Prabal, Aurora CFDA Vice Chairs, Welch’s Amazon Picks, Warner Bros.’ Team – WWD

CFDA NAMES VICE CHAIRS: The Council of Fashion Designers of America unanimously elected Prabal Gurung and Aurora James as vice chairs, Maria Cornejo as secretary, and Stacey Bendet Eisner as treasurer at its semiannual board meeting Tuesday.

They will start their roles on Jan. 1 when Thom Browne assumes his post as chairman of the CFDA.

As reported, Browne succeeds Tom Ford, who finished his three-year term on May 31. Since then, Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA, has been serving as interim chair of the CFDA.

Previously, Tracy Reese was vice chair, Vera Wang was secretary, and Stan Herman was treasurer.

Tuesday’s meeting was the first in-person one since the outbreak of COVID-19 and was held at Veronika’s restaurant on Park Avenue South in New York.

In addition, Reese, Diane von Furstenberg, Norma Kamali and Reed Krakoff were reelected as CFDA board members.

There are 18 people on the CFDA’s board, who serve six-year terms.

The CFDA, which celebrated its 60th anniversary this year, has 450 members, consisting of women’s, men’s, jewelry and accessories designers. Its mission is to strengthen the impact of American fashion in the global economy. — LISA LOCKWOOD

KARLA CURATES: Karla Welch is bringing her styling expertise to Amazon Style.

The celebrity fashion stylist, who works with Olivia Wilde, Tracee Ellis Ross, Hailey and Justin Bieber and others, is joining forces with the e-commerce giant on its Color Me Curated pop-up at the Americana at Brand in Glendale, California, that offers shoppers free color analysis consultations where they determine which seasonal color palette is most flattering on them. Amazon Style also teamed with color expert Mariana Marques, who specializes in color analysis, for the initiative. The pop-up runs from Tuesday to Friday.

After shoppers receive their color analysis consultation, they can shop from collections Welch curated for each seasonal color palette at the pop-up. 

“It’s a great stepping point,” Welch said about color analysis. “I don’t think you have to be married to [the color palette], but it’s a really strong and fun thing to do for people who feel like ‘I’m not sure if this color looks good on me.’ Like, I was kind of shocked that these deep jewel tones really made my skin pop. There is a little bit of a science to it, which I love.” 

Welch curated women’s and men’s pieces for the four seasonal collections from brands carried by Amazon Style, including Calvin Klein, Lacoste, Levi’s, Equipment, Rebecca Taylor, Theory and many others. 

“I always like to think about what my perfect wardrobe is knowing that people don’t have tons of time or want to spend tons of money on clothes, but they want to feel great, so I really tried to focus on that,” Welch said about the curation process. “[The collection offers] accessibility and timelessness, but really fashion pieces and there are really fun accessories to splurge on.” 

The Amazon Style pop-up comes a few weeks before Welch gets into the thick of awards season, where she’ll be styling her clients for upcoming film and TV awards shows starting at the beginning of January with the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

“I love awards season. I love celebrating people who make films,” she explained. “For me, awards season is the end of a really long process for filmmakers. You know how long it takes to make a movie and not even just the filming part. I just love celebrating the arts and I love celebrating all of the designers who I love and feel fortunate to get to place their clothes, so it’s a fast and long season if I can say that, but it’s fun.” 

Welch explained she’s excited to see more risk-taking on the red carpet, naming actress Taylor Russell as one celebrity she’s excited to see. The stylist also noted she’s interested to see what male celebrities bring to the red carpet after the last few years of men’s fashion trends becoming more bold and couture-like.

“Men were really drivers of fashion for a beat there, especially street style and that became a little bit more couture,” Welch said. “It was this whole beautiful embrace of a little bit more men showing up, but I love it. I also love just a beautiful, classic tuxedo, but I’m all for it. I hope to see more men in dresses and skirts. That’s my dream.” — LAYLA ILCHI

NEW TEAM: A new global leadership team has been established for Warner Bros. Discovery Global Brands and Experiences’ consumer products business, formalizing the integration between the legacy divisions: Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Discovery Consumer Products.

GBE encompasses the Global Consumer Products and Themed Entertainment businesses and the company’s franchise development and brand management, including “Harry Potter” and DC.

The newly combined global consumer products division will extend the company’s portfolio of brands and franchises from Warner Bros.’ film, TV, animation and games studios, HBO, Discovery, DC, Cartoon Network, HGTV, Eurosport, Adult Swim, among others, into the lives of fans around the globe and will complement the Global Brands and Experience’s Franchise Development’s efforts to maximize long-term consumer engagement with the company’s major franchises.

The changes were revealed by Pam Lifford, president of Warner Bros. Discovery Global brands, Franchises and Experiences, to whom the leaders report.

“The team of best-in-class leaders brings years of experience in their respective areas and the realignment will result in a strong focus on our key growth areas, will further maximize our global relationships, streamline communication with global partners operating, and most importantly — bring brand new, integrated and dynamic ways to engage fans around the world with our characters and stories.”

Under Lifford, the new global commercial team includes Julian Moon, head of EMEA Consumer Products, will also head APAC Consumer Products. He is based in London and has extensive experience maximizing the potential of key brands and franchises to create best-in-class products and programs with licensees, retailers and partners.

Robert Oberschelp will now head North America Consumer Products. He will continue to oversee global brand product, franchise management and marketing. His newly combined team now supports all of North America, including a retail-facing category team that consists of Carolann Dunn, a veteran of Discovery Consumer Products, who now leads a new category role for the region overseeing home, food, health and beauty; Jessica Elliot will assume a new role leading fashion, footwear and accessories, broadening her previous role in brand product, and Catherine Bachmaier, who will continue to lead toys and licensed publishing.

In addition, Preston Lewis will continue as head of LATAM Consumer Products, and will also lead retail strategy and major retailer relationships for all of The Americas, partnering with Overschelp in North America. Further, Samantha Bushy will transition to head of global e-commerce, bringing her digital experience to build out the robust direct-to-consumer e-commerce experience worldwide. She was previously with Apple, where she was head of e-commerce, global marketplaces, WW Digital Channel.

Peter van Roden will continue to lead Global Themed Entertainment, which deals in the creation, development and licensing of location-based entertainment, live events, exhibits and theme park experiences based on the biggest franchises, stories and characters from Warner Bros.’ film, TV, animation and games studios, HBO, Discovery, DC, Cartoon Network and others. The legacy-Discovery experiences group will now be part of this group. — L.L.