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Managing The Together

Jan 28, 202451 min
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This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The show is sponsored by G three Aparo. The views expressed in the following program are those of the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven ten wor or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark Weber. He's a self made business executive here to help you find your success, from the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His global success story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational. He's gone

from clerk to CEO twice. Mark is classic proof that the American dream is alive. And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber. Mark Webber. I've been thinking. I've been thinking how it's impossible to get anyone to agree on anything. Now I can tell you, from my point of view, I'll agree on anything as long as anything is my idea. Now I get it. We're all entire to have our own opinions, but we're not entitled to our own facts. But I can tell you mine

are always right common senses. It work with me, Yet common sense is not so common in the rest of the world. I can't help, But wonder wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all get together and agree on anything. Would it be nice if we were older and didn't have to wait so long? Said the beach boys. Why can't we all just get along? Said Jack Nicholson Mars attacks. It's a wonderful world, said Louis Armstrong. And then, of course there's no I in team. It is so simple

to agree to agree? Why not find common ground? The world should be simple when you think about it. There's no world order or worldview. Every country puts themselves first, and yet some of our moronic politicians have a problem with that. I don't get it. I've been thinking about reaching across the aisle and taking the high road. Let's agree to agree. There are agreements in this world. There are treaties, they are collaborations. This healthy dialogue.

There's the un You must come to conclusions in business, otherwise you don't have a business. Yes, there is healthy dialogue, until there isn't. Funny Man's best friend. Dogs get it. They know how to behave they know how to make agreements with their masters. We not so much. There are still enemies in this world. I don't get it. But I've also heard that they're on their own worst enemy as long as they are alive.

There's climate change believers and climate change deniers, Republicans, Democrats, independents, all races, all religion that believe God and those that don't. One hundred and thirty seven countries, last count eight billion people sharing a planet. We have so many things in common, food, water, air, shelter, education, jobs. This is a simple thought. Would it be nice if we all could get along? Go figure? No one agrees with certainty,

not anything, how about anything? Nope, pretty much nothing is universal. Then your throne. Politics is the worst, self interest, greed, anger, a touch of hate. We're not together ever, maybe forever. It's such a shame. Let's face it. There are a lot of people paid big bucks to manage through the lack of agreement, the lack of cooperation. That's what I had to do in my job. Create consensus, lead from the front, make things happen. Leadership is getting together to get things done.

Some of us are successful, most of us aren't. We need to be together, and that's my plan tonight. I'm not unhappy. I'm not fatalistic, nor discourage or for that matter, giving up. We all have to try that. Some of the parts are greater than the whole. Tonight we're managing the together, and now we we're always together. My lawyer, my co host, my son, Jesse Weber. I feel depressed. I feel depressed, And don't blame me. I'm just reporting the facts. What

am I missing? Well? You know, look, we do see eye to eye at times, then there's times we don't. I think we have to try to say the least now, of course, but I'm listening. You prove me wrong. Where am I wrong about nobody agreeing on anything and getting together? It's kind of hard, you know. There used to be like universal truths that everyone could agree on. Not the case. Anytime something happens. It's now become political and everybody loves taking sides. It's us versus

them. We're right there wrong. We can't even agree on facts anymore. You don't hear something crazy talking about politicians. Sure, I was on the radio the other day and I made the point that President Biden is old. And I don't just mean the age. I mean the fact that he's struggling, he struggles to get out words, he struggles to stay up straight, he's incoherent. And I got yelled at I got people on the left saying, you don't know what you're talking about. He's fine, he's totally good.

You're making more of it than it is. You're the problem. It's like, if you can't even accept that. I like the guy Wait a minute, I like the guy who got up and say you're denigrading the old, and you handled that brilliantly. I said to them, this is not about the old. It's about the fact that you have Donald Trump, who's what four years younger than Joe Biden, but he acts like he's twenty years younger. It's a real problem. And it's not just me saying it.

Look at the polls, look at what people care about, and it's like we have to live with our head in the clouds and not accept that that's a real problem. And so you know, when they if Biden loses or Biden doesn't do well, what are they gonna say that it's everybody's racist. Everybody doesn't. It's like a real guess the guy who's basically saying to you that I don't care what condition he's in anybody but Trump. And the problem

I've always had with that is I'll say it for the thousandth time. There are a million reals like Donald Trump. Every time he opens his mouth, you have to like take deep breath and hope he doesn't say the one thing. By the way, well what he is? His policy's worked well. Forget even politics for a second. You asked me about people agreeing. What do I do? I'm the host of the Long Crime Network. We cover trials all the time. No one ever agrees on the verdicts, even though

they were jurors. Right. People disagree with everything. People disagree with the Supreme Court constantly. They don't believe in the election results. They're creating situations that they have distrust of our law enforcement, our courts. And you know, God forbid you make a statement, God forbid you say something, You get blackballed, You get blacklisted, You're done. Your career's over forever.

