Net-a-Porter: Another Fashion First

Natalie Massenet, the former fashion journalist turned internet retail store concept entrepreneur, has struck another first for the fashion internet. The much-anticipated relaunch of the Halston brand will be shown February 4th in New York. The very next day, shoppers around the globe will be walking down the street in pieces that were shown on the catwalk. Stacks of $1,495 shirt dresses and $1,795 evening dresses are waiting now in the Net-a-Porter offices. Earlier this year, Net had the first exclusive showing of the new RM by Roland Mouret collection. But this is bigger.
Never mind that the clothes were designed with next fall/winter in mind what matters now is getting it first. How'd Natalie negotiate such a scoop? She and and another driven woman, Tamara Mellon, the President and founder of Jimmy Choo, worked hand-in-hand on the launch of Net-a-Porter. Mellon was one of the first brands to agree to be sold on the site. At a time when most brands were suspicious of the internet and those that weren't were putting their goods on LVMH-backed sites like eLuxury. The deal paid off for Jimmy Choo who was for a long time the biggest brand on Net-a-Porter. And now it looks like Tamara has found a lucrative way to say thanks.
*(The prices paid for the 1970s brands vary widely—from a few million dollars for Azzaro in 2006 to more than $70 million in cash and stock for Bill Blass. The latter was bringing in about $10 million a year in royalties when NexCen bought it that same year. Halston had next to no sales when the Weinstein Co. and Hilco Consumer Capital paid a reported $20 million for it in 2007. Ungaro was doing about $103 million in sales when it was sold in 2005, thanks mostly to an active license in Asia.)