Branding the man: why men are the next frontier in fashion retail

You might have thought I was in Las Vegas for March Madness, a time of year when the Strip is not paved with gold, but instead a seemingly endless stream of bud light bottles and “dudes” drinking from big bongs they’ll be sure to take home with them.

Did I mention it was also St. Patrick’s Day? That made for even more merriment, with thousands of no-longer-in-college-bro’s wearing giant green top hats while their girlfriends, stuffed in sausage casings, teetered behind them on broken heels. But I digress.

In fact I was in town to check out some of the latest retail offerings and see just what the high rollers are spending their recent winnings on. We stayed at the Vdara in City Center, which was originally supposed to be condo apartments but when the economy tanked, so did the Vdara. It is now a hotel with no casino and barely any retail. You know what that means in Las Vegas: no customers.

Barely a year old and already its one “hip” bar/club has closed. It doesn’t help that soon after opening it was discovered that a design flaw in the building caused guests by the pool to get burned by a “death ray” of magnified sunlight reflecting off the side of the building.

After years of soaring success, Las Vegas has suffered a major hit in our national economy, with more foreclosures than any other city in the country. The Strip’s megaresorts have posted an alarming two-year loss of over $6billion along with a 14-percent unemployment.

Which is why hotels like the Vdara and others along the Strip are offering all kinds of incentives to fill those rooms. The Marriott’s impressive effort in modern boutique hoteling, several years in the making, the Cosmopolitan is really one of the most impressive hotels on the strip — despite all you’ve heard about the Wynn and the Encore, which are just tired re-treads of an old formula (gold, mirrors, red carpet, etc.)

The Cosmopolitan has some great design features, but what really stands out is the multimedia exhibition in the main lobby. Designed and developed by the Rockwell Group’s LAB, it features eight columns of monitors deliver a rotating exhibition of video art on 384 monitors. The monitors are so gorgeously glassy and liquid that they beckon you to stand quietly and watch — and that’s really something in a place as noisy as Las Vegas (and with the Casino only steps away.)

Despite the economy, luxury retailers have continued to make Las Vegas a key part of their rollout strategy. A reportedly $28.2billion market, Vegas continues to push shopping as the fait accompli to the casino experience. With 40 million annual visitors it’s no wonder that stores continue to open here — maybe that’s because twelve percent of all visitors are from overseas.

The third part of the City Center Triumvirate is the Crystals, which has become the newest luxury retail destination on the Strip, featuring the now ubiquitous Louis Vuitton store, the Starbucks of luxury destinations (always call yourself a “destination” if you want to create the assumption that you are one.) As you know, LV doesn’t play around when it comes to cornering the market: they have four stores here (Tiffany & Co., Dior, and Chanel all have three.) The brand’s boutique (more like a supermarket) at the Crystals is North America’s largest Louis Vuitton: three stories and 14,000 square feet.

But I feel like the real star of the Crystals is probably the Tom Ford boutique, which is less of a boutique and more a sleek penthouse. We were met at the door by a uniformed butler serving champagne, while impossibly handsome men lingered at the counters.

Like Ford himself, the store is an obsessive-compulsive’s dream of such meticulous and refined luxury that even a whore for lavish details like me would exclaim: ”Tom, honey, you need to up your meds.”

White leather luggage (hard-sided of course) is trimmed in black and features tortoiseshell detailing. A gold moustache comb. A pair of crocodile spectator shoes (if you must ask: $7,000). And suits and shirts that appear to have been sewn by very nimble midgets capably of only the tiniest stitches.

I was ready to move in and sit in front of the fireplace, even if it didn’t actually function.

After the second glass of champagne you’re suddenly saying to yourself: I do need that and it’s really not that expensive.

