It’s Monday morning and Zac Posen is zipping around his TriBeCa studio, laid with a circular piece of Pepto-pink carpet (re-appropriated from his spring 2009 runway show), which exactly matches a color group from his latest collection, complete and neatly hung on four color-coded racks. No, it’s not pre-fall — that’s still on the drawing board in the back — but an entirely new endeavor: Z Spoke, a new lower-priced line launching exclusively at Saks Fifth Avenue for spring. “We did these white shirts, and that’s our bootleg pant,” says Posen, holding up a navy T-shirt. “Opening price point is what, $88?” Actually, $78. And anyone familiar with Posen’s collection, defined largely by over-the-top eveningwear, might swear he was speaking in tongues. Then again, Z Spoke is a new vocabulary for Posen, and the keyword is sportswear. “I think it’s going to surprise people,” says Posen, who describes the 60-piece range, which is strong on separates such as knits, cotton shirting, blazers and pleated khaki shorts, as “minimalist and utilitarian.” Such adjectives don’t conjure his signature collection, built around red-carpet moments, which he launched at age 21 in 2001. But Posen insists the lack of everyday clothes on his runways hasn’t been for lack of interest on his part or his retailers. “We’ve had so much pressure from press and retailers to build out our collection into this more American sportswear look in our top line,” he says. “To me, it’s more appropriate to build a whole brand and collection around this price point. Chic sportswear should be at this price point. Designer dresses and cocktail pieces should be at a more expensive price point.” To that end, Z Spoke, much of which is produced in Asia, retails from $78 for a cotton T-shirt to $675 for a knit dress, while the Zac Posen collection ranges from $900 to $12,000, with custom pieces fetching upwards of $20,000. Z Spoke will launch in 17 Saks doors as well as saks.com and is scheduled for six deliveries per year. While Posen says a rollout to other retailers is in the long-term plan, for the meantime, it’s all about Saks, which has carried his signature collection since 2004. “Zac has always wanted to do a line that would be Zac Posen but maybe talk to a different girl,” says Ron Frasch, Saks Inc.’s president and chief merchandising officer. “Over the course of the past year, we got together with Zac and Susan [Posen, company chairman and Zac’s mother] and began having conversations around how the world has changed and what some of the needs are that we had as a retailer. The moment was opportune.” Though Frasch declines to release sales projections, he says the forecast is “Significant. We’re looking at this as a significant launch, a significant business relationship and something we believe has significant long-term legs.” Z Spoke comes at a time when the market has shifted and many of Posen’s fellow young designers — Doo-Ri Chung, Thakoon Panichgul and Richard Chai among them — have recently launched lower-priced collections. Whereas Chung and Chai positioned their secondary lines in the contemporary market, Posen’s new line will sit on Saks’ fourth floor, the former bridge department now rebranded as Wear, alongside Tory Burch, Elie Tahari, M Missoni and Ralph Lauren Blue Label. “It’s also about seeing where the opportunity in the market is and seeing where we can grow and build,” says Posen of the collection’s in-store location. As for the overall aesthetic of Z Spoke, “It’s not Zac-for-less, it’s not the little sister collection at all,” says Posen. “The dresses — that’s something I can do with my eyes closed. This is about a new identity.” His inspiration board is full of downtown imagery such as beaten-up Nike Dunks and a shot of Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle. A palette of neutrals with ample pops of kelly green, pink and red gives the clothes a retro vibe, or an “urban hipster quality” as Posen puts it, adding he could see these styles on a Lower East Side girl. To wit, while Hollywood has driven much of his designer business, Posen stresses that Z Spoke is not a celebrity brand, but one more attuned to the street. That said, he’s not looking to add to the glut of tough T-shirts and distressed jeans. “There’s a lot of that on the market,” says Posen. “I treat a T-shirt as a T-shirt should be treated. With a lot of love.”

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Luella Looks To The Future Lauren Milligan 11 November 2009 15 Comments AFTER the announcement yesterday by Luella Bartley that her Luella label had ceased trading, the designer has now begun the process of seeking a new backer in order to continue her eponymous label. Club 21, the brand's global licensee for ready-to-wear and accessories since 2003, announced yesterday that it had reluctantly "taken the decision not to invest further in its relationship with Luella Bartley Limited". "This is a very disappointing situation for everyone involved with the brand," Bartley said. "I very much appreciate the support that [Club 21 subsidiary] VSQ has given me, but it is upsetting not to be able to protect jobs in this difficult economic climate. We have a number of options open to us, and are considering these over the coming months." It was reported in June 2009 (read the full story here) that Bartley was considering ending her contract with Club 21, but industry insiders assumed a new backer would be found before the relationship was dissolved. The statement added that due to the unexpected closure last month of the brand's key ready-to-wear producer Carla Carini, spring 2010 orders could not be fulfilled. Luella's turnover is currently in the region of 9 million pounds under Club 21, which also distributes Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani.

