INTIMATE NOTES
BYRON’S SECRET: Victoria’s Secret is in talks with sportswear designer Byron Lars to design a new active-inspired line of cotton knit innerwear and related separates bearing the Victoria’s Secret logo, said a Victoria’s Secret spokeswoman.
Lars had been commissioned to design bras, panties and a variety of crop- top T-shirts and bottoms that had a look of casual sportswear, as well as silk robes, for the Victoria’s Secret fashion show Feb. 4 at the Plaza Hotel.
“It’s a new direction for us. It’s a new take on our logo — it’s modern and fun,” the spokeswoman said. “With his help and design, we will be testing the styles shown at the show in 10 Victoria’s Secret stores. Byron just gets it.”
COQUETTISH MOVE: La Petite Coquette, an upscale lingerie boutique in New York’s Greenwich Village, will open a larger shop at 51 University Place in March, said owner Rebecca Apsan.
The new 600-square-foot location faces the existing 160-square-foot boutique, which has been at 52 University Place for 18 years. Apsan said she plans to maintain the smaller unit, transforming it into “a lingerie-related little jewel box,” but she wouldn’t give further details.
“The new shop is going to be outrageous, very much like the inside of someone’s bedroom, and extraordinarily intimate…a bedroom that Josephine would have slept in,” Apsan said. There will be “lots of folding screens, which can be used as dressing rooms in a pinch,” she noted. But for customers who desire more privacy, there will be three traditional dressing rooms.
JOCKEY RACEWAY: Jockey International Inc. plans to supercharge its underwear image with its first auto-racing sponsorship, Dan Gurney’s All American Racers. Jockey joins Castrol as co-sponsor of Gurney’s Toyota-powered team for 1997 and 1998.
The Jockey logo will be painted across the front of two race cars in the competitions. There also will be a painted logo of an elastic underwear waistband encompassing each of the two automobiles, said a Jockey spokesman.
Asked if the waistband will look like it belongs on a pair of men’s briefs, or a pair of women’s panties, the spokesman said it will look “nongeneric.”
“The sponsorship will include signage and advertising, and it’s also to entertain retailers with seats and hospitality,” he said.
The first in a series of 17 Championship Auto Racing Teams races is scheduled for March 2 with the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami, presented by Toyota in Homestead, Fla.
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HOCHMAN TAPS MORRIS: Seth Morris has been named to the new post of executive vice president of new business development at Carole Hochman Designs Inc.
Morris will be responsible for expanding the company’s private label business and broadening channels of distribution. He also will oversee a new division of children’s sleepwear called Carole’s Kids, which will be introduced at the March 10-14 innerwear market.
Morris reports to Carole Hochman, chairman and chief executive officer.
Prior to joining the Hochman firm, Morris was president of family-owned Val Mode Lingerie from 1986 to 1996. He was most recently vice president of the Val Mode sleepwear division of Lady Ester Lingerie Corp., which acquired the Val Mode label and assets from I. Appel Corp. in December. I. Appel had acquired the Val Mode name last June.
COHEN JOINS BEVERLY: Jack A. Cohen has been named vice president of sales, marketing and merchandising at the newly created Beverly West division of Beverly Creations.
Beverly West is a moderate-to-better collection of robes and leisurewear aimed at department stores. The fall collection will be shown at the new Beverly Creations showroom at 135 Madison Avenue, New York.
Cohen had formerly been a principal of Craftex Creations, a long-established family-owned innerwear firm that was known for the Gilligan & O’Malley label. The firm closed in 1993. Cohen noted he had been doing consultant work in the interim.
Cohen reports to Jerry Joseph, president of Beverly Creations.
MOVIE STAR NAMES KNIGIN: Melvyn Knigin has been appointed senior vice president and chief operating officer of Movie Star Inc.
Knigin also has been named to the company’s board of directors, which now has five members. He fills the vacancy left by Clayton Medley, who left the company in May 1996. Knigin takes over the title of chief operating officer from Medley as well.
Knigin reports to Mark M. David, chairman and chief executive officer.
In his expanded role, Knigin will continue his responsibilities overseeing merchandising and sales, as well as day-to-day operations of the firm’s intimate apparel business.
Knigin joined the company in 1987 as president of the Cinema Etoile intimate apparel division. Under his guidance, the company noted, Cinema Etoile’s sales increased from $4 million in 1987 to more than $30 million in 1996.