MUNICH — With just one week on the ground, it may be too early for new Escada chief executive officer Glenn McMahon to offer specifics on the company’s strategy, but his primary focus is clear: fashion.
Prior to the salon showing of the Escada fall collection at the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory, located in Munich’s Nymphenburg Palace, McMahon told WWD, “Escada has made a lot of great progress. The operational setup is sound and the company is solid, but now it’s time to take a leadership role from a product standpoint, and that’s my forté.”
As reported, in mid-December McMahon was named to succeed Bruno Sälzer, who left the German fashion house in November to take on the ceo post at Bench. In his 25-year career in the luxury women’s wear sector, McMahon has held top executive positions at Tamara Mellon, St. John Knits, Dolce & Gabbana USA and Giorgio Armani USA. He noted Escada chairman Megha Mittal had recently assembled a new management team, “and there’s a whole new energy here.” McMahon joins chief operating officer and chief financial officer Jörg Wahlers, who came on board in May, and Stephen Croncota, who assumed the new post of chief marketing officer in July.
Related Articles
“I know the Escada brand and I know the Escada customer. It’s a case study of brand positioning,” he said. In this instance, it’s a “true global luxury brand” and a customer, as personified by Escada chairman Mittal, who is an “accomplished, professional woman. She expects quality, make and fit — all inherent in Escada — and we have to make sure we own it. And she wants to be fashion-relevant, which has been a problem in the past,” he acknowledged. “I look forward to bringing the fashion element back to our customer in a relevant way.”
You May Also Like
However, McMahon pointed to an overall shift from trend to lifestyle pieces in today’s fashion world. “Trends don’t mean anything anymore. They come and go, and our woman would rather invest in a Loro Piana double-face coat,” which she might wear over a dress, but also casual looks. “She wants clothes with more than one end use,” he went on, “and she also loves high-low. All the fast retailers do such a good job that our customer has no problem wearing a mix. It epitomizes her lifestyle.”
The big challenge, he added, “is how we communicate luxury to our customers. Gone are the days when you can just put a pretty model on a page. They want a 360-degree experience.” With her busy schedule, he said today’s Escada customer is “looking for us to be her fashion stylist and tell her what she needs and how her wardrobe works for her. Online. Through social media. In store. These are all touchstones” that McMahon and the Escada team will be addressing in the coming months.
What is sure to become more prominent, however, is Escada’s fashion profile. He suggested the brand “has perhaps erred on the side of being safe. We have all this beautiful merchandise, but we’ve been dumbing it down in the windows. In the future, what we believe in has to be front-and-center in the windows and in our marketing,” McMahon declared. “Particularly in fashion, if people are spending money in these times, they have to fall in love.”
The fall lineup Daniel Wingate presented to 150 national and international guests Wednesday was about such pieces. According to the program notes, it was inspired by “the movement of clothes and the great modern dancers of the 20th century with an emphasis on softer, flowing and yet body-conscious silhouettes. But equally influential were the references to some of Escada’s strongest signature looks, deftly modernized and reduced to the essentials, as in the case of a white crepe pantsuit with two burnished gold jewel buttons, lavish shearling toppers in dark berry and smoky blush tones, or long, belted bathrobe coats in nubby berry tweeds, lush cashmere/wool glen checks or a vivid plum cashmere double-face.
Many of the 33 featured looks were shown accented with a two-inch-wide choker in dark gray Swarovski elements, sometimes peeking out from under a neckerchief or the collar of the other seasonal star: the new man-tailored shirt in white, pale blue or pink cotton, the extralong and wide cuffs tied close with a skinny silk band also studded with Swarovski elements.
Novelty fabrics were often worked head-to-toe, as in the berry tweed, while a large-scale floral jacquard was engineered onto a coat, or pieced in different colorways on evening gowns, and a lamé stripe was strategically placed on a stingray gown or short sheath worn over crepe pants. Detailing was high on the agenda, as in a folded bow treatment on bustier tops and dresses, or a glittering 3-D spider web design dangling from sleeves. Yet throughout, Wingate took an essentially low-voltage approach, balancing dazzle with mannish tailoring and injecting a sporty ease into dressy flair.
“I loved all the detail, like the fold on that bustier,” commented Saks Fifth Avenue buyer Grace Chang after the show “There were a lot of iconic pieces and things they [Escada] are known for, but done in a modern and new way.”
“It was a beautiful collection,” said Matt Taylor, divisional merchandise manager at Neiman Marcus, who singled out the purple and plum looks, the jumpsuits and opening tweed group as strong points.
In addition to presenting the fall collection and Escada’s “new confidence,” as cmo Croncota put it, the Nymphenburg outing also served to highlight Escada’s collaboration with the porcelain maker. Nymphenburg created a 20-piece limited-edition porcelain figure of a dancer about to step onto the stage in an Escada gown, which the design team used as the basis for a capsule collection that will be in stores in July.
As for Escada’s business outlook, Wahlers would not divulge current sales figures, nor comment on the last industry estimate, which set turnover at 305 million euros, or $400.8 million in fiscal 2012-13. All dollar figures are converted from the euro at an average exchange rate for the period in question.
“Business is on track and we are happy with the development,” he commented. “We are growing and want to grow further.”