All right, let's get off of this. I want to talk a little bit of current events, all right, and see whether or not in current events we can come together. First up, Ninal White this week, big story. Let's tell the audience what happened. So there's a fighter named Sean Strickland. Now let me preface this by saying, I think the guy is out there, okay, has some pretty radical stuff. What happened was in a press conference, he was asked about homosexuality. He was asked about if

he had a gay son. He goes, wait a minute, let me get this straight. You'd be okay with having a gay son? And the reporter goes, yes, I would, and Sean Strickland starts chastising. He goes, you're a weak person. That shows you who you are. That's the problem with this country. Really disgusting stuff to say the least. Okay,

I don't know, I mean, it's horrible what he said. Dana White is the head of the UFC, and he's asked in a press conference about Sewn stricklands statements and whether or not you give your fighters a long leash to say whatever they want. And he's like, a leash, I don't tell anybody what to say or not say. It's called free speech. They can say whatever they want. And he didn't weigh in one way or another about what Shawn Strickland said, but he basically was like, he's allowed to

say whatever he wants, whether I agree with it or not. And so he took the free speech line, and that's what he basically said, I thought he was brilliant. I thought he was brilliant. He cut right to the chase. People are allowed to talk. You don't have to agree with him. Guy said disgusting things. Prejudice thinks, so be it. He shouldn't tell people what to say. Anyway, let's continue with current events. Trump wins in Iowa, Win's in New Hampshire. I have a question for

you. Can Donald Trump be president of jail? What's going on with this? Is that really a possibility? So first of all, can he be convicted and be the president? Yes, he could technically be president from prison. It's a reality, it's the truth. Now, I don't think any of his criminal trials are going to happen before the election. I think there's too many delays, there's too many issues in each one of these cases.

I think there's a strong likelihood that none of these cases actually happen. I think there's a strong likelihood that he won't even be a verdict won't even happen before the election. So if he becomes the president, he can make the two federal cases go away, and the state cases will be pushed out till twenty twenty nine. Donald Trump could be wearing an orange jumpsuit inside prison running the country. Technically, yes, Now I've been asked, I have been

asked about how would that actually work. Here's what I would suspect. Tell me if I'm totally wrong, because, by the way, your guess is as good as mine. We're an unprecedented territory right here. I would imagine if he was convicted, and let's say he was sentenced to I'm just giving you a number. Let's say he was sentenced to eight years in prison and

he becomes the president. I think he would serve the first four years like confined to the White House like it was house arrest, and then once he leaves the office, he spends the remainder of the four years behind bars. Just saying, so you go there, that's what I think you're saying. He wouldn't be allowed to travel while he was the president. I mean, maybe he'd be have to travel with marshals or or jail personnel. Possibly.

I just feel like he'd be under house arrest. I could be wrong, but maybe the first year's the eight year sentence you gave him should be time served for what they put him through when he was president. Last time. Doesn't work that way. Sorry, doesn't work that way, But I think that's a possible or if he really is sentenced to prison, he's in a jail cell by himself, with his secret service, and his aides are coming to visit him. I don't know. I guess that's what I who knows.

I would have thought. I wish they'd leave him alone already, But you have said these are legitimate cases, So I'm gonna move on current events. I don't know if you've been watching all the awards shows, but I've been watching the speeches. Don't get me started with the clothes, but uh, the speeches. I want to talk free speech. You can say what you want. I don't care. You want to be derogatory, you pay the price. This country is multicultural, therefore many accents foreign, and for

that meta domestic accents. The Southern accent versus the Deep South. Texas has the sound of their own Midwestern people are perhaps the basic ones. Then of course it's New York City accents. And don't get me started with Brooklyn, but go ahead, go for it. Good with them all, but when I'm not good with the flaws in speaking, namely the terrible habits. We Americans seem to be picking up these speaking patterns. The people are using them

are driving me crazy. Now, there always been excellent speakers, refined, elegant in command. There have always been people on the other side are uncomfortable to speak publicity. I get it by what I don't get is speech defaults in everyday life, particularly for everyone with that discomfort of speaking. There are comes some help in the form of fillers. What are fillers? Pausing? Uh? There's a big one though, that's starting with a sentence. So

you ever hear that one? So what did you do last night? So I went to explain where I was. So is crazy? It's a new filler that I literally bothers me. Great deal. But there's one that has reached epidemic purpose. It's spread like COVID, but for talking. During the summer, I played a tape of Aaron Judge and Aaron Boone talking baseball to make the point. Now, you could say, well, they're baseball players, but these guys are smart, they're articulate, they're accomplished. They are

