Changes are coming to Michael Kors. In light of continued sales woes and weaker than expected third quarter sales, and paired with concerns that the company's efforts to reinvigorate its brand are taking much longer than expected, the New York-based brand has announced that it will reduce promotional activity across retail and wholesale channels in the U.S.
According to CEO John Idol, the brand will significantly increase digital marketing to further fuel its fast-growing ecommerce business globally. It’s impending cut-down promotional activity in retail and wholesale channels is expected to hurt net sales in 2018, says Idol, but such declines are expected to moderate in 2019.
Sales have been weaker than anticipated in North America and Europe and will continue in thein vein, according to the brand, at least partly due to fewer shoppers visiting malls. Sales will also be impacted by anticipated market volatility in Europe throughout the calendar year.
In addition to its shift in marketing – which Idol does not “believe any of our competitors are taking this level of stance as it relates to walking away from the promotional activity" – Kors says it plans to increase penetration of footwear in its most0visited stores. The company also plans to roll out a new online vintage prom dresses shop, which is scheduled to launch this fall; it is focused expanding its dresses and menswear divisions. Moreover, the brand is looking to invest in its online business and reduce supplies to department stores, which have been discounting heavily to bring back shoppers.
Despite the aforementioned goals, not everyone is convinced that the brand is headed for positive results in the near future. "As much as we believe that Michael Kors is headed in the right direction ... we maintain our view that it has much more work to do in reconnecting with customers who have been alienated by the overexpansion of the brand," Neil Saunders, managing director of research firm GlobalData Retail, told Reuters.
Former White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett has signed with CAA. Her responsibilities during her eight years in President Barack Obama's administration included overseeing the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and chairing the White House Council on Women and Girls. She also was appointed to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' board of trustees. Before then, she served as CEO of The Habitat Company, chair of the Chicago Transit Board and deputy chief of staff for Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. The former lawyer also has served as director on several boards, including as chair of the board for the Chicago Stock Exchange and chair of the University of Chicago Medical Center board of trustees.
CAA also has hired veteran radio programmer Michael Bryan for a newly created role. Bryan, who most recently served as senior vp programming for iHeartMedia in Nashville, will remain in Music City to work as an agent focusing on artist development and artist brand strategy.
Publicity for promotions
Relevant PR has elevated Alex Kahn, who has been with the firm since its 2014 founding, to senior publicist. Her clients include Pedro Pascal, Finn Wittrock and Kristen Wiig.
Relevant also has promoted Kristine Martinez, who has been working under co-founder Evelyn Karamanos, to junior publicist.
If signing you is wrong
If Loving You Is Wrong actress April Parker-Jones has signed with TLS Agency for personal appearances and endorsements. The actress, who plays Natalie on the Tyler Perry drama, continues to be represented by theatrical agent Michael Greene at Greene & Associates and by manager Tom Bixby at Bodhi Entertainment.
Before women like movie star Melissa McCarthy, Chrissy Metz of NBC’s “This Is Us” and Whitney Thore of TLC’s “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” became widely embraced personalities, Josefina Lopez wrote a play titled “Real Women Have Curves.”
Lopez’s 1994 comedy, made into a 2002 movie that marked America Ferrera’s film debut, is about many things. Its subjects include the fears of undocumented immigrants and the hard-to-shake unease of those now legal, the hardships of subsistence labor, dreams of a better future, thorny relationships and the camaraderie of women.
But the play, which marks the first professional production in the 43-year history of Main Street Players in Miami Lakes, also advances arguments that McCarthy, Metz, Thore and others embody: self-acceptance, pride and a shedding of limitations at any size.
When “Real Women” was done in 2007 by the Women’s Theatre Project in Fort Lauderdale, Carbonell Award-nominated actress Vanessa Elise played Ana, a recent high school graduate with dreams of leaving her Mexican-American community in Los Angeles for college in New York and a future career as a writer.
Fast forward a decade to the show at the Main Street Playhouse, and with the help of aging makeup and a swath of gray added at her hairline, Elise is now playing Ana’s strong-willed mother Carmen. Her transformation is warm, moving and persuasive, not because of those external touches but because she’s such an engaging and authentic performer.
Staged by Elise’s fellow New World School of the Arts grad Tatyana-Marie Carlo, “Real Women Have Curves” features a five-woman ensemble, each actress adept at handling the script’s comedy and its occasional touches of pathos.
