WWDSTYLE

By AMY WICKS

NEW YORK — The last wedding of a future King of England, in 1981, was a spectacle watched by more than 750 million people worldwide. For those who forgot to videotape it (including everyone under the age of 30), this time you’ve got options — maybe too many.

As Prince William and Catherine Middleton prepare to walk down the red-carpeted aisle of Westminster Abbey on April 29, all the major broadcast and cable networks are betting big with coverage — and hoping to rake in the advertising dollars that will come with large viewerships. Even niche players are fighting to make the wedding fit their programming. Take The Weather Channel — yes, The Weather Channel. It will start broadcasting from London on April 25, with addi-tional reports on the “natural splen-dor of the royal couple’s new home, the North Wales island of Anglesey.” The quote, intended without humor, comes directly from a press release that was sent out earlier this week by parent NBC Universal, which de-tails how the broadcaster’s channels plan to cover this wedding almost as extensively as the Olympics. (Hint for The Weather Channel: It usually rains in Wales. But then the British love to talk about nothing more than the weather.)

In total, more than a dozen net-work anchors and correspondents from NBC will be on the ground in London, with more than 20 hours of combined coverage planned on NBC News and MSNBC on the Big Day. The staggering effort includes Natalie Morales of “Today” begin-ning to report live from London a whole week before the wedding, on April 22. She’ll be joined by Meredith Vieira on April 25, and on the day be-fore the wedding, Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker will be on hand for full “Today” broadcasts from the British capital.

On the wedding day, coverage will start one hour before the wedding be-gins, at 4 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The timing means the event is likely to be watched live in America by only two sets of people: shift workers who have just fi nished the 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. slot, or Anglophiles so devoted they wouldn’t miss a royal wedding even if

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Olympian OnslaughtGears Up to CoverThe Royal Wedding

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PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE

As the owner of Court, a specialty boutique in New York’s NoLIta

neighborhood, Nicole Tondre couldn’t fi nd the perfect jeans for her discerning

customers — so she created her own. Here, a pair of cotton and Lycra fl ares from

Tondre’s new collection. For more noteworthy denim designers, see pages 2 and 3.

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Prince William and Kate Middleton

HOYLE JACKSONHaving worked as costume designers on movies such as “spider-Man 3,” “The Breakup” and “Just go with it,” geoffrey roiz and twin sisters nina and Clare Hallworth know how to make celebrities look good in clothes. But when it came to jeans, roiz said, “There were things we still wanted that we couldn’t find for our clients.” so they took matters into their own hands and launched Hoyle Jackson (named after two streets in the north of england, near the Hallworth’s hometown), a men’s and women’s denim line that they sold exclusively to their celebrity clientele, including a-listers such as Brad Pitt, Jennifer aniston and Jake gyllenhaal. That was in 2007. now, after a retail stint at ron Herman, Hoyle Jackson’s men’s collection is launching at Bloomingdale’s, specifically its high-profile doors at santa Monica Place, san Francisco and new York’s 59th street. (kalifornia Jean Bar, a three-door specialty chain in California and nevada, also picked up the men’s looks for spring). a party was held at the santa Monica location on March 18 to unveil Hoyle Jackson, where the brand experienced a 75 percent sell-through in two hours. “The jeans are well-styled, the fit is terrific and it is extremely comfortable to wear,” said kevin Harter, Bloomingdale’s vice president, men’s fashion direction. “Celebrity factor never hurts but at the end of the day it comes down to the style and fit.”

Upholding the brand’s “clean, classic” mantra, Hoyle Jackson’s new styles — jeans, pants and shirts — are fitted but not tight, while some are mildly distressed for that authentically lived-in look. retail prices range from $130 and $160. roiz said the women’s styles will relauch for fall at locations that currently are being determined. — Hallie von ammon

COURTas THe owner of Court, a specialty boutique in new York’s noLita neighborhood, nicole Tondre saw firsthand what styles of denim her downtown clientele gravitated toward. Thus, she says, it was a natural progression to start her own line, so Tondre designed a few pairs and began testing them out last summer. “it was a great opportunity to use our customer base as fit models, seeing the jeans on different shapes and sizes, and making pattern corrections before we put our debut wholesale collection into production,” said Tondre, who has a background in technical design and has worked for brands including nautica and Calvin klein.