trained to speak in public and be interviewed. But what I'm referring to the use of the two words you know, if you listen to those two guys speaking about baseball, every single sentence it starts with you know, and it's not just the beginning, it's the middle, it's everywhere. You know. You know, I might get hits tonight. You know, there's no y in team my case. I've been thinking, you know, I do a radio show, podcast and radio. It's on every week, you know,

anytime of the internet, you know, Saturday and Sunday nights. Wouldn't it drive you crazy if you listen to it all the time? And you know what you know is in every sentence. The problem is you're doing it and you're so used to it you don't even notice what's going on. It's epidemic proportions. And you know what we need to do, you know, we need to get together to fix this terrible problem before we ruin the English language

together. Now, well, what got me sorted on this? Leonardo DiCaprio is interviewed crazy one of the world's great actors, someone who's trained to speak, someone comfortable speaking in interviews, a public sentence, I have to play this with you. I couldn't believe I want you. When you hear him talking, count do you know, count the number of them. Listen, how disturbing is what's it like as a kid? I mean, how do

you handle that rejection? You know, it's interesting because I remember, you know, you're sort of set up and you're put into this system where I think that you're supposed to be a jack of all trades and you're eleven, twelve years old, and you're sort of conditioned to say, well, you know, the casting directors there and say, well, can you juggling? You're like, absolutely, I can juggle, you know, you know, can you ski? Hell? Yeah, you know, I'm your man.

You know the tap dancing shows. So you're supposed to like set yourself up as somebody that can you know, you know, basically do anything that they want. Well, if you listen, Leonardo DiCaprio is doing that, a man who is an actor, a brilliant guy, trained to speak properly. Think about what everyone else is doing. This is a disease. I am the cure. Stop doing it. Let's get together on this before we ruin our beautiful language. You know, we have a problem. Back in a

minute. Always in fashion, as one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Car Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through Carlagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house car Lagafeld also offers a range of watches I wear and

premium fragrances. Explore the Carlagofil collection at carlagofelpowers dot com. But it's more than that, I for one, love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what would make me feel good to wear now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing. If you want to look right, you want to have clothes that fits you well. You want to look like

you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours. You can find it at very affordable prices at Macy's Orcarlagofel dot com Paris. The women's ready to wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbigs and the shoes, I for one wear men's clothes unlike my appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want to look current, I want to look the way I want to feel. I go out at night, I'm in

black and Carlagofel is my buddy. Calls are great. They fit great, and they have little tweaks and touches, whether it's a stripe on the sleeve or button at the neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot of details that go into Carlagafel because he's always been, he always had been one of the world's great designers, and this legacy and goes on and on. I can't speak enough about it except to say to you, you want to feel good about yourself. You want to know that you're dressing properly. You want

to clothes that fits you well. Carl Lagafeld Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com ISOD. I love the brand. When you asked me which of all the brands I've ever been associated with, ISOD was my favorite company I was with. We bought the brand and needed a revision. We needed a re

engineering. I was at the forefront of that. We took a brand that was extraordinarily well known to everyone in America, and we said, what do we do to give it energy, to make it exciting, to make it fun to be with that can follow you to the office at work, to your home, to casual sportswear, to activewear, particularly in luxury sports like tennis and golf. Isaid became an incredible brand for the company and formed particularly

to be associated with it. Having said that ISID. It's freezing out there right now and we have no alternatives on what to wear. Everyone has a point of view, not like ISAAC has a total collection of interrelated matching shirts, sweaters, turtlenecks, mock turtlenecks, fleece, pole of fleece, Amazing looking products, amazing colors, all related to the khaki pants, black pants, and navy pants that you wear. I love the collection. You can wear it to casual work it or you can wear it in your home,

or you can wear it skiing or after skiing. It is just great tops and pants for men. The great thing about ISAOT if you're fortunate enough to be able to go on holiday this season to warm weather and you play golf, ISESID always has a very definitive golf collection twelve months a year that will satisfy your needs of getting things done and being represented in a brand that is energetic and fun. I love the Isaac brand. You should look at it,

guys. I think it'll answer a lot of your questions. My interesting thing about being comfortable in your clothes. One is the obvious, how does it fit? How do you feel? Are you comfortable? Isaad's always there if it's a generous the design to make you comfortable. But at the same time, the second usage for comfort is in your head. You should know that isaid makes you feel good and you're always looking good and dressed for whatever

ocasion you might have. You could find Isaac at JC Penny Coohle's or on Amazon. Guys, go take a look. I think you'll be satisfied and excited. ISID Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber. I've been thinking tonight about why we can't come together on anything. This might be the worst time in the country's history, if you think about it, no one agrees on anything. There are wars all over the place,

