Saks Fifth Avenue

One invite that designers couldn’t say no to last night was the welcome party for Saks Fifth Avenue’s new president, Marigay McKee, at Diane von Furstenberg’s Manhattan studio. DvF, Carolina Herrera, Prabal Gurung, Rebecca Minkoff, Donna Karan, Stacey Bendet, Nanette Lepore, and Georgina Chapman were a few of the CFDA card-carrying members in attendance.

Saks Fifth Avenue is headed North. The luxury retailer’s parent company, Hudson’s Bay Co. Inc., announced that two stores will be opening in Toronto. The first store will be located in Hudson’s Bay’s downtown Toronto retail complex, which it’s selling to a subsidiary of Cadillac Fairview Corp. to the tune of $650 million.

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Timo Weiland, DEGEN, and Novis will benefit from a $25,000 grant. And join a list of well-heeled alums.

Saks Fifth Avenue is adding a new member to their exec team. Mark Briggs has been appointed as the store’s chief marketing officer. In this expanded position, the Harrods veteran will assume the responsibilities formerly held by Denise Incandela and Terron Schaefer, Saks’ previous CMO and chief creative officer, respectively.

On the heels of chief merchant Marigay McKee’s resignation from Harrods to become president of Saks Fifth Avenue this December, the London retailer has hired from within to appoint two new fashion directors. Helen David and Jason Broderick have both been promoted to fashion director positions. David, who was previously general merchandise manager of women’s wear and fine jewelry, will now oversee women’s wear, accessories, fine jewelry, and children’s wear as fashion director.

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The two designers have acquired a minority stake in BeachMint, an e-commerce site that they have previously designed for, under the StyleMint label.

Want to look just a little bit more like Kerry Washington? We have one solution. Last night the Scandal actress was in New York City last night to celebrate the show’s partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue. She and costume designer Lyn Paolo have curated a window installation of some of the looks you’ll be seeing this season on the show. Think Donna Karan, Michael Kors, and Giorgio Armani.

Margaret Maldonado founded her affordable luxury clothing line, L’AGENCE in 2008 and since then her simple, but very on trend pieces can be found everywhere from Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue to Intermix and Barneys. So, it’s only natural that she would open her brand’s first boutique in L.A., where she is based.

Canadian retail giant Hudson’s Bay Company is confirmed to be buying luxury retailer, Saks Fifth Avenue for $2.9 billion, including the department store’s debt. The news of the impending sale had Wall Street buzzing this morning…

This weekend, Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship outpost is hosting an event with bauble line Same Sky, and it’s not your run-of-the-mill rationale to exercise that credit card: the “ethical” shopping event (not a series of words we often see strung together!) commemorates the anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide.