New Top Brass Turn Out for Launching of Lacroix ‘Luxe’ Line
It seemed unlikely that the rather stern-looking gentleman in the standard-issue gray suit and striped tie was there to buy a Christian Lacroix dress.
No, Edward S. Finkelstein, forsaking a chair and leaning against a back wall to watch the launching of Lacroix’s fall “Luxe” collection at Bullocks Wilshire, had just bought the entire store.
Finkelstein is chairman of R.H. Macy & Co. The sale of Bullocks Wilshire was included in Macy’s recently completed deal to purchase Bullock’s and I. Magnin from Campeau Corp. for just over $1 billion.
Low Profile
Finkelstein, asking not to be photographed, was clearly trying to maintain a low profile after his highly public battle to wrest Federated department stores from Campeau.
In contrast was Rosemary Bravo, the newly named chairman and chief executive officer of I. Magnin, which is being fused with Bullocks Wilshire. Bravo, making her first inspection of the landmark building on Wilshire Boulevard, grabbed a front-row seat, put her Chanel bag in her lap and eagerly followed the French program notes.
Wearing a tan poplin Anne Klein suit and flat, black patent leather pumps, Bravo sighed “stunning,” “gorgeous” and “ faaabulous “ as the pricey, thigh-high confections passed before her.
Lacroix, of course, is the Paris designer who was crowned King of Paris last year by Women’s Wear Daily. This season, the fashion journal seems to have dethroned him, identifying women who wear his ornate, pouf-skirt dresses as “fashion victims.”
As for the audience of prospective buyers, including newscaster Kelly Lange, model’s agent Nina Blanchard and cosmetics entrepreneur Gale Hayman (who bought a short, black, double-breasted coatdress for $4,200, an $800 leopard hat and a $500 leopard belt), well, they didn’t actually applaud until the first trousers appeared. Specifically, a gray, wide-legged trousers suit with Mongolian lamb sleeves.
Prices of Lacroix’s Luxe edition (less expensive than his couture, more expensive than his ready-to-wear), start at $3,500 and top out at $12,000, although Bullocks Wilshire will make alterations at no charge. (Lacroix’s ready-to-wear collection, priced from $600 to $3,000, arrives in July.)
Booked for Three Days
A Bullocks Wilshire spokesperson says it is booked for three days solid with appointments for try-ons. Nevertheless, the repeatedly asked question of the day was: “How much is it?”
“I’m waiting for Victor Costa,” said Terry Stanfill, international representative for Christie’s auction house, after hearing the price of the navy-blue georgette dress she coveted. “Seven thousand, five hundred; I have never spent that much for a dress or anywhere near that. When I think of what kind of art that would buy--that would buy a 17th-Century drawing.”
“Are you crazy?” Nina Blanchard asked. “I can’t afford these. Maybe on sale.”
Meanwhile, Inge Licht and Phyllis Tabach were inspecting the dresses up close. “The fabrics are to die for,” Licht said.
“I can afford to buy, but I’m not going to,” Tabach said. “They’re gorgeous, but they’re much too short. They’re going to be dated in another year.”
Besides possessing stunning, superstar looks, Paulina Porizkova has developed a reputation for saying what she wants, when she wants. The word is blunt.
Now that she is the new “face” of Estee Lauder cosmetics, with an exclusive advertising contract reportedly for $6 million--beginning with this month’s national launch of Knowing perfume--she isn’t planning to start mincing words.
“They took me for what I am,” said Porizkova, dragging on a Merit Ultra Light cigarette during a photo shoot with Victor Skrebneski, who has photographed Lauder’s ads for 25 years.
Porizkova said the cosmetics company hasn’t tried to censor her--nor would she have signed the contract if they had--although there was one request made of her. “They said, ‘Please, Paulina, keep away from the “f” word,’ ” she said. So far, she has complied.
Spicing Things Up
After all, the 5-foot-11 supermodel is supposed to spice things up at the venerable cosmetics company, but not in that way. The shapely Porizkova, who is as famous for her Sports Illustrated swimsuit layouts as for her Vogue covers, was the face and body chosen to breathe vitality and glamour into the venerable and somewhat staid cosmetics house.
The arrangement is for “an undecided amount of years,” Porizkova said, because “if it’s not working, they’re not going to keep me on.”
Once, the Czech-born beauty says, she was “tall and thin, had no self-confidence and never had a date.” Now Skrebneski is calling her “a classic beauty . . . easy to shoot.”
“This gives me enough money so I don’t have to do anything else,” the model said with characteristic straightforwardness. “That’s why everyone wants a contract. It’s a minimum amount of work for the maximum amount of money.”
