---------------WSJ
Frank Mori, whose previous experience included selling bras, Jell-O and Dixie cups, arrived as chief executive of Anne Klein & Co. in 1975 with a mission some industry people saw as impossible: Keeping a fashion house relevant after the death of its namesake designer.
Ms. Klein had died in 1974. Takihyo, a Japanese firm that owned a large stake in her company, recruited Mr. Mori to try to save its investment. “A fashion house usually dies when the founder dies,” Mr. Mori said later. “We knew that. But the business was still functioning.”
Mr. Mori imposed tighter controls on inventories and accounts receivable. More important, he and Tomio Taki [滝 富夫], the head of Takihyo, encouraged Ms. Klein's assistant, Donna Karan, to stay on and create new styles along with a partner, Louis Dell'Olio. Anne Klein sales surged during Mr. Mori's first three years at the helm.
In the mid-1980s, Messrs. Mori and Taki prodded a reluctant Ms. Karan into striking out on her own to create a brand with their financial backing. Though Ms. Karan initially had doubts about her ability to succeed outside the Anne Klein umbrella, she swiftly became one of the biggest names in fashion.
"I have to say I wouldn't be who I am if it wasn't for Frank and Tomio Taki," Ms. Karan told WWD [Women's Wear Daily (1910- )] last month.
Mr. Mori died Nov. 22 at his home in Westport, Conn., of what his family described as a long illness. He was 82.
Frank Richard Mori was born Oct. 9, 1940, and grew up in Verona, N.J. As a high-school student, he excelled in soccer and was named to an all-state team. He studied economics at Dartmouth College, where he played varsity soccer and was described as "a hustler and scrapper." He earned an M.B.A. degree at Harvard in 1964.
Mr. Mori's early business experience included stops at General Foods Corp., where he was a product manager for Jell-O; American Can Co., where he worked with products including paper cups, and Hanes Corp.'s Bali unit, a maker of bras.
Though he knew the Anne Klein job was a risk, Mr. Mori, in his mid-30s, was eager to run something. "I couldn't quite see myself waiting out the years to get to the top" at a larger company, he told United Press International. "Every year the job was the same, looking for new ways to promote the same products."
At Anne Klein, one of the challenges was to hold on to Donna Karan as her renown and ambitions grew. In 1976, Mr. Mori splurged to let her present the latest Anne Klein collection at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, where models strutted on stage to the strains of Ravel's "Boléro." The spectacle won a standing ovation.
By the mid-1980s, Ms. Karan was eager to start her own line of clothing but also wanted to hang on to the security of her Anne Klein job. Messrs. Mori and Taki pressed her to give up her Anne Klein position and devote herself full time to running a separate business under her own name.
Finally, she wrote in her 2015 memoir, "My Journey," Messrs. Mori and Taki forced the issue by firing her from Anne Klein. "This is difficult for us," she recalled Mr. Mori saying, "but it's clear your soul isn't here anymore."
Though initially "numb with shock," Ms. Karan finally agreed to create a company under her name, in which Takihyo held a 50% stake. Her success made the partners happy for a while, but they scrapped over strategy in the 1990s. One issue was the role of her husband, Stephan Weiss, a sculptor who insisted on creating an in-house beauty-products unit rather than licensing out the rights, as many other designers did.
Mr. Mori suggested that her company should go public with an initial public offering. "It was obvious he wanted out, and going public would be a smooth and profitable way to break the partnership," Ms. Karan wrote. The company went public in June 1996.
In 1999, Takihyo sold Anne Klein to Kasper A.S.L. Ltd.
Messrs. Mori and Taki remained friends and played golf together. They had complementary styles, Mr. Taki said. Mr. Mori had strong communication skills and knew how to work smoothly with employees, while Mr. Taki was more aggressive. Mr. Mori hated firing people and relied on Mr. Taki to handle that chore. When Mr. Mori wanted to hire a new driver, Mr. Taki fired his old one.
Mr. Mori is survived by three children and four grandchildren. His three marriages ended in divorce or annulment.
As a fashion executive, Mr. Mori told WWD in 1984, "my job was to be the orchestra leader" rather than a meddler in design and sales. "I had good people to do all that. My job was to be Leonard Bernstein and to make sure everyone was playing the same tune."
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发表于 12-19-2022 14:50:50
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