Apple Fans Queue at Colette for Smartwatch

PASSING THE TIME: Around 70 people queued outside Paris concept store Colette on Friday morning hoping to snag one of the first Apple watches. The first in line had been waiting since 3 p.m. the previous day, while others had joined the queue on Thursday evening, spending a chilly spring night outdoors without any certainty that the product would be available once the store opened its doors. “We read a lot of things on the Internet, approximately 1,000 watches, but with the preorders, it’s impossible to say actually how many watches they have. I’m crossing my fingers, of course,” said Lucas Dufossez, 26, a sales manager for a communications company in Belgium. Dufossez was determined to lay his hands on a stainless steel model with a Milanese Loop bracelet costing 799 euros in Europe and $699 in the United States. He decided to wait in line after being told by Apple that the product would not be available for several weeks if he ordered it online. “To be the first, that’s the most important. Personally, my order is scheduled for May 12 and I can’t wait until May 12,” he explained, adding that he had spotted the watch on celebrities in magazines. “Of course

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Lancel Celebrates Pop Range

BON VOYAGE: “Bubble gum: That’s the scent that pops to my head when I look at the bags,” exclaimed Francis Kurkdjian. The perfumer was talking about Pop – Lancel’s new line of ultra-light travel leather goods done in perky, sweet hues ranging from tourmaline yellow to cinnabar red. Before going for sale online on May 7 — a first for Lancel — the collection was presented at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo on Thursday night with Mélanie Thierry, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance and Dolores Doll among the guests. “That’s what I do,” said Marianne Romestain, Lancel’s chief executive officer. “Everywhere I go, I have to launch an e-business,” said the former Comptoir des Cotonniers and Gerard Darel executive. “The start of the actual e-commerce is slated for September,” she revealed. Romestain said she would favor a 48-hour weekender for her frequent trips to Shanghai. “I’m a good packer. One black dress, a black pair of pants, a few tops, and I’m done,” she said. Vahina Giocante already sported a tourmaline 12-hour item strapped across her shoulder. “Yellow like the sun. That’s my color. I just came back from L.A.,” said the actress, who is shooting a TV series in Portugal. “I play Mata Hari. It’s a challenging role because she

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Europe’s Stock Markets on the Rise

LONDON — Europe’s stock markets all gained ground in trading Friday morning. The FTSE MIB in Milan rose 1.5 percent to 23,545.08, followed by the DAX in Frankfurt and the CAC 40 in Paris, both up 0.6 percent to 11,797.91 and to 5,207.77 respectively. The FTSE 100 in London gained 0.4 percent to 7,081.67. Fashion, luxury and retail stocks had more of an uneven start. French Connection saw a 17 percent slump in its share price Friday, to 0.44 pounds, on the back of a profit warning. The British retailer said that its first-half retail sales performance is forecast “to be materially lower than expected,” citing “challenging conditions” during the period. While the firm reported that its wholesale performance is in line with expectations, and its licensing continues to perform strongly, it said that its financial performance for the year to January 2016 is now forecast to be “below the current market expectations.” Other fallers included MySale Group, 1.4 percent to 0.54 pounds; Aeffe, 1.7 percent to 2.38 euros; and Koovs, 2.5 percent to 0.74 pounds. Stocks that rose numbered Asos, 1.6 percent to 39.93 pounds; Brunello Cucinelli, 1.4 percent to 17.11 euros; Pandora, 3.2 percent to 717.50 Danish kronor; and Italia Independent, 2.3 percent to

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Inter Parfums SA Sales Rise 3.1% in Q1

PARIS – Inter Parfums SA reported first-quarter sales rose 3.1 percent to 77.2 million euros, or $87.1 million. At constant currency, revenues declined 6.4 percent, which the Paris-based subsidiary of Inter Parfums Inc. of New York blamed on tough comps owing to the launch of Karl Lagerfeld fragrances in the year-ago quarter, and a dramatic decline in the value of the euro this year. By brand, sales rose 72 percent for Repetto, 52 percent for Jimmy Choo, 19 percent for Montblanc and 13 percent for Boucheron. Brands in negative territory included Karl Lagerfeld, down 77 percent; Balmain 52 percent; and Paul Smith 22 percent, while Lanvin, Van Cleef & Arpels and St. Dupont registered low single-digit declines. By region, North American improved 29 percent, while European sales declined, also linked to tough comps, the company said. The French company confirmed its sales forecast for the full year of 310 million to 320 million euros. RELATED CONTENT: WWD Earnings Tracker >>