Just down the road is the Forum Shops at Caesars that still has the highest sales per square foot — $1,400 – of any shopping mall in the United States. Hard to know why really, since when we were there we couldn’t help but notice it felt a bit ragged around the edges and that kitschy fountain feels played out. The edgiest store there was maybe Reed Krakoff, which perhaps gets the prize for Most Misguided Store Design. The exterior signage and windows nod to Tom Ford while the interiors; all bleached wood flooring and dove grey walls, felt like Marie Antoinette’s linen closet. We couldn’t find the designer’s name anywhere in the store, such that one forgot where one was. Caesar’s overall felt like one long bachelor party — the one you want to escape.

The fact of matter is, since C.D. left the building, Las Vegas just hasn’t been the same.

That’s “Celine Dion,” who from 2003 – 2007 sold out more than 700 shows and raked in more than $400 million at the box office. When she left, so did countless jobs and plenty more tourists. Which is why Caesars is now throwing $100 million at her to come back and do it all again. Please. Please.

At the Forum’s Celine Dion boutique (I know…) fans were snagging Celine flip-flops, and $3,000 Judith Lieber purses. The hottest selling item? An “I Love Celine Dion and Celine Dion Loves Me.” Now imagine two Florida retirees wearing that and standing next to a gay couple from San Francisco wearing the identical t-shirt. That’s the picture I wasn’t able to get.

---

Ask arbiter of style Clinton Paul to choose his favorite watch and he’ll be hard pressed to tell you which one is put into service the most. Maybe that’s because he has so many of them.

Elizabeth Taylor may have her diamonds but Paul’s passion is the precision and craftsmanship of beautiful timepieces. Even men who haven’t tasted quite as much of the good life as Paul are quietly hoarding a modest stash of watches.

“In my mind, each watch brings something to the party,” says Paul. “Every watch was bought to fill a perceived niche such as early Rolexes and vintage watches to wear with Ralph Lauren tweeds, or a simple IWC pilot’s watch to wear with tattered oxford button downs and over-sized khaki pants and worn cordovan penny loafers.”

“Definitely our high end watch client is a business man in the six figure income level with discretionary money to spend,” says Judy White, co-owner of Julianna’s Fine Jewelry in Corte Madera.

Of course we’re not talking about the not-so-humble Cartier Tank Française or that James Bond favorite, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date-Just. Think Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, or Patek Phillippe.

“Most people buying Patek Philippe are looking to buy the history, quality, and exclusivity,” says Diane Adams, a buyer for Shreve and Company. “It’s really about the execution of technology and art. When you think just how small a space it is, it’s pretty amazing.”

Those in the know don’t bother calling it a watch but rather, haut horlogerie, a rarified world of tourbillions and chronographs that sell for not thousands, but hundreds of thousands of dollars. At last January’s Salon Internationale de la Haute Horlogerie — the Geneva watch fair for you plebeians — there was a quiet optimism for the men’s market in particular, which has performed solidly despite the economic downturn.

Alain Huy, brand director for Zenith Watches North America, believes there is still work to be done. “The US market is still a young market and it needs still to be educated and trained. Most of the watch buyers are only familiar with only a few brands like Rolex or TAG Heuer.”

Zenith has produced watch movements since 1865 and claims to be the first to produce a chronograph movement. It takes nine months to produce a Zenith chronograph, and just last fall, Zenith introduced the Christoph Colomb, a limited edition chronograph of twenty-five pieces in rose, white, and yellow gold retailing for $209,000. It sold out immediately.

“For collectors, it’s about the purity of a handmade timepiece that takes incredible skill to construct,” says Adams.

Richemont, the luxury group with the lion’s share of watch brands under its belt, reported a 33 percent increase in sales of luxury timepieces, and at a recent Christie’s auction, a very rare Patek Philippe sold for a record $5.7 Million.

With gold and silver prices on the rebound, an investment in a fine watch makes sense and promises a very stylish return on investment for 2011.

“The man who owns a classic, simple high quality watch in stainless or gold with a tasteful leather, alligator, or stainless band says to me that this is a guy whose values are honest and probably reflect his orientation towards things and materials that work well and that define his life,” says Paul.

That certainly could be said of Jean Yang, a solar energy entrepreneur who previously enjoyed the high life as retail director of Louis Vuitton stores in Korea.  He discovered the subtle luxury of a Swiss watch when he was only a teenager.