Carmen’s daughters, both played by New World grads, are the 24-year-old entrepreneur Estella and aspiring writer Ana.
Icela Marliese’s Estella starts out too frantic but grows even more so. Running a tiny business sewing $13-per-unit dresses that will retail for $200 at Bloomingdale’s, Estella is running behind on the latest order. She can’t get paid — nor pay her mother, sister and two other workers — until the dresses get delivered. Unlike the others, she’s still undocumented, so she keeps the doors and windows of her stifling mini-factory in a bad neighborhood tightly shut in case La Migra — agents from the Immigration and Naturalization Service — should come poking around. The result? A literal sweatshop.
Marcela Paguaga is the production’s Ana, narrator, feminist and writer-to-be. Looking a bit like Sarah Silverman, Paguaga communicates Ana’s youthful naivete and her forcefulness, yet she slips comfortably back into the ensemble when another character is occupying the spotlight.
In addition to Carmen and Ana, Estella employs Pancha (Rei Capote) and Rosali (Amber Lynn Benson). Pancha’s deepest sorrow is that she’s married but can’t have children, a matter she takes up in a prayerful lament to God, which Capote turns into one of the play’s most moving moments. Benson’s cheerful Rosali, the slimmest of the five, has taken to extreme dieting, leading to a sudden crisis.
The issues Lopez raises in “Real Women” are threaded organically through the play, which also makes plenty of time for the chisme (gossip) that gets the women through their long, sweltering days. There’s a running gag about the green mole Carmen keeps trying to push on her cringing family and coworkers. The play is in English, but the women’s conversation is peppered with Spanish words and expressions that add more flavor in bilingual South Florida.
Near the end of the show, the women — actresses of many shapes and sizes — boldly strip down to their undies. Pragmatically, the seamstresses are trying to cool off. But at a deeper level, they’re celebrating feeling free, empowered, accepted by the others and themselves.
Main Street Players has been building toward its switch from community theater to professional company for many years. Yes, some small technical glitches made opening night not quite flawless. But from the work of director Carlo and the design team (set designer Amanda Sparhawk, lighting designer Marcelo Ferreira, costume designer Angelina Esposito and technical director Dennis Lyzniak) to the performances of a strong cast, “Real Women Have Curves” makes for an engaging, impressive transition.
The marriage of Elizabeth Lee Chappell, daughter of Kay and Gie Chappell of Carson, to Christopher Tyler Simmons, son of Chris Simmons of South Hill and Anita Simmons of Lawrenceville, took place at 10 a.m. on January 7, 2017.
Escorted by her father, the bride wore her mother's wedding gown. The gown was designed by the mother of the bride in 1986 and re-designed by the bride with creative assistance from seamstress Earline Rainer-Jeanes. The gown featured imported candlelight silk satin with a fitted skirt and fitted off-the-shoulder bodice appliqued with French point d'Alencon lace and seed pearls. Her headpiece was a simple layer veil accented with sparkling crystal details. She carried a simple bouquet of lavender and rye.
Sallie Chappell, sister of the bride, was the Maid of Honor. Brittney Chappell, sister-in-law of the bride, was the Matron of Honor. Best Men were Brendan Craig and Keegan Newton, friends of the groom.
The wedding and reception were held at the Union Train Station of Petersburg. Assisted by her family, Lori Chappell was the Mistress of Ceremonies. Music was provided by Hermon Maclin. Photography was provided by Rashid (Sheed) Hines and Ta'Ree Brown. The reception was catered by River's Bend Grill with pastries provided by Buttermilk Bake Shop.
After a honeymoon in the Florida Keys, the couple will reside in Blacksburg, Virginia. Following graduation from Virginia Tech in May, 2017 the groom will be an officer in the Navy. The bride is a graduate of Liberty University and is employed by Montessori Infant Nido Environment in Blacksburg.
The bride is the granddaughter of Larry and Betty Ann Tucker of Petersburg and Carol Chappell of Carson. The groom is the grandson of John and Greta Clay of Alberta and Mabel Jane Simmons of South Hill.
Angelia DiAntonio of Louisville and Tobias Becker of Cuyahoga Falls were married Oct. 15, 2016, at St. Peter Catholic Church, by the Fr. Edward L. Beneleit.
Parents of the bride are Anthony and Janice DiAntonio of Louisville. Parents of the groom are Bernd and Heidi Becker of Hasel, Germany.
