| EVENT REPORT 11.12.09 8:00 AM |
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A Forest of Flora Marks Launch of Louis Vuitton's Saks Boutique
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 | The garden setting for Louis Vuitton's launch at Saks Fifth Avenue
Photo: Jeff Thomas/ImageCapture |
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Like its three-part homage to Stephen Sprouse in January, Louis Vuitton's event Tuesday night was anything but subdued. The two-hour launch that heralded the French fashion house's 2010 cruise collection and its first women's concept store in North America planted guests amid a living garden of trees, foliage, and flowers on the third floor of Saks Fifth Avenue.
Hosted by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Louis Vuitton North America president and C.E.O. Daniel Lalonde, and Saks Fifth Avenue chairman and C.E.O. Stephen Sadove, the night entertained a bevy of well-heeled models, editors, and celebrities, including tennis champ Serena Williams, Vogue publisher Tom Florio, and Vanity Fair executive fashion editor Alexis Bryan Morgan.
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Louis Vuitton, Saks Fifth Avenue, Partners in Health |
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| TED KRUCKEL 03.04.09 1:45 PM |
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How to Launch a $7,000 Suit Shop
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 | Kiton's grand opening at Saks on Thursday night
Photo: Courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue |
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I have been riveted, just riveted, to news stories about the impending launch of Italian menswear manufacturer Kiton (kee-tun) at Saks Fifth Avenue, which has been in every major paper, including a piece on the front of the Business Day section of The New York Times, announcing Saks’s recent billion dollar loss.
But despite the challenging environment, Saks is embarking on its most ambitious foray into menswear ever: a seven-figure boutique for Kiton. The rub? This is a luxury brand to the extreme. Nearly every story mentioned that they were known for custom $7,000 suits. People were aghast that the store was going ahead with its plans, likening Saks suits with bailed-out bankers drunk on life at a Vegas bordello. One young lady friend of mine, disdainful of my interest, called the move “irresponsible.”
Would angry Main Streeters storm the boutique, shouting “aux les barricades"? Or maybe no one would show up, leaving the Saks and Kiton executives lonesome, fingering their finery and damning the gods. I was on my tippy-toes with anticipation.
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Saks Fifth Avenue |
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| EVENT REPORT 12.17.08 2:20 PM |
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Charity: Water Showcases Year of Growth at Third Annual Ball
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 | Interactive exhibitions at Charity: Ball
Photo: Esther Havens/Parker Young |
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Charity: Water, Scott Harrison’s upstart organization to bring clean wells to Africa and other impoverished nations, held its third annual Charity: Ball Monday night at Metropolitan Pavilion, with more than 1,500 guests in attendance. The Adrian Grenier-hosted event capped off a big year of new sponsors and partnerships for the charity and provided a financial jumping-off point for 2009.
Over the past year, Charity: Water added brands such as Miss Sixty, Wired, and Google to its growing roster of partners and held fund-raisers in New York, Los Angeles, and Denver. Monday’s ball served as an opportunity to reflect on that growth, with some of those initiatives on display at the party. One wall near the stage showcased Charity: Water’s recent programs with Saks Fifth Avenue, Brighton Collectibles, and Theory, and the money those partnerships helped raise.
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Charity: Water, Saks Fifth Avenue, Brighton Collectibles, Theory, Kodak, Google, Wired, Miss Sixty |
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| NEWS 08.27.08 12:20 PM |
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Saks, Daily Candy, and Mini Among Fashion Week Party Hosts
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 | Inside the tents at February's Fashion Week
Photo: Keith Sirchio for BizBash |
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Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is edging closer, and we've got more news on this season's slew of shows and promotions.
Among the kick-off parties slated for Thursday, September 4, is the official Mercedes-Benz gala at Saks Fifth Avenue, debuting the Wizard of Oz Ruby Slipper collection. The event, hosted by Saks and Warner Brothers Consumer Products, is in anticipation of the 70th anniversary of the musical film starring Judy Garland and will unveil designs from Abaeté, Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, and others, all inspired by Dorothy's famous red shoes. The items will be on display at the department store as well as inside the tents at Bryant Park, and will also travel to Miami Art Week in December.
