Fashion Notebook

Breaking News: Elle Macpherson Signs On As Global Face of Revlon Brand

First, the news: Elle Macpherson, (photo, right) the 44-year old Tasmanian-born supermodel best known for her glossy appearances on the covers of Elle and Sports Illustrated, as well as her numerous engagements as the face of Victoria's Secret, has been tapped as the "global brand ambassador" for Revlon.

She'll join the current roster of the cosmetic firm's brand faces, which include actresses Halle Berry, Jessica Alba, and Beau Garrett, in a move that the company says "continues the long-standing tradition [Revlon] started of partnering with the most beautiful and iconic women of the time to represent the brand."

She'll be featured in upcoming global campaigns, none of which have been revealed, and will also be involved in the company's various sponsored philanthropic activities.

Now, the air kisses between Revlon prez and CEO David Kennedy and Ms. Macpherson:

"Elle's special qualities as a businesswoman, beautiful and talented model, actress and mother represent the essence of the Revlon brand," said Kennedy in a statement.

"Revlon is an iconic brand, bringing high quality products to women around the world and is complementary to my values," said Macpherson, also in a statement. "I am proud to join Revlon in its celebration of women and in its long term commitment and support for education and research to advance women's health and particularly, to fight women's cancers."

Alright, yadda yadda yadda. But what does this mean?

First of all, they're not saying it, but we have to think that there's at least two things going on here.

First is a cheap purchase of a marketable name that's a little past it's prime. Think about it: what's the last hot campaign, like big big spend campaign, that you can remember featuring Elle Macpherson? Still scratching your head? Question answered. She prolly came pretty cheap, which isn't a bad thing when marketing budgets at even the biggest spenders look like they're getting crunched. (For more on that, check out our regular news story, here.) But do you remember the name Elle Macpherson? Yeah, we thought you might. Bingo!

SIDE THEORY: One of our friends thinks Elle might actually be the face of the brand's anti-aging product line, dubbed "Age Defying," which has featured celebs including Melanie Griffith, and Julianne Moore, in the past. Revlon hasn't yet revealed exactly which campaigns Elle will be appearing in, just that they'll be global.

Second, it would seem, is a play at attracting the older consumer set, the ladies about our mom's age, maybe a little younger or a little older, who probably remember idolizing Macpherson when she was hot, and they were also her age. Like Elle, they're around 44 years old, and want to feel that you can still be glamorous at any age. And from a sales perspective, it makes sense if you consider that the size of the boomer generation.

Financial Desk: Abercrombie Posts Gains in Q4, But Notes Problems with Ruehl Line

Seems like Abercrombie's still on top, no pun intended. 

The New Albany, Ohio-based company posted an 8% sales increase during the fourth quarter, reaching $1.23 billion, and a 9% boost in net income, which registered at $216.7 million. For the full year, sales grew 13% to $3.75 billion, and profits rising 12.6% to $475.7 million.

While the picture was pretty glossy for the most part, the company did note a slowdown in sales for its Ruehl line, according to statement from CFO Michael Kramer, in a conference call.

"Unfortunately, sales productivity declined in the second half of 2007, as we began to anniversary markdowns  from fiscal 2006," said Kramer. "We anticipate lower sales productivity compared to last year through most of the first half of 2008 as we continue to anniversary the high markdown levels associated with Ruehl...Until we can establish Ruehl as a proven  concept we will moderate the pace of new store openings."

But despite that bad news, it was all sunshine and rainbows from Chairman/CEO Mike Jeffries.

"Our brands represent high productive, consistent businesses that are the result of an unyielding focus on merchandise quality and customer experience," said Jeffries, in a statement. "We continue to make strategic investments in the business to sustain and to enhance brand quality and to support future growth, both domestically and internationally."

Well, at least one of those "strategic investments" includes a $300 million initiative to remodel existing and construct new stores in 2008, as well as the brand's decision  to bring back its porn-a-log, A&F Quarterly, which has raised eyebrows in the past for its debatably pornographic imagery, not to mention its lack of actual clothes on lifestyle models. (Well, some things never change in that department.)

