Weekend FT: Elemental Architecture

March 21, 2009

By Julie Earle-Levine

Architectural designer Todd Shultz searched for more than a year to find the perfect wood for his client’s basement wine room. The heart pine he found in a cotton mill in Eatonville, Georgia had a golden colour, tight growth rings and blue veins – signs of its authenticity and age.

But when the client saw the beams, he was horrified. “He was like: ‘What are these dark black marks? Can you get rid of that?’,” Shultz recalls.

It was only after the man heard about the wood’s history – the marks were caused by a rare mould that had formed in the tree more than 200 years before – that he became enamoured with it.

The story is a familiar one to Richard McFarland, who co-founded California-based TerraMai, a reclaimed woods company, in the 1990s. Homeowners appreciate the aesthetics and eco-friendly credentials of his products, he says, but mainly “it is the story behind it that they fall in love with”.

Finding the wood, processing it, then building from it can take years. Once a source is located, the beams are photographed and their history researched. Every piece is sorted, cleaned, graded and then de-metalled and possibly re-milled. “The first reaction of someone is: ‘There is a lot of damage to this stuff’. But once it is re-milled and the spike holes are plugged, the overall effect is stunning,” McFarland says.

He says about half of TerraMai’s projects are residential, including houses in Florida, New York’s Hudson Valley, Nevada’s Lake Tahoe and Aspen, Colorado. The wood is not cheap; flooring made from 100-year-old exotics sourced from as far afield as India, South America and south-east Asia cost about $15-$25 per sq ft, about 30 per cent more than floors made from new or “virgin” wood.

But McFarland insists that “people will pay for quality”. “Because it is reclaimed, old-growth tropical hardwood – among the hardest wood on the planet – will last much longer,” he says. “With proper care, these floors can last generations”, compared with about 20 years for just-cut alternatives.

Plus, the reduced environmental impact cannot be ignored. “With every foot of reclaimed wood, you are offsetting destruction of a forest.” Yes, there is a carbon footprint in securing the beams, he acknowledges, but specialists say it is insignificant compared with cutting down new trees.

Shultz grew up on a farm, where he was taught to recycle everything. “You didn’t tear down a barn because it was 100 years old, you painted it and fixed it,” he says. “Nothing makes me sicker than seeing a dumpster full of wood. I’m the one pulling up my truck and grabbing the stuff.”

Any surplus wood goes back to his studio to be repurposed for other projects, he adds. “It is not really for cost. It’s for karma.”

Jim Ruig is another reclaimed wood specialist whose business, Australian Salvage, harvests wood from old wharves, French oak wine barrels, old buildings and industrial factories. His first purchase was 10,000 tonnes of wharf timbers, which took 400 semi-trailers to deliver to industrial land he had bought on Brisbane’s outskirts.

But since then demand has been strong. He recently sold A$3.5m (£1.6m) of reclaimed wood to actor Hugh Jackman for his health resort on Queensland’s Gold Coast and outfitted singer Jack Johnson’s seaside home in Byron Bay. He also works with developers eager to add complexity to their building interiors, as well as exporting to the US. Clients choose from a “menu” of recycled timbers, including native blackbutt, spotted gum and ironbark, then decide the finish – raw, lime washed, oil, smoked or antique.

Given the popularity of reclaimed wood – more than 40m board feet is sold a year in the US, five times the amount sold a decade ago – some are concerned about supply. But McFarland is not one of them. “Yes, it is a limited resource but the timber will be recycled again,” he says. “There will be new stories to tell – so many lives from one tree.”

ends

Sunday Times of London: Bernie Madoff

Sunday, March 15 2009

By Julie Earle-Levine

By the time Bernard Madoff arrived at court last Thursday, two hours before his 10am hearing, an angry mob had gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse. The $64.8 billion fraudster wore a charcoal-grey suit but no wedding ring or one of his usual vintage watches. A first sign, perhaps, that he knew this was the end.

Three months after this fallen pillar of Wall Street’s scams were exposed, Madoff is now in jail awaiting sentencing. His crimes made headlines around the world and battered the fortunes of the rich and famous, including Steven Spielberg and Nobel Peace Prize winner and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, as well as wiping out smaller savers and charities.

After last week’s dramatic court appearance, though, many questions remain unanswered. Could Madoff, as he claims, have orchestrated this giant scam alone? How much did his family know? And where is the money?