Also on Thursday—the day before the tents officially open—are several presentations, including one for intimate apparel maker Yummie Tummie at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. According to The New York Post, event producer Kevin Krier is looking for exotic dancers for "a pole-dancing extravaganza." Over at Hudson Terrace, DailyCandy will celebrate the launch of its Fashion Week blog, the DailyCandy Dossier, and Elie Tahari will stage its first formal presentation in the Pool Room of the Four Seasons Restaurant.
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Fashion Week, DailyCandy, Y-3, Gen Art, Yoox, Saks Fifth Avenue, Mini, Marc Bouwer |
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| MY FAVORITE VENDORS 06.12.08 7:20 PM |
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Saks Selects Sonnier & Castle, David Stark
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 | Marguerita LaCorte Deluca
Photo: Courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue |
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In 1968, when the New York flagship store of Saks Fifth Avenue had yet to install an escalator service, Marguerita LaCorte Deluca was entering her first postcollege job as an assistant to the director of publicity. Today, Deluca is the senior director of special events and special projects, planning more than two dozen parties every year, including Key to the Cure, Brushes With Greatness, the annual holiday window unveiling, and Tuesday night’s 1,000-guest Charity: Water soiree, which Saks hosted, helping to raise more than $100,000.
Catering: “When we want food that is more than just great, that it is also detail-oriented and inspiring, we use Sonnier & Castle. Russ Sonnier and Cornelius Gallagher are so meticulous, and the end result is consistently delicious. Guests always appreciate how much Sonnier thinks outside the box, be it French, Italian, or tapas.”
Flowers: “Doro’s Annex immediately comes to mind. Sung Jung is extremely creative, and their flowers are absolutely beautiful—[and they] have stayed that way over the many years we’ve worked together. At the Four Seasons, we hosted an event for Victoria Beckham, and Sung’s presentation was stunning, so much so that Victoria was quite taken back. She loves purple, so the candles and purple floral arrangements were just the perfect touch.”
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Saks Fifth Avenue, Key to the Cure, Brushes With Greatness, Charity: Water, Mount Sinai Hospital, Blumarine |
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| EVENT REPORT 03.17.08 3:49 PM |
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Saks Takes Spring Promo on City Tour
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 | Saks's promotional bus
Photo: Courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue |
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In an effort to reach out to fashion-sensitive locals and tourists while promoting its “Want It!” campaign, Saks Fifth Avenue gave consumers free city tours on a bus branded with illustrations from the ad campaign. Covered with decals of graphic artist Piet Paris’s depictions of New York cultural institutions as statuesque fashion figures, the double-decker bus—essentially a moving billboard—set off from the retailer’s flagship location and looped around the Upper East Side, stopping at several landmark buildings along the way. The tours, which ran from Thursday, March 13, through Saturday, March 15, collected passengers at the top of every hour between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The idea behind the marketing stunt (which aimed to highlight seasonal trends from the store) was to make a visual connection between Paris’s illustrations and the iconic buildings that inspired them. Knowing that moving billboards are illegal, Saks vice president of marketing Kimberly Grabel and her team, after brainstorming for several months, opted to bypass the law by using a bus. The store’s director of advertising, Debbie Patirie, was tasked with finding the appropriate vehicle and eventually chose Gray Line, which provides charters complete with a tour guide, as well as vehicles that can be wrapped with images.
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Saks Fifth Avenue, MasterCard |
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| EVENT REPORT 08.20.07 7:21 PM |
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Saks Launches Shoe Floor With the USPS
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 | The store's windows feature the stamp designs and some of the shoes available in the new salon.
Photo: BizBash |
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Saks Fifth Avenue's new eighth-floor shoe department is designed to be quite a destination—so much so, in fact, that it has its own zip code: 10022-SHOE. The name, and the subsequent marketing initiatives around it, were dreamed up by Saks's creative team during one of the initial meetings with the floor's buyers.
The press ate it up, with stories in outlets as big as USA Today and as small as The Fillmore (Ca.) Gazette, not to mention media in India and South Africa. On Friday, the team, led by group senior vice president of marketing Terron Schaefer, completed the grand-opening festivities with a packed morning press conference and ribbon-cutting featuring Debra Messing (who is about to film a movie in the store) and sheets of designer specialty stamps created for the occasion. The ribbon itself was held by models in black dresses and designer pumps, all of which are for sale at the salon.
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Saks Fifth Avenue |
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