Friday, September 30, 2011

Thelonious Monk

Isaac, meet Xcel...







Isaac, meet Xcel.

Isaac Mizrahi has a new backer in Xcel Brands Inc., which has acquired the designer’s licensing business for $31.5 million.

At the same time as buying Mizrahi’s company, IM Ready-Made LLC, Xcel will go public through a reverse merger agreement with NetFabrics Holdings Inc., essentially a publicly held shell company traded on the pink sheets. The newly merged entity, renamed Xcel Brands, will be a publicly held brand licensing and management company whose priority will be the acquisition of brands having a strong interactive media presence and the ability to utilize a multichannel distribution strategy.

Under the terms of the Mizrahi agreement, Xcel will pay the designer $31.5 million at closing, which includes a combination of cash, a seller note and the issuance of Xcel common stock valued at $13.8 million. Xcel also agreed to an earn-out arrangement with the designer that calls for an additional amount up to $32.70 in cash or stock, subject to achieving certain minimums in royalties generated by the Isaac Mizrahi trademarks over a four-year period.

The acquisition marks a comeback for Xcel Brands’ chief executive officer Robert D’Loren — and the fourth backer for Mizrahi during his career.

D’Loren is best known for securitization deals that to this day are still unparalleled in the intellectual property field — and that have had a somewhat controversial history.

In D’Loren’s securitization deals, including the $25 million bond securitization of the Bill Blass trademarks in 1999, investment-grade bonds were backed by the income streams associated with the brand’s intellectual property. The cash flow from accounts receivable are first used to pay operating expenses, with the excess income earmarked to pay down the note.

Mizrahi, who will serve as chief designer, said, “We’ve spent nearly a year working closely with Bob D’Loren and look forward to joining him at Xcel. I’m pleased to be such a significant shareholder in the company, and believe that we are poised for growth.”

The transaction is the latest in a series of changes for Mizrahi, first with Chanel until they parted company in 1998, and then a collection at Target that ended in 2008, even though annual volume was estimated at $300 million a year.

The colorful and opinionated Mizrahi has a daily Web series featuring his take on cooking, style and fashion, at watchisaac.com. There’s also a media presence via isaacmizrahiny.com, where visitors to the site can watch the designer’s video blogs.

Mizrahi’s licensing business includes the lifestyle collection, IsaacMizrahiLIVE, which is sold at home shopping specialist QVC, and Liz Claiborne New York, also sold at QVC, in which Mizrahi is the creative director per a design agreement. The main Liz Claiborne line, in which Mizrahi has no involvement, is sold exclusively at J.C. Penney.

Market sources estimate that royalty income for Mizrahi totals at least $10 million annually.

Mizrahi’s high-end Collection line, not part of the Xcel acquisition, will likely be phased out and repositioned as a licensing business. He has shown that collection in the past during New York Fashion Week but did not show this season.

Current plans are for additional licensing agreements for different apparel lines, footwear and home categories to launch at better retailers in fall 2012. -WWD

http://www.XcelBrands.com/




Thursday, September 29, 2011

Carven

The edit...

























On the Street, Milan...

Featured on Elle.com

































Eric Carle




Eric Carle is acclaimed and beloved as the creator of brilliantly illustrated and innovatively designed picture books for very young children. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has eaten its way into the hearts of literally millions of children all over the world and has been translated into more than 50 languages and sold over 33 million copies. Since the Caterpillar was published in 1969, Eric Carle has illustrated more than seventy books, many best sellers, most of which he also wrote, and more than 110 million copies of his books have sold around the world.

Born in Syracuse, New York, in 1929, Eric Carle moved with his parents to Germany when he was six years old; he was educated there, and graduated from the prestigious art school, the Akademie der bildenden Künste, in Stuttgart. But his dream was always to return to America, the land of his happiest childhood memories. So, in 1952, with a fine portfolio in hand and forty dollars in his pocket, he arrived in New York. Soon he found a job as a graphic designer in the promotion department of The New York Times. Later, he was the art director of an advertising agency for many years.

One day, respected educator and author, Bill Martin Jr, called to ask Carle to illustrate a story he had written. Martin’s eye had been caught by a striking picture of a red lobster that Carle had created for an advertisement. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was the result of their collaboration. It is still a favorite with children everywhere. This was the beginning of Eric Carle’s true career. Soon Carle was writing his own stories, too. His first wholly original book was 1,2,3 to the Zoo, followed soon afterward by the celebrated classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Eric Carle’s art is distinctive and instantly recognizable. His art work is created in collage technique, using hand-painted papers, which he cuts and layers to form bright and cheerful images. Many of his books have an added dimension—die-cut pages, twinkling lights as in The Very Lonely Firefly, even the lifelike sound of a cricket’s song as in The Very Quiet Cricket - giving them a playful quality: a toy that can be read, a book that can be touched. Children also enjoy working in collage and many send him pictures they have made themselves, inspired by his illustrations. He receives hundreds of letters each week from his young admirers.

The secret of Eric Carle’s books’ appeal lies in his intuitive understanding of and respect for children, who sense in him instinctively someone who shares their most cherished thoughts and emotions.

The themes of his stories are usually drawn from his extensive knowledge and love of nature—an interest shared by most small children. Besides being beautiful and entertaining, his books always offer the child the opportunity to learn something about the world around them. It is his concern for children, for their feelings and their inquisitiveness, for their creativity and their intellectual growth that, in addition to his beautiful artwork, makes the reading of his books such a stimulating and lasting experience.

Carle says: “With many of my books I attempt to bridge the gap between the home and school. To me home represents, or should represent; warmth, security, toys, holding hands, being held. School is a strange and new place for a child. Will it be a happy place? There are new people, a teacher, classmates—will they be friendly?

I believe the passage from home to school is the second biggest trauma of childhood; the first is, of course, being born. Indeed, in both cases we leave a place of warmth and protection for one that is unknown. The unknown often brings fear with it. In my books I try to counteract this fear, to replace it with a positive message. I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun.”

Eric Carle has two grown-up children, a son and a daughter. With his wife Barbara, he divides his time between the Florida Keys and the hills of North Carolina.

The Window

Amanda Brooks recaps Milan...





http://thewindow.barneys.com/amandas-lookbook-live-from-milan/

Paule Ka

Fall Winter 2011 Campaign shot at the Carlyle Hotel in NYC, featured on Habitually Chic...






















Sunday, September 25, 2011

Prada

The edit...



















Fendi

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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Erdem

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