This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The show is sponsored by
G three Aparo. The views expressed in the following program are those of the
sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven ten wor or iHeartMedia. Who is
Mark Webber. He's a self made business executive here to help you find your
success from the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His
global success story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational. He's gone from
clerk to CEO twice. Mark his classic proof that the American dream is alive.
And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Webber.
Mark Weber. I graduated from college out a degree in a winning smile.
The smile was my self assurance and my understanding, knowing that I knew right
from wrong. Today you'd call it good values, but it won me a
remarkable girlfriend who would become my wife. She, more than anyone, should
always be next to me on that podium, sharing whatever awards I ever see.
She was until she wasn't. She passed away much too young at this
time, six years ago. I never dreamed until I met her. She
was the one with the vision She saw something in me that I didn't know
I had. I did have style. I wasn't into fashion, but I
had styled. It wasn't until my career took off that I learned from Coco
Chanel. Or it was Eve sint Lauran who said fashion comes and goes,
but your style is with you forever. I tell you this because if I
talk dreams, I have to talk Susie. Susie saw something. She saw
something in me despite me. I remember my style being classic, elegant and
poor. The first time I met her parents, I'm introduced to them.
I sit on the couch. I'm wearing a white dress shirt open at the
neck, won too many buttons open, think John Travoltered Saturday Night Feva.
I'm wearing off white ekrew pleaded Gabardine dress pants, brown belt, brown Italian
lace up, perforated Oxford shoes, classic elegant. But my soles were worn
down, the heels were worn down, and in those days I can only
afford one pair of dress shoes that happened to have a hole in the bottom.
Not to worry, I put a piece of cardboard in to cover the
hole. I meet the parents, all going well, I'm charming when I
want to be, and I wanted to be liked by Susie. At one
point I crossed my leg at the knee and held on for dear life.
I didn't realize when I put up my foot the cardboard moved and the sole
of my foot was showing through. A poor guy went holes in his shoes
with Susie, the sweet rich girl. What an impression that mate. But
Susie didn't care. She saw something in me, and as time moved on,
we married. Her father would say often to her, Susie always said,
you would do well? What did that mean? He was talking to
her about questioning how she knew or why would you ever get involved in him?
But Sissy could dream. I, on the other hand, when I
was starting out, I didn't dream. I didn't dare. I had no
clue what success was, let alone how to get there. I could daydream.
I'm still good at at getting lost, but dream about a future no
way. I was lucky to get a job. Interesting though. When I
did get a spot in New York City working for the Venues Inshirt Company,
my life changed forever. Here was a big public company populated by professional business
people, I could literally feel the excitement in the air. It was tangible,
and with that I started to dream. I knew nothing, but I
knew I could learn. I knew I would learn. It was the moment
that I became a dreamer. All these people knew more than me, but
I knew I can compete. I could be formidable what I want to be
and I wanted to be. I wanted to find success. I could dream.
Can I often works, opportunities are there to pounce on When each new
challenge, I dreamed of the next step, a leap of faith that I
could do more, get closer. I can dream, can I? And
here it is in tonight's theme, I'm allowed to dream? So are you?
This radio show, this podcast has always been a business show. Thanks
to Spotify and Apple, they categorize me as cultural and society. They gave
me the raison detri to talk about a multitude of subjects, from business to
life. And I want to speak about life right now. I want to
speak about Donald Trump. Given a newly sunlight less than an eighth of an
inch, the bullet would have ended his life. I watched him throughout the
Republican Convention, the speech aside he's become serene, He's different. I often
like the quote, the hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to
count our blessing. Donald Trump sitting there, listened to governors, senators speaking
to his accomplishments. Who's counting his blessings, his family, sons, daughters,
daughter in laws, grandchildren. I was watching him chill while this was
going on, smiling, counting his blessings, realizing how precious life is,
and trying to dream of the future. Who's fascinating to watch, fascinating to
consider how he's been changed, as he says, by God, his faith,
his future. And I'd like to take a moment to dream about our
future, to dream about the country. I'm left with the Democrats on women's
right to choose. I'm hard right on an economy and foreign affairs with the
Republicans strump. As the speeches continued, many acknowledged his tweets and accepted he
was off putting. But his presidency, as they pointed out, thrive,
great stock market, unemployment down, with every ethnic group, gas at two
dollars a gallon, not four dollars, and change the word way it is
right now, there are no wars. He did the right thing, and
what did he get for it. Let's be honest, he was branded a
colluder with Russian They called him a spy and a trader. He's been treated
like no other person in the history of this company, let alone a president
or a presidential candidate. He's prosecuted now an assassination attempt. I can only
wonder what his first presidency would have been. If he could have concentrated on
being the president he should have been, he could have been even greater.
