Nanette Lepore Balances Femininity and Practicality In A Season of Romantic LooksThe first look that designer Nanette Lepore sent down her runway during the New York fashion shows last week was a floral-print coat made of a very soft burlap. The coat's oversized, notched collar and bold print signaled power, but the elbow-length sleeves and flowers flashed pure femininity.
Ms. Lepore has built her 12-year-old fashion label on a signature look that manages to combine girlish charm with tailored power. Her designs seemed particularly relevant last week, as dozens of designers offered romantic, feminine looks (with varying degrees of success).
The talent of fashion designers lies in gauging the mood of our culture to create a clothing line that people want. As WSJ's Christina Binkley reports, politics and the somber mood of the economy has influenced Nanette Lepore's designs.
Fashion designers must walk a fine line this year as the economy continues its downward spiral. At a time when women are cutting spending on clothing, designers feel they must entice women with something new and special -- without coming across as frivolous and impractical.
Over the summer, Ms. Lepore decided -- as did a lot of designers showing at fashion week -- that the solution was not conservative designs. On the contrary, difficult economic times seemed to call for escape. In the fashion world, that translated to feminine '70s looks and floaty, frilly counterculture clothes.
Ms. Lepore was among the designers taking chances with ruffles and mixing materials and patterns such as plaid and stripes. "I'm not a huge rule breaker," Ms. Lepore said, but "we're breaking more rules."
Indeed, wearing Lepore requires a taste for well-managed risk. For spring, for instance, she will offer tailored jackets -- without sleeves. A simple sheath dress has a single ruffle running across the skirt. She calls her look "enlightened boho."
Yet Ms. Lepore knows how to balance the tension between function and fashion. More-conservative women might have overlooked the floral-print coat as it was shown on the runway. It was paired with green knickers -- decidedly not an office look. But worn over a more conservative pair of slacks or pencil skirts, the same coat would add verve to a professional wardrobe.
"I feel like I understand that working women need functioning clothes and dresses," said Ms. Lepore in her studio, wearing a transparent leopard-print blouse over a short black skirt. She is a native of Ohio and a working mother herself -- her daughter is 10 years old. She attributes her understanding of appropriate dress in part to her sister Michele, who is married to Ohio state Rep. Bob Hagan and has to find pitch-perfect outfits for a variety of public and political events.
Whether or not Ms. Lepore gets her designs right, the shifting economy is buffeting her business. Earlier this year, she was on the brink of selling a controlling stake in her company in order to expand. Bill Smith, the former president of investment bank Financo Inc. and founder of Global Reach Capital, a private-equity investment group, had been scouring fashion for labels that could be leveraged into juggernaut brands with the launch of accessories, perfumes and other spin-off products. Mr. Smith approached Ms. Lepore about a stake in her brand, which has seven retail stores, in addition to being sold in department and independent stores, producing about $140 million in annual sales.
Figuring Out What to Wear
How do you see the line between feminine and professional? Is there more room for feminine looks at the office these days, or less? Discuss on Front Lines.
Though intrigued, Ms. Lepore dragged the negotiations out for two years while her husband, who is the company's president, urged her to get to the finish line. "I didn't want to lose control of my company," she says. "And then the economy crashed." The deal fell through. "I come home to 'I told you so' every night," she says, as her husband, Robert Savage, nods with a rueful grin.
These days, with financial havoc on Wall Street, all kinds of stores are feeling pressure to reduce the prices of the clothes -- even low-priced Target stores, a Target spokesman told me last week. High-priced designers like Ms. Lepore have found retailers cutting back sharply.
"We're not getting what we're used to in reorders -- it's been hard for me to adjust," she said recently. "In a normal environment, we'd be having tons and tons of reorders, but now, stores are not wanting to get loaded with inventory."
Instead, Ms. Lepore is pressing to grow independently. Plans are in the works to open stores in Bal Harbour, Fla., and on Madison Avenue in New York City -- and she is looking to raise her profile overseas. She said about 15% of her sales currently are overseas, but she hopes to double that percentage within five years. In the U.S., she will launch her first advertising campaign this fall in magazines and on billboards.
Mr. Smith might manage to help out after all. At her show last week, he made it clear he hasn't given up. He said airily, "We'll do something at some point."
By: Christina Binkley
Wall Street Journal; September 18, 2008
