Finance Types Split Over Hillary and RomneyFINANCE
• Wall Street hopes Hillary has a super Super Tuesday, but private equity is standing by one of its own. Fourth-quarter campaign-financing reports show Senator Clinton taking in the lion’s share of donations from the Street’s top ten financial firms. Meanwhile, Bain Capital co-founder Mitt Romney is still tops among the PE crowd. [NYT/Dealbook]
• So, what’s it gonna be, boy? Stuck between Microsoft’s rock and Google’s hard place, Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang has limited options for saving his company at his disposal. [NYP]
• If you believe the latest hype, Citadel is paving the way for an IPO after all. Ken Griffin’s asset-management firm has split its proprietary hedge-fund business from its client-based options-making business. “Legally, it makes it cleaner,” said Josh Galper in an interview. [Bloomberg]
intel
Video: Backstage at Ford’s Supermodel of the Year Competition
Ford’s Supermodel of the World competition last year launched model Chanel Iman (who was a runner-up) into the freezing, barely breathable atmosphere of the modeling world. Since then she’s modeled for Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, and Derek Lam, among many others. She was also featured on the cover of Vogue last year in an homage to fashion’s new supermodels. So anyone who says the annual Ford contest isn’t a ticket to stardom is just plain wrong. Click above to view some backstage video of this year’s competition and model interviews with New York’s Jada Yuan.
Ford Supermodel of the World [NYM Video]
in other news
Proenza Schouler, Guy Trebay Think AlikeEarlier this week in their clever guest blog for the Times, Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez interviewed photographer Terry Richardson.
There used to be a hard line between the word of art photography and fashion photography. You seem to have disregarded this boundary. One day we’ll swing by PS1 and see a huge installation of your work, and the next day we’ll open French Vogue and see a story you have shot. Have these traditional boundaries ever meant anything to you?
Richardson gave a lame answer, and we wished we heard more about the increasingly blurred line between fashion and art photography. What an interesting and timely subject to ask about! We didn’t have to wait long, though. Today, Guy Trebay tackles that exact topic in “Thursday Styles.” With interviews from Christie’s experts, an editor at W, and a gallery curator, Trebay really blows it up. For which we are, of course, very appreciative. Both for the art lesson, and for the knowledge that it’s fully okay to recycle ideas from your own company.
Work With Me Baby [NYT]
For the Moment [NYT]
company town
Jon Stewart Suddenly Not Looking Like the Nice GuyMEDIA
• Is Jon Stewart really the only late-night host not currently covering the salaries of his laid-off, non-striking employees? [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• The key lines from the n+1 essay that helped convinced Choire Sicha and Emily Gould to quit: “The purpose of Gawker Media was always to improve on the print publishing business model. It was never, as the content of Gawker sometimes seemed to suggest, to produce critiques of the waste that model created. The content at Gawker, like most Condé Nast titles, is a service to the advertisers. … You could say that as Gawker Media grew, from Gawker’s success, Gawker outlived the conditions for its existence.” Joshua David Stein announced his own departure, due mostly to personal loyalty, on Saturday. [n+1, Media Mob/NYO]
• Meanwhile, Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici proves that Condé and Gawker really are at the same level: “By the way, those who feel wronged by Gawker over the years can take some satisfaction in the uniquely terrible timing of the walkout for Denton, who is pumped full of painkillers after a recent back injury. Last week, the pain became so intense he needed an ambulance to get to the hospital. As he was being loaded into the ambulance, he says, his greatest fear was that he would be spotted by someone from Gawker, which is headquartered just down the block from his home.” [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
developing
Hudson Yards Development: Guaranteed GreenYou may have seen a bunch of renderings of potential designs for the land above the Hudson Yards in this morning’s papers. But as one of the teams’ lead architects pointed out to us, “The challenge is, your eye immediately goes to the buildings, but it’s unlikely any of the buildings are going to look like this. That’s the challenge to the MTA, to boil down fundamental issues for the public.” So instead, we’re giving you one of the images that probably will find its way into reality if its team is selected — one for the long, narrow green space looking eastward from the Durst/Vornado proposal. That might just be the glass arc over the proposed Moynihan Station that you see in the distance. But meanwhile, what is Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling doing in the foreground on the right? —Alec Appelbaum
Related: The Next ‘West’ Thing [NYP]
Five Companies Bid to Remake Six Blocks of Hudson Yards Area [NYDN]
company town
Someone Get This Lawyer a Monkey!LAW
• Did David Souter really weep when the Supreme Court handed down Bush v. Gore? Or is Jeffrey Toobin nothing but a big bad liar? [Above the Law]
• Big Law partner to summer associate: “Now the reason I’m giving this project to you, and not my secretary, or say, a monkey, is my secretary is busy doing much more important things, and I don’t have a monkey.” [Urban Agora via Above the Law]
• Jack Bauer, law professor? Georgetown plans to offer a course in The Law of 24. [Above the Law]
show and talk
Video: Inside Proenza Schouler’s Dark Resort Collection
At Proenza Schouler’s studio recently, New York’s fashion director Harriet Mays Powell found designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough with a dark resort collection. “We’re just really attracted to dark colors,” McCollough said. “We like tons of grays.” A new metallic tank top displayed the duo’s high-low aesthetic. “We’re inspired by the idea of mid-century couture,” Hernandez said. “Mixing that sensibility with the reality that we’re kids from the nineties and it’s a dressed-down generation.” See three new Proenza garments and hear more from the designers by watching the video.