I can only dream what that future would have been. Many Americans have the
same dream, a safe America. The primary responsibility of government is to provide
safety for its citizen. This is not to say the Democratic Party is bad.
They're just confused now just dreaming. I'd like to feel that if I'm
a Conservative, I wouldn't be canceled. I'd like to think frees feature is
still free, that you can talk about whatever you want, regardless of whether
you agreed with the classic norm the middle. I'd like to think that I
walk the streets of New York safely where my Rolex without fear. I didn't
steal it, I earned it. I'd like to be thanks for the good
I do. I'd like my business to be appreciated. I'd like to get
service without waiting online. I'd like one phone call to solve all my problems.
I'd like to believe water is safe to drink, the air is cleaned
to breathe, the food I eat is healthy. I'd like us to afford
the food we need. I'd like both sides of the aisle to talk and
negotiate and come to agreements. Both walk away smiling. I can't help but
think about Donald Trump quietly looking on and smiling during the convention. It was
during the debate he accused President Byerner of not firing anyone. The head of
the Secret Service is still there with ridiculously unaccepted unaccountability. I'd like to think.
I think America is still America, regardless of who's president. I can
dream, can I I want to stay political for a little bit, but
I want to include it with business. I work for the patriarch of a
company. His name is Larry S. Phillips. He was the grandson of
the founder of Phillips van Us and the shirt company that bore the company's name.
Great companies, I said, before I spent thirty years in my career
there, starting as a clerk, working my way all the way up to
the top, and I have a story that is right in line with what's
going on, particularly on the left. I was a senior executive when I
was very young, and because I was senior, I was privy to all
the benefits and perks that all the senior most executives had for their hard work
and what they accomplished. One of those special perks was that for my sons
college education, the company would pay. Not only would they pay for that,
they would pay for secondary school if they were to become professionals like lawyers
and doctors, and the company would pay. It's a remarkable perk. It's
designed as all perks are, all special arrangements are with people to keep them
glued to the company. Larry Phillips, on the one hand, was a
genius. He had a handful of executives that he never wanted to lose because
he had visions on what he wanted to do with the company, and he
felt that he paid them right and incentivized them right, they wouldn't leave.
And can you imagine what a perk it is to get tax free at that
time, the conversation was tax free. It changed in the middle of my
tenure, getting school paid for by a company. Amazing. I'll never forget
I had my first son. I was happy I had that right forever whenever
he became of age, the company, just like a pension plan, would
protect me and put aside the money to pay for my son's school. And
then lo and behold, as luck would have it. Seven years later,
my wife was pregnant and I was so excited, and I remember nobody mentioning
to me that his college education, his law education, would be paid for.
And I remember asking to see Larry Phillips, and I went in to
see him and I said, Larry, how are you. Everything's good?
How's your family? Mark heard is grand. It's glad you mentioned my family.
You know, ROWI my wife is pregnant, and there's no mention in
the agreement of school and tuition being paid for that my next son, my
wife is pregnant, will be covered. And he looked at me and he
said something I was totally shocked, never prepared for, never gave any thought
to. He said, it doesn't cover the baby in your wife's womb.
And said why, said that's not a child. I said to Larry,
she's pregnant the next few months, that child's going to be born. How
could it not be included because we don't look at it that way? And
I never gave a thought to women's rights. I never gave thought to what's
going on in a woman's womb. No, I said before. I am
clearly a believer in women's rights. And here I am talking to what was
a democrat, a liberal who chose made a conscientious decision to not recognize the
fact that my wife was pregnant and there was a child there. And it
made me for the first time think about what is a child? Where is
a child? When is it a child? That is a battup? We
have a lot to think about. I can dream, can I always in
fashions. As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld was
renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style. His unique vision of
Parisian shit comes to America through Carlagefeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's
collections, ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house
Carlagofil also offers a range of watches. I wear in premium fragrances. You
can explore the Carlagophil collection at carlagofilpowers dot com. But it's more than that.
I for one, love to shop. I love going around and seeing
what's happening and what catches my attention, what would make me feel good to
wear now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously, but I can appreciate
it, and they look amazing. If you want to look right, you
want to have clothes that fits you well. You want to look like you're
wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours. You can
find it at very affordable prices at Macy's Orcarlagofel dot com. Paris, the
women's ready to wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbags and the
shoes. I for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my appreciation of women's
clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want to look current. I want
to look the way I want to feel. I go out at night,
I'm in black and Carlagofel well is my buddy. Calls are great. They
fit great, and they have little tweaks and touches. Whether it's a stripe
on the sleeve, or button at the neck or on the shoulder. There's
a lot of details that go into Carl Lagafel because he's always been, he
always had been one of the world's great designers, and this legacy and goes
on and on. I can't speak enough about it except to say to you,
you want to feel good about yourself. You want to know that you're
dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits you well. Carl Lagafeld,
Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com. A favorite brand has always been ISOD.
