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January 6, 2024 52 mins
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(00:00):
This show is produced and hosted byMark Webber. The show is sponsored by
G three Aparo. The views expressedin the following program are those of the
sponsor and not necessarily the opinion ofseven Tenor or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark
Weber. He's a self made businessexecutive here to help you find your success
from the New York City projects tothe Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His global

(00:25):
success story in the luxury world offashion is inspirational. He's gone from clerk
to CEO twice. Mark his classicproof that the American dream is alive.
And well, here's your host ofalways in Fashion, Mark Weber. Mark
Weber, Happy New Year. TheNew Year is one of those world events.

(00:46):
Every single person on the planet wasand is involved. It's amazing for
every single person. It's also personaland business. Every single business has changed
for the new year. Shipments exitedthe warehouse, the last sale was recorded,
the numbers are tabulated. That's alot of work done, accomplished last

(01:07):
year behind me, but now itis starting again. You may have a
billion dollar business, but in Januaryone, here we go again. You
have to earn the first dollar ofthat billion. Governments right wrong or indifferent
can cleanse their palate. They cangive it another try. It can't get
worse, or could it? HumanityWith the advent of artificial intelligence coming this

(01:33):
talk, then humans will become integratedwith machines, will be part human,
part machine. A new Year,therefore, and a new reboot me As
hard as it is to accept them, not perfect, not now, or
I've ever been, but before Ibecome integrated with a machine, this human,
familiar with machines or computers, recognizesthere's a chance to reboot, the

(01:57):
chance to start all over. Everylesson I learned in life, every piece
of information I've gleaned, each timeam meant to taught me. Everything I've
ever seen, anything that broke throughhas been absorbed. I learn, I
change, and I like to thinkI improve. I remind you that the
thousand mile journey begins with the firststep. Day one, January one is

(02:20):
the first day of a new threehundred and sixty five day opportunity. But
the three hundred and sixty five dayjourney begins with the first day. I'm
not into New Year's resolutions. Infact, I abboor them. I hate
them, I can't stand them.It's a waste of time to wait to
get started for a new year.Anything worth doing, do immediately, don't
wait for a new year. Ihate resolutions anyway. Nobody folls through on

(02:45):
him anyway. Waiting for new Year'sresolution is like a stay of execution.
To begin what you know you mustbegin. On the other hand, I
understand a hard ending and a newbeginning based on a reset could work.
All the stupid can stop. Giveup your prescription to dumb bills so so
many of you are taking. Andby the way, particularly the politically elite,

(03:07):
is thriving on dumb pills. Wakeup, stop the nonsense. Help
the country. That should be yournew Year's resolution. Now back to us.
We can decide who we want tobe after the holidays. It is
a great time to reset. There'sa simple fashion story that opened up my

(03:27):
eyes on this issue. I rememberI wore white shirts every day. I
wore white shirts every day for twentyyears at the company I worked in.
It was my uniform. Something changedone new year. I don't remember what.
I don't recall the actual prompt.Maybe I saw an ad in the
magazine, or I saw a RalphLauren shirt in a store. But blue

(03:52):
captured my attention. Actually, Frenchblue. It's that dress shirt blue that
kind of gleams. It's not royal, it's it's not navy. It's just
a bright, beautiful blue. Andit's created by a very special fabric called
end and end. It's woven togetherby one of the arms of blue,
the other might be black or white, and it creates a unique effect.

(04:13):
And I saw this shirt, Isaid wow. So I went to my
closet and sure enough, in mycloset there's a French blue section. Yeah.
When I like something, or appreciatesomething, or admire something, even
though I never wore them, Ihad at least a dozen French blue shirts.
So I went to the section andI looked and boom, all of

(04:34):
a sudden, I wanted to wearblue. So it's day one of the
new year at work, and Ishowed up in my navy blue suit,
which was my part of my uniform, but this time in a French blue
shirt. Literally the company was shocked. Every few feet I walked, someone
made a comment, mark, you'rewearing blue. Whoa look at that mark?

(04:55):
I can't believe you're not in white. Everyone noticed, most commented,
and you know, what I learned, A simple thing like the color of
my shirt could break through, benoticed, make a statement. I changed
my shirt, I changed the perceptionof me. And therefore it stands to
reason if a simple thing like thecolor of my shirt could change the course

(05:16):
of events for me, a wellthought out plan could change the perception of
an individual. And I realized onceagain, you could be anything you want
to be if you give it somegood thought and you execute well. Now,
I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. I believe in people evolutions,
or sometimes revolutions. And I havea story to tell you. I began

(05:41):
my career as a designer. Iwasn't the best designer, but I was
clever. If, for example,I needed to do a sweater in three
colored stripes, I could never figureout which three colored stripes to put on
a sweater. I just didn't addto do. That's not the kind of
designer I was, and wasn't giftedin that regard. I had great taste.