Prosecutors are no clearer about what role, if any, Madoff’s wife, Ruth, brother Peter, sons Mark and Andrew and his employees played in perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme in history. His family members have denied any involvement. In court Madoff gave no clues. Because he pleaded guilty without making a deal, he is under no obligation to co-operate. There is no guarantee he ever will.

Jim Cox, law professor at Duke University, said Madoff had refused to plead guilty to charges of conspiracy, which would have implicated others. “He has clammed up. It looks like he’s going to take the real story to his grave,” said Cox.

One lawyer there to observe the historic moment, Robert Mintz, white-collar crime expert at McCarter & English, said: “There was a palpable sense of frustration among defrauded investors.”

Inside the packed court, Madoff, flanked by his attorney, Ira Sorkin, and four FBI agents stood stony-faced as the judge reviewed all 11 counts, including security fraud, investment fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, international money laundering, perjury, making false statements, and theft from employer benefits.

The judge asked Madoff if he understood the possible sentence he faced — 150 years’ imprisonment. “I do,” said Madoff. “Do you understand you may lose the right to vote, the right to hold public office,” asked the judge to sniggers from the courtroom.

Once the formalities were over with, Madoff was given his chance to explain what had happened. It was the moment his victims and investigators had been waiting for. He held out his notes and read a 12-minute address.

“I am actually grateful for this first opportunity to publicly speak about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed. As I engaged in fraud, I knew what I was doing was wrong, indeed criminal,” he said. “When I began the Ponzi scheme I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme.

“However, this proved difficult, and ultimately impossible, and as the years went by, I realised that my arrest and this day would inevitably come.”

Madoff said he was in court to “accept responsibility” and explain what happened. But he gave little new information and may never publicly answer for his crime again.

The scam began in the early 1990s when Madoff was finding it hard to make the returns his clients wanted. He felt “compelled to satisfy my clients’ expectations, at any cost”.

Clients were told Madoff had a secret “split strike conversion strategy”. They were told he would invest their money — instead those funds were deposited in a bank account at Chase Manhattan Bank.

When clients asked for their cash, Madoff took the money out of Chase, using cash that belonged to them, or to other clients, he confessed.

Madoff was at pains to claim that his investment advisory business, “the vehicle of my wrongdoing”, was the only part of Madoff Securities engaged in criminal activity. His brother and two sons ran the other branches of his business, proprietary trading and market making, and these were “legitimate, profitable and successful in all respects”, said Madoff.

Even concealing his fraud sounded simple. Madoff confessed he lied to the authorities on numerous occasions and cooked his own books. In recent years, Madoff said, he wired money between New York and his London office “to make it appear as though there were actual securities transactions executed on my behalf”.

He said the London office knew nothing of his crimes and was “a legitimately, honestly run and operated business”.

Mintz said prosecutors would be frustrated by Madoff’s testimony. He said it was a “road map” for the defence as investigations continue. “His strategy is to shield as many assets for his family as he can. He has fallen on his sword.”

While Madoff claims he co-ordinated this vast conspiracy alone, prosecutors seem less convinced. More prosecutions are likely, though they may be months away. “A lot of resources and effort are being expended, both to find assets and to find anyone else who may be responsible for this fraud,” prosecutor Marc Litt said in court.

“It seems to me that it would be difficult for one individual to pull this off. Especially on such a grand scale,” said Mintz.

Cox added: “You have got to think others were at least suspicious. It’s not just who was involved but where all this money went. Is there cash hidden in some Swiss bank account? My guess is we are not going to find much in the way of assets, but so far nothing has really been resolved.”

At the courthouse investors were seething. There was no sense of relief among the victims, many of whom call themselves survivors, a weighty word for this elderly, largely Jewish crowd.

One, Barbara Dweck, 58, had red paint on her hands and carried a billboard with newspaper headlines about the scam. “I wanted to express my feelings about this guy,” she said. “He has blood on his hands. He is equivalent to a murderer. He has destroyed lives. People are sick from this, people are committing suicide.”

The Madoff effect was even felt in the more serene surroundings of leafy north London. One couple, who asked to remain anonymous, tried to take their mind off Madoff by doing some gardening. When asked whether justice had been served at the previous day’s hearing, they just laughed. At best they hope to retrieve a fraction of their investment. Their retirement has been destroyed.