skirmishes, people bombing each other. Just this week, one of the most interesting things with Donald Trump. You want to talk about him, what will you be your position on Ukraine. If you become president, will you stop the war? He says, I'll stop the war on the first day. The reporter goes back at him and says to him, well, do you support Ukraine or Russia? He says, I don't want a war. People are dying on both sides. The numbers are crazy. I don't want

people to die. Now, how could there be a follow up question to that? It's so simple and elegant. He's on the right side of this one, and still nobody agrees on anything. Is it that they don't agree or are they to feel like? How to actually think he's going to stop the war day one in twenty four hours. Well, instead of him questioning whether he believes in the Ukraine or Russia in this war, why don't you just ask him, how would you stop the war, mister president. So

that's the answer to that question, Jesse. The point I'm making is we can't agree on anything. You can't agree on politics. We can't agree amongst ourselves. Everyone has their own focus group. Everyone is there, intent is up, everyone's back is getting up over everything that's said. And I suppose if I picked a group that I belonged to and someone something to me that I didn't like about my group, I'd also get together, but you got

to give up. We're ruining this country. The world is getting crazy, and that's what I'm talking about getting together. But I want to take a lighter note now. As you know out there, we continue to get more and more listeners every week. I love sharing stories that I've either told before or that I find interesting, and one of them has to do with one of my favorite experiences in coming together, and it has to do with me

traveling to Berlin first time ever the Brandenburg Gate. I said in the hotel a lawn, beautiful hotelity. You wouldn't believe it, but it's about Formula One. I love that show on Netflix. I don't know if any of you out there have seen it, but it's a behind the scene look at race car driving, and it's interesting that the stories they pick them nothing to do with the people who are winning the race. It's fantastic. It's one

of those examples of TV being so extraordinary. Regular people talking to drivers, watching the cars, hearing the strategies. I love it. But here I am I fly into Berlin. I'm traveling where I got the president of my licensing division. We're talking about. Neither of us have ever been to Berlin. We're going to sight see, we're gonna do business. We pull up to this incredible hotel, the Alawn Hotel. And you know one thing about Berlin, it's all new. After the war, Berlin got blasted, there's

nothing left, so everything built is new and fresh. And this hotel is right across the street from the Brandenburg. And as I start to pull up to the hotel, it is packed outside. I mean packed, crowds like you won't believe. A limousine pulls up. The flash bulbs start going off and I taken pictures of Ice says that wow, this is amazing. I walk into the hotel, I'm getting high fives. Everybody's looking at me. It's like rocks. I can't believe what I'm saying. And I walk in

the lobbyest packed. A guy meets me right in front of the door before we go into lobby, said mister Weber, welcome to our hotel. Come on in. We'll get you checked in right away. But as I walk in, the crowd starts separating and it starts to fill out. It starts empty and then the mood is now gone. And I said, what's going on? And he said, mister Weber, your name is Mark Weber,

right, I said yeah. He said, well, we're in Formula one season and one of the most famous drivers in the world is named Mark Weber. They're all here for the real Mark Weber, who doesn't happen to be you. Ouch, that hurts the real Mark Weber. Oh, you're an impostor. Yeah, when I talk about it, I used to be important. But there's an example that I was important for five seconds. But I

have another story. While I'm in the mood talking cultural and lifestyle, I have to admit those of you who think I'm a pompous whatever, I apologize. I'm just reporting the lifestyle that I lived. I came from a beginnings if you listen to the beginning of the show. I grew up in the city projects, and somehow, miraculously I found a way to become successful. And as far back as nineteen eighty was the last time I ever flew in coach. Ever, I became senior enough in my companies that I was able

to fly in first class. I'm working for LVMH, so I figure, you know, let's support the French. I'm going to fly at France. I never did before. I thought it'd be exciting. They fly out of Kennedy Airport. I knew they have a beautiful transit lounce, so I said to my sister. Her name is Judy Luca. I said, Judy, book me first class in air France said sure enough, Mark, I said great, and I show up at the gate. I don't check in luggage.

You know, you get to point where you get smart, particularly if you're in first class, you carry your travel on luggage, or you don't carry anything at all. I know people carry fifteen suitcases to get on a plane. It's insane. It's like going on Safari and they're going I don't know, Palm Beach. It's crazy. But in my case, I've learned that if you have to travel on pieces, they'll fit above and certainly when you're flying first class. So I go right to the transit lounge. I

go through customs. Right as I get to customs, I handed my passport and someone from Air France comes and meet me right at customers, said mister Weber, We've already pre checked you through. Come with us to the transit line. I said, wow, these Air France guys really got it together. I go to the lounge. They put me in a beautiful club chair. In front of my club chair, there's peanuts, this all kind of ore derves laid out. It's like for me alone. I said wow.