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Karl Lagerfeld To Give Master Class in Hyères

MASTER TALK: Karl Lagerfeld is to give a master class at the Villa Noailles in Hyères, France today at 5 p.m. local time. The master class will be one of the highlights of the 30th edition of the International Festival of Fashion and Photography, that runs Monday, April 27. Other highlights include a round-table on Instagram. Speakers include Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Simon Porte Jacquemus and Felipe Oliveira Baptista, who presided over the fashion jury in 2013 and is also a past Hyères winner. The awards ceremony is to take place Sunday. Lagerfeld is the festival’s artistic director this year; Virginie Viard, Chanel’s creative studio director, president of the fashion jury, and Eric Pfrunder, image director at Chanel fashion, president of the photography jury.

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Editor’s Letter: Welcome to the New Top 100 List

This list, our annual ranking of the world’s biggest beauty companies, has become a staple of the industry. Longtime devotees of the Top 100 will notice a change this year, however. In addition to the sales-based rankings and company goings-on that you have come to rely on, we’ve added a new dimension to the Top 100, providing in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis to give you a more nuanced picture of the global competitive landscape in beauty today. Our editors spent countless hours combing through the available financial data for the publicly traded companies on Beauty’s top 100, 50 in all, to compare and contrast everything from operating profit to R&D spending to shareholder equity. We also tapped outside experts, like L2, for insights into beauty’s top digital thinkers, and assessed metrics such as the number of women on the board of directors. While the numbers one, two and three companies on the list—L’Oréal, Unilever and Procter & Gamble respectively—probably won’t come as a big surprise, hopefully our Top 100 makeover will. E-mail me at jenny_fine@fairchildfashion.com and let me know what you think, and in the meantime, check out the other features in this issue, including a tour of the coolest new

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Inter Parfums Sales Down in First Quarter

Inter Parfums Inc. reported a first-quarter net sales decline of more than 10 percent, due in part to the negative impact from the strong dollar. For the three months ended March 31, company net sales decreased 10.3 percent to $109.2 million, compared with $121.7 million in the year-ago period. The company said that at comparable foreign currency exchange rates, consolidated first quarter net sales were $118.4 million. By division, its European-based product sales declined 15.2 percent to $86.7 million, while its U.S.-based product sales gained 16 percent to $22.5 million, driven by two new launches, namely Extraordinary by Oscar de la Renta and Icon by Dunhill. Jean Madar, chairman and chief executive officer of Inter Parfums, cited difficult year-over-year comparisons and the foreign exchange for the sales decline in European operations. He stated, “The decline in sales is also due in large part to the difficult comparison for the Karl Lagerfeld brand. The launch of Karl Lagerfeld’s signature scents for both men and women yielded more than $13 million in sales in 2014, as compared to brand sales of $2.5 million in 2015. With a new Karl Lagerfeld product launch scheduled for later this year, we expect to see more robust brand sales.

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‘Panorama’ Aims to Change Italian Image

MILAN — In a bid to move beyond the heaping plates of spaghetti and sprawling olive groves that shape many a tourist’s mental picture of Italy, several leading associations from the private sector have partnered with the Italian Ministry of Economic Development; trade promotion agency ICE; Simest — a company that promotes Italian business abroad; the Milan Chamber of Commerce, and the city of Milan on a special audiovisual installation called “Panorama,” to debut May 20 in Piazza Gae Aulenti. With design heavyweights the Fondazione Altagamma, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and the Salone del Mobile onboard, the coalition aims to put on a unified front for the hoards of sightseers expected in Milan for the World Expo, which begins May 1. Visitors who step inside the octagonal “Panorama” — which features a dark wood exterior, and walls more than 16 feet high — will be swept into a high definition, 360-degree view of about 300 Italian cultural, natural and manufacturing sites, including the ancient ruins of Agrigento in Sicily, and the lush red-and-gold interior of Milan’s La Scala opera house. The images were shot using drone technology, and an accompanying soundtrack will feature pieces from top Italian composers and performers. “Italy is