Ilene Kent, a paralegal who lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, said: “Justice has been served, but I can’t retire.” She said her family had lost their life savings. She is also a spokeswoman for the online Bernard Madoff Survivors Group, which has 350 members. She wants the government to investigate if others were involved. She said: “It was too complicated and the money too large for just one man.”

ends

Best of New York magazine: Reading Dogs

New York Magazine: Best of New York
March 3 , 2009

Best Reading Program

R.E.A.D. With Mudge

Story time’s fun and all, but it’s not nearly as mind-blowing as New York Public Library’s R.E.A.D. With Mudge program, which pairs kids ages 5 and up with trained dogs at six library branches in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. That’s right: They get to read with a dog. The program (named after a popular book series about a boy and his dog, Mudge) helps kids focus on reading by taking a little pressure off them. At the Mulberry Street library branch, a calm Border Collie-Greyhound mix named Theo curls up on kids’ laps for one-on-one reading sessions that last twenty minutes. When a kid forgets to read out loud, the dog nudges him gently. When the child struggles with a word, Theo puts his paw on the page. It’s almost uncanny, says owner Kimberly Wang: “Sometimes I think Theo really can read.

nypl.org or 212-275-6975

Julie Earle-Levine

Vogue UK: Ivanka Trump

Blonde Ambition
Vogue UK, GQ, Tatler, House & Garden Living
January 2009

By Julie Earle-Levine


IVANKA Trump, daughter of America’s real estate mogul, ‘The Donald’ takes long, stork-like strides towards me, her sky-high legs in six-inch heels gliding gracefully, her mouth slightly pouty, leaving a trail of remarkably shorter assistants in her wake. After all, Trump was a model before she realized her real estate ambitions.

The 26-year-old blonde has the impressive title of Vice President of Acquisitions and Development at the Trump Organization, in New York. She regularly appears in magazines offering tips on topics including ‘How to Be Rich, Sexy and Famous,’ but this Wharton graduate takes her career very seriously.

Trump is involved in 70 plus projects in the US and offshore, that require her to jet around the world, and to oversee meetings in the boardroom and on construction sites. How is she received? “Somebody may dismiss me because I’m young, blonde or female, but that can be used to one’s advantage,” she says, gazing coolly over her very large latte. Those close to her say she is also a fierce negotiator. “Ivanka holds her own in any meeting and what you see - a beautiful young blonde - is not what you get,” says Dolly Lenz, the top broker in America.

As a child, Trump spent some weekends on construction sites with her father or grandfather, often on a dump truck and she says she loved it. Some believe she may grab the top spot if her father ever hands over the reigns of the family’s real estate empire. Ivanka has two brothers, Donald Jnr, 30, and Eric, 23, who also work for Trump. She joined Trump in 2005, after working for developer Bruce Ratner on a large, mixed use shopping centre. “I wanted to get a sense of my self-worth and what I could accomplish, with or without my last name.”

It was not until she started working for her father, her “greatest mentor” that she really dug her heels in. “He has always pushed me to think, and dream bigger and bolder.”
In an interview in her 25th floor office with soaring views of Manhattan’s skyline and surrounded by photos of her family, layouts of a new development, and a thick manila folder marked with a long ‘to do’ list, Ivanka explained how her father convinced her to come on board. “He would send me renderings of the Trump Chicago project with a note – you could be working on this. Chicago was the siren call.”

She insists she is not just the pretty face in advertisements, but is involved in evaluating deals to pre-development planning, construction, marketing, operations sales and leasing.

What is she working on these days? Other than Chicago, Ivanka is spearheading a push by Trump to manage more of their new hotels. There are more than a dozen in the pipeline that are based on a template of Trump’s Central Park West property, including Las Vegas, a 1300-room hotel opening in March and a Fort Lauderdale, Florida that will open in January 2009. Offshore, there is Toronto, Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic, the just-open Istanbul Trump Towers complex in the city’s Sisli district and Dubai, a 61-story building and units. Trump also has its first project in Europe under way, in Scotland that will include a 450 room, five-star hotel, plus 500 single family homes, holiday homes, golf villas plus a golf course. Trump says she spends time on all of these but recently has been particularly focused on opportunities in China. “I have been going to China and meeting there with the ‘Donald Trump’s’ of those areas. It is a very important market and we want to do it right.”