“My father offered me a very fine Swiss watch when I was in middle school and I found that it was a deeply cool accessory,” says Yang. “I was a bit of a fashion victim then — living in Paris didn’t help. For me, a watch is the only and ultimate jewel for men.”

That first Swiss watch only whetted his appetite for something even more exquisite and rare.  “My first pay-check went directly to a real luxury watch — a Breitling Old Navitimer,” says Yang. “It was a chronograph of course. It had a brown cow hide bracelet that I immediately upgraded to an alligator strap to make it even more luxurious and sporty.”

Like collectors of fine wines, watch collectors are generally a discreet bunch. The watch speaks for itself — if you’re able to catch a peek at it from under a man’s shirtsleeve. Like a fine sport scar, devil is in the details and only those who appreciate them can so willingly fork over a small fortune to purchase such a mechanical marvel.

As for Yang, with a modest nine watches in his collection, there is still one he is hoping will one day be his ultimate: “A Breguet, equipped with two tourbillions, one of the finest complication movement in the watch industry. But at $400,000 it is more expensive than a brand new Ferrari or a one-bedroom studio in Manhattan so that one will have to wait a bit before entering my collection!”

Read “The Triumph of Unnecessary Beauty” in the New York Times. Click Here.

---

I first met Eric Jennings, vice president and fashion director for men’s wear at Saks Fifth Avenue, when I emceed a personal appearance by designer Simon Spurr at the Saks Men’s Store in San Francisco. Eric is affable, charming, and has the uncanny ability to pinpoint what men are wanting, season to season.

A great fashion director sets the tone for the brand and is constantly taking the pulse of consumers. They listen carefully to insiders, designers, editors, and their own very shrewd instinct for what to wear.

For Eric Jennings, men’s wear is at a fascinating juncture as men push the boundaries of the everyday and discover that looking good is not only the best revenge, it makes you feel pretty damn good too.

BP:  Men’s wear has experienced a sudden uptick in sales. What do you attribute this to?

EJ:  Two things: the overall consumer confidence mixed with “frugal fatigue” and secondly, the absolute necessity for men to replace a  two year-old, neglected wardrobe!

BP: Do you think consumers overall are becoming more willing to pay full-price compared to this time last year?

EJ: In general men shop out of necessity. Now that they are feeling more secure economically, they’d much rather buy something when they need it rather than waiting for a sale.

BP: What do you think are going to be some of the top selling categories in men’s wear for fall?

EJ: Sweater jackets, especially the new marled and mélange chunky sweaters. Camel hair sportcoats, jackets and topcoats will be big as well as anything with toggle closures. For footwear the new variations on brogues will be strong.

BP: What is the single most important item for a man’s wardrobe — no matter what the season?

EJ: The sportcoat. Most men today do not need to wear a suit everyday to work so the sportcoat is the go-to item when dressing for business or leisure. And season-appropriate sportcoat fabrics are what will set a man apart and make him look distinguished in any setting.

BP: Who are the taste-makers you watch for where fashion is going? What is it about their style?

EJ: I love the street style fashion blogs like the Sartorialist and Jak and Jil. These sites really capture the subtle nuances of dressing that many people forget. And the images are captured on real people — not celebrities — which gives it that much more credibility.

BP: What is the most over-done look you see with most men?

EJ: I love plaids, but I’m quite tired of all the plaid shirts I’m seeing out there.

BP: What world cities tend to inspire you when it comes to how you dress?

EJ: Florence, Milan, Paris, London, and Manhattan; the cities in which I spend most of my time.

BP: If “Eric Jennings” was a brand, how would you describe it and what would be the sartorial signatures?

EJ: The “Eric Jennings” brand would feature slim fitting, classic clothing with a British twist, and would combine lots of different textures and interesting pops of color.  My sartorial signatures are knit ties, pocket squares and checks.

Follow Eric Jennings on Twitter. http://twitter.com/#!/ejny

---