Exclusive: Gaga’s Go-To Guy Thierry Mugler collections Names Formichetti WWD Creative Director NEW By Miles Socha Women’s Wear Daily • Monday, September 13, 2010 • $3.00 PARIS — Thierry Mugler is taking a Lady Gaga- esque track back to fashion notoriety. YORK The Paris-based fashion and fragrance house spring ’11 has named Nicola Formichetti — best known as stylist to Lady Gaga — its new creative director of women’s wear and men’s wear, confirming a report in WWD on Sept. 9. Formichetti, also an editor and consultant, is fashion director of Vogue Hommes Japan and a contributing editor of V Magazine, Dazed & Confused and Another Magazine. Meanwhile, celebrity clients listed on his Web site include Chloë Coty in Beauty Deal Sevigny, Scarlett With Lady Gaga/18 Johansson, Eva Mendes, Kirsten Dunst and Robert Pattinson. Formichetti will succeed Rosemary Rodriguez, who quietly arrived at the Clarins-owned fashion house in 2008, keeping a low profile and her fashions tame. Touting Formichetti, 33, as being “on the cutting edge of international pop culture,”/18 TODAY TOM FORD IS BACK /7 Fashion: In an intimate showing at his Madison Avenue store, Tom Ford tapped the likes of Beyoncé, Marisa Berenson, Julianne Moore and Daphne Guinness, among others, to strut in his dazzling return to women’s. ▲ Kim Jones Steps Down at Dunhill/2 Men’s: The longtime creative director of the Alfred Dunhill brand is leaving immediately, but the fall 2011 collection will bear some of his stamp. The Olsens Postpone Their Show/2 News: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen delay their show for The Row, with plans to do a presentation in Paris. New York Spring 2011 Collections/6 Fashion: Reviews of Altuzarra ▲ Diane von ▲ Furstenberg, Diane Von Alexander Furstenberg Wang, Victoria Beckham, Altuzarra Loose Change and more. ▲ Victoria Beckham is loosening up. For spring, she jettisoned the fitted look of seasons past for the more relaxed silhouette she’s begun favoring in her own wardrobe. Here, one of her stunning draped silk numbers. For more New York Fashion Week coverage, see pages 6 to 14. PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI GIOVANNI PHOTO BY 2 WWD, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 WWD.COM Olsens’ Row Show Postponed Web Site Ahalife Set to Launch By Marc Karimzadeh cited and are looking forward to By Cate T. Corcoran presenting our collection.” NEW YORK — Mary-Kate Olsen The designing sisters have not NEW ONLINE RETAIL CONCEPT AHALIFE LAUNCHES TODAY, WITH and Ashley Olsen have post- yet finalized the date or venue the potential to remake retail much as Vente-Privee did. poned their runway presentation for their Paris presentation, but It is an online design lifestyle store that features one “globally cu- for The Row because of delayed they are expected to favor an in- rated” product every 24 hours. The items can be chosen by a celebrity sample deliveries. STEVE EICHNER PHOTO BY timate setting over a runway ex- or anyone in the world who is a member of the site. The Olsens were scheduled travaganza. The Row had its first Products could come from the worlds of home design, fashion, food, art, con- to show the spring collection runway outing during New York sumer electronics or charity. Prices will start at $75 and go up into the thousands. of their designer brand at Milk Fashion Week last February with “We feature products that are editorially interesting,” said founder Studios on Tuesday. They are a small runway presentation for Shauna Mei, who studied computer science at MIT, worked on the sale now planning to unveil the line to a select group of editors and re- of the Neiman Marcus Group at Goldman Sachs and co-founded luxury buyers and editors in Paris dur- tail buyers. investment firm the Aronsson Group. “We’re not trying to predict what ing the city’s fashion week, which The Olsens launched The Row consumers will want. They tell us what they want.” is Sept. 28 to Oct. 6. in 2007 with the idea to create a Gilles Bensimon is creative director, while chief buyer Lou Sagar “We have made the decision perfect T-shirt, but the collection founded SoHo-based home retailer Zona. to postpone our spring-summer has since evolved to include cat- Each member can submit an idea or a photo of an item to sell. If 2011 presentation of The Row egories like eveningwear, outer- Ahalife likes the idea, its nine-person team will hunt it down or pro- due to sample delivery,” Mary- wear, knits, men’s wear and sun- duce it. The item will be produced according to demand or shipped Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen said Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen glasses. It is sold in stores such