Which brings us to a controversial project, Trump Soho, a 46-story building that has had a construction worker death, and upset locals who don’t like skyscrapers. It is five times the height of any building around it. Trump is naturally defensive. “There is a certain tone in the city due to a number of real catastrophies that are happening on a monumental level. We are being very cautious, and expect an elevated level of commitment to safety. We are certainly not exempt.”

She believes that Trump Soho is in fact “a great example of doing it right.” It is commanding $3,000 a square foot – top dollar – in a recession hit market. Some say the Trump brand has added $1,500 a square foot value. Trump said it is because there are 360 degree views from every floor with a hotel unit, and an amazing top floor penthouse. “It is very, very cool, Rockwell design.”

At a press conference with her siblings Trump emphasized that the company has an extremely solid track record, unlike many developers with no experience who were “just doing stuff” “We are building great hotels and now we are ramping up our hotel management position in the past two years. It has to be great. We can’t have failure.”

In August, Trump said that the building was about 57 per cent sold, mainly to European and South American buyers. The remainder are Americans, who want a chic pad in the city when they visit.

The ads for Trump Soho, plus others recently including Trump Ocean Club in Panama where she spills out of a strapless black evening dress wearing her jewelry (yes she has her own brand) are Trumpish, showcasing the biggest and best of everything you can get.

“I was part of marketing effort to appeal to a younger, more hip crowd.,
says Ivanka, who does live in a Trump building, but will not live in Soho. “I’ll be spending a lot of time at the Soho property because there is a great spa and restaurant.” The building is trendy, but elegant. “Really there is nothing five star downtown. You can stay at the Mercer – it is a great hotel but you are sacrificing amenities and space. It you are staying at Trump uptown, the difference is phenomenal. The views we are offering are not typical of the area.”

Sales are strong, she said. And what of the recession that is finally affecting even luxury real estate in resilient New York? Is the luxury property boom really over? In true Trump form, Ivanka says, “The world is changing. This brings both opportunities and challenges.”

ends

Travel & Leisure Australia: On the Road/Designing Woman

Stylish Traveler - Louise Olsen, Dinosaur Designs
January/February 2009

Jewelry and home wares designer Louise Olsen is an avid traveler, splitting her time in Sydney, Tokyo and in New York, where she has an apartment. Here she reveals some of her most treasured finds for global shopping. By Julie Earle-Levine


SINCE Dinosaur Designs’ launch more than 20years ago at Sydney’s Paddington Markets, stunning, hand-sculpted resin jewelry has been turning up on chic women (and men) all over the world. DD co-founder and Sydney-based designer Louise Olsen finds inspiration for the gorgeous, often vividly colored chunky bracelets, necklaces and lust-worthy home wares, in nature and art. When she shops for herself, she resists the ordinary. “I really try to stick to the rule of only buying a few very special pieces and leaving the rest for memory. I get a lot of pleasure from objects, so those I do buy, I must absolutely love.” Here, Olsen shares her top travel discoveries.

(extra if can include: Louise travels with her husband and business partner, Stephen Ormandy, who is also a painter, and their nine-year-old daughter, Camille.

The daughter of John Olsen, the renowned Australian landscape artist, Louise comes from a family that traveled a lot, living in London, Portugal and in Sydney. DD has stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Nolita in New York and sells at 20 stores worldwide, including Tokyo Design District, Bergdorf Goodman in New York)


HOTELS
My favourite hotels are in Bali. At Bali Amandari (Kedewatan, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia; (62) 361 975 333; www.amanresorts.com/amandari) you stay in these little huts right in the rainforest. It is very dense. There are these heady, incredible flowers, lush shaped leaves and Proteas, which are so wonderful to draw, so sculptural. I’m not a big beach person. Not a sun baker. More of a quick dip, then head off the beach and get into the sketching kind of person. The hotel is on the edge of a cliff, so you look down these valleys. It is so tranquil. It is lovely to go just for a lychee cocktail, or they do a beautiful range of Balinese teas. Oberoi Seminyak Beach ( Denpaser, Bali, Indonesia, (62) 361 73 0361; www.oberoibali.com) is another hotel that is very sensitive to its environment, to the Balinese culture, tradition and beliefs. My drawing book always comes back full after these hotels. I love spending time drawing the plants, insects and the most incredible butterflies. Both hotels are designed by the Australian architect Peter Muller, who worked with Jorn Utzon on the Opera House. He’s a wonderful architect who has lived in Bali a long time. The way he uses materials, like bamboo and grasses. It is just really beautiful.

