Candy Entices a Giant
French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton may just have bought up 34.4% of Gucci shares, but the big news here is that the giant recently purchased L.A.-based cosmetics company Hard Candy, reportedly for just under $10 million. Hard Candy founder Dineh Mohajer, 26, will remain on board as the line’s creative director.
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Jordan Branching Out: Now that’s he’s retired, what’s a sports legend to do? Michael Jordan has expanded his signature apparel line of basketball styles at Nike to include active-wear and other sports besides basketball. He expects to launch a women’s line in two years. And we thought he was going to spend more time driving the carpool for his kids.
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Student Winners: Two Santa Monica College fashion design students won awards at the state community college competition Symposium ’99. Maria Nieman of L.A. won first place in both the career- and cocktail-wear categories, as well as third place in cocktail wear. Ha Nguyen of Gardena won third place in evening wear and an honorable mention in cocktail wear.
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The Deal With Anne Klein: Career-wear firm Kasper is scheduled to buy out sportswear brand Anne Klein for an estimated $75 million. Kasper dominates the women’s suit business in stores such as Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s.
The once-formidable Anne Klein fell on hard times about 10 years ago, and even such designers as Richard Tyler and Patrick Robinson couldn’t restore it to its heyday of the ‘80s, when the line ruled.
