Page 1 Monday s BEAUTY: Lindsay PARIS: A busy Lohan’s new weekend, with s FASHION SCOOPS: self-tanning line, reviews including Diane von page 12. Lanvin, Dries Van Furstenberg Noten and Karl parties in Lagerfeld, Paris, pages 4 to 11. page 16. PARIScollections/fall ’09 Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • March 9, 2009 • $3.00 WwDMONAccessories/Innerwear/LegweardAY Orient Expression John Galliano embraced Orientalism in the beautiful, exotic fall collection he showed for Christian Dior, which was influenced by 18th-century Persian miniatures. Dramatic makeup and dazzling embroideries were among the daring details, as in this ocher silk dress, worn with a big necklace and a helmet of bobby-pinned hair. For more on Paris, see pages 4 to 11. Fashion’s Loyalty Oath: Firms Insist Designers Vow, ‘Devoted to You’ By Miles Socha PARIS — If you’re a talent-laden designer with a buzzed-about signature collection, could a major job at a big fashion house be only a phone call from a headhunter away? Au contraire. Devoted creative directors are the industry’s preference du jour, threatening to send the double-duty-designer model to the scrap heap of fashion history. “At the core of this business, we must have — as much as we can — full dedication,” said Pierre-Yves Roussel, chief executive officer of the fashion division at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which includes brands such as Celine, Loewe, Givenchy and Emilio Pucci. “Regardless of the talent, the amount of time See Fashion, Page3 PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI GIOVANNI PHOTO BY 2 WWD, MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2009 WWD.COM Investor Writes Down Stake in Valentino By Andrew Roberts and Emilie Marsh today,” sources told WWD at the time. On Friday, a spokesman for Permira declined to MILAN — The largest investor in private equity break out the fund’s own valuation of VFG but con- WWDAccessories/Innerwear/LegwearMONDAY group Permira Advisers LLP has written down firmed its total portfolio fell 36 percent in 2008. its stake in Valentino Fashion Group by more He added: “The valuations of our portfolio than half, confirming a report in WWD. are a description of the world at this time. We FASHION London-based SVG Capital Plc said Thursday are fundamentally long-term investors.” 4 Christian Dior, Lanvin and Karl Lagerfeld were the value of its investment had declined 54 per- SVG specified the outlook for the Valentino some of the notable collections shown as the cent in 2008 to 78.6 million pounds, or $111.9 mil- label was “uncertain,” despite ongoing cost ini- Paris fall season moved into high gear. lion — although this includes a provision following tiatives and new designers Maria Grazia Chiuri SVG’s decision to cap its commitment to the fund. and Pier Paolo Piccioli’s first couture collection SVG wrote down its total portfolio by two thirds. being “well received” in January. Valentino chief GENERAL Dollar figures are converted at average ex- executive officer Stefano Sassi said earlier this 1 Devoted creative directors have become an change rates for the periods to which they refer. year the company was scaling back expansion industry standard, threatening to send the Permira bought Valentino Fashion Group plans to preserve cash and service 2.3 billion double-duty-designer model to the scrap heap. SpA, which owns Valentino and Hugo Boss and euros, or $2.89 billion, of debt. 2 The largest investor in private equity group operates under license Marlboro Classics and M SVG added that Valentino’s revenues were Permira Advisers has written down its stake in Missoni, in 2007 at the top of the market for an flat in 2008 and that profitability had been im- Valentino Fashion Group by more than half. estimated 2.6 billion euros, or $3.55 billion. pacted by the general market slowdown and dis- Sources said in November the financial cri- appointing sales of former designer Alessandra 13 ACCESSORIES: McTeigue & McClelland has sis had wiped off over 1 billion euros, or $1.26 Facchinetti’s collections. opened its first Manhattan salon on Fifth Avenue billion, of VFG’s value. “The deal was done at In 2007, Valentino generated consolidated to show its rarefied wares by appointment. crazy prices, with an optimism that doesn’t exist sales of 261 million euros, or $381.4 million. Department stores added 9,300 positions in 14 February and specialty stores added 100, amid widespread jobs losses across the country. 14 Dramatic sales declines contributed to a larger- 15 UNITE HERE Locals Vote to Cut International Ties than-expected fourth-quarter loss for AnnTaylor By Liza Casabona bers and empowers those who do not yet have Stores and an acceleration of store closings. a union.” WASHINGTON — Fifteen local boards of UNITE A spokeswoman for John Wilhelm, president 14 Hartmarx Corp.’s bankruptcy appears ready to HERE, representing about 150,000 union mem- of UNITE HERE’s hospitality division and the claim the Hickey Freeman flagship at 666 Fifth bers, voted on Saturday to break with the inter- former leader of HERE, did not return calls for Avenue in Manhattan. national parent union. comment. EYE: Talking to Sadie Frost, whose one-woman The move to disaffiliate occurred as lead- Bruce Raynor, general president of UNITE 16 show at Manchester’s Royal Exchange, runs ers of the two predecessor unions that joined HERE and former leader of UNITE, could not Yohji Yamamoto through Saturday. to form UNITE HERE in 2004 — the Union of be reached for comment by press time. Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees The struggle between UNITE and HERE and the Hotel Employees & Restaurant leaders over the direction of the union has Employees International — struggle for control been brewing for several months. Raynor lead a Classified Advertisements.................................................................................................15 over the union’s future. 25-member group that voted in January to dis- solve the merger. A majority of general executive TO E-MAIL REPORTERS AND EDITORS AT WWD, THE ADDRESS IS board members, including Wilhelm, opposed the [email protected], USING THE INDIVIDUAL’s NAME. split and voted to stay unified. The disaffiliation WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2009 This vote was an important votes are the latest salvo in the dust-up. Four FAIRCHILD FASHION GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. “ lawsuits have been filed recently by UNITE and VOLUME 197, NO. 49. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with step that takes our union in one additional issue in January, May, October, November and December, two additional issues in March, April, June HERE in Manhattan and New Jersey courts to and August, and three additional issues in February and September) by Fairchild Fashion Group, which is a division stop the disaffiliation vote. of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. 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