2.08 on Monday, The Talbots Inc. revealed it drew to a close. could be necessary to right hobbled world econo- had finalized terms of its $200 million unsecured GENERAL mies dragged the Dow down nearly 300 points, or term loan facility from Aeon Co. Ltd., the parent Vendors are hoping to finally unearth some solid 4.2 percent, to 6,763.29. It started the day below company of Talbots’ principal shareholder. 1 the psychologically significant 7,000 mark, dipped The retailer also noted that its board had information this week about the financial state of below 6,900 before noon and left behind the 6,800 voted to suspend the company’s quarterly divi- Barneys New York. barrier in the final hour of trading. dend, saving it about $29 million this year, and, The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled Meanwhile, despite word from the Commerce for an additional $6 million in savings, freeze its 2 through the 7,000 mark and kept falling Monday, Department that consumer spending in January pension plans, which earlier had been altered to hitting its lowest level in nearly 12 years rose for the first time in seven months, the S&P freeze participation for employees hired since Chanel revealed it will close two boutiques in Retail Index finished the day at 241.05, down the end of 2007. 3 10.74 points or 4.3 percent. Earlier in the day, J. Crew Group Inc., which Japan, while Chopard said it has eliminated 36 However, unlike the Dow and the battered announced layoffs and other cost reductions on jobs. S&P 500, which ended the day at its lowest level Friday, had been one of the few apparel retail- A consultant for China’s National Treasure Fund since 1996 after a 4.7 percent decline Monday, ers with stock gains, but the New York-based 3 revealed he had bought the fountainheads at the the retail index averted both near- and longer- specialty chain’s shares ended the day down 0.6 YSL auction, but didn’t plan to pay for them. term lows. percent at $11.19. Market rumors were swirling Monday that the While the Dow briefly fell below 7,000 on Others fared far worse. Among the specialty 13 Friday, Monday was the first day it had closed retailers sustaining double-digit declines in Estée Lauder Cos. had struck a spokeswoman below that milestone since May 1, 1997. The new stock prices were Frederick’s of Hollywood deal with “Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto. 52-week low of 6,755.97 hit earlier on Monday Group Inc., down 43.3 percent to 17 cents; Eddie The office of the U.S. Trade Representative sub- is 48.8 percent below the corresponding high of Bauer Holdings Inc., 22.6 percent to 48 cents; 14 mitted its annual president’s trade policy agenda 13,191.49 hit last May 2. Stein Mart Inc., 15.8 percent to $1.01, and The Versace to Congress on Monday. The Dow had last closed below 6,800 on April Wet Seal Inc., 12 percent to $2.20. 28, 1997. The somber mood on a snowy day in New The declines on Wall Street are reinforcing York followed similarly negative results in Classified Advertisements.................................................................................................15 unsettling news throughout the financial land- markets worldwide. Declines were even steep- TO E-MAIL REPORTERS AND EDITORS AT WWD, THE ADDRESS IS scape, such as Monday’s disclosure of yet anoth- er in Europe, where both London’s FTSE 100 [email protected], USING THE INDIVIDUAL’s NAME. er round of bailout money for AIG, and contrib- and Paris’ CAC 40 hit new lows. The London WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2009 uting to restrained consumer spending. index dropped 5.3 percent to 3625.83, while the FAIRCHILD FASHION GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. “You get headline fatigue,” said Craig end-of-day quote in Paris was down 4.5 percent VOLUME 197, NO. 45. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in January, May, October, November and December, two additional issues in March, April, June Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners to 2,581.46. and August, and three additional issues in February and September) by Fairchild Fashion Group, which is a division LLC, in anticipation of Wall Street’s top-story In London, Marks and Spencer Group plc’s of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services role on Monday night’s newscasts. “It’s little shares dropped 4.6 percent to 249 pence, or provided by Condé Nast Publications: S. I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, President/CEO; John W. Bellando, Executive Vice President/COO; Jill Bright, Executive Vice President/Human Resources. 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