My company at one time bought that brand. The CEO of the company
handed it to me and said, you better make it work. And I
put everything in my career to make ISOD work, and I fell in love
with that brand, and to this day it is one of the most exciting
endeavors I've ever gotten involved with. Isod is an incredibly strong golf brand.
If you play golf, if you play tennis for that matter. They make
a great polo shirts. I mean great. They're fit perfect. The material
is unique because it's a PK fabric that waffle weave you see, and it's
made of a blend of cotton and microfiber that allows you to stretch, and
very often they are treated with solar protection as well, so they stretch,
they're comfortable, and they breathe well. And one thing about Isac they always
fit. They'll never tug on you. You put it in your waist,
they'll fit you great. The colors, patterns are sensational. Now I will
also tell you Isaad makes great shorts and great golf pants. If you're a
golfer and you want to look good, you don't have to think about how
do I look. You want to think about how you play, not how
you feel. Isaad is the brand for you. I know I was there
when it was created. The strategy behind that brand is brilliant. It's one
of my favorite brands. Will I talk about it. I should tell you
about the man's sportswear Isaac. It wasn't enough being a golf brand. It
wasn't enough being just great polo shirts with logos, without logos, incredible branded
story and history. Isaad makes salt weather programs. They have great printed woven
shirts, short sleeves that look excellent with colors, excellent with shorts, excellent
with cotton pants, of which they also make this whole salt order relaxed line
from ISO, whether it be fleece, cotton sweaters, knit polos, woven
shirts and pants of a range of colors and fabrics that are perfect for a
guy wants to go casually in the spring and summer of this year. And
here's the thing. Is is affordable. Everyone listening to me talk about this
brand can afford to buy it and know that there are a lot of other
brands that also have a look like ISOT. Although I don't believe it's fun
as Isaida is. The brand has a lot of energy in it, but
at the price points no one can compete. You can find ISAAC at your
leading retails and online at isad dot com. Talk to you later, guys.
I wish you I'm very happy spring and summer, and I help you
by telling you if you were Isaid, you're going to look great. Welcome
back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber. I've always
been a day dreamer. I can get lost to myself. I like being
alone. I like thinking. I like daydreaming, I like reading. I
like just going to foreign places. I like going wherever I want to go.
In my own mind. When I think back, if I ever dreamt
of a future like I have that, I have a dream that I would
figure out how to be on the radio, write books, be a CEO.
Absolutely not. The only thing I did dream about is meeting of the
right partner, and I did. I met a wife. I met a
girl who became my wife. Who was it who believed in me and helped
me believe in myself tonight's show. Really, what I'm thinking about is we
all have rights to dream, and we have the right to say I can
dream, can I I want to tell your business story about dreaming. What
I was dreaming of was a simple life. I'd become a young president of
the venues and Shirt company. I was having a great time. I was
there when outlet retail first began. I would assume most of you out there
have shocked at an outlet store or have gone to an outlet moll. We're
blessed in the Northeast that we have great ones everywhere on the West coast.
They're all over the world. They weren't before. Retailing was born from the
fact that as manufacturers of brands, department stores discount stores becoming more and more
powerful, and the more and more powerful they became, the more difficult thing
made it for us to do business. On the first note, if you
were selling Macy's, they wouldn't like the fact that you were selling Nortstrom.
And if you were selling Nortstrum, they wouldn't like the fact that you were
selling Mason. So you had to pick a lane. And if you were
selling either of those stores and you decided to sell JC Penny, they would
throw you out because they didn't want to share brands with JC Penny, even
though J C. Penny would sell your brand at the same price. Thank
God forbid. If you sold Target or Tjmex, you couldn't sell them.
So these retailers were putting pressure on us and shrinking our ability to grow.
After all, if you think about it, this is luxury retail fashion.
We should be able to swim with the fish is swimming. We should be
able to sell where customers are going. You think about batteries. Batteries are
sold in drug stores and are sold in fine especially in these stores like Apple.
You think about Yankee hats, they could be sold anywhere. You think
about iPhones, they're sold in their own stores or an at and T stores.