Her new collection, which she also named Court, hits stores this week at oak in new York and villains in san Francisco, and is already available at Court. The brand, inspired by her nolita surroundings but also peppered with a dash of seventies Paris, features 11 high-waisted (but not too high) styles including

a skinny, straight, boot and belle cut, and comes in 15 washes that Tondre insists are without tricks or excess branding. “The shapes are really on point and it’s going to sit well in our a.ok department next to brands like Cheap Monday and our in-house label,” said Bear smith, brand manager for oak.

as for price points, Tondre says it was a priority to keep them under $165 retail. “My customers struggled with that $200 to $350 ticket on designer denim, but they also weren’t going for the lower priced lines as they lacked a certain sophistication and attention to fit,” she said. “with Court we’re offering a designer jean at half that price.” — Kim Friday

denim2 WWDSTYLE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011

Tangled Up in BluesThe latest crop of cool denim brands come

courtesy of a mega vintage collector, a New York retailer and a trio of costume designers.

Court jeans.

Women’s and men’s styles

from Hoyle Jackson.

Court’s Nicole Tondre

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NEUWWhat to do with more than 2,000 pairs of vintage jeans that you’ve collected and customized for decades? If you’re Par Lundqvist, you gather your friends and start your own denim brand.

Founded in 2009 in Melbourne, australia, along with Stephen Little and Richard Bell, Neuw’s jeans are made from original vintage patterns, as well as new ones based on Lundqvist’s personal collection. Each pair goes through a process the trio dubbed “Vintage Revision,” in which the jeans are recut for a modern yet authentic fit. Materials are also key. “We have an amazing fabric story coming up called Black Colour,” noted Bell. “It has a black weft, which basically means the pieces will get darker over time instead of fading.”

Neuw made its debut in the U.S. in early March and already is picking up speed. “It’s only been on the floor for a few weeks but it’s doing really well,” said Jennifer althouse, buyer for the World denim Bar at american Rag Cie in Los angeles. “and since I have 85 brands, that’s really exciting.”

Neuw’s premium group retails from $199 to $250 and the more budget-friendly core collection, from $129 to $159. “they fall into the more fashionable denim category for me,” noted alan Fernandez, men’s buyer at atrium in New York. “But the construction looks really good, and for the guy that wants to push the envelope a little more, they come in at a really sweet price point.”

the Neuw team is clearly serious about denim, but nevertheless is doing business with a bit of a wink. Last year, for instance, they dropped logoed blocks of ice in front of their local Melbourne library with 1,000 australian dollars frozen inside. twitter followers were given the location and showed up en mass with ice picks and hammers to dig out the cash, the video of which now appears on Neuw’s Facebook page. — K.F.

3WWDSTYLE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011

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New Item For It Jeans

Jeans from Item.

LOS ANGELES — It Jeans is revamping its portfolio of denim brands by introducing a new premium label and graduating its namesake ju-nior line to a higher price tier.

This fall, the Los Angeles-based firm is launching Item for men and women. Retailing for $108 to $138, Item aims to provide fashion-forward sil-houettes in up to eight bodies, including skinny jeans with 12-inch leg open-ings, a slouch trouser with a dropped crotch and a version of the men’s ta-pered anti-fit jeans. The men’s line excludes boot cuts and relaxed straight legs, opting instead for modern silhouettes such as straight, slim, skinny and a tapered anti-fit style with gusseted panels along the inner thigh.