The maid of honor was Victoria Ranalli, friend of the bride. The bridesmaids were friends of the bride, Julie Evanoff, Elizabeth Banks, Brittany Padgett, Stephanie Hillensbeck, Sarah Leaman, and Dorothy Klein.
The best man was Jonathon Minelli, friend of the groom. The groomsmen were friends of the groom, Michael Marvin, Caleb Gaffney, and Dale Banas; and brothers of the bride, Marc DiAntonio, John DiAntonio, and Nicholas DiAntonio.
A reception was held at Santangelo's Party Center in Massillon. Following the wedding, the couple honeymooned in Hawaii.
The bride graduated from Louisville High School and Kent State University; and is employed by Patriot Software.
The groom graduated from Mission Hills High School and Kent State University, and is employed by MRI Software.
Despite the ubiquity of celebrities with political opinions, and celebrities on red carpets — civil disobedience on a step-and-repeat is still pretty rare.
But leave it to a porn star to buck the trend. On Saturday night, at the 2017 AVN Awards, a.k.a. the “porn Oscars,” held just off the Las Vegas strip at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, adult-film performer Jessica Drake brought her Trump protest to the carpet.
Drake — who has accused Donald Trump of kissing her without consent in 2006 and offering her $10,000 to be his date to dinner — walked the carpet last night in a gown made to look like a burned American flag, and a red clutch that read #notmypresident.
“When he said that anyone that burns an American flag deserves to lose their citizenship and be in prison, I got the idea to wear this pink prom dresses,” Drake told the Cut on the red carpet at the AVNs. “Obviously it is not an actual flag, but I want to get attention and to get people to think. If people are patriotic enough to be upset about what I’m wearing, then surely they are patriotic enough to know that the First Amendment gives me the right to wear it.”
Drake, who was nominated at the AVNs for Best Actress, arrived at the red carpet from the airport. She’d spent the morning in Washington, D.C., marching and attending a press conference alongside her attorney Gloria Allred, and three other women who had also accused Trump of sexual assault — Temple Taggart, Summer Zervos, Rachel Crooks.
“I marched for LGBT rights, black lives matter, the rights of sex workers, immigrants,” Drake said. “I think it is important that we hold the new administration accountable, and we really have to be on the ball with it, and this was a really great example, the potential in the situation, and that they will be heard.”
Shortly after the press conference, Drake joined the Women’s March on Washington, and told the Cut it left her feeling optimistic.
“The march was bigger than anything I have ever been a part of, and everyone was just really united and it was just so supportive and so kind and the march was so big and so promising,” Drake said.
Drake said the event gave her a chance to meet Taggart, Zervos, and Crooks, and discuss their own experiences and the harassment they have faced after coming forward with their allegations against Trump.
“We acknowledged our own individual experiences that are so related and so similar,” Drake said. “And I just thanked them, and said, I’m here for them if they ever want to talk, if it ever gets to be too much, we’re all really strong, and that you can only read so many shitty things about you on the internet before it bothers you.”
Trump has flatly denied all of Drake’s and the other women’s allegations. But Drake said Trump’s response to her allegations, in which he suggested that as a porn star it was not unusual to be grabbed by men, motivated her to protest.
“As a sex worker, to have him counter with, ‘Oh, she’s a porn star, I’m sure she’s been grabbed before,’ — like that makes it okay, and sex workers and porn stars can’t be assaulted. It was really harmful. I was really offended, and it is still one of the driving factors in what I’m doing today — to keep talking about it.”
When you are Diane von Furstenberg, known to one and all as simply DVF, this is how you recruit your new designer: During the interview, you hang upside down off a stately chintz sofa at London’s Claridge’s hotel while your potential hire, Jonathan Saunders, lies stretched out beside you. You chat for an hour, maybe two, perhaps three—because, really, who’s counting when you’re having fun? Ebullient, fearless, colorful (both aesthetically and temperamentally), and never given to play by the rules: Saunders and von Furstenberg have more similarities than differences. “Jonathan’s confidence in his vision is impressive,” she says. “And the phrase hands-on was invented for him.” No surprise, then, that he got the job—freeing up the label’s founder to take a step back to focus on her philanthropic endeavors.