People distribute where customers are coming. We couldn't, and that was problem
number one. Problem number two why there were outlet stores. Other than distribution,
it was a better way to showcase the entirety of your brand. If
we would sell to Macy's, my favorite store, they'd let us sell dress
shirts, but they wouldn't let us sell sportswear per se. If we had
suits, the answer was no and' out a suit company. If we had
out of wear, no, we'll buy from how to wear companies like Canada
Goose or whomever. They wouldn't let us expand our brands. So opening outlet
stores did two things. It allowed us to talk to more customers, It
allowed us to grow, and on top of it, it allowed us to
spand the brand presence into categories we had right to be in. You listen
to our commercials now Van using one of my sponsors. I talk about dress
shirts, I talk about sports, when I talk about great suits. It's
a lifestyle brand and men's dress up clothes, right, But we weren't being
given that opportunities for those two reasons, being told who we could or could
not sell and have to pick a lane. And because we couldn't grow other
products that we needed to expand the brand. We were forced to open outlet
store. Then. It was the exact thing that all our other stores didn't
want us to do. They didn't want us to directly compete with them using
the names that we had in their store. And it was ugly in the
beginning until everyone did it and they had no choice to accept it. But
the balance of power had been changing for a while now and the strength was
going to the retail Larry Phillips was one of the pioneers of the outlet store
industry. It came born from a simple place. We needed more outlets to
sell our shirts, and we found out it's a long story for another time,
that in the outlet venue people would come in and buy our dress shirts.
Now, our dress shirts might have sold in Macy's, they were ticketed
at twenty five dollars and on sale there were nineteen ninety nine. Macy's made
money and we made money. But we had our own shirts in the outlet
store, and we didn't have a middleman, another store in between us and
the end consumer, kind of like you have now with online direct retailing to
consumers. With e common the profits would be enormous even if it was less
expensive. So that same shirt ticketed to twenty five sold on sale in nineteen
ninety nine could be sold for fourteen ninety nine our outlets, so that we
could sell millions of them and make tons of money because all the profit came
to us on the wholesale side and the retail side. And lo and behold
Larry Phillips, who was often accused he has a funny one. Everything he
ever touched struggled behind his back. They used to say, he's like Rapunzel,
except he spins gold into straw. He couldn't find a winner until he
found outlet store and it was amazing and inn a relatively short period of time,
over five brands, we had a thousand outlet stores. We were the
king of the business. We were growing everywhere. People wouldn't open outlet centers
unless our company agreed to go there because we wanted the great drawers. And
of course Nike came, and Coach came, and all the designers came.
But in the early day we were powerful and for the first time in Larry's
Phillips's life as the CEO of PDH Phillips Van using he was doing amazing.
I won't say it went to his head. I won't say it was wrong
for him to feel good. I won't say it was wrong that he should
be proud that he was one of the pioneers of the outlets store business.
But he got me in a lot of trouble. How might you say did
he get me in trouble? Well, I was president of the shirt company
van Using Shirts. Now, my company had outlet stores, and I sold
my shirts to the outlet stores. But I can tell you Macy's and Nords,
Jerms and TJ Max and Dillard's and stores and may Company stores. Nobody
liked the idea that my brand was there, and we were fighting for retail
dollars against them. So what we did we never talked about it in public.
Whenever we talked about a company, anytime I did an ad, I
never mentioned the outlets stores. We didn't run trade advertising, we didn't run
national advertising. We trusted that an outlets store would be built in a center
that would be meaningful. People would come to the center and when he saw
our name over the door, they'd walk in and we had an incredible business.
But here we are back to Larry Phillips feeling great about himself, and
he's asked to sit on a parow put on by Women's Wear Daily in the
Daily News Record, which was the men's equivalent of Women's Wear Daily. And
on that panel addition to Larry Phillips was the chairman of Federated department Stores that
own Macy's and Bloomydale, the chairman of Dillards, the chairman of Nordstroms,
the chairman of TJ Mac and on and on and on. And they were
there for this two day seminar where all of these division powerhouses, all these
retailing powerhouses, master of the universe, we talk about the future of retail.
And they did it with a tremendous amount of respect and dignity. And
it was amazing to watch and amazing to listen to. And I was so
excited to hear Larry Phillips speak. I can dream, can I that he's
going to make the speech of a lifetime, make my life easy and explain
why his vision of retail would work and be an additive to the department stores.
After all, if we do well, it makes the name stronger.
It's good for them. In spite of the fact there was a price difference,
and I'll never forget. Larry Phillips stands up, gets to the podium
and looks at all these retailing masters of the universe, the future of retailing,
the powerhouse my customers, and he points a finger at it them and
he says, you're all dinosaurs. You're all dying and you don't know it.