I said, this is crazy. Either Elvia mahe has taking care of me, or Air France is the best airline you could ever dream up, one of the most beautiful. I guess. The stewardess or ground attendant comes up to me, beautiful dressed and peckled with that French accent. I was in love. My goodness, it's just to me, mister Weber. You do not have to board with everyone. Just wait here. When it's time for you to board, we'll take you right into your cabin. Perfect. Wow,

mister Webber, you're also going to be piloting the plane. Did you know that? No? I wasn't piloting the plane, but you know, if I think it, if I want to sit in there and hang out with the piloting and let me do it. It was amazing, mister Weber. We're gonna have you land the plane too. How much fun is that? Everybody boards they take forty five minutes. They come and get me and

they bring me into the first class cabin. I'm the only one in first class and I can't even explain the experience, the food, the wine free thing, the way they took care of me. Mister Webber, Will you be taking your pajamas now, mister Webber, would you like an after dinner? Can? Yeah, mister Webber, mister Webber, mister Webber. And I'm watching this and I'm saying to myself, this is amazing. How could I ever flown anywhere else? So eight houturs later, I'm pumped up,

I'm pampered. I'm feeling like a big shot. The plane lands, and all of a sudden, right before anyone to planes, you hear an announcement. Please stay in your seats. We will come to you and tell you when it's time to the plane. Another French beauty with the French accent comes to get me and she says, mister Webber, please come with us. Do you have any luggage. We'll take it down for you. You've ready pre cleared you through customs. There's a car waiting for you. Boom.

I never saw anything like it, and now I'm in the car and I'm saying to myself, my gosh, this lv MH have clout. This is unbelievable. I never saw anything like it. I went to France, I hung out, I did my business. I came home, same thing. I'm like, godlike, I can't believe what's going on. Fast forward, get back to my office and I say to Judy, Judy, I'll tell you what. I never want to fly to Europe anywhere ever again without flying

air France. I said sure, okay. So about a month later, I have to go to London and I say to her, you know, I really can't go to France first, I have to go to London. So get me a first class ticket on British Airways. And she says, you're sure you want to take British Airways versus American Airlines. I said yeah. I said why. She says, you know, it's very expensive. Said what's expensive? So she goes and does all the work comes back to

me. Have a choice. You can file American Airlines first class, which is really business class, for six thousand dollars, or you can fly British air for fifteen thousand first class. I said, what are you crazy, fifteen thousand first class and she starts to laugh. I said, why are you laughing? She says, what do you think it costs to fly to France? So what do you mean Helvi made made it nice? What do you mean? She said, what do you nuts cost nineteen thousand dollars?

I said, what nineteen thousand dollars? You booked me on a flight nineteen thousand dollars. I'm just new at the company. They find out they're gonna kill me nineteen thousand dollars. How could you do it? She said, Well, you didn't ask what it costs. She sais, maarck. You gotta remember their three cabins. So boy, oh boy, I was so freaked out. Let's say I never enjoyed that experience again. So what happened? What happened? I flew six thousand to British air and the French never

bothered me. But when you talk about getting together, you can't get any closer than me and my assistant. We're canned and glove for thirty years were like words and music. Everything we did together we understood each other. And she booked me for nineteen thousand dollars in France and put my life in jeopardy. I couldn't believe it. So with that in mind, all I would say to you is, here's a great example of two people working together every

day, not quite sharing an office, but next to each other. And we couldn't get it together, but we have to if we want to save this world. Back in a minute. Always in Fashion spent a lifetime of my career building the van Usen Brand, and I am so pleased that they're back with us now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again, and it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be worn on multiple occasions

in multiple ways. You could wear a suit formally to go out at night or to an event, to wear a suit to the office with or without a tie. If you look closely now fashion trends, suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The choices are endless and every one of them looks right. You could really really look the part. I believe that packaging yourself is as important does the products you package, and wearing a suit is

one of those things that make men look their best. Venues and invented a new idea. It's called the cool flex suit. It's been engineered with stretch technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility. It's wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki. It makes it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now, this new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that the ven using company is involved

in this new technology and is embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget van Ues and Maine It's name with dress shirts. It's only proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way. You can find van Ues and cool Flex men's stretch suits at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great. You should go look at them. Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Weber. This is Always in