FOOD
New York. I love to go to Bar Pitti (268 Sixth Avenue; 212-982-3300) I love the buzz and the energy of it. You get a great sense of New York there. The waiters are cheeky, but fun and nice. You have to go early to get a place. The food is wonderful, simple food. The truffled pastas, using very simple olive oil with white sauce and pasta with truffle on top is so good. It’s very rich. I usually get it and share it. I love Bar Pitti for lunch or dinner. It just has great street life. One of my favourites is Cafe Gitane (242 Mott Street, Nolita, 212-334-9552) I love the Moroccan and New York feel it has. It is just down the road from the store, and the apartment, so it has become a lovely local place. Makes me feel really great as well, we love the owner, Luke, we are always talking about the street and all the things we can do. I love their orange blossom waffles. If Yoshi is on the coffee machine, you are set. In Brooklyn, we go to Lucali, (575 Henry Street, Caroll Gardens; (718) 858-4086) The man who makes the wonderful pizza is Mark, and it’s his restaurant. The store that is the restaurant used to be his favourite lolly story when he was a kid living in Brooklyn. It is just amazing. They don’t have any refrigerators there. They bring it in fresh that day. They make tomato purees by hand. There are boccocinis in big white bowls, tomato puree on the bench, the pizza man is working on a wooden table making the dough, by hand. You can see the whole process. If you come in with kids, he’ll give them some dough to play with. The menu often doesn’t stay the same. It is a matter of what produce you can get that day. The mushroom is very good. So is pepperoni. I go a lot since my friend has an apartment near there. When her son goes to sleep, he goes to his window and the ‘pizza man’ waves good night to him.

In Tokyo, I go to Tokyo Department Store, Shibuya (right on top of the train station) for the best tuna sushi bar. They just do it so well, incredible tuna. It is very, very fresh straight from fish markets. We wholesale in Tokyo so we have a long association there. We are part of store there called Idaye for lots of years, and have been in Tokyo designers block for three years. We have a real love for Tokyo and often do JAL, nine hours to Tokyo, and then stop to see friends en-route to New York. We go for at least for a week a year. I really feel at home now. It is a very exciting exhilarating city. It is very hard to give addresses. They don’t have map system like we do. Trickier, so you do need a bit of a map or you can ask the policeman in each area


SHOPPING

Tokyo. It would have to be one of the best places in the world for gifts. It has such an incredible culture of gift giving to show gratitude towards each other. It is always important to take lots of gifts with you as well! I go to Cibone (Aoyama Bell Commons B1 2-14-6 Kitaaoyama Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 107-0061; (03) 3475 8017; www.cibone.com ) a beautiful homewares/design store. It has objects from all over the world, but with a beautiful Japanese sensibility. I have bought a lot of CDs from there. They have a really great selection of jazz, plus Brazilian, Cuban music in a collection of their own. They also do beautiful collection of own, beautiful colored towels, in incredible colors, wonderful cut out circles in them, really bright turquoise, bright coral red, deep luscious colors. At Tokyo Hands (Shibuya, 12-18 Udagawa-cho, (03) 5489 5111; www.tokyu-hands.co.jp/shibuya) a Japanese hardware store, where you can find everything you need to make anything, if you need wood, rope or string, light bulbs, kitchenware, cards, stamps, glue sticks, if you are looking for anything. Really handy things, a kitchen area, wonderful tea pots and great array of tea strainers, tea stirrers, I do like tea. Sushi roll section, buy bamboo mats to buy sushi, and other tools to make sushi and a wonderful array of knick knacks. There is an exercise section where you can buy exercise tights, back massagers and special foot socks that your toes can poke out of!



At Idee Store/ Cafe (Minami-Aoyama 6-1-16-3F, (03)-3409-6744) This design store has a lot of Italian pieces and Japanese. It is now owned by Muji, and has a little café attached. I love Sfera (D-0303 9-7-4 Akasaka Minato-ku, Tokyo; (03) 5413 3083; www.ricordi-sfera.com) beautiful hand-crafted Japanese objects that are purely Japanese design. The craftsmanship is wonderful, beautiful woven baskets that are finely, delicately done and beautiful hand blown glass pieces, wooden chopping boards.


