Natalie Massenet

All the bits fit to print here, in our daily news roundup.

• Beyoncé's costume at the Super Bowl, designed by Rubin Singer, was inspired by Valkyrie, the goddess of war from Norse mythology. [ModMods]
  

• Net-A-Porter's Natalie Massenet has announced that, in addition to debuting a print magazine, the luxury ecommerce site will soon be readable in French, German, and Mandarin. [The New York Times]
  

• Barneys New York's dedicated warehouse sale website is now live. [The Shophound]
  

• The first-ever Global Kids Fashion Week will showcase designs from labels like Paul Smith Junior and Little Marc Jacobs. [Vogue UK]
  

• Anja Rubik says that the second issue of her biannual magazine, 25, is inspired by the soft, sensual side of erotica. [Nowness]
  

• Donatella Versace, Victoria Beckham, and Mario Testino are just a few of the confirmed speakers at the 2013 Vogue Festival. [Independent]
  

• P'Trique takes chic to the next level in his new music video. [Elle]
  

At some point within the next 12 months, Net-a-Porter will launch a magazine that lives on real paper, not on an Internet platform.

The online retailer's CEO Mark Sebba pooh-poohed the notion that print operations are decreasing in relevance when he announced plans for the magazine at a recent business leadership conference.

"Traditional publishers always say that we are lucky for being born in a digital age and don't have a legacy of print," he said. "But we still see it as important."

Not only is it important, Sebba said, but it's also been a part of the way Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet (who worked at WWD and Tatler before she got into retail) envisioned the business when she started it. Content — like the site's weekly magazine, mobile apps, and video channel — has allowed Net-a-Porter to sell advertising space to the very brands it sells. And that advertising is what will keep a print product alive.

"Twelve years ago when Natalie launched Net-a-Porter, it wasn't so much about revolutionizing shopping as revolutionizing the magazine industry. It's about understanding the media side of commerce rather than just trying to move products. I don't want to denigrate [the retail] side in any way as it pays the rent, but advertising revenue increasingly pays the rent as well."

Sebba did not say how often the magazine would be published or give any other details about the project. Requests to Net-a-Porter for more information were not returned as of this post.

Photo: A spread from Net-a-Porter's online magazine.

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• "You may think I am high maintenance, but I assure you, the attention is worth it," Choupette Lagerfeld writes in the infamous diary her two maids keep detailing her every move. "Even my fur balls are glossy." [Grazia]
  

• Lady Gaga has sided with Oscar de la Renta in his tiff with fashion critic Cathy Horyn. "Bravo Oscar," the singer tweeted. "Only you would be so chic as to purchase an entire page in WWD, making statements like a good fashion citizen." [Styleite]
  

• Mugler creative director Christophe de Lataillade has revealed the secrets behind campaigns for the house's iconic fragrance Angel — including the set that nearly burned a model's flesh. [The Cut]
  

• Calvin Klein's ex-boyfriend Nick Gruber has accused the fashion icon of paying private eyes to "stalk" him and his new boyfriend, animator John Luciano. "Calvin can hire goons to follow John and me all he wants — we have nothing to hide. I've moved on. I've never been happier." [Page Six]
  

• Hedi Slimane will unveil his new Saint Laurent Paris store concept when he opens a store in Shanghai next week. The design, involving a lot of dark stone and mirrored surfaces, references the French art deco and Union des Artistes Modernes movements. [WWD]
  

• Versace has opened another store, too — online. Customers in Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France can now buy the house's wares through a new ecommerce site. [Versace]
  

• Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet has been appointed chairwoman of the British Fashion Council, succeeding its leader of five years, Harold Tillman. [The Independent]
  
  Photo via Grazia

>> Sarah Rutson, the Hong Kong-based fashion director of department store Lane Crawford (who was recently rumored to be under consideration for the Barneys fashion director position), has hit the streets of Manhattan running for New York Fashion Week, bringing her disarming wit and covetable wardrobe with her.

This New York Fashion Week, she's graciously agreed to give us a window into her thoughts as she zips across town from show to show, making us privy to the workings of not only an influential international buyer, but well-loved streetstyle star. (Speaking of: in the pipeline, we've got details on the makings of her Fashion Week wardrobe.)

But before we serve up the goods, get to know Sarah a little better — both professionally and personally. Her thoughts:

On the shows: "People always see me [at the shows] on my own but they don’t realize — obviously we’ve got a big team [at Lane Crawford]. Normally [my team] comes in a lot later. I have to do the shows, but that’s because someone has to represent the company. Shows are important, of course, but the most important thing is the showroom."

On her job: "It’s a brutal schedule to do work like this. I was at one stage traveling six months a year, but that was when we were in the rebranding stage, so I had to make sure everything was consistent across the board."

"I’m not a really uptight person, I’m a really laidback person, actually. At the end of the day, I’ve got a f*cking great job. I love what I do, I’m really good at what I do. Great people in different cities . . . the best cities in the world . . . what’s there to be miserable about? So I’m not going to start griping."

On becoming a streetstyle icon: "I don’t feel I’m on show for my job; I’m doing my job. People take pictures and all the rest of it, but I’ve been doing this for 20-odd years before then, when no one knew who I was."

On how the streetstyle attention came about: "The streetstyle bloggers, and then everyone’s into reality and in a way, it was like we are the reality stars. I think what was interesting — where I was lucky — is so few retailers other than [Net-a-Porter’s] Holli [Rogers] and Natalie [Massenet are photographed]. As a retailer, I was always put in with the editors. Like when you flip through all the Japanese magazines, there were all the editors, and then there was . . . me! And I think that’s really interesting, the majority of people that work in fashion for the stores who are buying it for the general public never hit the list."