Fashion. This is Mark Weber. We're talking tonight about together. The title of the show tonight will be Managing it Together. The world is so complicated. No one agrees, but we all get paid to manage stick together. Every one of our politicians, there is only one thing they're there to do, make this country better. Get along. The three systems of a government. They all have to be in conjunction with each other making it happen. In business, it's not so simple, but it is simple because you are

paid to manage. You are paid for results. You have to deliver, and part of delivering is making a consensus moving forward. This is not a democracy. Business is business. I have a story I want to tell you about fashion. Shocking talking about fashion and always in fashion, Thomas Jefferson said in Manners of Style, swim at the current. In manners of principle,

stand like a rock. That was the slogan first time I walked into this design room at the Donna Karen Company, and I remember thinking how much I'd love that because it was what I believed. I believed in fashion from my point of view. I always had a taste, I always had a point of view. I always knew that style was more important than fashion. But

principal matters more to me than anything. And when you believe in something, you have to stand by it no matter what, even at the risk of taking chaff and heat for it. So when I saw that, it gave me a great feeling about the company I was getting involved with, Fast Forward. I'm working with this team I love my time at Donna, Karen and DK Why. I started every meeting walking into me and I said hi, boys and girls, and I would end up saying, whoa, I'm the

only boy. But anyway, I work with all women, and Donna Karen built a company with Amazons. Every single woman that was there was sharp on her game, professional, top of the class, pinionated, and stubborn. I'm not singling out women because they're stubborn. I will only tell you I think women are stubborn from different reasons. For me and talking about getting trouble, men all they think about in business is burning out the other people,

getting ahead, getting rid of them. Women are, in my view, are more sophisticated creatures. They have more things they have to contend with. They have lives besides work, whereas men seem to concentrate mostly on work. The point is, I love working with these women. They were all tough and I loved it. I'm not figuring I'm working with one woman and our licensees, the partners we choose for various different businesses, were complaining about our

approval process. This is the design team doesn't believe in printresses. I said what he says. They don't believe in the print dresses. They won't put print dresses in our collection. I said, everyone I look at here is wearing print dresses. Everyone on the street is wearing print dresses. They're beautiful. And I have different times where I go through different phases of what I think a woman is most beautiful. And sometimes in the winter, a wool

turtleneck sweater, pair of jeans beautiful. Sometimes it's it's a beautiful black evening dress. I go through phases where I look at different things and they appeal to me. But I gotta tell you, it's summertime. Nine out of ten women are wearing these beautiful dresses. And I'm allowed to say is I'm in love every time I look out my window, every time I walk down the street. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to meet them. I'm looking at the clothes. That's my job. I love seeing

women in dresses. What do you mean they don't believe in dresses? She's just that, So, I said, you mean to tell me I have to come into a design meeting to convince the design gurus of Donna, Karen and DK and why that they should have printresses in the line, Yeah you do, Mark. They won't give me printresses, and I need them. My customers are asking. So two days, lady, we arrange a meeting. Twenty people in the room. So let's see the collection that's on the

wall. They pull back a screen. I see the whole collection, and the first thing I say, of course I'm ready for this is Her name is Jane. She's the head of John Jane Chung. I loved the very talented woman. Hey, Jane, I don't see in printresses. Well, our customer doesn't wear print dresses. You want to run that by me again? Please this our customer doesn't wear dresses, I said, it's our customer women that don't shave their lakes. What kind of women are you talking about?

Everywhere I go, everything I see women are wearing printresses. What do you mean? She says, well, we don't think we should have printresses in our collection. So I looked at the senior vice president of sales, the one who works with the customers every day. She had those bloomingdales, Macey's Lord and Taylor Nordstrom, all of them, and I said, are there a lot of print dresses on the floors and the stores now? She says, it's the biggest business in the industry. I said, do our

competitors have print ress? She just, of course, do you think we can sell print dresses? I need printresses. We're gonna die without him. I said, sounds to me like there's a disagreement here. So I look at the head of sales the women approached me in the first place, and I said, do we need print dresses? Mark? I couldn't have said it better. We have to have print dresses. We're not competitive, We're getting killed. We have beautiful, solid things, we have beautiful everything.

Print dresses right now are seventy five percent of the dress business. We have little black dresses. Deca why they're the best. But we need Prince back to design. What do you say about this? She said, we don't believe in printresses. So I'm sitting there and I think what to say. You guys are putting me in the position of King Solomon, who had to go to two different mothers who both claimed the rights to this baby was born the first one. He says to her, the only way I could see

solving this problem is if I cut the baby in half. This particular woman who claims rights to the baby, says, no, you can't do that, the baby will die. She can have it, goes see the other woman and ask her what should we do. She's cut the baby in half. So King Solomon, in his infinite wisdom, said, the rightful mother of this baby is the woman who said she wouldn't sacrifice the baby, and he gave the baby to her. I said, you're putting me in the

position of King Solomon. I have a design team that I have nothing but the highest regard for. And I have the sales team, who I have nothing but the highest regard for, who are telling me something totally different. Now I get paid to manage this, and we have to be together. And I'm remind you tonight as you're listening to this, this is all about managing the together. So I said, uncategorically, beginning with this collection,

we will have print dresses. And before you argue with me, don't tell me you're going to have to cut back on us little black dresses, or our navy dresses, or a sequin dresses or any of them that we're not changing. But you're going to add twenty dresses to the collection. So someone raised their hand and they started to say, but you know, we have to manage our inventory. So I looked to the head who was there of

