This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The show is sponsored by G three of Parol. If he's expressed in the following program are those of the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven tenor 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 his classic proof that the American dream is alive. And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.
Mark Weber.
I often wonder whether I should just be quiet. There's no question that in this life. If I just didn't answer, just didn't offer, didn't suggest, refrain from options, kept my advice to myself, kept my own counsel, I didn't get involved. I kept my mouth shut. I just might be happier.
Now.
I've been working on my happiness, which is more important to me than being heard. And you think, after all this time, I've had learned that no response is a response. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. Now I have to admit I could be my own worst enemy forgetting humans and their nature.
Humans. Many don't wish you well.
Particularly if you talk about yourself. My wife always warned me. She said, those above you in business mark will love you until you catch up to them. And then I learned on my own that those below you that work for you will love you for the thousand things you do for them until you say no once and then all bets are off. Yet here I am. I'm happy, and when I'm happy, it's makes me funny. And when I'm funny, I talk too much and invariably get into trouble.
But I want to talk. I have a show tonight. I have a Radis show talk. So I have things I want to do. I have stories I want to tell. Now part of what I'm going to do tonight is paint the bullseye on my back. I deserve it. I have some things I have to share. I want to teach some important lessons. But I will tell you from now on in this world, if someone asked me a question and I don't answer, that means that's my answer. And perhaps all of you learned that lesson you too,
will realize no response is a response. With that as a back trip, I want to introduce my co host, my lawyer, and my son, Jesse Webber. Jesse, you haven't been on the show in a while, and now you're back.
I know, I know, I know. It's just been incredibly busy in the legal world. Have you seen how many cases are happening right now, how much Trump legal stuff's been going on. I want to be on the show, but I'll tell you I listened to the show last week.
It was great.
I thought it was a great show. I did have one question for you. I did have one question for you about the show last week. You gave this great story about Macy's West Macy's East, and I'm not going to summarize the whole thing, but you basically were reassured the guy that ran Macy's East that they were going to continue to carry the brand. But there was this whole, big concern about Macy's West not no longer carrying it.
The one thing I never understood was what happened after Macy's West said they weren't going to carry You had to report that back to the board, right. You tried every which way to make sure the brand was held by Macy's West. Did the board say, hey, Mark, did you try every which way? I mean, were they What did they say to you when you came back and said, listen, I tried every which way for Macy's West Coast to keep our brand and they said no. What was the
reaction from the company about that? That was the one part I was missing.
Yeah, Well, Macy's East decided to stay loyal to the brand. Macy's West ran away. I told the board that this is happening. I told the board, it's not going to work, the trading off our great brand for some private lebel brand and over time it'll come back and let's just stay the course. And that, in turn, is what happened. So it was really a non entity of the board. But thank you for bringing that up. But what I want to talk about a little differently tonight is the
idea of being quiet. You know, when you talk, when you don't talk? What is rule number one?
Keep the mouth closed exactly.
Now that began with you jumping in the swimming pool with you little boy, keep the mouth closed, and then in life it's the same thing. Don Corleone said, never let anyone outside the family know what you're thinking.
Same thing.
You gotta keep the mouth beclouse. I'm always getting in trouble. But the other day I had a reoccurring thing. I'm going to talk about. Somebody called me eccentric. I'm not eccentric.
You are.
But that's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing. You should wear it as a badge of honor. It's funny I was talking about somebody.
Wait a minute, Wait a minute, I have tape something I want to play for you.
What eccentric is Eccentric as an adjective definition one of a person or their behavior unconventional and slightly strange, as in my favorite aunt is very eccentric In a technical sense, definition two of a thing not play centrally, or not having its axis or other part play centrally, as in a servo driving in eccentric cam. As a noun, definition one a person of unconventional and slightly strange views or behavior, as in he enjoys a colorful reputation as an engaging eccentric.
I thought it was a great thing. Listen to what it just said. I'm strange on this.
That's bad. That's bad. All the great people in this world, so entrepreneurs, the best in industries. They're all unique, they're all one of a kind. They've all been called different or weird or eccentric. That's not a bad thing. I spoke to somebody today who I work with, and I told him, I said to them, right through his face, I was like, I will never meet anyone like you ever again in my life. I said. There's some people that you meet who are like at of Central Casting.
You know exactly what they're about. They're very characteristic of everybody. It's great to be different. That's how you stand out. That's how you stand out. I think you're the same way.
Well, I'm going to cover thank you for that. I figured you jump on my head for being weird.
No, I mean you're weird. I mean you're weird and good ways and bad ways. There are some things you're weird about a little eccentric about that. I'm like, eh, I don't know. But other than that, it's great.