ART

I always go to Lammfromm (Yamaguchi Bldg.1F 1-1-21 Uehara Shibuya-ku Tokyo 151-0064 ; (03) 5454-0450; www.lammfromm.jp) It is a beautiful contemporary art concept store with small works by Japanese artists. My daughter Camille really loves this store. The objects are very imaginative creations. Yayoi Kusama is just one of the artists we love. We always end up coming back with one of her dot sculptures or Daisy Face’s. There is an idea that the art world is not accessible, that it is hard to have a piece, but with this store, you can buy a beautiful, inexpensive piece and really treasure it. It is really wonderful art work by Japanese artists.




Louise on Shopping

Her other favourite stores:

New York, Moss (146 Green Street, www.mossonline.com) for design; for clothes, Butter (389 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn);

Tokyo, Comme des Garcon – one of my favuorite stores designed by Future Systems. There is a wonderful sense of translucent space moving in and outside itself. Being its flagship store, the collection seems to be the most extensive. They have one of a kind accessories ranges you don’t see in the other stores


Loveless – eclectic collection of fashion with a funny and playful twist with a very Japanese aesthetic. I also love Tsumori Chisato, the Japanese designer, who does the most wonderful prints, also has a very unique store in Aoyama.


Ends

Lifestyle: FT Manhattan Swap Shops

Weekend FT

By Julie Earle-Levine

December 6, 2008

As winter beckons, temperatures plunge and the sky turns inky black at 5pm, New Yorkers shuffle their closets to accommodate their bulky puffa jackets. But while the clear-out used to be space related, this year it has been driven by the economy too.

“Women, and we are talking wealthy women, who would normally buy what they want, are instead swapping their few-seasons-old Missoni and Prada for more recent pieces,” says Irene Albright, a former fashion stylist and owner of a new store, Mina’s on Cooper Square, that opened in November to sell secondhand designer clothing.

Indeed, more people than ever before are offloading items from their closets and opting to shop in luxury consignment stores, or secondhand designer clothes shops, to fill the gaps, according to several store owners. An ad-hoc survey of Manhattan’s vintage shops produced a chorus reporting an increase in “prized possessions” being handed over.

“I have a $10,000 dress that Jennifer Lopez wore once that will be for sale,” says Albright, who is enhancing the stock at Mina’s with overflow from another of her ventures, the Albright Fashion Library, where stylists, costume designers and celebrities hire clothing. Mina’s also plans to sell last season’s unsold designer clothing, as well as redesigned items. “I am taking designer pieces and reworking the design to make it fresher,” says Albright.

Lucyann Barry, whose namesake showroom on the Upper West Side has been stocking secondhand clothes, shoes, bags and jewellery from Chanel, Chloé, Gucci and Hermès at 50 to 90 per cent below retail since it opened in January, reports that one Texas man tried to sell his wife’s Louis Vuitton shoe collection. Barry says she has seen a 10 per cent increase in consignment clients in the past two months, among them a new demographic made up of wealthy women motivated by philanthropy.

“They can continue giving, without actually writing a cheque,” explains Barry. By selling “a Birkin”, they can turn their hardly used handbag into “a handsome donation for their favourite charity”.

Other women have been obliged to explore a new strain of retail: “People are telling me their husbands are freaking out because of big financial losses,” says Barry. Many of her clients are attracted by the quality of the items, although they are shopping carefully. “Even though they are getting great deals, they are more reserved.”

Kristjansen Villanueva, manager of Roundabout ReSale Couture, which opened on Manhattan’s Upper East Side four months ago and is targeted at buyers from the fashion industry, Wall Street and the local residents (Roundabout also has three stores in Connecticut), says one woman brought in an $8,000 bag last week that will sell for $2,900. “If she can make money by selling it, she can use money to buy another piece here,” says Villanueva, noting the barter-like dimension to the consignment trend.

One of his customers, a lawyer, was warned by her husband who lost his job at Lehman Bros: “No more Barneys. No more Bergdorf. You have to watch your wallet.”

“It was kind of sad,” says Villanueva. “But she sold her things and then ended up buying a never-worn Giorgio Armani suit, so she was happy. Instead of going to Saks or Barneys or a big retail store and paying $2,500, she got it for $499.”

Indeed, Villanueva says many clients are surprised by the choice and condition of most garments. Some are never worn and still have the tags on. “Most sellers don’t even think about the pieces they bought last season; they might even forget about them and don’t want to wear them now,” he says.

It is the more established fashion brands that are proving popular in the current climate. “We can’t stop selling Chanel and Hermès, because women feel good wearing it,” says Villaneuva.

