CFDA AWARD NOMINEES/2 RUEHL’S NEW HEAD/3 WWDWomen’s Wear DailyWEDNESDAY • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • March 30, 2005 • $2.00 Gwen the Sportswear Garmento NEW YORK — Far from the bright lights of center stage, singer Gwen Stefani is proving her mettle as the L.A.M.B. fashion designer with vision, edge and retail savvy. Just ask execs at Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel and Shopbop.com, where the sell- through numbers for her collection are considerably better than rock steady. WWD sat down with Stefani as she started work with her creative partners, Zaldy, shown here with the pop star, and stylist Andrea Lieberman, on L.A.M.B.’s spring 2006 line, which they hope to show during New York Fashion Week in September. For an inside look, see pages 6 and 7. Splitting Up Saks Inc.: Belk Said Among Suitors For Department Stores By David Moin NEW YORK — A breakup of Saks Inc. appears to be in the works. Sources said Tuesday that Saks Inc., which is based in Birmingham, Ala., is attempting to line up buyers for its 235- unit department store group, with Belk Inc. as a primary suitor. There are other parties said to be interested in the Saks department stores, including two private equity firms, Blackstone Group and Apollo Advisors. These same equity firms also are said to be interested in the Neiman Marcus Group. While Neiman’s is officially up for See Saks, Page4 PHOTO BY SEAN DONNOLA PHOTO BY 2 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2005 WWD.COM CFDA Picks 2005 Award Nominees WWDWEDNESDAY By Lisa Lockwood in a break from tradition, honored Sportswear photographer Irving Penn. “It’s not NEW YORK — Marc Jacobs, Ralph an award category the board felt FASHION Rucci for Chado Ralph Rucci and strongly about [this year]. We decid- Gwen Stefani croons about fashion as she meets with her creative team, Vera Wang have been nominated for ed to not give one and we’ll wait 6 designer Zaldy and stylist Andrea Lieberman, in her SoHo showroom. Womenswear Designer of the Year in until there’s someone deserving,” the 2005 CFDA Fashion Awards. said Peter Arnold, executive direc- Diane von Furstenberg will re- tor of the CFDA. GENERAL ceive the Lifetime Achievement Derek Lam, Behnaz Sarafpour Sources said Tuesday that Saks Inc., which is based in Birmingham, Ala., Award, and Norma Kamali will re- and Peter Som have been nominated 1 is attempting to line up buyers for its 235-unit department store group. ceive the Board of Directors’ Spe- for Swarovski’s Perry Ellis Award The Consumer Confidence Index fell more than expected to 102.4 from cial Tribute. for ready-to-wear, which continues 104.4 in March, declining for the second month in a row. The awards, underwritten by the underwriter’s commitment to 2 Swarovski, will be held June 6 at the Marc Jacobs supporting emerging American fash- Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said his agency is on a fact-finding New York Public Library. The nomi- ion designers. The nominees for 3 mission into whether to impose safeguard quotas on Chinese imports. nations were decided upon on Swarovski’s Perry Ellis Award for Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and ceo of Federated Department Tuesday at a two-and-a-half-hour rat- Menswear are Thom Browne, Rogan 3 Stores, has a new pay package that increased his 2005 base salary. ification meeting attended by about Gregory for Rogan and Alexandre 20 Council for Fashion Designers of Plokhov for Cloak. For Swarovski’s America board members. Perry Ellis Award for Accessory MAINSTREAM Nominated for Menswear Design- Design, the nominees are Anthony The sale of Donnkenny to Pacific Alliance, headed by Haim Dabah, er of the Year were Ralph Lauren, Camargo and Nak Armstrong for 8 chairman and ceo, was approved in bankruptcy court. John Bartlett and John Varvatos, Anthony Nak, Holly Dunlap for while Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Hollywould and Devi Kroell. The Janis Savitt for M + J Savitt and winner in each Swarovski category WEST Gerard Yosca got the nods for lead- will receive financial support and Melrose Place is a secret shopping garden, replete with ivy-covered ing accessories designer. product from Swarovski. 10 bungalows, hidden courtyards, treelined sidewalks and pots of geraniums. The nominees are based on votes Vera Wang Arnold said this was the first year received from approximately 80 per- that it asked designers, retailers, edi- cent of the 452 eligible voters, who tors and stylists who specialize in each SUZY include designers, editors, retailers category to nominate designers of the Countdown to the royal wedding…Celebrity housing market…Casting the and stylists. Among the CFDA’s spe- year specifically in their areas of ex- 16 “Dallas” revival…Honoring Yankees manager Joe Torre. cial awards, Gilles Bensimon, publi- pertise. “They’re probably more in- cation director of Elle, will receive formed of what’s going on [in their par- Classified Advertisements ..................................................................11-15 the Eugenia Sheppard Award, and ticular bailiwicks],” said Arnold. “It’s a Alber Elbaz, artistic director of more focused voting.” In the second To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is Lanvin, will be given the Inter- round of voting, the entire nominating [email protected], using the individual’s name. national Award. This year the CFDA committee can vote, he said. decided to forgo the Fashion Icon This year’s nominating commit- WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF FAIRCHILD PUBLICATIONS, INC. COPYRIGHT ©2005 FAIRCHILD PUBLICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Award, which last year went to tee will be able to vote online and VOLUME 189, NO. 66. WWD (ISSN # 0149-5380) is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one Sarah Jessica Parker, and instead view each nominee’s collection be- additional issue in June; two additional issues in April, May, August, October, November and December, and three additional issues in February, March and September, by Fairchild Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Advance Publications, Inc. PRINCIPAL will give the Award for Fashion ginning April 13 at cfda.com. OFFICE: 7 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001. Shared Services provided by Advance Magazine Publishers Inc.: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Influence to Kate Moss. Ralph Rucci This year the entire 26-member Chairman; Steven T. Florio, Vice Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, C.O.O.; John W. Bellando, Executive Vice-President and C.F.O.; Jill PHOTO BY FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY FRAZER IMAGES PHOTO BY The CFDA also decided this year HARRISON/GETTY FRAZER IMAGES PHOTO BY CFDA board of directors will serve Bright, Executive Vice-President_Human Resources; John Buese, Executive Vice-President_ Chief Information Officer; David Orlin, Senior Vice-President_Strategic Sourcing; Robert Bennis, Senior Vice-President_Real Estate; David B. Chemidlin, Senior Vice- to skip the Eleanor Lambert award, which in pre- as chairmen of the awards gala, which will be pro- President_General Manager, Advance Magazine Group Shared Services Center. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at vious years had gone to a personality on the busi- duced by KCD. Creative director Doug Lloyd will additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40032712. 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For permissions and reprint requests, please call 212-221-9595 or fax requests to 212-221-9195. Visit us online: www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Consumer Confidence Slips Again magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive worsen also gained ground, to spending on track,” she noted. these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. By Vicki M. Young WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOSS, DAMAGE, OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO UNSOLICITED 8.2 percent from 7.8 percent. However, the Conference MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND NEW YORK — The Consumer As for the present, consumers Board’s index wasn’t the only con- TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART Confidence Index fell more than saying business conditions are sumer gauge that posted decreas- WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WWD IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE expected in March, and while “good” inched up to 25.8 percent es this month. UBS economist ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED OVERNIGHT-DELIVERY RETURN ENVELOPE, POSTAGE PREPAID.