inventory management in the division. Her name was Julie, and I said, Julie, if you and I work together, can we add twenty dresses to our assortment with out having an inventory problem? Absolutely, Mark, I'll make it happen. So that's settled. So I said, here's the deal. What are the kind of print dresses that are happening right now? So one woman said there are abstract patterns. I said, okay, there are small

print florals. There are large print florals, and they're engineered patterns that may have a print going across the chest with a matching print that goes across the knee. That's the kind of things we need. So I looked at the head of design and I said, Jane, you got to do twenty dresses. I for one, like the big, large florals. I want to

see at least five of them. The small patterns I don't like as much, but we have to have it. And I'm going to give you these twenty assignments, and five days from now we're going to have a minute. Today's Monday. On Friday, we're coming back. We're having a meeting. I want to see your print dress line offering. Five days later, I go in the showroom and I see a beautiful, not nice, a beautiful array of print dresses. The only mistake they made was they didn't offer enough

colors in terms of the basic body of the dress. They were all black. See you needed some tope, you needed some red, you need some navy, some off white or white were beautiful. I said, I love it, I love it, I love it, and the colors. I came back Monday the colors were added. Now you're talking about high boys and

girls, Amazon women brilliant, great at what they do. You talk about two groups of people, a sales division that has a history of what works, how to sell, how to manage their customers, and a design division. You talk about Donna, Aaron, a Deacon wat He's a brilliant people that weren't in agreement. And by the end of this period, which was two weeks in total, our line was enhanced with print dressers. We were competitive, we looked great, we were proud, and lo and behold,

everyone was on the same page. After we did that, everyone was together and on tonight I'm managing the together. And that was a fashion story Back in a minute. Always in Fashion, DK and Why. Donna Karen, New York. Donna Karen began her career as one of the finest, most

successful, powerful women in the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at the luxury market for women on the go, women who were powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that extended beyond the workplace, and her clothes went from day and to night. An extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing Donna Karen had a young daughter, and she had friends and they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Karon collection, and Donna invented DK and Y Donna Karen,

New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection. The same concept a lifestyle brand. Now we talk about lifestyle brands, what does that really mean? Simply what they say, there are brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You get up in the morning, you start to get dressed. Donna Karen decay why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all those products you're getting dressed for work. You getsrize shoes, handbags, and it

takes you through the day. The remarkable thing about DK and Y clothes for work they work into the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters, the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that go from day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active. You have weekends, you have events, you participate in sports. Donna Karen's casual clothes did that under the DK and Y label. A vast array of casual sportswear that make

women look great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you're going to soccer games for your children, or whether you're going out to the movies, whatever you want to do, dkn Y jeans, dc HY sportswear is there for you. That's what a lifestyle brand is. And I need to mention DKY active Wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras, the sweats. You can wear DKY active wear certainly in the gym, certainly when you're working out at home, and certainly if you want on the street,

because it's that well done. The quality of DKY is nothing short of exceptional. And why shouldn't it be Because it was born from the idea of luxury made affordable for women. Of America, DK and WHY, a true lifestyle brand that takes you from day and tonight, from the week into the weekend. DCN Why you can find DKNY and Macy's DKY dot com. As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational

and cutting edge approach to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through car Lagafeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house Carlagafeld also offers a range of watches, iwear and premium fragrances. You can explore the car lagofl collection of Carlagofelparis dot com. There's more than that. I, for

one, love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what would make me feel good to wear Now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing. If you want to look right, you want to have clothes that fits you well. You want to look like you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you. And yours. You can find it at

very affordable prices at Macy's Orcarlagofel dot Comparis. The women's ready to wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbigs and the shoes. I, for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want to look current, I want to look the way I want to feel. I go out at night, I'm in black and carlago Felt is my buddy. Calls are great, they fit great, and they have little tweaks and touches, whether it's a stripe on the sleeve or

button at the neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot of details that go into carlago Felt because he's always been, he always had been one of the world's great designers, and this legacy and goes on and on. I can't speak enough about it except to say to you, you want to feel good about yourself. You want to know that you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits you well. Carl Lagafel, Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com. Welcome back to it Always in fashion. Here's your host,

Mark Webber. Tonight the show is managed together. I could stop by saying I've been very frustrated that everything in the world nobody agrees on anything. I dread the results of the next election because of the two candidates we have. No matter who wins, the country's still going to be divided. But anyway, tonight I'm in a great mood. I want to talk about my greatest day in business. Get a call one day to come uptown and everyone's sitting

around the board and look like somebody died. The president of the company says, they sit down, shut up. The gh Basque Company is in trouble. They said they would make fIF ten million dollars. It looks like they're gonna lose money and it could take us down. So I said, you brought me, I'll tell you what we do. It's Friday. Everyone in this room on Monday should be in Portland, Maine, gh Beass headquarters,

fixing the problem. And the president company looks at me. He says, I knew I had a reason for keeping you here, because that's exactly what you're gonna do. On Monday. You're going up to Maine and you're not coming back until you fix Portland, Maine. This what are you crazy? I have a job. He says, yeah, this is your job right now. I said, but I have a different job. He gets up from the conference table, walks behind his desk, takes out something from his

desk, puts it in front of me. It's his business card that says president. I told you you're going to Maine, but you're not going alone. And he mentioned this other fellow, Michael Blitzer, who is a brilliant operations guy, had a tremendous amount of experience in retail and GH Bass was a retail and wholesale company. He said, Michael's going there. We're gonna name him chairman of Bass, and you're gonna go there and help him get

the company right. You are going to be in charge of product development, marketing, fix the company, because we all know that's what's wrong with it. So I get in and as usual, I sit down with the design team, and they too, at this time, refuse to understand what was

happening in women's shoes now. JH. Bass as an image, it's an outdoor shoe company to one degree, it's a collegiate shoe company making the first penny loafer but if you're going to sell bass penny loafers in the era of sexy shoes, you're going to be like the last buggy whip maker in New York when horses disappeared, everybody's using cards and you're selling buggy whips. Doesn't work like that. You have to understand what it takes to be fashionable or

stylish when the environment changes. And I said, to one of my favorite lines I said it earlier, we can't just make shoes for women that don't shave their legs. Women want to look good, they want to be sexy. They don't one only went round toole penny loafers. We need the best version of the trends that are happening. That was the message I gave to the women's team, and then I said to him, listen, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you what the ten best fashioned directions are in women's

shoes. You're gonna do that for me, because when I come back next Monday, you're gonna show me storeboard samples of the shoes that you think are not right for gh bass, but that you wear. We need to figure out how to give bass women the best version of the right shoes. Now the men, I said, guys, men's stress shoes, said, what's happening? And you too about penny loafers. The hottest selling shoe company America at this time for men are Kenneth Cole. They revitalized the entire men's shoe

industry and you are still making penny loafers. We have to change the look of this company. And I said, listen, you're gonna do the next fifty shoes your way, and you are going to work with me to give me the fifty shoes that I want, and we'll see were better off. At the end over three months, we re engineered the entirety of the men's

line. We came up with concepts men at work with address shoes, industrial labor with a big, chuggy boots with lug souls that looked like Doc Martin's at the time, and of course the classics, the bass shoes, and every group had a name, every group was priced right, Everything looked brilliant. At the end of three months, this company was humming, and more importantly than anything else, everyone on the team was together. Everyone was proud

of what we accomplished. Everyone felt the win and as it turned out we were going to have a meeting where we invited the wives of a board and all the senior members of the company, all the senior offices of the corporation, and we would present the new Bass Shoe Company. Six hundred people were invited, We set up the shoe, all the new advertising concepts were all the room, and if I tell you it was brilliant, it was brilliant. More importantly, I tell you that we came together as a team.

And I got up at the end and I said, basically speaking, I learned a great lesson. I've been a senior executive for so long whenever I said to someone jump, they would jump. But when I came here, I realized that I had to win the hearts and minds of the people that I couldn't say jump. I had to say to them, I have a concept called jumping that I'd like you to consider. And because of that style,

I became better for it. We all became better for it. And I hope you appreciate what you saw tonight, and I hope you realized that this is a company that we're going to all be proud of within the next six months, and certainly by the end of the year and I got a standing ovation. And while I'm standing in the stage, my friend who had become the CEO, handed me a piece of paper and on it he gave me a message. And what it said is, this is your finest hour.

You gave everyone all the credit, none for yourself. This was your greatest day tonight. For me, it's all been about togetherness. That's a strange word, you know. Why can't we all be together? Why isn't this world together? I tell you the truth, I really can't answer that when you really consider the following. I traveled the world in my lifetime, and wherever I went and spoke to people that I met in business, they

all wanted the same thing. They all wanted to have a place to live, they wanted to feel free, they wanted to have a great job, and they wanted their children to have a better life than they did. It's universal. We all need the same things. Why is it so complicated? But I'll make it very simple. I run a business show. It's always been about business. We've extended into cultural lifestyle to make the life lessons and points relevant. There's no excuse in this world for us not to be together,

we vote for a present. His job is to bring the country together. We're in business. The job is to take all these fine people that are working in a company, allow them to be happy, allow them to excel, allow them to express themselves. Steve Jobs said it best. We don't hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they could tell us what to do. Our job is to manage the togetherness. And if you got that tonight, good night.

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