What's the most important case you're covering out? Talking weird?
Did he I want to talk weird? Diddy? Diddy's trials about to start, so.
It's really I didn't realize.
Yeah, this past week perspective, jurors were brought into the courtroom, not for individual questioning. They filled out questionnaires, forms about what's your age, where do you live, have you heard anything about the case, And then they're going to be whittled down and we're going to have real jury selection beginning next week. I think it's gonna be very tough to find the jury in this case. But remember, he's going to trial federal court facing five sex crimes charges,
faces potentially the rest of his life in prison. All eyes are going to be on this trial. And you want to talk weird. He's accused of doing a lot of weird things.
Is he going down?
Hard to say? I'll say this much. What he's charged with are very specific crimes. So if we're talking sex trafficking, there are very specific elements that the prosecution has to prove, And I gotta say, I'll see what the evidence is, but I think the defense can make an argument that this is not a classic example of that. That he might have had relationships with girlfriends and was flying them out and paying them and buying gifts for them. Is that really what sex trafficking is? Did he run a
criminal enterprise? For a racketeering charge. I know why they charged them the way they did, but I don't know if a jury's going to accept it. This is not a case of did Sean Combs abuse anyone or engage in sexual assault? That's not what this is. It's very, very different. It's beyond that. And I think the prosecution, though this is the Southern District of New York federal prosecutors, they wouldn't move forward with the case unless they felt
they had the goods. There's talk about whether or not they offered a plea deal and Shawn Combs rejected it. I'm gonna be very curious to see how everything's argued and who ends up testifying. But it's gonna be quite the case. And by the way, it's by the way, it's very rare for a federal case like this to go to trial and very rare for it to go to trial within a year of when someone's arrested. But Shawn Colmbs wants to go full speed ahead. He wants us to go to trial. It seems like he believes
he can be acquitted in this case. Very interesting.
When you said the jury, what are the criteria for jury? How are they going to find a jury that doesn't know anything about this.
They're not going to try to find a jury that doesn't know anything about this. It's going to be, first of all, impossible to find a jury that doesn't know who Sean Combs is. Okay, that's going to be number one. But to find a jury that hasn't heard something about the charges or the criminal case, or seen that really really bad video of him allegedly beating up an ex girlfriend. No, The question is can the jurors who are seated, can
they put aside whatever they've seen about the case. Can they put aside whatever opinions they have and say I promise to make a decision purely based on the facts and the evidence presented in this courtroom. Easier said than done. You have to take their word for it. Sometimes their backgrounds are going to be looked into. Did they post anything on social media about it in the past year? But that's what you're looking for, and you better have alternates.
You better have a lot of alternates, because during the course of what could be an eight week trial, things happened, jurors could say things, they might be approached. You want to make sure you have enough because if you run out of jurors, then you have a mistrial. So you want to make sure you have enough jurors and jurors who can look at this case impartially.
Well, here's the deal. I'm glad we have a little current events. I'm glad we're going to talk about this. That might be very helpful for everybody to watch. But here's the case I'm going to build right now, you're ready. I've been accused of being eccentric, and point out and prove that I'm not with that of mine. I hate talking about myself. In all my formal lives. My former reiterations, I talked about brands. I talked about the companies I
work for, the brands I represent. Now the brands that I'm representing is always in fashion, and I'm a point and I set the stage, and I have to talk about me. It isn't easy being me, but I like it. I have to admit, I'm always concerned that when I talk about my own personal successes, it could be considered as bravado or bragging full of myself, and therefore I try and offset it with some humility and reality and to yours truly, if you ask me. Hey, I think
I'm a great guy. I'm well thought out. Everything I say is with common sense. Everything I say makes sense and well. What I also say is I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong, which is backed up by I don't know if I'm smart. That's for others to decide, but I know I'm well trained. But this is where I want to go. And I have a story I want to tell you that happened a while ago, but reoccurred last week. I was cold eccentric. I always wore eccentric as a badge of honor. I
thought it was cool to be eccentric. But let me play it for you again. This is what eccentric is.
Eccentric as an adjective definition one of a person or their behavior unconventional and slightly strange, as in my favorite aunt is very eccentric. In a technical sense, definition two of a thing not play centrally, or not having its axis or other part play centrally, as in a servo driving an eccentric ham. As a noun definition, one a person of unconventional and slightly strange views or behavior, as in he enjoys a colorful reputation. As an engaging, eccentric.
So I'll say I've always been different. Some would say I beat to my own drum. Others I'd say I'm up.