The new Quarterly has puzzled us for a while too, and not just for the obvious reasons everyone else seems to have cited which include, chiefly, that the guys aren't wearing underwear in their dungarees. What's gotten us stumped is why the campaign is still all-white.

While we admit we haven't seen  the most recent installment, the images on the brand's Web site include the same line up of idealized white models that were featured (although they have changed the bodies they're using, natch, since the shelf life of fashion models is relatively short if you're not of the Naomi ilk) when we were covering their legal discrimination troubles at El Diario/La Prensa (our Spanish-language journo days).

Check out a few shots from the current campaign, below.

Listen, we're no Pollyannas about this stuff, and are well aware that it's widespread issue in the industry, but after so many issues of its own discriminatory mess (remember those "Two Wongs Can Make it White" tees?) we just have to wonder why Abercrombie wouldn't just toss a bone out and include one minority in its prominent imaging? C'mon guys, help colorize our wank bank!

Research Desk: Prestige Beauty Sales Grew 2% in 2007, Sez NPD

The prestige beauty industry—that's the expensive,
marquee stuff y'all—gussied itself up in 2007, according to a report from NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y.

The category grew 2% overall to $8.9 billion in sales for 2007. Leading that charge were the makeup and skincare categories, where sales rose 4% to $3.4 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively. Makeup still leads in market share, now at 38% of the total beauty biz, just ahead of fragrance, which controls 33% of sales, and skincare, which gets 28% of the cut at $1.2 billion in sales.

And growth in a prestige market despite The Recession! Though, we can't say we're surprised, because, after all, even in the worst of times we'll plunk down the cash to prevent the world from seeing our wrinkly, blemished, pale faces, or smelling our "natural" scent. And hey, if it's got a designer name on the box, all the better! If we're not paying more than $100 for the goods, we usually chalk it up to a normal indulgence, especially when it lasts for a year (Happy Valentine's Day to our very dresser-top fave Prada Amber Pour Homme!).

Seems NPD's senior beauty analyst, Karen Grant, agrees.

"During challenging economic times in 2007, the prestige beauty industry managed to rise above the negatives," said Grant in the report. "Women and men are still willing to spend money on products that make them look and feel better."

However what did surprise us were the rankings of the top fragrances, for both male and female shoppers (keep in mind that females actually buy a greater percentage of men's fragrance than men do):

1. Acqua Di Gio (Giorgio Armani)
2. Beautiful (Estée Lauder)
3. Coco Mademoiselle (Chanel)
4. Chanel No. 5 (Chanel)
5. Cashmere Mist (Donna Karan)

OK, ok, Beautiful isn't a surprise, nor is Chanel No. 5, those fragrances are so classic they're a lock for the top spots. Coco Mademoiselle is an interesting one, since we were sure that everyone was like sooo over their current ad girl, Keira Knightley, but it's obvs just us who thinks she just a poor-man's version of Penelope Cruz with a perma-pout. And Cashmere Mist? We have to think some of those sales were a case of mistaken identity. We've never touched the stuff but the bottle looks like an exotic sex toy.

But the real shocker was No. 1: Acqua di Gio. Seriously!? Acqua di Gio!? We thought that fragrance was hot like, four years ago when we were having our Año Español and all the boys (including us) were awash in that sweet, citrus-y smell. But that was four years ago!

"It's just an easy fragrance, a good juice that easy and likable and that no one is going to hate you for gifting," Grant told us, admitting even she had been surprised that the fragrance had stayed on top for the past several years. "Men can wear it to work and to the club, and women like it, which you know is the number one factor for the guys. It isn't overpowering and its versatile. They've hit on a formula that is working on both the mass and prestige levels."

Grant also told us that a new ad campaign, by parent L'Oréal's agency Publicis, that offered new imagery for the popular fragrance, was well timed to continue the momentum of the brand last year, swapping out male model Larry Scott with Lars Burmeister (pictured above, with product), and bowing a new TV campaign, which you can view, to your water-dripping-on-abs delight, below.