(06:02):
I knew what I liked. Iknew that if I put the right
three colors together, it would beamazing. But I started to think about
it. It's not something I wouldsit down and do. I'm not an
artist, so I said to myself, you know, I find the ties
are very beautiful. At the time, so many to choose from striped ties
with a rage of course printeds andsaws. And I went to Macy's and

(06:24):
I started to looking around, andthere I saw a black tie with an
orange, a green, and ablue stripe. It was a remarkable looking
tie. You could wear a navysuit of black suit. It just something
about it was amazing. So Ibought the tie, took it back to
my office, got on the computerscreen, had my assistant draw up a

(06:46):
sweater and the stripe layout we wanted, made it black, and put in
the colors of the tie. Boom. I had a brilliant, brilliant sweater
to offer to you, my consumers. And I approached fashion very much that
way. When it came to beingvery creative, I was smarter than creative,
but taste always went out. Ialways had good style. We've talked

(07:06):
about this in the past. Afashion comes and go, but style is
forever. I always had style.I always appreciated what I represented. So
here I am as a designer andI was good at it. Now when
I say good let's be perfectly honestand intellectually honest. In particular, I
wasn't Tom Ford. I wasn't DonnaKaren who I work with. I wasn't

(07:30):
Calvin who I work with. Iwasn't Alston who I worked with. I
wasn't any of those people. ButI was gifted in the sense that I
could understand what worked. I wassmart. I knew how to put a
collection together that would sell well.But if I wanted to be a great
designer, never in that ilk Icould make a living. I could make
a lot of money. I was. I was doing very well, and

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I thought I'd be a designer inmy whole life. I wasn't sure what
else i'd be. But my bosshad a different point of view. My
boss wanted to get ahead. Hisview is the only way he could grow
if there was someone there to replacehim. I was the someone. He
was training me so that he couldmove up. Said it to me the

(08:13):
first day we met. I'm goingto be the president of the company someday,
and right now, I need toget promoted out of this job you
work for me. I got toteach you my job so that I can
get promoted brilliant, what a greatlesson in management. Loved it. Basically
said to be coming early, staylate. I don't care what it takes
to get your job done, becauseyour job is going to be done on

(08:33):
the off hours, because during theday you're going to follow me around and
learn everything I know so that Ican move up and you could replace me.
Boy, oh boy, how luckywas that? And how great was
that? But the point is he'swatching me, and he realizes how good
I am being a creative guy anddeveloping merchandise, and how successful we were
with me at the helm of design. One day he walked him into me

(08:56):
and he said to me, you'renever going to be anything. If you
design, it's not going to work. You have to learn how to merchandise.
You have to learn how to bea businessman. This will not work.
You have to learn something else.I said, what are you crazy?
I'm great at this. You wantme to give this up and start
something new? Said? Absolutely,that's exactly what you're doing. Took me
out of design, put me inan operations job, something I didn't know

(09:20):
that i'd be suited for. Verydetailed, very organized. But again I
was a smart guy and the firstthing of being smart. I recognized this
guy who was trying to help me. The second thing that happened was as
I watched what was going on,it was rounding out the spaces for me.
I always saw these merchants planning,deciding how to buy, and determining

(09:43):
what degree of commitment we would maketo any given style. It was based
on data, and I realized therewas information. I said to myself,
if I could learn this, couldyou imagine how could I be a design
But he made it clear to methat I'll never get anywhere if I didn't
learn how to be a merchant.And for the next two years, that's
what I did. And not onlydid I become a merchant, I realized

(10:07):
that I could become more. Irealized that all the merchants that were there
could be working for me because Iwasn't just a merchant. I was a
creative person. My creativity extended itselfbeyond fashion, beyond the products. It
is creativity, the way to lookat the business, the way to be
special. So change is always healthy, and I had no choice but to

(10:33):
change. That new year created anopportunity for a new person, a time
for you to consider changing. Thisis a time where whoever you are,
you can approve. It's a timefor you to change and embrace it because
all of us have a different personafrom work than our personal lives. Right
you don't, You never thought aboutit. You're perfect, No changes needed.

(10:58):
Then you must be the sea ohor the president of the company.
Forget new his resolution. If you'rewilling to change, if you're willing to
start the new year now realizing thatyou're less than perfect, that you can
improve, that you can be whoeveryou want to be, this is an
amazing time for you to embrace change, to be known for the better you.

(11:20):
Now all of us are looking outwardthe world, political affiliation, climate,
change, every cause. Now it'stime to turn yourself inward. The
mess of you is the cause forchange. And tonight's show, I read
something that I thought was great.Yesterday, I was clever, I wanted
to change the world. Today I'mwise, I'm changing myself. I suggest

(11:46):
look in the mirror, what doyou see, Who do you see?
What do you want to see?Make a difference. No one's stopping you.
No one can tell you who youwant to be. Tonight, forget
the world. Change yourself. Icertainly don't want to talk the world when
I think about it. We madeit through twenty twenty three. Now we

(12:07):
have to do it all over again, and I'm worried. I'm worried about
America. What do we stand foraround the world? What do we represent
it? Are we still the beacon? Are we the focus of ideas?
Common sense democracy? Are we focusof focused on what's right? What's important?
Are we still admired? Are youunited on what we're admired for?