I don't know what do I say?
Now?
You know I'm not full of myself. I'm not apologizing.
I was with a group of people the other night and were shooting the breeze, and I decided to hold court, talking, you know, okay about my wardrobe. And one woman said to me, you don't mark. Every time I see you, you're wearing a navy suit. So I decided to be playful. How do I look? She says, you always look great to me. Now I'm thinking, is this where I'm going to get into trouble?
Now?
I look at her and say, well, how good is good? And she says you look great?
Why? Ass?
She said? Seriously? Yeah, you said I look good. I'm curious. Are you fishing for compliments?
Mark?
No, I'm interested in what you have to say. Now I'm being charming, or at least I think I am. I I'm watching what's going on the table and I'm liking this. And she says, okay, I'll answer you. First of all, you're handsome.
I start to walk thank you.
You have great hair and your shirt serves you well. Now I'm feeling like Brad Pitten. I go to the Larry David mode with that. You like the navy, I love it, And here we go. I have a story to tell, and I start to tell the story, and the story goes. I'm thinking, how I tell you. I had been in the industry for a while, and I tried very different things. I was a fashionable kind of guy and I was following fashion, or should I say I was chasing it, and I literally was chasing it
down the wrong street. I got myself into fashion faux pars, and I wore banded collars with a suit, you know those dress shirts without a collar buttons, and then I can look out fool. I went to a charity event and I wore an orange shirt. At the time, my company was making shirts out of nylon dress shirts. They were cold Kiana, they came in different colors. They are very silky looking. But I bought an orange one with an orange white and navy print tie with a navy suit.
And that night I took a picture with the then Governor of New York and I brought it home and I opened up. I looked at the picture, says, what an idiot? I look like an idiot. I can't believe I did this. I was so upset with myself, and I realized right then and there, I had to change my look. And I started struggling. And it went on for about a week. I would never wear a colored shirt again. One day I put on a navy suit, white shirt, navy blue tie, black tesseled loaf for Sterling
silver cuff links, and a Sterling silver Rolex watch. And I look in the mirror and I think, for me, I look amazing. I call over my wife and I said, look in the mirror, Sue, what do you see? She looks at me, says you. I said, no, no, what do you see? She says, help me here? I said, I'll tell you what you see. You see me looking the best I possibly could look. I am never going to wear anything but a navy blue suit. And for twenty years I had all my suits made to order.
They were all navy blue. They were different ways somewhere to winter, they were single breasted and double breasted. Every single day for twenty years, I wore navy blue suit, white shirts, Sterling silver cofflings, navy tie, black tauseil loafers, and stain the steel rollers watch. And I explained that when I met people who didn't know me, or we hired new people to work, I'd have to take them aside and say to them, listen, you're gonna see me what you think is the same thing every day. And
I do wear a uniform. This is it that you're looking at it. But I want you to know all the suits are numbered, all the shoes and number, the shirts and number. They're all different. But I believe I look best this way, and that's what you're going to see every day. But I didn't want you to think I'm slovenly and I you know, and I told this story, which I think is funny. After all, we all struggle to look our best. We all want to look our best.
The show package yourself as important as the products.
Your package. I'm a product. I want to look the best I can.
I found out what I look best in and I wanted to wear it every day. And the woman at the table who before was telling me how good I look. I'm feeling really proud, and she says to me, I didn't know you were in eccentric, I said, thank you. Is that good? Well, it means you're different, different in a good way. And she pauses and says, you want me to be honest? I said what I always would. I said, no, I want you to lie to me.
She said, eccentric means you're strange. Now how did I go from being really good looking with great hair and interesting to strange in the next minute? How because I opened my big mouth? Like I said earlier, talking gets me in trouble. Now, I don't think I'm eccentric. In fact, you know, I struggled with it for many years, thinking about me in the same suit every day, until one day I read an article about Alblet Einstein, who wore
the same suit every day. I don't know if he had more than one, but when asked about he said, look, I don't want to think about clothes. I want to think about relativity. And kind of made me feel good. But I'll double back down on this.
Okay.
I have a bunch of cars. I have two sports cars and a bunch of SUVs, and they're all black. And you would ask, why would you buy all the same cars that are black? The two sports cars look alike the two SUVs will look alike. Why all black, I said, because it came to me one day after I tried gray, I've tried white that I like black best of all. Black is my favorite color in the car, no matter which car I'm driving, I wanted to look my favorite, which is black. You're eccentric again, I'm eccentric,
which got me to the other thing. I don't know about the rest of you. Those of you married your significant other sessue what you want for dinner that night? My wife at six in the morning, I'm getting dressed, What do you want for dinner?