The future of retail is outlet retailing, and that's who we represent today.
I thought I would die. There's something to be said for dreaming that
your CEO will get up and do something to help you. What do you
think about that? One the following day, myself, my sales managers,
all our regional sales managers, how to start making calls, how to start
getting to all those retailers. Not necessarily the CEOs, I don't think they
would ever take our call again, but the presidents of the company, the
general managers of the company. We had to explain what happened and deal with
that the catastrophe. You see. One of the things that Larry Phillips forgot
is that what makes your brand strong in the outlet environment very often is,
of course the brand. If Ralph Lauren puts Polo outlet stores. You know,
Polo, You're going into those stores. But the idea that Polo's also
in all the finest stores in the world, whether it especially apartment store,
creating a halo for their outlet store, because you can't give that up.
And Larry Phillips was about to get us thrown out of every store in America.
I have to say I've seen some brilliant selling jobs in my career,
and I've talked about them from time to time, and I will as we
go along, even if I have to repeat some story. But convincing retailers
not to throw us out of their stores because it's their way of the highway.
They had the strength, it's now home. Convincing them to do that
was one of the greatest sales jobs I ever saw anyone do in my life.
I can dream that my CEO wasn't insane canon, but that is a
backdrup back in a minute. Always in fashion, I spent a lifetime of
my career building the van Usen brand, and I am so pleased that they're
back with us now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again and it's
become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be won on multiple occasions in
multiple ways. You could wear a suit formally to go out at night or
to an event. You can wear a suit to the office with or without
a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends suits are being worn
with turtlenecks or mark next. The choices are endless and every one of them
looks right. You could really really look the part. I believe that packaging
yourself is as important as the products you package, and wearing a suit is
one of those things that make men look their best. Venues and invented a
new idea. It's called the cool Flex suit. It's been engineered with stretch
technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility. It's wrinkle resistant fabric,
it's cool moisture wicki. It makes it perfect for all occasions. As
we discussed just now, this new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and
comfortable is amazing and I'm so excited that the van Using company is involved in
this new technology and is embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not
forget van Usen made it's name with dress shirts. It's only proper that the
suit business follows strongly in its way you can find van using Koolflex men's stretch
suits at Jacpenny or online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great.
You should go look at them. DK and Why. Donna Karen, New
York. Donna Karen began her career as one of the finest, most successful,
powerful women in the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at the
luxury market for women on the go, women who were powerful in their workplace,
women who had lives that extended beyond the workplace, and her clothes went
from day and to night. An extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing Donna
Karen had a young daughter, and she had friends and they couldn't afford to
buy the Donna Karen collection, and Donna invented DK n Y Donna Aaron,
New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection. The same concept
a lifestyle brand. Then we talk about lifestyle brands, What does that really
mean? Simply what they say, there are brands that follow you throughout your
lifestyle. You get up in the morning, you start to get dressed.
Donna Karen dcan why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all those products
you're getting dressed for work, you get accessorized shoes, handbags, and it
takes you through the day. The remarkable thing about DK and Y clothes for
work they work into the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants,
the sweaters, the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that go from
day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active. You have weekends,
you have events, you participate in sports. Donna Karen's casual clothes did that
under the DKNY label. A vast array of casual sports where that make women
look great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you going to soccer games
for your children, or whether you're going out to the movies, whatever you
want to do, DK and Y Jeans, dk Y Sportswear is there for
you. That's what a lifestyle brand is. And I need to mention DKY
Activewear, which is extraordinary. The leggings, the sports bras, the sweats.
You can wear DKY Activewear certainly in the gym, certainly when you're working
out at home, and certainly if you want on the street, because it's
that well done. The quality of DK why is nothing short of exceptional,
and why shouldn't it be Because it was born from the idea of luxury made
affordable for women of America. DK and Why a true lifestyle brand that takes
you from day and tonight, from the week into the weekend. DCN Why
you can find DCNY and Macy's DKY dot com. Welcome back to it Always.
In fact, here's your host, Mark Webber, in that the name
of the show is always in Fashion. I thought I might talk a little
bit about fashion. I hate it. I hate it. I love the
industry, I just don't like what it represents. You know, Fashion,
of course, is often malign. People think it doesn't mean anything, but
it isn't true. You have to start with after all, we all need
clothes and fashion, and the fashion is the retail industry, and the luxury
industry employs millions of workers all over the world. It's such an important industry.