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Alber Elbaz On Technology at Condé Nast International Luxury Conference

FLORENCE — Alber Elbaz is hoping that sharing the experience of being a speaker at the same conference with David Lauren will finally help him get a table at the ever fully booked Ralph Lauren restaurant in Paris. This was only one of the several jokes by Lanvin’s artistic director on the second day of the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference here Thursday. Responding to whether computers will ever replace the creative mind of a fashion designer, Elbaz peppered his speech with his own difficult brush with technology. Here, a few of his anecdotes and stories: —Referring to the wearable high-tech T-shirt that Lauren, executive vice president of global advertising, marketing and corporate communications at Ralph Lauren Corp., was wearing to illustrate his heartbeat, Elbaz said: “I would spend half of my time in the emergency room if I were wearing that.” —“I was recently at a garden party in Dubai meant for 200 clients and 400 showed up, and 387 selfies [were taken] in three hours. Out of 387 people, statistically 5 percent have the flu. I am a hypochondriac…” —“I stayed in this 17th century hotel with a modern smart room. It took me 30 minutes just to figure out how to switch

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Bangladesh Remembers Rana Plaza, Two Years On

These last 24 months in Dhaka have been a prime example of the gamut that emotions can run. From horror — as the eight-story Rana Plaza collapsed on April 24, 2013, killing 1,135 garment workers — to helplessness, to suffering, to collective action, to planning, to correction and everything in between. And in many of these varying emotions, the garment industry in Bangladesh found resonance across the world. The resonance is particularly strong this week, as tears are welling up in memory, and prayers sung, just short of the second anniversary of Rana Plaza on Friday. It is also a week of intense introspection; talking about compensation payments that have not been completed, rehabilitation gone awry, discussions in which change and the vision for growth in the next three years have come into sharper focus. Garment workers, who spent months demanding justice — and the arrests of the owners of the five factories housed in Rana Plaza as well as its owner, Sohel Rana — have paid special attention to the judicial system in Dhaka this week, which is grinding on. Last week, the investigating officer for the Rana Plaza case asked the court for more time before filing the charge sheet against the 21 people

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Bottega Veneta Does Residential Project

MILAN — Bottega Veneta has partnered with a real estate developer for the first time, designing the grand lobby and all common areas inside a Berlin luxury residence by Ralf Schmitz, a German firm known for its upscale property developments. Since its inception in 1864, the company has remained family-run and worked on upwards of 2,500 properties. With architecture by Sebastian Treese Architects, the new residence, called Eisenzahn 1, is located in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf West Berlin neighborhood and slated to open in fall 2016. Spread across six floors, the building is comprised of 11 living spaces and one full-floor penthouse with a private rooftop terrace; at 5,035 square feet and 8.5 million euros, or $9.16 million at current exchange, that’s the most expensive of the bunch. Prices for the other residences start at 2.2 million euros, or $2.35 million, and the smallest is 2,067 square feet. An entire floor level was scrapped to allow for ceilings nearly 11 feet high, and any of the residences can be fully outfitted in Bottega Veneta home decor, upon request. Daniel Schmitz, managing director of Ralf Schmitz and the great-great-grandson of its founder, said he was familiar with work Bottega Veneta creative director Tomas Maier had

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Fashion and Beauty Book Spring Releases

From witty novels to helpful how-tos, a slew of new fashion and beauty books are hitting shelves this spring.

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Service Safari: New Beauty Services in New York

Beauty editorial assistant Anna Dysinger scopes out the surge of new beauty services in New York. PH7 NAIL COUTURE Opened: July 28 When Cici Huang got pregnant and stopped using nail polishes with chemicals, she couldn’t find a nontoxic salon in Williamsburg. Thus was born pH7 Nail Couture (the name refers to the pH balance of pure water), which Huang opened with her sister-in-law, Helen Ke. The all-natural nail salon uses only three- and five-free polishes from lines like RGB, Butter London and Shewasi Lacquer; organic soy wax and Calgel, a gas-permeable gel system that enables moisture to get to the nail bed. 227 Grand Street, Brooklyn; 718.218.8586 BEAUTYRX PEEL BAR Opened: October 17 Nestled in a bright corner of the Butterfly Studio Salon is Dr. Neil Schultz’s BeautyRX Peel Bar, where consumers can receive his signature 40 percent glycolic peel at a fraction of the price — just $50, compared to $225 in-office. The service is super fast and simple — a nurse removes any makeup, then applies the glycolic peel with a cotton ball, leaves it on for two minutes and rinses it with water. The formula is gentle enough for sensitive skin and doesn’t require time to recoup. Says Dr. Schultz, “This is a