At night?
I don't know what I want for dinner. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet. She is, what I have to prepare? What do you want? I said, I don't know. So every night I would have something different. And one night in particular, my wife made roasted chicken. The minute I walked in the house. It smelled unbelievable. I ate it the way she prepared it was so delicious. The chicken was falling off the bones. And at dinner, I said to her, Sue, no matter what happens, don't ask
me what I want for dinner anymore. This is what I want for dinner every night. She said, what do you mean every night? I want this for dinner every single night. You ever see the army and they show you how a guy could take his rifle apart and put it back together his eyes closed. My wife got to the point where she can clean the chicken without looking. She knew how to do it because every night, and for five years running, I had the same thing every night,
roasted chicken. Now I tell this story and people think I'm crazy. They'll tell me I'm eccentric. I don't know why I loved it.
Now.
It got to a point at one time that I wanted to lose weight. I said, you know, I want to try fish. My wife made salmon three years in a row, every night salmon until one day the fish market where she bought the salmon didn't have salmon, so she bought halibu. Two years of halibu. That's been my thing. Now,
if that's eccentric, I could live with it. If you're using it when you tell me that I am eccentric as a weapon against me, you're putting a bull's eye on my back and you're telling me, here's what I want to tell you, every one of us needs to know what we like best. Every one of us needs to know how we look best. Every one of us needs to know what makes us happy. So, Jesse, you could be the judge and jury. I'm gonna end this segment with you. Am I or Am I not eccentric?
I think you are. I think you're an interesting guy. I think I've never I will never meet anybody in my life quite like you. You are a little weird. Yeah, you are a little weird. Good ways, bad ways. I would love for somebody to call in or somebody write in and say, Jesse, you're totally off. Your dad's just like everybody else. Really, I don't think, but I think it's a great thing, and I think you should wear it as a badge of honor. And I'm proud that you're eccentric.
Well, thank you for that. All right, that's where we are, guys. Remember silence is golden, and maybe no response is a response 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, 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 thatckaging yourself this is important, does the products you package and wearing a suit is one of those things that make men look their best. Venuesing 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 Venues and Maine, it's the name with dress shirts. It's only proper that the suit business follows strongly in
its way. You can find vanues in cool Flex men's stretch suits at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com.
Guys, they're great. You should go look at them.
Done A Karen began a career is one of the funest, 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 tonight. 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 NY Donna Aaron, 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 decan why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all those products you're getting dressed for work? You get accessorized 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, DK and Y jeans, DK and Y 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 DK why 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 DCNY and Macy's DKY dot com.
Welcome back to it Always in fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.
We had a beautiful day this week. I said it that way, a beautiful day. We've been struggling with the weather for a long time now. We had a relatively easy winter, but man, oh man, spring has been so disappointment. And the other day it was beautiful and I ended up sitting at a restaurant for breakfast outdoors, holding court, looking around and being happy about the weather changing. Maybe started thinking about summer things, certain things that try me crazy.
I've often said to you that I don't mind spending money, but I hate wasting it. I had a period where McDonald's diet cokes or a dollar nine, no matter what size you brought, and I'd give the person at the window the drive and a dollar ten and she wouldn't give me my penny back. I'd look on her, say you owe me a penny, and she'd say, do you want it? I said, why wouldn't I want it? Why would I give it to you? She has to call over a manager for approval to open the register, and
she's pissed at me. But what do I care. It's my dollar, my penny. The same woman I come the next day. He goes, oh, it's you again. I said, oh, yeah, it is. I have a question for you. If I would give you a dollar eight, would you take it? She said maybe, I said, because it's me, She said maybe. I'm laughing at my said no, really, would you take a dollar eight? She says, I might, but it's a dollar nine, so why should I give you my penny? What got me thinking about this? I'm sitting out at
an outdoor cafe having breakfast. I ordered a bagel, dry bagel, and I ordered a diet coke. I'm trying them every once in a while again, and I said a lot of ice and what have you? And she served me die coke the ice litle bottle and poured it in went away, and I was scooping out my bagel and drinking my diet coke. I hadn't had one in a real long time, ever since I found out they can kill you. So anyway, while I'm eating and looking around, the waiter comes by and tops off my glass. Now,
let me tell you something. If there's one thing in this life I hate more than anything as a waiter or waitress topping off my glass. You see, there is a sacred relationship between ice and liquid. Now you think about it. When you get ice in a drink, is it to make it lukewarm or is it to make it cold? And in my view, the more ice or the ice must be always above the liquid. To have something that's really cold, you never order I'd like a lukewarm diet coke, or lukewarm iced tea, or lukewarm soda
club soda. No, she topped it off, and it started me thinking about summer thing. I will tell you the best diet cokes in the world are at McDonald's, only followed closely by the cheesecake factory. So those of you, when you listen to me and think I'm a snob, i am not. I'm a man of the people. But here I am having breakfast, sitting out at the cafe looking at people going by. Now you might wonder where
am I going with this? Well, you'll see in a minute, because I've always said packaging yourself is important as the products you package. And I'm watching now before I go there, before I'm at this breakfast. The other night, I'm in my favorite restaurant having dinner. The weather was beautiful that day. I noticed in a booth next to where I'm sitting, there's a young guy, good look guy and his parents and they're talking and I'm just looking and I look
down and I see he's wearing shorts. I'll come back to that. And he's wearing flip flops. And I said to myself, I want to throw up. If there's one thing in this world I don't want to see. I told you what I don't want waiters to what I don't want to see in the summer. I don't want to see your feet. I'm not interested in you in flip flops. I'm looking at this guy and say, what a schmuck. Why do you think you're saying? What's this
statement you're making now? All of you who wear shorts and all of you wear flip flops, all of you who are saying I don't know what I'm talking about. All you're saying I'm an idiot.