In fact, very often in third well developing countries, the first industry
that develops that gets people industrialized is fashion. Because it's easy to teach a
person to sew. It goes to the adage of Laos Sue, give a
man of fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish,
he eats for a lifetime. Teach someone how to sew, they have a
career forever and they can prove. In addition, of course, it's such
a generous industry. Anytime there's a problem, anytime there's something that happens that's
called for people to help. This industry is great and I have to be
very respectful of it. However, as a fashion guy, I don't like
that connotation. I'm a business executive. Happens to be in the fashion industry.
Our industry has to deal with all those things that every other industry deals
with, making a product, understanding what people want, understanding what they might
need, how to market it, how to present it, how many to
make, what the lead time is, to make them, source them around
the world, bring them into a warehouse, package them, label them,
ship them, get paid. It's amazing industry, and actually, if you
consider it, it's a genius industry because we turn so quickly. Every season,
well reinvent ourselves every season. We have to figure out how to make
you want something that you don't need, and we do it. Apple does
a phone once a year. I paid every other year. Cars could last
as long as five or ten years, and here we are reinventing ourselves every
quarter every year. Were geniuses. Get no credit for it, but I'm
telling you when you think about it anyway, I had an event the other
night I mentioned those are you listening on the radio? Hi? I Love
YOUWR one of the largest talk radio stations in the country and the flagship station
for iHeartMedia in New York. Love being on the radio, but I also
love the fact that iHeart carries us on their pastcast channel. I'm on Spotify,
I'm on Apple. It means a lot to me to be there.
Having said that, I'm on Instagram. I'm not a follower of social media
per se, except they did find Instagram when I had some downtime, and
while there's a lot of kooky stuff on there, you can learn a lot.
So with that I decided, we decided. I was told to open
up an Instagram account for always in Fashion and if you go to it.
I've been fairly active of late, and in particular this past week, I
went to Mr. Magazine annual dinner seventeenth year in a row, where they
honored a whole number of people. They honored George Feldenchrist. His son Oscar
accepted the ward on his behalf. They the owners and founders of Peri Ellis.
They happened to be refugees, escapees from Cuba when it turned communists.
They came here with nothing and built a billion dollar company. You have to
respect them, and I was happy to be there. In fact, they
were the Lifetime Achievement Award George Feldon christ an award which I received last year.
That's why I was there. At the same time, there were many
other people receiving awards, and I was glad to be there. My son
Jared, because of his position in life in the fashion and luxury industry,
was there and he brought his wife and the three of us went to have
a good time. But thinking about fashion, I generally speaking, have always
been someone that fit in in business. My entire business career was based on
a corporate uniform. Navy blue suit, white shirt, navy blue tie,
French cuffs for elegance, sterling, silver cuff links, stainless steel rollocks,
Datono watch, tassel loafers, black socks, black belt. It was elegant.
It's something I looked the best I could look in I remember looking in
the mirror one day when I tried on a navy blue suit, calling my
wife and say, what do you see? Suit? As I see you
looking in the mirror, I know what you see is me looking the best
I could look. I Am going to look this way every day, and
frankly, you're gonna think I'm crazy. Some people call me eccentric. For
the next twenty years, I wore a navy suit, white shirt, navy
tie to work every day, every single day. Those days, I was
having in my suit's made to order, and I had the made to order
different weights, single breasted, double breasted. They were amazing. But I
had the same clothes on every day when I meet new people. But I
met people, you know, a number of times I'd have to tell him,
look, you might think I'm wearing the same clothes every day. I'm
really not. This is my uniform. I have these suits numbered. I
had opened up the jacket. This is number twelve. You know, everything
was numbered in sign. And I wondered whether I was crazy. But I
heard that Albert Einstein did the same thing. I don't know he numbered him,
but he wore the same suits every day because he didn't want to think
about clothes. He wanted to think about changing the world. So I felt
pretty good about that. So anyway, I'm going to this event and I
had a choice fit in, blend in, or do something different. It's
springtime, summertime. I love tan, I love off White, I love
that crew, and I have a custom made a Crew Ralph Lauren Purple label
blazer that fits me as well as anything I have ever worn in my life.
I have Ralph Lauren silk pants in black that I thought would look like
great with that blazer. And I have custom made Swede shoes that were made
for me when I was running the JH. Bass Company, who's actually a
sponsor of the show right now, under g three beautiful black Swede shoes.
And I said, I really want a dress like that and with it.
I said, you know, I could wear a dress shirt, but I'm
not in the mood. I want to wear a long sleeve knit polo.