Last June, Saunders, who shuttered his own label in 2015, decamped with Justin, his husband-to-be, and his equally beloved Staffie-mix dog to live in a foliage-covered West Village town house. Every day he went to work facing the same question: How to reimagine DVF, the label, so that it could be heard in today’s cacophonous world, especially given the noise it has made with one proto-feminist sold-by-the-gazillions wrap dress that DVF, the woman, created way back in 1974? His answer: Turn up the volume. What Saunders has done is a mood-enhancing mix of intensely hued graphic- and floral-pattered silk, knit, and crepe de Chine, scissored and spliced every which way. It’s an homage to what the label has always stood for—“effortless, optimistic, and sensual,” he says—without being too referential or reverential; that iconic dress is still present, but he has given it an imaginative new slant, slyly hinting at its diagonal closure through the use of color blocking, or by placing two contrasting patterns side by side on the bias. “I love women; I love understanding how they feel about how they dress,” says Saunders. “You want that emotional connection.” Like I said, they’re very alike.
All Bell County high school senior girls are invited to attend the mentorship event.
The Healthy Prom Prep class will include a presentation by Dr. Shannon Brown, dermatology resident with Baylor Scott & White. Brown will discuss skincare and beauty products, and the dangers of tanning beds.
A nutritionist will educate the girls about healthy ways to prepare for prom with proper diet and exercise.
To conclude, the girls will participate in a barre workout class in the youth club dance room. Barre combines strength training and cardio using movements and postures from disciplines like ballet, yoga and Pilates.
The girls are encouraged to wear workout attire to the class.
Project Prom assists financially disadvantaged high school girls in Bell County in attending their senior prom by providing them with dresses, shoes and accessories. The mentorship program is designated to help prepare these girls for life after graduation.
The Healthy Prom Prep class is part of the three-event mentorship series. Girls who participate in any of the three classes will be invited to participate in a shopping experience, which will provide them with a prom dress, graduation dress, accessories and gift certificates for prom.
As a native of Tallahassee, Florida, Cash Hunter is a longtime fan of the hometown Florida State Seminoles. There came a time, however, when he made allowances to pull for the opposing side.
"I was never a big fan of Florida,'' he said. "But I was a fan of Tim Tebow. And I've been following the Tim Tebow Foundation since it started.''
That's a good thing since Hunter, an associate minister at Fayetteville Christian Church for more than three years, will be helping to lead Fayetteville's inaugural Night to Shine on Feb.10 in the church's multipurpose building.
And, after all, there's no room for rivalries in this endeavor. It's a win-win for all involved.
"In fact, we knew from the get-go that our church couldn't pull it off alone,'' Hunter said. "Our goal is to make this event bigger than just one church. We are just the host site.''
The event, sponsored by the nonprofit Tim Tebow Foundation, gives people with special needs the chance to attend a prom-like event.
There will be sparkly gowns, freshly shined shoes, corsages and boutonnieres, jewelry, makeup, special hairstyles, portrait sessions and, thanks to local businesses, overstuffed goody bags.
Every guest enters on a red carpet lined with cheering onlookers. Once inside, guests can have their hair and makeup done, their shoes shined and their corsages pinned. Then the dancing begins.
"I'm so excited,'' said Brittany Jackson Lockamy. She signed up to serve as a volunteer for the event and registered her sister Lindsey to attend. "She's been to little dances and things, but never to anything like this.''
Night to Shine, now in its third year, helps host at more than 200 churches all over the United States. One of those churches, San-Lee Chapel in Sanford, will serve as a host for a second year. San-Lee had 100 attend last year; that number has grown to 200 this year and will move to the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center.
Fayetteville hairstylist April Ann Burks is serving as a volunteer for the Sanford event, having recently hauled a load of glittery pink prom dresses uk to be used for the event.
"They have a place set up behind the church called Timmy's Closet,'' Burks said. "People can go in and pick out dresses, shoes, everything. I had no idea it was so big.''
Organizers for the Fayetteville event are still in need of dresses ahead of an event scheduled Sunday. That's when Night to Shine attendees can come select a special dress for the occasion.
"And any dresses that aren't used will be donated to another organization,'' Hunter said. "With prom season coming up, we're planning to pay it forward.''
Like all participating churches, Fayetteville Christian Church has been hard at work recruiting volunteers to serve as "buddies'' for the attendees assuring everyone has someone for dancing and having fun. Volunteers are still needed for a variety of duties, including doing everything from makeup to hair to the cha-cha.
عضو شوید
عضویت سریع
آمار مطالب
آمار بازدید