I'm not.
It is not your best look. Your feet aren't nice. I don't want to see your legs. Nobody cares about it. Half of you aren't tan. Even if you are, you have ankle spots. I don't want to see it. It drives me crazy. So here I am now sitting at this cafe and the guy walks by, and he's wearing shorts and flip flops. In the back of his feet are cut like women who wear these tight shoes. I have to have bandages. And again I want to throw up.
And I'm watching, and I'm watching all these people walk by. Guys, unless you're Brad Pitt, don't wear shorts. You don't look good in them. It ain't your best look. But they don't keep you cool. Shorts do not keep you cool. You want to go and understand where we are. Let's look at our friends in the Arabia. They wear those gowns, they wear those things. They cover their head, they cover the whole body because it keeps them cool. They're in
the middle of the desert. They must know something we don't. I go out on the golf course, I see these guys. They're wearing the shorts with the lotion on their legs. The hottest can be. I'm wearing long pants and I'm not hot, so it doesn't make you cool, and it certainly doesn't make you look good. So I don't know
what you're thinking about. In fact, when I watch these people walking pie, I'm sitting there and saying, you know what, I should have made up T shirts for all these people walking by and selling them, and on the T shirts print I own this T shirt. I'm a schmuck. I'm wearing shorts of flip flops. I can make a fortune because you all look like schmucks. My favorite story of all, favorite story of all is I'm in Spain. Not only am in Spain, It's Sunday. I have the
day off. I'm gonna be by myself and I'm going to see chiz sechs is in like the riviera of Spain, and I figure I'm gonna go to sea chairs and hang out on the beach, spend the day looking at everybody going by, hang out, get a tan, go in the water.
Whatever.
I get a call the night before Saturday night. Hey market's John. Who's John, my big boss?
Hey John? What's up? He says?
I got a surprise for you, said, Okay, what's up? He says, I'm going to meet you tomorrow on Sea Chaz. So my heart drops out here. I am he's meeting me? I was, yeah, and I have three other people with me. So great, Hey, John, Gret, what are we doing. Well, I'll take the train with you and we'll go to Sea Chairs. We'll have some lunch. We'll go to the beach. Now, I am not a breakfast to lunch guy. When a beach is staring in front of me, I want to get out there. If anything, I'll have a drink. I'll
bring it to the beach on life. So you get to Sea Chairs, me and four other people and John the boss, and John says to me, all right, let's all have lunch.
Now.
Why does he want to have lunch? Because he's an experienced guy. He wants the experience of sitting on the Spanish Riviera, eating outdoors, looking out at the sand, looking out at the ocean, drinking abouttle wine, getting s faced a little drunk. He's always drinking. He had a bad drinking problem. He wants to be drunk looking out at the beach. And I say, we get there, right, We all go towards the rest and I say, listen, guys, I'm going to go to the beach. I'll see you
when you're done. And he looks at me. He says, you're not going to the beach. I said, I beg your pardon. He said, we're all having lunch. I said, but I don't want to have a lunch. He said, Mark, you're having lunch. I said, I'm not having lunch. And he looks at me and he says, if you don't have lunch with us, you don't work for the company anymore. You believe this. And I'm saying to myself, f me, Now, why am I telling you the story in the middle
of all this. Why because John is wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and sandals with black socks. You want to talk about a schmuck or a nerd, that's what he looks like. And he forced me and everybody else to sit there and have lunch for two hours while he got drunk on wine. I sipped a little. I must admit it was good Spanish wine, very good. But here's the way the story gets interesting, and it's about human nature. After two hours of this, we watched him
stumble across the beach. He puts two towels down on the floor, lies down face first, passes out in the sun.
