Harvey Weinstein and Halston: What Next?

The news that Harvey Weinstein was buying Halston on the recommendation of Tamara Mellon (she of Jimmy Choo fame), brought a shiver of excitement down my spine. The news that stylist Rachel Zoe (she's the one who turned Nicole Ritchie from frizzy haired teen to tiny glamorpuss) would join her on the advisory board did nothing to lessen my excitement. So many personalities! So many possibilities! So many potential pitfalls! Does anyone remember the last time that Harvey made a major move outside his remit? Talk (as in the magazine) was not one of his prouder moments.

The private equity world was also a twitter: "They paid too much! Weinstein didn't put any of his own money in! Tamara is in charge of picking a ceo." The fashion world said that Zoe got the gig because she's got the world's largest collection of vintage Halston. What's fact and what's fiction? Well, they almost certainly paid too much. But that's the way it goes in private equity these days. To get a brand like Halston, you're going to have to stump up much more than 2x sales. Since Halston's sales are negligable -- they're only in Bergdorf Goodman and Jeffreys presently -- it's entirely possible that they paid much much more. People in London are guessing as much as $20 million.

Reached at his office in Canada, James Salter, the ceo of Hilco, the private equity partner said "Harvey 100 percent put his own money in. In fact, he signed the check. This is all about making money for Harvey. He's not emotional about it. He's got a lot of friends who made a lot of money in this business."

He also said the advisory committe, on which Tamara and Rachel sit, is in charge of finding a ceo and a designer, appointments the board will approve. They're meeting weekly to sort through candidates, and have already interviewed four. "The phone has been ringing off the hook," he said. They plan to announce a designer in the next 30 days. And the ceo will most certainly come from Europe, not the US.

Once those positions are in place, the licensing shall begin. First off the bat will be handbags, shoes and sunglasses. They're still deciding if its best to do their own ready-to-wear or sign up a partner. But in discussing the pros and cons of the licensing route, Salter let slip, "if you want to give a license to footwear to someone like Jimmy Choo--you've got to make sure its a clean asset." Hmmmm. That would be a first for the Jimmy Choo company.

In any case, from a spectator's point of view, watching the progress of Halston couldn't be more exciting. Just imagine the weekly advisory board meetings! Harvey, Tamara, Rachel and Slater who says his other experience in luxury was in the snow industry. "There are a lot of personalities in this deal," Salter said. Now there's an understatement.

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