And it sounds like a commercial, but suit Supply makes beautiful silk and cotton
polos and I decided to wear exact matching ekre off white matching polo shirt with
the suit I wore. And the question was will I blend in? Will
I fit in? And if you go to Instagram, you see what I
wore and I decided not to blend and I started to be me being me,
and I think it looked pretty cool. And on Instagram I published a
couple of pictures, one of which with Kenneth Cole, who was the Humanitarian
Award winner that night. I know him, respect him, admire him,
got a chance to talk with him and we ended up they take a picture
of us, and I put it on Instagram if anybody's interesting, But you
know, it's really got me thinking about fashion. Is skinny pants? Do
you realize that unless you wear skinny pants, you don't wear skinny pants at
all? There's no choice here. It's skinny, skinnier, skinniest. You
could eat look like a ballerina, or you look like a baseball player.
But you can't look like gentlemen. You can't look like carry grant. There's
no exceptions unless you look, look, look, look and look. And
of course I've figured out a way to do it, whether they're custom made
or whether i've you know, my research has found people that make pants that
are wider if you just don't want to wear skinny. Ralph is one of
them that's on the larger skinny side. The best fitting wider leg pant.
Why I mean white, I don't mean floppy is dockers. Whatever happened to
doctors? What made them old? Why did they lose their niche? Doctors
used to be as big as an entire store with sizes and colors and shapes
and style. Now you have to struggle to find it. But their legs
are wider and it works. You know. This comes at a time where
I'm going to functions some people wear shorts. I don't get the idea of
shorts. I never will, I never do. And if a guy is
wearing shorts and sandals, I want to throw up. Guys, if you
haven't turned out, nobody wants to look at your legs, and worse,
nobody wants to look at your feet. I don't understand the concept of wearing
shorts when it's hot out on the golf course. I'm the only one and
my son's the only one are our golf club who wear long pants. Now
people say it's too hot, but I don't get it. If you wear
short pants, you put suntan lotion or whatever it's called on your legs.
The sun beats down heavy on your legs. You're a target for it,
or I wear white pants and the sun is reflected off and so I can't
imagine it's not hot or wearing shorts. And by the way, when you
go home at night and change, you take a shallow and you have that
tan line on your ankles and on your knees, how could that possibly look
attractive? It? Kid, I don't care what you're doing. If it
wasn't a bad taste, you'd have no taste at all. It's driving me
crazy, But what really is driving me crazy? For anything else? Now
I'm gonna have a lot of people argue with me on this because you know
what, I get it. It's good fashion right now, sneakers with suits.
You look like mutants when you wear sneakers with suits. Maybe maybe there's
some great cool rappers who could do it and get away with it and look
really great. But you know it gets me eating crazy. Is all these
shoes with the white soles. I think Laura Piano may have been the one
who started. And everyone's knocking out with Laura Piano. And you know what,
I really wouldn't care except my eldest son, Jared number one son has
decided that that's a cool look and he looks. That's terrible, terrible.
It's such a crappy look. It doesn't look good, it doesn't come,
it doesn't fit in anyway. I'm at this event and one of our sponsors,
a guy I like very much, tall, handsome, strong, personable
guy, great guy, shows up in a double breasted suit with those suede
shoes with the white things. And I'm looking at him and said, what
are you a refugee? What'd you get over here? Just now? On
the boat? Say he's laughing. I can't believe I'm digging it. I
don't stop. I said, what are you doing? You look like an
amateur. You're a great looking guy, You're greatly dressed. How could you
wear those shoes? That drove me crazy? And that's my take on fashion.
Going to this event at Mr. Magazine, it was really a nice
event. It was in the Gotham Ballroom downtown on thirty sixth Street on Broadway.
I've been there before. I enjoyed being there. I was honored to
be there. I was glad I was a past recipient. I would have
thought that they could do a little work on the speeches. Too many speeches,
too many people giving the awards to too many people. In fact,
while I sat there, I said to myself, there were times that felt
like watching paint dry. And I said, I wish they would have asked
me to give a speech on the industry. You know, last year when
I gave my speech, they told me you can only give five minutes,
and my son can only give five minutes. I said, I can't do
it. If you want me to be your honoree, I can't do it.
It. Just Mark with you, there's too many speeches. I said,
you don't understand. Look what I do for a living. You make
me go up there. I can help jazz up this night. He said,
you know, Mark, I have to tell you no. But if
you get up there and you feel the audiences with you, you're going to
be the last speaker or the keynote speaker. If you want to go along,
and go ahead. And man, did I go along. I never
end. I was getting roaring applause, nobody left, nobody stood up.