I let him bake. I let him bake.
So he had that tan on his legs from the top of his black socks to the shorts and he was in pain. The point is, you want to be a schmuck, do it by yourself. Don't make me part into it. And John, if you would have made no response rather than a response, this would have been fine. Sometimes you have to let people do what they want to do. Have another story to tell you. It has
to do with business and shoes. Actually, back in the day, I was senior vice president of sportswear for van Usen and I had a great life at that time because the corporate vision was still in the twelve ninety sixth Avenue, the corporate headquarters, and we had just bought the Izard Company, and my job was to run Izard and the rest of the sports were companies and were a separate off site building. It was the coolest place in the world. It was like animal house. I was the senior most executive.
We all pumped, We're all excited. We loved the brand. We loved the turnaround that needed to take place. We loved the responsibility, and nobody was there to tell us what to do. We had a great time. It was nuts. I was more like one of those crazy guys in Animal House than a corporate executive.
At the time.
This was our building. We were winning, we were rocking, we were making money. We're doing everything corporation, having a great time. I get a call one day by my boss at the time. He says, Mark, his assistant. Her name was Lucien Watt. Why do I remember everyone's name?
I don't know.
Lucien gets on the phone, Mark, you have to come up to the building at ten o'clock. We're having a meeting. I said, but I'm down here. Says we need you up here.
So I go there.
I get there at ten o'clock that day and I walk into the boardroom and everybody in the boardroom is depressed. And I walk and I look at them all and said, you know, i'd tell you you'll look depressed, but I'll tell you what, every time I'm here, you.
All look like this. Get a life.
And my boss says to me, he says, Mark, shut the f up and sit down. I look at him and said, why, what's going on?
He said, sit down?
So I sit down and he looks around the room and he says, look, Mark, we have a problem with our shoe company. At the time, we own Ghpas shoes. Great Shoes are still a great company. My title sponsored G three owned Spare shoes. They're doing great. But at this point in time, he starts to say, we had a plan to make fifteen million dollars this year in gh Bath and it looks like we may lose ten. So what says there's a lot of problems and messed up.
We're in trouble. So I'm looking around the groom. I said, okay, now I'm glad I'm here. You want my opinion, He said, that's why we brought you here. This is here's what we should do. We should all be on a plane Monday morning, go to Portland, Maine, check into the Marriotta Hotel next to the Bass office in Portland, Maine, and not leave until we fix what's wrong. He said, that's exactly what you're gonna do.
Mark.
He starts to look at me and laugh. I said, what he says, that's what you're gonna do. I'm gonna go to Maine by myself. No, You're going to go to Maine to help Michael. Michael is another guy in the company that we're gonna name him temporary CEO of the company, and I was going to go to help him. I said, what does he need be for? We need your mark. We want you to look at the product. We want you to look at them the marketing. We want you to help Michael get this place on track
again to building. Michael's a great financial eye, a good operations guy. We know what you could do. We need you to help him. So I'm going to report to him. So I everybody, I'll be back in a minute. Takes me into his office. He points his figure into his face and he said, I told you you're going to be the president of this corporation in a couple of months, and I told you to behave, So just behave. Do what I need the board needs us do it. I said, okay,
So I end up going to Maine. Get on the plane Monday morning, I meet Michael and Maine he's in the office.
I have a cubby hole. Anyway, I'm there to help him, and.
We start out and he said, look, why don't you take a look at what they're doing. If you ask me what's selling, I can tell you pretty much. Nothing selling. We have a problem. We need to go in and look at it. So I go in and I meet with the management team and shoes first, that's where the big opportunity always has, best shoes, best footwear. I meet with the women's group and I look at all the shoes there, and nothing's exciting me. You know, women's shoes.
I've never worn them, of course, but I could appreciate them.
You know. I found out when I.