Lucyann Barry, by contrast, says the vintage Chanel market seems to have slowed a little but those buying are diehard fans while new buyers will occasionally spend thousands on special pieces.

Meanwhile, Vintage Collections, an online store that sells high-end costume jewellery and accessories in Manhattan, is also seeing more sellers than usual. “It feels much busier,” says owner Vicki Haberman, whose items start at $1,000. “I’m getting a lot of enquiries. I definitely think more people are reaching in to the closet and selling their heirlooms.”

And not just women. Men, who traditionally hold on to their clothes a lot longer than seasonally driven women, are also trading them in. Gary Scheiner, owner of Gentlemen’s Resale, which has been in business on the Upper East Side for 14 years and sells men’s Burberry trenchcoats for less than $250, Tod’s loafers for $110 and Brioni suits for $495, also says business is brisk. “We are starting to see consignments of two or three items a week, instead of one,” he says.

“A lot of people are bringing in beautiful suits,” says Milo Bernstein, owner of Ina, another designer resale consignment store with five locations, the first of which opened in SoHo 16 years ago.

“One guy lost his job and had a lot of really good, not too conservative Thom Browne suits.” According to Bernstein, they were quickly snapped up by a savvy buyer who needed “new” suits for interviews.

Perhaps as a result, Bernstein says Ina’s five Manhattan stores are doing extremely well, in spite of the economy. More than half of Ina’s customers are from outside New York. “It just seems like a really good way to go,” he says. “You walk out the door with three things that would have cost $1,500 but you paid $400.” Of course, it may take a little work to find those items. “It’s not a store for people who do not like shopping.”

.......................

www.albrightnyc.com
www.inanyc.com
www.lucyannbarry.com
info@vintagecollectionsnyc.com
Gentlemen’s Resale, tel: +1: 212-734 2739
Roundabout Resale Couture, tel: +1 646-755 8009

Forbes: Bank of America's Chief Risk Officer

ForbesLife

Amy Woods Brinkley
Julie Earle-Levine
Forbes Magazine dated September 29, 2008

As chief risk officer at Bank of America, the largest retail bank in the U.S., Amy Woods Brinkley spearheaded its recent takeover of the stricken mortgage lender, Countrywide Financial, just as the U.S. economy was heading downward. She will have a key role in defining the types of loans the new subsidiary will make and the growth model it will pursue as it is absorbed into the company.

Brinkley joined the bank 30 years ago in the commercial credit department after graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina. She held a variety of positions in international banking, domestic corporate banking, and marketing, leading the consumer products group before assuming her current sector in December 2001. In 2005, she was awarded the top spot on US Banker magazine's list of "The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking."

Why did you take on Countrywide?

Our company did very extensive due diligence. I've been involved in a lot of our acquisitions and I don't recall one that was more thorough. During that process I became increasingly comfortable; the problems at Countrywide were real, but they were also manageable. I always thought it would be a terrific strategic acquisition but the main question was whether we could handle the short-term challenges, and I think we can. I am excited about the longer-term opportunities.

And the impact on Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people )?

We understood there was significant reputation risk. That's why we promptly [made] certain changes that would mitigate that risk, such as the elimination of subprime mortgages and other nontraditional mortgages, pledging to work out loans wherever possible and working with community group partners. In the end, people need to judge us by what we do now and what we will do going forward.

But the estimates on write-downs for Countrywide's mortgages range from $8 billion to $30 billion. (Bank of America puts the figure at $12 to $13 billion.)

As we said a number of times, we did very extensive due diligence on the transaction, not only before signing but going back in before closing the transaction, and we believe the economics made sense and the market-share opportunity is worth the risk. We told investors in June that the purchase accounting adjustments will be in the neighborhood of $12 to $13 billion. Based on what we have contemplated, the acquisition would be accretive in the second half of this year. If we are wrong we will face some other losses in the future, but that would only delay the payback from the acquisition. Certainly I don't know that we bought at the bottom, but we clearly did not buy at the top of the market. So again, just before closing the transaction we revisited the economics and we are comfortable with what they tell us.

Where do you see the upside?

This transaction represents a rare opportunity to significantly gain market share, in this case in the mortgage business. We will have market share in the 20 percent range, in a business that is vital to consumers and to the economy.

Is it still hard convincing analysts about the deal?

I think some have understood [the purchase] better than others. Others will understand it more fully as time passes.