With 25 stockkeeping units in total for men and women, Item is relying on reputable denim mills but keeping an eye on the bottom line. For instance, it’s using selvage denim only in a men’s straight leg and sourcing Japanese-based Kurabo’s denim that’s made more cheaply in Chinese mills. Item also integrates techniques such as hand scraping and 3-D whiskering.

“There is a space in the market right now with what’s been hap-pening in the last few years in the economic downturn,” said Mark Wiesmayr, creative director of Item and It Jeans. “People have been getting more and more educated in denim with premium finish and premium fabric. There’s space for us to create a new strata and price level with premium denim.”

Item is the latest brand in It Jeans’ portfolio. Two years ago, the com-pany acquired a 50-percent stake in premium label Kasil for an undis-closed sum. It Jeans plans to unveil a juniors brand called SONG, or Star of Next Generation, at the Los Angeles Majors Market on Monday.

Having joined It Jeans two months ago, Wiesmayr has years of expe-rience making jeans. His previous titles included Levi’s design direc-tor, denim director of Sass & Bide, creative director of Blue Blood, and chief executive officer and denim director of Tsubi (now Ksubi).

Item, like It Jeans, is made in China, a provenance that Wiesmayr doesn’t expect to repel consumers who want fashion at a price. “Many premium denim lines are coming out of China,” he said. With costs running 40 percent less in China, he added, “There’s no backlash.”

Revamped as a moderate brand for fall, It Jeans will appeal to custom-ers who aspire to wear some of the higher-priced premium denim lines but don’t want to pay the price. Refiguring all of It Jeans’ branding, Wiesmayr replaced the back pocket embellishments with a clean, simple pocket. He retained two fits that have been successful for It Jeans: a curvy stiletto style and a curvy boot cut. He updated the one-piece waistband with a more fit-enhancing, three-piece band. Other styles include a superstretchy legging and high-waisted flares. It Jeans is now retailing for $70 to $90, compared with its previous pricing of $40 to $60. A men’s line will launch next spring.

Charlie Chung, brand manager for It Jeans and Item, said the compa-ny expects sales for Item to reach $2 million to $3 million in the first year through orders from specialty retailers including American Rag Cie, Opening Ceremony in Japan, Fred Segal in Santa Monica, Calif., and Ron Herman and Theodore in Los Angeles. It Jeans, which has been picked up by Nordstrom and national specialty chains South Moon Under and Blue Jeans Bar, proj-ects revenue to reach $5 million in the first year. Launched in 2003, It Jeans generated sales of about $60 million during its peak as a junior brand. The company is unfazed by the challenges of moving It Jeans to a new market that’s already dominated by brands such as Silver Jeans and Lucky Brand.

“It was a very clear strategy to take it out of the juniors market,” Wiesmayr said. “We wanted to clean up what we had. We thought a modernism view was better.” — Khanh T.L. Tran

Looks from Neuw.

Neuw’s Stephen Little, Par Lundqvist

and Richard Bell.

00 WWDSTYLE XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX XX, 20114 WWDSTYLE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011

they had to battle though a brigade of Beefeaters.Recognizing the timing isn’t ideal for live view-

ing, “Dateline” will air an “instant documentary” later that day, and on Sunday a “special report” will take a closer look at Middleton. Brian Williams will begin anchoring “NBC Nightly News” a few days prior to the wedding and co-anchor the ac-tual event in London.

MSNBC will have Martin Bashir contributing coverage beginning April 26, and he will be joined by Chris Jansing on the wedding day at 3 a.m. Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist will lead MSNBC’s coverage beginning at 5 a.m., with Bashir and Chris Jansing contributing.

Exhausted yet? NBC isn’t, and even reality TV is hop-ping onto the royal wedding bandwagon. Bravo’s Andy Cohen will host “Watch What Happens Live: Royal Wedding Spectacular” with guests Countess LuAnn De Lesseps (because a countess is sort of royal, right?), from Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York,” and Cat Ommanney, from “The Real Housewives of D.C.” who is the ex-wife of a White House photographer.

