Joe (Jackie Mason) Roisman from Perry Ellis stopped me at MAGIC with a few jokes to break up all the dreary economy talk. “My wife just had plastic surgery: I cut up her credit cards…” he quipped. “But seriously, she lost her wallet and I never even reported the missing credit cards because the person who found them was spending less than she did…”

On a...

The following essay was written and sent to me by a young aspiring writer. Its timing is significant: In light of the tenuous economy, more people than ever are in desperate need of clothing. If you’re in a position to donate (Cancelled orders, anyone?), please contact Fashion Delivers Inc., a wonderful organization established in 2005 that sends new...

It was 5:30 p.m. on a frigid December 23rd in NYC, the eve of my holiday break after a tough few weeks of scrambling to meet deadlines. All I wanted to do was get home to Connecticut so I almost didn’t answer the phone (after months of consoling my depressed retailer friends, it was getting harder to come up with words of encouragement…) But I did answer...

“Business is not quite up to last year, but it’s not bad,” confides the always elegant Domenico Spano, over dinner last week at The Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station (which, by the way, was jam-packed with both New Yorkers and tourists. We may be in a recession, but we still had to wait 20 minutes for a table, even with a reservation. The oysters,...

It was a beautiful party last week at Arno’s that Steve Wax from Bounty Trading threw for Mac Alberg (65 years in the men’s industry, more than 35 with Macy’s and 22 with Bounty) and Stan Bauman, (40+ years at Bounty, in their women’s division.) Among those in attendance were Bounty founders Bob and Sara Wax and clearly, there was a lot of love in the room...