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Taylor Schilling Promotes ‘The Overnight’ at TriBeCa

“Girl…I’ve been taped in securely. It’s a whole situation,” Taylor Schilling is talking about her boobs, which anyone who’s a fan of “Orange Is the New Black” has already seen many times over. The actress is at the Smyth downtown in a hotel room that has been cleared of its contents and staged with directors’ chairs and a TriBeCa Film Festival-branded step and repeat. Schilling is there along with her costar Judith Godrèche to promote “The Overnight,” showing at the festival. The film first made its rounds in January at Sundance, where it sparked a minor bidding war among six buyers including Netflix and Lionsgate (The Orchard ended up paying $4 million for it.) In the film, Adam Scott and Schilling play Alex and Emily, a couple hoping to recruit new friends having just relocated to east Los Angeles from Seattle. They meet Kurt — a suave and self-assured hipster played expertly by Jason Schwartzman — when their sons share a bag of gummy worms at a local playground. After a few minutes of chit-chat, Kurt invites the couple over for pizza later that night, a nighttime playdate for the boys and a get-to-know-you meal for the grown-ups (consummately L.A., the pizza

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Estée Lauder Unveils New Dimension Line Fronted By Eva Mendes

Estée Lauder wants to transform the beauty landscape with its latest offering, the aptly titled New Dimension collection. Fronted by actress Eva Mendes, the two skin-care products, New Dimension Shape + Fill Expert Serum and New Dimension Expert Liquid Tape, will be launched in North America in May and worldwide in September. Lauder will also debut two contouring compacts, the Shape + Sculpt Face Kit and the Shape + Sculpt Eye Kit. “Women have many dimensions. The new vision of beauty goes beyond skin to the whole face,” said Estée Lauder global brand president Jane Hertzmark Hudis. “The notion of structure and volume being the new beauty and wanting to look good from every angle are big ideas in our industry. It’s not about problem-solution, it’s about positive transformation.” Said Mendes, “When you’re on a red carpet, you’re photographed from every angle and you can’t control that. But if you have products you love, once you go out there, you don’t worry as much. It’s a confidence booster.” Referring to the collection’s development and testing, which took two-and-a-half years, Hudis said, “Everything about it has been crafted differently.” The skin care is designed to work on multiple levels to plump and smooth skin from

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Backstage Confidential: Odile Gilbert, La Visionnaire

Genius hairstylist Odile Gilbert has been a staple backstage at fashion shows since her first with John Galliano in 1994. Anna Dysinger shadowed the Parisian-born star at New York Fashion Week to get her take on the season’s key beauty trends. Karlie Kloss glides into the backstage hair area 30 minutes before the Jason Wu show is scheduled to start. Odile Gilbert, the epitome of comfort in black stirrup leggings from The Row and black UGG Australia slippers, whisks the supermodel into a chair and begins methodically wrapping small sections of her hair around a curling iron, chatting away with the leggy beauty like an old friend. Gilbert’s hands move meticulously at a rapid-fire pace, but she notes that the loose, wavy hairstyle is much more arduous than an intricate updo. “It’s often more difficult because it’s simple,” she says. “Natural hair has more movement and is alive.” A throng of photographers, editors, bloggers and other camera-wielding media folk close in, eager for a money shot of the duo. A petite male photographer with three cameras slung around his neck aims and shoots, holding down the shutter-release button so his camera sounds like a machine gun. Gilbert gives him a threatening sideways

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Miu Miu Opens in Miami Design District

MIAMI HEAT: Miu Miu, which has operated a boutique at Bal Harbour Shops since 2009, is adding to the sizzle in the Miami Design District with a shop that opened Thursday. Architect Roberto Baciocchi designed the bi-level, 5,435-square-foot store at 190 NE 39th Street. A perforated metal curtain backs its glass facade adorned with light boxes and geometric bands in black marble. The store is a mélange of textures: Gold damask and floor-to-ceiling mirrors cover walls on the ground floor, which is divided into three rooms dedicated to handbags, accessories and shoes. Damask also lines display cases framed in polished steel. A black marble staircase leads to a similar setting for women’s ready-to-wear, while beige carpeting, a painted canvas ceiling and velvet mohair seating soften the decor for an elegant effect.