Her Fashion Week essentials: "Absolutely I will not live without my single-breasted blazer. I cannot live without Crème de la Mer — that holds me, a big dried prune, together. My BlackBerry — it’s not so much to be constantly [connected], but it’s all the pictures of my daughter and my animals. It’s my walking picture of home."

On life beyond fashion: "I just don’t want people to think it’s only about fashion. I think if there’s anything that I can say to anyone — whether it’s a woman or a man — going into any industry, let alone the fashion industry, that takes you away from home so much for travel, [it's] do make sure you have the balance. [Otherwise] you won’t be as creative, and you won’t be as fresh, and you won’t be as open. You get jaded. I’m not jaded. I come out really excited every season, because I’ve got the balance."

• We saw LOVE's new cover with Kate Moss and Lea T. kissing last week; now the second cover, featuring Justin Bieber shot by Terry Richardson, has appeared [@THELOVEMAGAZINE]
• Andre Courreges and his wife and creative partner, Coqueline, have sold their company to two investors, Frederic Torloting and Jacques Bungert, who run the French division of advertising agency Young & Rubicam. Coqueline has been running the design house since Andre retired from fashion in the mid-'90s [WWD]
• After months of rumors, February's Vogue reports that Theory CEO and Rag & Bone investor Andrew Rosen is about to sign a deal with Proenza Schouler; and Meredith Melling Burke, not Candy Pratts Price, is reportedly overseeing Vogue.com [Fashionista]
• Yesterday during a DLD Conference panel, Natalie Massenet talked about her plans for Net-A-Porter Live, a platform on which Net-a-Porter customers will be able to see who’s online and what they put in their baskets in real time; “We want to start a conversation between them,” she explained [DLD Conference]
• Naomi Campbell is headed back to court this Thursday over a breach-of-contract lawsuit; the contract, which involved promoting a perfume called Cat Deluxe with Kisses, was signed 12 years ago [The Cut]
• Prada could make a final decision on their IPO by the end of the month [Bloomberg]
• Alejandro Ingelmo is aiming to introduce handbags and accessories into his collection for Spring 2012 [Fashionetc.]
• Anna Wintour, Steven Klein, Donna Karan, Daphne Guinness, Ingrid Sischy, Sandy Brant, and Vera Wang all attended the elaborate 21st birthday party Calvin Klein threw on Friday at Indochine for his boyfriend, Nick Gruber [NY Post]
• Tanner Hall, the film co-directed by Diane von Furstenberg's daughter Tatiana von Furstenberg and starring Rooney Mara, just scored a distribution deal and is expected to be released at the end of this year, around when Mara's upcoming film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, debuts [Deadline]
• Libertine is headed back to New York Fashion Week this February, minus a partner and with a new direction, says designer Johnson Hartig: "It’ll be different in that once Cindy [Greene] and I separated, I stopped using placement prints — I mean literal images — and it’s become more abstract. And there’s going to be a lot more color. I haven’t met a color I haven’t liked this season" [Fashionetc.]

Victoria Beckham was among the stylish partiers out in London last night to honor 10 years in business for Net-A-Porter, which sells her Victoria Beckham Collection. Posh is back in London after celebrating a milestone of her own — she and David celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary with a weekend in the South of France. She traded her colorful Marc Jacobs dress for a short Miu Miu number yesterday, and made the rounds chatting with the company's founder Natalie Massenet and good friend and design accomplice Roland Mouret.

To see more Posh, just read more

Net-a-Porter was acquired by Richemont earlier this year and since then we've been waiting to see what kind of expansions founder Natalie Massenet had in mind for her ten-year-old company.

This morning Massenet and the Net-a-Porter family announced they are adding a stand-alone menswear shopping site to the company. Called Mr Porter, the site will launch for the spring 2011 season and do for men what Massenet has been doing for her loyal female clients for ten years — namely bring an edited selection of global designer label along with style advice and unbeatable customer service. Mr Porter launch partners will include Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Margiela, Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, Balmain, Dunhill, Margaret Howell, Rick Owens, John Lobb, and MR by Roland Mouret.

“We’ve wanted to do this for years but never felt it was the right time,” said Natalie Massenet. “This idea did not come from a bunch of people sitting in a boardroom looking at a spreadsheet. It was our customers, our target market, that was asking for this.”

Come 2011, the lucky men will also benefit from same day delivery service in London and Manhattan.

Source: Getty

Gwyneth Paltrow is Vogue UK's May cover girl, photographed by Mario Testino.

Natalie Massenet initially wanted to name her Net-a-Porter website What's New Pussycat.

Kate Moss's Vogue Hommes issue is out.

Stella McCartney returns to the pineapple print for her Adidas collection.

Glamour UK's best- and worst-dressed list, voted on by the public, includes Alexa Chung, Blake Lively, and Kate Moss at the top, while Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Lindsay Lohan hit the bottom.

Hugo Boss launches a revamped website with e-commerce today.

>> Confirming reports from a couple of weeks ago, luxury conglomerate Richemont (parent of brands like Chloe and Cartier) is acquiring Net-a-Porter in a £350 million (approx. $533 million) deal.

Natalie Massenet, who founded Net-a-Porter in 2000, is estimated to pocket £50 million (approx. $76 million) with the sale of her 18 percent stake in the company.  She is expected to stay on as executive chairman of the company after Richemont's takeover and is reportedly preparing to invest £15 million of the sale proceeds back into Net-a-Porter. Mark Sebba, Net-a-Porter's chief executive, is also said to be staying on.

Why the marriage? »