Fashion Studio: Proenza Schouler [NYM]
company town
Paris Cheered by Blackstone BidFINANCE
• Did Steve Schwarzman’s bid for Hilton Hotels help bring Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan back together again? [Gossip Girls via DealBreaker]
• She might not be so hot at spotting WMD, but former CIA big shot Jami Miscik is good enough to be the “global head of sovereign risk” at Lehman. [Fortune]
• Threatening letters against Goldman Sachs continue to turn up at newspapers; Feds now investigating disgruntled former employees. [NYP]
party lines
At the CFDAs With DVF and Her FriendsNo one was expecting a tie in the top category at the CFDA awards last night. Oscar de la Renta was on his way to accept his Womenswear Designer of the Year award when emcee Ellen Barkin realized he wasn’t the sole winner. “Oh, wait,” she said. “There’s more writing here. It says Proenza Schouler. It’s a tie! We have a tie.” De la Renta couldn’t disguise a little disappointment, but he gracefully kissed the young upstarts and gave his speech. “I have never had so much fun working so hard in all these years,” he said. The Proenza boys, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, stood behind him looking stunned. As they started to speak, Hernandez’s pocket began to ring. “Oh, my God, that’s my mom,” he said, laughing. He checked his phone. “It fully is.”
show and talk
Walking the CFDA Red Carpet With Jack, Lazaro, and Oprah
The big winner at the CFDA awards last night was well, actually, it was two winners: The venerable Oscar de la Renta shared the Best Picture–ish womenswear award with Proenza Schouler whippersnappers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Ralph Lauren won for menswear, Derek Lam for accessories, and Lauren was awarded the first-ever Fashion Legend Award. But the real question remains: What did they all wear? Our fashion folks can answer that for you, no problem. Check out our CFDA slideshow to see what Ralph, Derek, Jack, Lazaro, Oscar, Anna, Oprah, Tinsley, and many, many others wore on last night’s red carpet.
The 2007 CFDA Fashion Awards [Slideshow]
party town
G-Unit• Entertainment Weekly upfronts party. The Box, 189 Chrystie St., nr. Stanton St., 9 p.m. Expected guests include Balthazar Getty, Kelsey Grammer, Judy Greer, Tim Gunn, and others whose last names don’t start with a “G.”
company town
Advantage: GrassoFINANCE
• Richard Grasso may keep his money, after all. A New York State appeals court threw out four of the six claims filed against the former NYSE chair by the attorney general’s office. [NYP]
• Perella Weinberg may have missed out on advising the Ford family, but the firm finally got its first big deal with a lead role in Thomson’s attempt to acquire Reuters. [DealBook/NYT]
• The future of two Dow Chemical executives will be determined by testimony JPMorgan CEO James Dimon, who knows for sure if they spread rumors of a sale. [NYT]
show and talk
Proenza Schouler Comes to Bergdorf Goodman, Finally
You can find lots of high-end labels at Bergdorf Goodman, but you couldn’t find Proenza Schouler there — until today. The Proenza boys — Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez — brought their latest designs to a trunk show at the Fifth Avenue department store to celebrate their line’s new home in the store. Mannequins displayed the fall collection, as did a few real, live, wandering models, and the boys mingled with Bergdorf execs and other invited celebs. McCullough explained that their design process starts with sketches focused on silhouettes and colors, rather than with larger themes, and Hernandez added that they usually start with the details and move on to larger shapes. These days, he said, “we’re really into designing coats and jackets,” which explains why so many showed up on their runway last month. And what’s coming for the September shows? They wouldn’t say. For now, they said, they’re focused on Proenza’s first-ever resort collection, to be followed by a sunglass line — “classics like aviators, but with a twist” — and, after that, bags. All of which you’ll now be able to find at Bergdorf. —Kendall Herbst
company town
Proenza Schouler Shoots Too Early at TargetFASHION
• Proenza Schouler’s Target line was available online for four hours yesterday (three days before its official debut), causing mass Internet shopper hysteria. [Fashionista]
• Snejana Onopka, one of the poster girls for the current Save the Models movement, is rumored to be skipping New York Fashion Week. [FlyPaper]
• Jordan Scott, former designer at Betsey Johnson and child of the East Village, will launch his first collection during Fashion Week. [British Vogue]