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Sally Hershberger, Doug Lloyd Talk Sephora Launch

Spend an hour with Sally Hershberger and it quickly becomes clear that the star stylist is kind of like the Forrest Gump of hair—a key playmaker at pivotal moments in beauty history. Break the price barrier with an $800 haircut? Check. Give Jane Fonda a gasp-inducing shag cut for her first post-divorce Academy Awards appearance? Check. Conceive category-killer ideas for John Frieda hair care. Make Hillary Clinton look cool on the cover of Vogue? Colonize the Meatpacking district before it became a bridge-and-tunnel playground. Check, check and check. But now, Hershberger is channeling her time, (personal) money and energy into 24K, her line of styling products that is available online and on HSN and set to launch in Sephora in July. Meanwhile, Hershberger’s namesake mass-market line is being scaled back, which she acknowledges only makes sense for a woman who now charges new clients $1,000 for a haircut. “This is me,” she says. “This is what I want to do. I am luxury.” Here, WWD Beauty Inc spends a few minutes with Hershberger and Doug Lloyd, the branding guru and cofounder of Lloyd & Co., who is working with Hershberger on the creative realization of the brand. Beauty Inc.: How did

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Tabitha Soren’s ‘Fantasy Life’ Photo Exhibition Opening in L.A.

Tabitha Soren might know a thing or two about living a fantasy life. She once held the gaze of millions of viewers at MTV News, appeared in a Gap ad and married a best-selling author, yet it was only when she stepped from in front of the camera to behind one that she began to grasp the potential for not only her own life, but most of America’s. In her photography exhibition titled “Fantasy Life” that opens Saturday at Los Angeles’ Kopeikin Gallery, Soren uses baseball as a metaphor for the uniquely American concept of Manifest Destiny, which, in her words, “propels us all to feel like we need to do something extraordinary.” She started by taking pictures of the Oakland Athletics’ draft class in 2003 and tracking their successes and failures through the years. (Three still play on Major League Baseball teams, another is homeless and the rest have found new livelihoods in coaching, stonemasonry, coal mining, wineries and insurance.) She even forced them to swap their Nike and Under Armour-branded clothes for plain white tank tops so her photos wouldn’t look cluttered. When boredom in the dugout moved her to experiment with taking an abstract image of bugs and

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Spring’s Most Innovative Sunscreen Products

Sunscreen is a red-hot category. For the 12 months ending February 2015, sun-care products grew 4 percent, outpacing the prestige skin-care market, according to NPD. Here, some of spring’s most innovative launches. Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Cream For Face, $36 Shiseido developed a proprietary WetForce technology for its new sun-care line, which strengthens the sunscreen when it gets wet by forming a water-repellant layer. Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Eventone Suncare Moisturizing Sunscreen Balm, $6 Palmer’s first line of sunscreen includes this solid-to-oil balm that melts on contact with skin. The ultramoisturizing formula blends cocoa butter, shea butter and coconut oil. L’Oréal Paris Advanced Suncare Invisible Protect Clear Cool Lotion, $10.99 The clear formula is infused with antioxidants like vitamin E and white grape seed and provides an instant cooling effect, said to reduce the skin’s temperature by four degrees. Supergoop! Defense Refresh Setting Mist with Rosemary, $28 Developed as a three-in-one, this mist sets makeup, controls oil with silica and protects against UV rays. Eau Thermale Avène Ultra-Light Hydrating Sunscreen Lotion Spray, $30 European skin-care brand Avène has launched its first sunscreen line specifically for the U.S. In addition to UVA and UVB protection, thermal spring water soothes skin. Neutrogena Cooldry Sport with Micromesh Sunscreen Spray, $11.99 The nongreasy spray uses sweat-resistant technology that

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