It may not sound kosher but Israeli researchers are using pigs to test an innovative technology they say will replace cosmetic breast surgery. But we'll get back to that later. The MIM technique (Minimally Invasive Mastopexy), developed by the startup of the same name, promises to reshape, support and lift breast soft tissue in a much more minimally invasive manner than today's cosmetic breast surgery. They're calling their breast support kit the 'Cup&Up'. "Today in aesthetic surgery, plastic surgeons reshape many body parts - the nose, butt, hands, tummy - most of the procedures are very intensive, risky ones, with long recovery periods, problems with scars, inconvenience. We're trying to develop a method to replace those surgical procedures with minimally invasive kits," says the MIM CEO Adi Cohen. As women age, breasts may begin to sag, a process often accelerated by pregnancy and nursing. Mastopexy involves massive interference with both internal and external breast tissues and the procedure is expensive requiring long term recovery with potential risks and complications. Despite the risks, millions of invasive breast procedures are performed each year. Another problem with current procedures is their failure to prevent breasts from later sagging. "They last only for limited period of time after treatment," Cohen told ISRAEL21c. "Newton is around, and gravity is working, and everything is falling again - what we call ptosis." "What we've done is build a silicone bra, insert it into the body and attach it to the ribs and to the fascia. It's like a normal external bra," he continues, "where a strip lies on the shoulder and attaches around the body. We attach it to the ribs instead of to the shoulder, and to the fascia in the lower part of the body." Cohen, who served as an Israeli Air Force captain for seven years before entering the business world heard about the MIM concept from its inventor Dr. Eyal Gur, head of microsurgery at Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital. "I call it an internal bra," Gur told ISRAEL21c. "All women are looking for the right bra that will hold their breasts in the position they like or prefer aesthetically. There's an increasing trend towards buying push-up bras to enhance the upward breast pull. "So I was thinking that with a harness created from materials used in medicine - silicon, threads and very small anchoring screws - we could support breast tissue and avoid further breast sagging." The procedure is minimally invasive requiring two small openings through which the device is attached to the ribs. "It may sound scary but take a look at cosmetic and plastic surgery - that's much more invasive," said Gur. "The most prevalent procedure in the world is breast implantation. Who is the crazy woman who agreed to be the first woman to put silicone into her body? Very strange things happen within the cosmetic world and the MIM is not as crazy as it sounds; that's the end point of what I'm saying." Cohen founded MIM in 2004 as part of the Meytav technological incubator in Kiryat Shmona. Within three years they have produced a final prototype which has undergone rigorous testing. According to Gur, tests applied included strength, fatigue and endurance "because the device in the body will have to endure running, spinning bike riding." And the pigs? "There isn't a single animal tissue or organ that behaves like a female's breast, not even in monkeys," said Gur. "Since the pigskin most closely resembles human skin, we inserted silicon implants inside the pig chest wall and supported them by using our device. We were testing staying power, tissue reaction and damage or injury to muscles or ribs. The results showed the Cup&Up held in place nicely without complications; this paved the way for human clinical trials, a major juncture for the life of any company." CEO Cohen expects the trials to begin in a few months outside of Israel. MIM is considering cooperation with American plastic surgeons and with Sweden, Brazil, and India based partners. Cohen, who has years of experience working with industrial companies but none with an aesthetic treatment venture like MIM, admits he was surprised to discover the subject's popularity. He recalls discussing the MIM technique over Friday night dinner with friends. "All the women said, 'I want to be the first one!' It was like a fire in the fields! Everyone was very enthusiastic about the idea," he said. "The aesthetic market is growing rapidly; most women are willing to try things out - it's becoming like a trend." Whereas in the past only older women wanted to reshape their bodies, today teen girls are open to augmentation treatments and breast-lifts added Cohen. "We're not encouraging this trend, we are simply trying to minimize risk." "There's intense interest already," Gur concurs. "Women talk with about it as do plastic surgeons worldwide and some leading international figures are interested in cooperating with us. Statistic show that about 8% of American women who undergo breast lifts end up filing malpractice suits due to sagging. Our device is safer than breast surgery and will prevent the need for these women to undergo a second invasive procedure."

LOS ANGELES — Nicole Richie has a new baby and a new contemporary women’s clothing line. The label, Winter Kate, which will debut in spring, expands a fashion business that already includes the accessories line House of Harlow 1960 and a maternity collection, Nicole for A Pea in the Pod. The 37-piece Winter Kate line, which takes her daughter Harlow’s two middle names, will hit stores such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Ron Herman, Intermix and Kitson, beginning in February. “It feels as though I’ve always been working on this collection, but officially I started putting it together in early 2009,” said Richie, who is lying low at home after the birth last month of her son, Sparrow. “I’ve wanted to design a clothing collection for a very long time.” Richie, who has become known for her eclectic bohemian style with a Sixties and Seventies flair, said she has torn fashion pages out of magazines for years and also draws inspiration from her favorite animals, including peacocks and other birds. The line includes mostly tops, vests and bed jackets in colorful vintage-inspired silk, crepe and chiffon because these tops are a mainstay of Richie’s own wardrobe. “I probably wear the same two pairs of jeans every day as the background to a fabulous top,” she said. “Bed jackets are a staple of my wardrobe because they are a gorgeous way to give jeans and a white T-shirt a completely different look.” Also key for spring dressing are “definitely a beautiful, fun slip dress in a great print and also a leather jacket to turn the romantic day dress into an edgy night-out outfit,” Richie said. Her collection includes long slip dresses, asymmetrical short dresses, tunics and a kimono-sleeved, maxidress, which are meant to be layered with vests in cotton macramé, suede or silk, or a shrunken leather jacket. “I purposely made the slip dresses in both solids and prints,” Richie said. “Wear the prints by themselves or with a great vest or jacket and wear the solids as basics to an outfit with many layers.” Priced from $35 wholesale for a camisole to $110 for a long kimono dress, and as much as $598 for the leather pieces, the line is positioned similarly to her accessory collection, which now includes shoes for spring. “Fashion should be accessible,” Richie said. “That was my philosophy when designing House of Harlow 1960 and it remains my philosophy for Winter Kate.” Both lines, she noted, are aimed at the same customer. “She is a woman like me: She does not look at labels; she knows how to mix and match. The pieces can be dressed up, made casual, but most importantly, they provide the wearer a means of self-expression and fun.”