immediately if it’s something available in limited quantity. in a joint statement. “Production as Barneys New York, Bergdorf Each item will be introduced with a story in the form of a video of the de- and delivery of our samples is delayed by a few Goodman and Maxfields in the U.S.; Isetan and signer talking about the product and profiles of the designer and the curator. days and this has cast us out of the New York The Wall in Japan; Le Bon Marché, Maria Luisa Some of the upcoming curators and designers include Diane von schedule. We will therefore present it to the and Printemps in France, and Podium, Aizel Furstenberg, Iris Apfel, Tim Gunn, blogger James Andrew of What Is market within the Paris schedule. We are ex- and The Icon in Russia. James Wearing, Alexis Bittar and Rachel Roy. Lauren Bush plans to cre- ate a scarf hand-dyed by women in the Congo. Buyers will receive an “aha karma” badge on their profiles. Each member will have a profile, but only the curators’ profiles will be visible to everyone. Profiles will ask, “What was the most inspiring Kim Jones Leaving Alfred Dunhill thing you bought recently?” A later version of the site will allow mem- bers to “follow” favorite curators and to receive notifications when an By Samantha Conti brand has logged double-digit item of theirs goes up for sale. Curators are not paid. volume increases worldwide Items will fall into daily themes. Monday is “Optimize Me,” Tuesday LONDON — Kim Jones will step over the past four years. is “Dress Me,” Wednesday is “Nourish Me,” Thursday is “Design down as Alfred Dunhill’s cre- “Kim has made a valuable Me,” Friday is “Treat Me,” Saturday is “Go With Me,” and Sunday is ative director this week after contribution to the creative de- “Enlighten Me.” Sunday’s item will be educational only and introduce two-and-a-half years, the com- velopment of Alfred Dunhill members to a new idea, person or service, but will not be for sale. pany said Sunday. over the past two-and-a-half “Surprise Me” is a wildcard category for special or one-of-a-kind items Jones became Dunhill’s first years,” said Christopher Colfer, that will show up once or twice a month. creative director in February chief executive officer of Alfred Most of the items for sale will fall into three categories, said Mei: 2008, and during his tenure Dunhill. “His collections have •Those available only in a specific geography, such as silk earrings built a creative team and struc- been both commercial and sold only in one kimono shop in Kyoto, Japan. ture, and reinvigorated the la- greatly appreciated, and there- •Exclusives created with an established designer. bel’s men’s wear offer with his fore we are sorry to see him go. •Product launches that will be exclusive to Ahalife for 24 hours. youthful spin on classic, tai- But his departure is in line with Apparel will focus mostly on outerwear, accessories and jewelry. lored pieces. the original planning and strat- The company received one round of funding in March for an undis- His last full collection was for egy for the brand.” closed sum from angel investors and FirstMark Capital. spring 2011, although a Dunhill The spokeswoman said there The site is part of a bigger trend of new ways to shop online, which spokeswoman confirmed that are no plans to replace Jones, frequently combine elements of gaming, limited time availability, social Jones also worked on the fall and that his team would remain media, crowd souring and mobile. The name refers to that “aha!” mo- 2011 collection, which will show in place at the brand, which is ment of inspiration, and the daily curation is meant to be inspiring and in Paris in January. A look from owned by Compagnie Financière to “cut through the clutter” online. Dunhill hired Jones, whose Alfred Dunhill. Richemont. Although the idea combines elements of stores and media sites such background was in edgy, street- “I would like to thank all at as Colette, Yoox, Woot, Groupon, Daily Candy, Nowness and others, Mei wise sportswear, to increase the fashion quo- Dunhill, especially my creative team, and I said she came up with idea by staring at a blank piece of paper and ask- tient. Jones created a younger image for the am looking forward to announcing future proj- ing herself how she would like to shop. brand with updated tailoring while stressing ects shortly as well as publishing two books,” “We believe the Internet is not about discount, we believe it’s a free the travel aspect of its heritage. Dunhill as a Jones said. landscape where anyone can create what they want to create,” said Mei. COMING THIS WEEK DAILY Just remember, MONDAY: Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week continues (through Thursday).