And don’t forget E!, which is adding a little fashion cat-tiness to the mix. At 10 p.m., postwedding, the network will feature a one-hour “Fashion Police” episode hosted by Joan Rivers, Kelly Osbourne, Giuliana Rancic and George Kotsiopoulos. It gets worse over on the iVillage Web site, which will post an “exclusive inter-view” with the couple’s former landlady on the wedding day.

CNN’s coverage won’t be quite as intense, although Piers Morgan and Anderson Cooper will anchor their nightly programs from London in the days leading up to the event. (At least Morgan is British.) Along with Richard

Quest, CNN International’s business correspondent, they will anchor live programming. Kiran Chetry will co-anchor “American Morning” from London from April 25 to 29.

At Fox, the effort is much more conservative, no pun intended, although all the big names will be there. Shepard Smith and Martha MacCallum will host programming in London on April 29, preempting “Fox & Friends,” which typically begins at 6 a.m. Greta Van Susteren and Gretchen Carlson are expected to be in London, al-though it’s un-clear what their assignments will be. Additional reporters who will fl y across the pond include Greg Palkot, Amy Kellogg and Jonathan Hunt.

“CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric, who is in negotiations about her future with the network, will have live coverage of the wedding from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., and she’ll report the evening news from London from April 27 to 29. “The Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill will report live from there from April 25 to 30. Millie Martini Bratten, editor in chief of Brides, is scheduled to appear on “CBS Sunday Morning” and blog for BBC America.

TV networks aren’t the only ones cashing in, though. The dailies world-wide are bound to go big, with The New York Post having the advan-tage of being the sister paper of The Times and The Sun in London as part of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire. Then there are the celebrity weeklies. A royal wedding translates

into big money at the newsstand, and no single title knows that better than People, since fi ve of the weekly’s top ten best-selling covers of all time featured royals. It will publish a special issue

the week after the wedding, which will be on news-stands for two weeks. The title will also put out a newsstand-only special issue, with all of the details and photos surrounding the couple’s courtship, en-gagement and wedding, on May 27, and will launch an iPad app based on the newsstand book “The Royals: Their Lives, Loves and Secrets,” which was updated in 2010 with a second printing. It will be on iTunes, beginning today, for $7.99.

Us Weekly is planning two special issues, called “bookazines.” The fi rst was released on Friday and

the second will be published right after the event. A spokesman said the London

bureau will handle the bulk of the reporting, but some reporters from the U.S. will also fl y out. American Media Inc. has just released two royal wedding special issues, ed-ited by Star magazine and the National Enquirer.

As for the newsweeklies, Time will publish a

special issue and Newsweek will put out a commemorative issue, on sale the Monday following the wedding. Tina Brown will be in London on behalf of Newsweek and The Daily Beast and pitch in as a special contributor for “Good Morning America.”

Vanity Fair contributor Nicky Haslam, one of London’s most social socials, will blog for

the magazine’s Web site. But Harper’s Bazaar appears to be the lone fashion title that is ac-tually sending an edi-tor to London to cover the wedding fi rsthand. Executive fashion and beauty editor Avril Graham will blog her way through the day for harpersbazaar.com.

mediaReadying the Full-Court Press

{Continued from page one} Quest, CNN International’s business correspondent, they will anchor live programming. Kiran Chetry will co-anchor “American Morning” from

At Fox, the effort is much more conservative, no pun intended, although all the big names will be there. Shepard Smith and Martha MacCallum will host programming in

assignments will be. Additional reporters who will fl y across the pond include Greg Palkot, Amy Kellogg and Jonathan Hunt.

Matt Lauer, Katie Couric and Andy Cohen are planning coverage of the royals.

A few of the magazines planning extensive coverage of the wedding.

Prince William and Kate Middleton in the May issue of Vanity Fair.

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