When will the mortgage crisis abate?

The single biggest question is when housing prices [will] stabilize, which is dependent on quite a few factors. I think we'll see some stabilization in 2009. I wouldn't try to call it into a quarter. We are battling a series of issues that stem from the impact of falling home prices, and that has created unprecedented illiquidity and extreme volatility in certain parts of the capital markets. Some areas are getting better: for example, liquidity in the leveraged loan market has improved. The bigger picture beyond housing and mortgages is the collective impact of higher energy and food costs [and whether that] results in a recession. We are not presently calling for that, but it is a close call.

As a chief risk officer, how do you calculate risk?

I certainly use many quantitative techniques based on probabilistic analysis. But it is also really important to use common sense and to not over-rely on models and historical evaluations of risk. I would describe it as balance of science and art. It's 70-30. I think there was a time when the quantitative approach worked better than it does today, and that is due in part to the increasing complexity of the global marketplace.

The industry is always good at lagging and coincidence indicators, but the best [people] are really good at reading the leading indicators and making informed judgments on that basis. Excesses in markets do come home to roost at some point, in some way, so learning from the past is also important.

And the pros and cons?

First of all, it's accepting that the most important decisions we make do involve tradeoffs--what appear on the surface to be equally imperfect, equally important choices, or partially right choices.

For instance, last year before the credit crisis hit, we didn't like where the leveraged finance market was going and we didn't like the deal terms being granted. Earlier than most, we became more selective. We faced losing potential revenue because the market was continuing to grow, but we had to weigh that against what we were beginning to see. We thought it was the right time to reevaluate our risk appetite, and it proved to be right.

When do you decide to decide?

One approach has helped me a lot through the years. I call it "trying each decision on and wearing it for a while." It might be just a few days, or longer. Usually I'll find that deciding one way leaves me feeling more comfortable than the other. When we exited the subprime mortgage business in 2001, it was a tough decision because it was giving up a not insignificant amount of revenue, and we are a growth-oriented company. We had to convince investors. On the other side, we had reputation risk (related to predatory lending) and concern where volatility could go over the longer term. It really was art and science and trying both decisions on.

What keeps you up at night?

Actually, I sleep okay. But what does concern me most is what we haven't thought of that we need to be thinking of. Are we pushing ourselves enough? What might be next? Worry in and of itself is unproductive. In today's world you have stuff coming at you every which way. Structuring time to just sit and think is important.

In speeches, you encourage trying on the unfamiliar to advance careerwise. When have you done so?

Early in my career, I was in the international group at Bank of America and worked in Asia. I spent brief periods in Hong Kong. At that time it was very unusual to have a single woman--a woman, period--in those markets.

Another time [in the 1980s], I was asked to start a risk-management function for the consumer businesses. All of my experience up to that point had been on the commercial and business side--I didn't know anything about the consumer business. I was getting in on the ground floor. I knew it was an opportunity to learn a whole new business, and to acquire a totally different skill set. That said, day one, I didn't know what I was doing. But I figured it out. You find good people that you trust.

Can you have a work/life balance?

All great leaders have balance. That's what allows you to keep perspective. It is your own formula. For me, reading, plus some nonprofit work, helps with balance. And exercise--walking and being outdoors.

Describe your day.

I get up very early in the morning, 4:30 or 5 a.m., and have that time for quiet thinking to plan my day. If I don't have an evening event, I leave work at 6:30 or 7 p.m. I can't recall a weekend when I haven't done some work. It might be a few hours, or the whole weekend. I try to work from home then. It stimulates my thinking, just to be in a different space.

What have been your tradeoffs?

[Giving up] more baseball games for my son than I'd like to, and annual cousin reunions that I cherish. It is a myth that you can have it all.

How do you see your strengths and weaknesses?

I think I'm very straightforward. Sometimes I might be too impatient--I tend to operate with a fair amount of urgency, and at times that might be overplayed.

Brinkley's Tips for Surviving and Thriving

1. Don't be preoccupied with proving yourself. I think a lot of energy gets lost in this. It did for me.

2. Make sure you know what you think you know.

3. Maintain balance. You will be better for it.

4. Don't wear your gender on your sleeve. This is not my line--another woman banker said it, but it's good.

5. Explore unconventional career paths. Take lateral moves and learn.

6. Always find great people who are better than you are and learn from them.

7. Trust your gut instinct. If it's speaking loudly, listen.