And yeah, look, with all due respect, I'm the first one to
tell you I used to be important. I'm not anymore. In fact,
I will tell you I'll get back to the speech. I realize i'm getting
shorter and shorter and shorter. I'm getting less important, less important, and
less important, and while my sons are getting more important. It's interesting to
watch. It's an interesting phenomenon. But back to my seech, I was
bigger than life. I thought they should have this year, said to me,
Mark, is there anything pressing? What's going on with the fashion industry?
What do you want to talk about? And maybe give a speech.
I think I'm going to call them and tell them that's what we should do
every year. And if it's not me, it's somebody with a personality could
really stand up and rock the world. I thought it was missing, But
that's life. What can I tell you with that? I'd love to make
speeches. I can dream, Can I back in a moment? Always in
fashion then Using for over one hundred and fifty years now, has been a
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if I ever mentioned to you the advent of the men's necktie. There's nothing
better in a men's necktie business than the business lunch because guys we go out,
they'd have their lunch that have their salads or their beef and potatoes,
and snow stout about it. They would always stain their tie. And therefore
the business grew and grew venues and today doesn't want to make money on your
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But it's more than that. I have for one, love to shop.
I love going around and seeing what's happening and what catches my attention,
what would make me feel good to wear Now. I don't wear the women's
wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing. If you
want to look right, you want to have clothes that fits you well.
You want to look like you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for
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go out at night, I'm in black and carlago felt is my buddy.
Calls are great, they fit great, and they have little tweaks and touches,
whether it's a stripe on the sleeve or button at the neck or on
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Carl Lagafeld, Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com. Welcome back to Always
in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber. I'm discussing, dreaming,
I never dreamed that I would be successful. I never dreamed I would meet
the perfect woman. I never dream that my children would like me so much
that they want to spend time with me. I think the greatest tribute you
can give to a parent is that when your children get older, they want
to spend time with you. And it is something that is remarkable. My
son Jesse co host with me here. He's so busy on television radio now
he can't bet with me. But I spend so much time with my sons.
And I mentioned earlier when I was an important guy, and I know
they're going to listen to this show and say, you are I'm an important
guy. I'm not an important guy anymore. I used to be. He
used to be a master of the universe. I had big jobs. If
I'm helping you on the radio, and I know a lot of people tune
in to listen, I know a lot of people are regular. I know
a lot of people want to hear what I have to say. That's why
I tell stories, and that's why I try and teach you what to do
or what I've learned from my lessons. But now, when I was important,
I've said it before I'll say it again. If you wanted Mark Weber,
you got his sons. I brought my children everywhere with me. I
brought my wife everywhere with me. But if you wanted me, you wanted
me to speak, you wanted me to be at a party, you wanted
me to be there, you would have to take my children. And I'll
never forget when they would come to me with functions. They were exposed.
They saw how people talk. They said, I behave. I was settying
an example. I was always cognizant of how important it was to be a
role model for my children. How I love the fact that I could speak
without notes, How I learned how to speak in a dressed big audiences.
I wanted them to see it. They were always there. But what always
was an interesting dynamic. There were so many people that wanted to shake my
hand. They felt when I was in the room, they wanted me to
know they were there. And I understood it because with like minded people than
myself, I did the same thing coming up anyone who's seen it to me,
I wanted to get in their face. I wanted to shake their hand.
I wanted them to know I existed. I get it and I remember
how they would literally push my children aside to talk to me. They saw
right through them. Now. The other day, I was in the studio
with Jesse when it was on News Nation TV station that has them, Dan
Abrams, Quis Como, Elizabeth Fargas, to name a few. He's a
legal contributor, he's a host. It's amazing to watch the success he's having.
It's amazing that he could arrange for me to be there, that I
can get to shake Chris Como's hand, that I can get to watch my
son succeed, which is turning out to a dream that I should have always
had, that I did have, and I am having now to see my
son succeed and do better than his father. My son, Jared, was
an attorney, as was Jesse, who followed me ultimately into the fashion,
luxury and retail business. I didn't want it. I was proud of him
being attorney. I didn't want this for you, Jared. I thought,
when your time would come, senator ever, governor eb He decided to come
to this industry, and he is prospering at his age. He's doing better
than I was at that age. It's remarkable to see I went to this
event that I mentioned earlier, the Lifetime Achievement Awards MR Magazines invent of the
Year. Everyone there wanted to shake his hand. Everyone there wanted to be
with him. Every One there pushed me out of the way to get to
him. So I was feeling smaller, recognizing I no longer important the way
I used to be. But my dreams were coming true. My sons were
being successful. My sons were learning had to navigate the world. My sons
had classed, they understood what was important, and they bringing their father along.
What a dream? What a living dream? I can dream? Can
I? Good Night?