|
|
 |
|
| Feature |
Fashioning Empires
Catherine Curan
03/01/2007
|
But, like Burch, today Cord is sorting out how best to untangle
her business partnership. Now she calls her pairing with G-III a mismatch, and
plans to part ways and strike an agreement with a company that has luxury market
experience.Dell, too, faces challenges. Three years after its launch, her
brand has won some fans, but Phi remains hamstrung by extremely limited
distribution, and is largely unknown outside the fashion cognoscenti. Hansen
says that ditching the founder’s famous last name shifted the focus to Phi’s
designs rather than simply exploiting Dell’s name. But she says she must work
harder to make consumers more aware of the brand. Cord likes to attend the Carolina Herrera and Bill Blass
fashion shows in New York; Burch caught Valentino in Paris last fall. Such
invitations place them firmly in fashion’s inner circle, leaving many to wonder
why they bother managing their own brands. They respond that, beyond the
potential for financial rewards, doing so gives them a creative outlet. It also
provides them with the simple gratification of participating in the workforce.
"Most of these women don’t like to be regarded as socialites," says David
Patrick Columbia of Newyorksocialdiary.com, a blog that tracks the city’s social
scene. "Once they get into business, they’re businesswomen. They like the idea
of having something to do; it justifies their existence in another way." Catherine Curan is a senior correspondent for Worth.
Additional Information
 Celebrities in Fashion
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