Was in the Goodman's business at decan Y that you're allowed to use the word sexy, you're allowed to use the word hot. They all do it. That's what they're trying to create. So I didn't know that. Then in Bass I was Camfitable and I said, and I looked at them, and I said, these are not what's really happening in women's shoes. How do you know, Mark, I said, I look at women, don't you Everybody looks at everybody. I look at the man, I look at women. This
is not happening these shoes. There's too many penny loaf as women are wearing Penny Loaves. They're wearing those pumps that make clock every time you wear They were cold Well, I don't want to say what they were called, but they were all wearing these pumps and I said, you have none of them. They say to me, that's not Bath. I said to them, how could this possibly be? Every woman in the world is wearing this trend and you're telling me not Bath. Can't there be a version of
it that's not Bath? So I left the women's team to themselves and I said, woodheads. And but before I left, and I said, you know, if I put a slogan on the Bath, this women's footwear line, you know what I give it bass shoes for women who don't shave their legs.
I walked out.
I don't know how many people were pissed at Babe. I walked out. I walked into the men's group. Same thing. All Penny Loaf was all tired, and at the time, Kenneth Coal was hot as a pistol. I don't know where Kenneth Cole is right now, but when Kenneth Cold was Kenneth Coal, his shoes were on fire. What they did is they took modern black shoes and made them wearable for at night with your sports. You go on a night black pants, black shoes. They were great shoes.
They were dress shoes, but they had more style than anyone else's. And if you wore them in the day with a black out for the jeans, they looked great. Kenneth Cole owned the look. The only other person of any consequence was I forgot. They were called don't hold me to it. But there was no industrial looking boots, and everyone was wearing them, and I looked, wear are your boots that's not for us? Wear your black shoes not for us? Were bess And I looked at them
and I said, listen, I'm watching it listening. Do you do you want to be the last company making buggy whips for horse and chariots.
You can't just stick.
You gotta find a way to do this on your own. But I failed miserably. But before I left, I said, we're gonna have another meeting later. I went back to them later and said, here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna do what you wanna do, and I'm gonna do what I want to do, and we're gonna put it together. There's a scene In the movie Days of Thunder, Robert Duval is the engineer. He builds the race cars. Tom Cruise drives him. He just becomes a race car driver
and they can't win. And every time they race, they can't or practice, they can't get to finish the race because they wear out the tires. Robert Duval says to him at one point, he's advised, you gotta talk to him like an equal, don't talk down to him. He says, I'll tell you what I'd like to do. Why don't we do this first, We'll run the race. You race any way you want. We're gonna have the same tires you race. Tom Cruise comes back to tires oral run,
he can't race his speed. Robert Davals says, now, now I'm going to work with you while you're racing. Tell you when to make the turns, how to do there. It comes back Robert de Vell's tires are perfect condition, and he pats the tires and he goes your way, my way. I did that with the best people. Listen, you have your idea, I have mine. We're going to work together. Here's what we're going to do. I want you
to create five rows of shoes for men. The first row is going to be the most avant garde black shoes you're gonna I'll do Kenneth Cole in modernization of men's shoes. Well, the second row is going to be moderated to look like Kenneth Cole, but with your style, but they're also black. The third row is going to be bass. Let me see what you think if Bess was in the dress shoe business, what it would look like.
And of course the next few rows will be your traditional bass shoes, but you'll do them in black Norwegians the Penny loves whatever. I left them and went out, and I said, I'll be back in a week. I want to see this, even if you have to go out and buy storebus shoes, go buy shoes from Italy. Go. I want to see what those rows will look like, and I want the line to be crafted that way. So I go back to the head of design in womenswear and I said, where are you next week?
I said Monday. I'm in New York.
I said, I'm going to be in our offices two hundred Madison Avenue on Monday. I need you to come see me. This is why I said, I want to talk to you about fashion. He says, okay, I'll see you Monday morning. What time you want me? I want you eleven o'clock. Comes by eleven o'clock. I said, hey, Soal, I'm glad you're here. We're going on a road trip. Where are we going? I said, First, I want to tell you what.
We're going to do.
I need you to get a pen and paper. I said, okay, what I need for? I said, we're going to make some notes. You know how you count one to five and then you put a slash through it. You know, you know stick lines, You do one, two, three, four and put a slash through five. We're going to keep count. We're going on a road trip. Crick, where are we going? Come with me. I get in the elevator with him again. He says, where were going on a road trip? He said to the corner, He liokten, what do you mean?
I said, here's what we're going to do. Get out of the building on the corner. I said, you and I got to stand there. You have your pen and paper. I'm going to ask you to be the scribed. I said, we're gonna watch the women walk by now and here's what we're gonna do. Every woman who comes by with those sexy shoes that are opening the back and are flopping every time she walks, we're gonna put a stick mark, and we're gonna count how many of them there are.
