WSJ

Scott Sternberg left his job as a Hollywood talent agent to start Band of Outsiders seven years ago, and in 2007 launched Boy., his menswear-inspired women's collection. The 35-year-old LA-based designer has no plans to stop growing — he aims to increase his business from $12 million to $40 million over the next few years through expanding Boy. (from two collections per year to four) and launching girl., a lower-priced, more feminine line.

Despite his fast rise through the fashion ranks (in 2009 he tied with Calvin Klein's Italo Zucchelli for the CFDA menswear designer of the year award), Sternberg is happy to skip out on New York's fashion scene in favor of living in Los Angeles, where he keeps out of the fray:

"If I was here in New York in this mix influenced by the same thing all these people are influenced by, the edge would be gone," he told the WSJ. "This [LA] bubble is vital to being able to do something that is not informed by fashion."

See the fall 2010 Band of Outsiders/Boy. collection images here.

Source: Getty

The notoriously straight-shooting and often volatile chief executive of Prada, Patrizio Bertelli, is on the cover of the March issue of WSJ., out this Saturday. He is profiled along with wife Miuccia Prada in an article discussing among many things the couple's 30-year-long relationship, Prada's initial public offering, the company's debt build-up as a result of acquisitions in the 1990s, and the current household controversy over internet strategies and whether or not to dress celebrities.

The article opens with Bertelli shouting at Neiman Marcus' 72-year-old chairman, Burt Tansky, about how the Dallas-based department store displays its Prada merchandise. But thing really get interesting when the interviewer inquires about the brand's internet plans and brings up a recent U.S. newspaper article suggesting Prada was late to the online world compared with brands like Burberry. Miuccia Prada's reaction: 

"I think it's bulls-. Why does showing a photo of someone wearing a trench coat online mean  being open to the world? What's that got to do with anything?"

While Bertelli is trying to convince Prada to interact more online—both with bloggers and fans—she is adimentely opposed to Twitter and feels there something fundamentally wrong with the way other designers "throw random answers out there." Bertelli acknowledges hers is an "elitist response" to a "democratic" medium.

The article goes on to reveal another ongoing dispute over celebrity dressing: "He says that we are snobs and that we don't understand pop culture," Prada says.

When planning for the upcoming year, Bertelli's focus seems to be on store expansions and opening new boutiques in order to lessen Prada's dependance on U.S. wholesale businesses, like that of Mr. Tansky's. The complete article will be on newsstands March 13.

These days, airlines are engaged in new flights of fancy: in an effort to set themselves apart from competitors, many have been upping the ante on food offerings.

Airlines began charging for meals post-9/11, but food-for-purchase replacements never fared well. They came with high price tags, questionable freshness, and inventory challenges. But major players have found a way to tackle these issues, and hope to enhance their brand images with a revamped reputation for good food.

Delta Air Lines serves Ben & Jerry's ice cream, cheese plates, and a new array of dishes created by culinary impresario Todd English that includes grilled chicken gyros and almond butter sandwiches. In May, American Airlines partnered with Boston Market, hoping to levy the rotisserie chain's name recognition. Although Hawaiian Airlines has long kept a focus on high-end food, it, too, has tried to elevate coach sales. While meals are free on Hawaiian, paying an additional $10 buys passengers satay chicken with vermicelli, or a sushi bento box with edamame and teriyaki chicken.

Airlines have found savvy methods of measuring the success of food programs, like using credit card readers to monitor the popularity of foods. Do you think the new tactics work? Has airline food gotten tastier?

>> INSIDER WIRE —Is the Obama camp holding a grudge against Oscar de la Renta after his disparaging comments toward Michelle Obama a few weeks ago?  During White House social secretary Desiree Rogers's cover shoot for this Sunday's WSJ. magazine, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs vetoed a shot of Rogers in an Oscar de la Renta ballgown in the First Lady’s garden.  But doesn't seem to be a matter of branding sensitivity — the rest of the shoot features Rogers in the likes of Jil Sander, Viktor & Rolf, Prada, and Calvin Klein. [WWD, WSJ.]
*image: source

>> WSJ., The Wall Street Journal's glossy, is back this weekend with a fashion-centric March issue featuring LVMH chief Bernard Arnault.  Inside, Arnault hints that LVMH might be in the market to acquire more companies.  “We’re about to enter a market of buyers over the next six-to-eight months.  There will be opportunities, and we will be looking at them.”  According to WSJ., Arnault was “in talks to invest in a fashion company with ecological and ethical goals founded by a global celebrity” at the time the article was written — WWD is guessing Edun, Bono’s green clothing line.

But there are certainly a couple of other designers on LVMH's radar.  Gareth Pugh is the obvious one — rumors have run rampant about him taking over at Dior Homme ever since LVMH heiress Delphine Arnault sat front row at his debut menswear show, and Bernard Arnault has already confirmed that LVMH has helped finance Pugh's shows.  Talking acquisitions, however, Rodarte may be a more likely candidate — Pierre-Yves Roussel, CEO of LVMH's fashion division, was in attendance at the Fall 2009 show, and soon after, Katherine Ross, PR honcho for LVMH, hosted a poolside tea party at the Chateau Marmont in LA for the designing duo, so they're definitely on the radar.

Bernard Arnault confirmed in January that Gareth Pugh wasn't the only "new talent" LVMH supports — "LVMH does that with many talented people" — so a number of other brands may be being looked at.  Especially now, when as Arnault points it, it's a buyer's market — young brands with plenty of talent may need that big-company backing to keep them going.
*image: source

>> Even icons aren't safe anymore.  In late December, Village Voice laid off 30-year veteran and fashion writer Lynn Yaeger — she's since been picked up to blog for New York magazine during Fashion Week — and now, the Wall Street Journal has dismissed 23-year veteran Teri Agins as part of a decision to close its fashion and retail bureau.

The number of staffers has been reduced from nine to five — currently retained are columnist Christina Binkley and editor Lisa Bannon; the seven other employees — including Teri Agins, Rachel Dodes, and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, who generally writes the newspaper's must-read Heard on the Runway blog — have all been let go effective at the end of March and asked to reapply for the three remaining positions in the bureau.

All WSJ.'s fault? »