And I'm gonna keep count of all the women wearing penny loafers and the shoes that you don't need to shave your legs for. He says, you're kidding me. You called me here for that. I said, yeah, I'm gonna make a point to you. So we're standing on the corner and all the women are clacking, clacking, clacking, clacking. Everyone's wearing stylish shoes. Everyone's wearing these sexy shoes, every one of the women are wearing, and there's nobody wearing
penny loavers. The end of I don't know a half hour, there's fifty of those checkmoks on his page and two on mine. I said, I want to make a point to you. It's too easy to say no, the world is changing. You've got one of the world's great brands. Bess put the shoes on. Admiral Birdwin navigated the North Pole. Charles Lindbergh wore best boots when he flew the planes. We have his history, and you're telling me you can't
be bess. We have to take on women's shoes, modernized and make them current, make them exciting, but do it in the best way. You have a special label, you have a special stitching, you have a special technique, you have a certain kind of leather. I'm not a post any of that, but I want to make shoes for women that are current and trendy. Fast forward a week later, I came back and saw the men's I was out
I was outraged. How great it was when you gave people directions and told them this is what you do, and I had the authority to make them do it. There was no question that they were there and I was the boss. There's no question. The CEO, Michael gave me his authority to do what needed to be done to get this and they had him and they over delivered on what we saw. A week later, the women's team came back with flip flop shoes. Women wear shoes, clocking.
The women are wearing nich shoes, were shaving their legs. These were looking great. This was a great thing, and everybody got energized everyone got excited. Everyone got on board to revitalize the besque company that wasn't making money into a winning company again. And it wasn't all that hard. It was the wisdom to do what's right, be current for the one thing we know about this industry detail
luxury fashion. It changes, you have to change. Six months later, we call a meeting Saturday night for all the executives in BASS and the senior most executives in the company, including the board of directors, if they can come with their spouses. We had six hundred people in a ballroom in Portland, Maine, come to see the presentation of a
new basque company and it was extraordinary. We had photography the show with the advertising we look, We had the shoes, We had them on tables, we had pictures of them that would blow them up on the screen. Everything was laid out. Men at work with the fashion shoes, men women at work with the fashion shoes for women. Each one the industrial have boots and everyone had a bass flare. And it was one of the most exciting nights for
me in my career. Not because we were successful in creating energy, not because I was the host of the evening and I did a lot of the talking, but during the presentation, the CEO of the company, my friend handed me a piece of paper. He always wrote in reading and honored written in reading. He wrote, while I'm on the stage, this is your finest hour. I've never been more proud of you. You gave credit to everyone else, and the only person you didn't mention was yourself, and
because of that the credit goes to you. Thank you, BJK, great night, great story. I didn't have anything to say. I was speechless, and probably that was best, because sometimes no response is the best response. Take a break back in a minute.
Always in fashion.
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 Karen collection, and Donna invented DKNY. Donna Aaron, 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 decan why as in mid apparel, as hosiery,
as all those products. You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized 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 Y sportswear is there for you. That's what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention DKY active Wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras,
the sweats. You can wear DKY activewear 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 DCNY and Macy's DKY dot com.
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 car Lagefeld 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, eyewear, and premium fragrances. You can 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 that the neck or on
the shoulder. There's a lot of details that go into Carl Lagafel 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 Orcarlagafel dot com.
Welcome back to it Always in Fashion.
Here's your host, Mark Webber.
I've been thinking about character. I've been thinking about the night's show. Is no response is a response. Someone comes to me and answer your question. I don't feel like answering. That tells a big signal. Sometimes somebody asks you to do something, taking a moment to think about it, or pregnant pores is a big deal. Sometimes coming to you and saying I need an answer right now, and you say to someone the answer is if you need it
right now. No, I deserve the right to think. I deserve the right to make decisions in my own time, my own pace. So I've been thinking a lot about the response to questions answers, because no response is a response. But I've been thinking about character. I was accused of being an eccentric, for which I was always proud to be different, and every one of us is different. We're all allowed to be ourselves. We're allowed to think the way we want to think, dressed the way we want
to think, speak the way they want to think. The common bond is you have to know who you are and know who you are. You have to be responsible to yourself, because the theme of this show has always been, and it will always be, packaging yourself is as important as the products you package, and therefore, knowing who you are and what you're doing and caring about who you are. There's ways to say things, there's ways not to say things. You're entitled to your own counsel. I've often thought, what
is character? People challenge the way I behave. I know I feel good about myself. I know I do the right thing. I know what honesty. It's doing the right thing when no one's looking. I know about integrity. I've wrote about it in my book Pearls of Wisdom. You ever want to know about integrity, read that chapter and always in fashion of the book. That is a backdrop Tonight's show. No Response is a response, So, if you want to ask me what I think about the show, good night,