(12:31):
Wok isn't awake? Walk doesn't work? I think about the military. With
all the stuff that's going on inthe world, we're building a friendly,
inclusive military. How nice. Thepeople we've called enemies think we're nuts.
They look at us. Napoleon said, never interrupt jeremine me when he's making
mistakes. Our enemies they're building militariesthat kill. That's a job of the

(12:58):
military protect, fight, kill theenemy. I hate to say it,
but that's what the military is for. Protect us. What are we thinking?
A house divided against itself cannot stand. The strongest countries in the world
are getting stronger. They stand therole of the military. Do we I
want to look forward and I say, said, I really don't want to

(13:18):
talk about the world. Twenty twentyfour, in the world, this country
will be all about the upcoming election, particularly for President. Ronald Reagan,
during his campaign asked one of themost important questions ever in American politics.
He said, are you better offtoday than you wore four years ago?

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That's the question we all must face. And the scariest part. There are
Americans who believe we are worse.There are leaders willing to ignore the realities
just to stay in office and stayand getting elected again. A house divided
cannot stand and I can't stand wherewe are. But I'm not here to
change the world. In fact,I'm here to tell you yesterday it was

(14:01):
clever I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, So I'm
changing myself always. In fashion,As one of the world's most celebrated fashion
designers, Carl Lagafeld was renowned forhis aspirational and cutting edge approach to style.
His unique vision of Parisian shit comesto America through Car Lagofeld Paris.

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He has women's collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory, shoes
and bags. The fashion house Carlagofeldalso offers a range of watches, I
wear and premium fragrances. You canexplore the car Lagofl collection at car Lagofelparis
dot com. But it's more thanthat. I have, for one,
love to shop. I love goingaround and seeing what's happening and what catches

(14:46):
my attention, what would make mefeel good to wear now. I don't
wear the women's wear obviously, butI 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 looklike 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,

(15:11):
as well as the handbigs and theshoes. I for one wear men's
clothes, unlike my appreciation of women'sclothes. I'm a modern guy. I
want to look current. I wantto look the way I want to feel.
I go out at night, I'min black and Carlagafel is my buddy.
Calls are great, they fit great, and they have little tweaks and
touches, whether it's a stripe onthe sleeve or button at the neck or

(15:33):
on the shoulder. There's a lotof details that go into Carlagafel because he's
always been, he always had beenone 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 wantto 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 Orcarlagafeldot com. Fall is now upon

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us, spring is gone, summeris over, and I'm tending to be
a little upset, except the foolbrings new challenges and new differences and a
great new environment for us to thriveand enjoy. I, for one,
love the change of the seasons becauseof the new fashion, and I am
excited about My favorite brand Iszot andwhat they bring to the party. When

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I used to work at the companyand we were reinventing Izod, which had
always been a golf and tennis brand, we brought it to new heights,
new dimensions. I thought Isaac wouldbe practical in skiing, not necessarily for
on the slopes, but for EPRISKIwhat do people wear when they're relaxing,
when they're in those hotels? Whatare you doing when you're at home?

(16:44):
What are you wearing to the movies? What are you wearing to go out
at night when you're no longer wearingyour spring clothes? And here we are
in full and I can tell youwhat it is. Polar flees, French
dairy, different kinds of fleeces,color block, colors, sweaters, great
great long sleep items come into play. And with ISOD they were always about
color and being colorful. I lovewhat the brand represents, whether we're talking

(17:07):
about color block or solid colors.Always with the logo, ISOD brings a
dimension to sportswear fashion at affordable pricesthat you can't find anywhere. And at
the same time, it's all colorrelated, from the woven shirts, from
the knit shirts to the matching sweatersor the sweaters that will look great layering
over these shirts. Always matching pants. Beginning with the core color of khaki,

(17:33):
working into the navies and the blacks. Iszod is a spectacular brand all
about colors and launching in full ofthe new fall shades you'll see in the
stores. Listen, guys, Isod'sa great brand. It's energetic, it's
fun to be around, and itmakes you feel and look your best.

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And now there's a color palette changeand you get to change with it.
Isod. Come take a look jC. Penny Cohle's and online. Isaac,
what a history. How much Ienjoy this brand. Welcome back to
Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber. Happy New Year.

(18:14):
I'm very excited to be here.I'm a little less excited because Jesse,
my co host, my son,my lawyer, he's not with us.
He's so busy. He's doing somany things, from hosting on radio and
television. He's very busy right now. So I'm on my own talking to
you, and that's okay. Ihave a lot to say. I came
across as saying I really liked anidea. Yesterday, I was clever,

(18:37):
so I wanted to change the world. Today, I'm wise, so I'm
changing myself. This time of yearis a great time to think about who
you want to be. I'm notinto New Year's resolutions. I don't like
wasting time waiting for the end ofthe year to do what I should have
done all along. But it isa great time to reboot, to reset,
to be the best that you canbe. Well before we can be

(19:00):
the best. I have to admitI'm a little disappointed. A number of
people I know that I like respectwill let go from their companies at the
end of the year. It's notthat they weren't good. The company has
a different point of view of whatthey want to accomplish. It may not
be the right person for the job. Sometimes it's justified, sometimes it's not,

(19:21):
but it doesn't matter. It's theway of the world. Companies reset
for the new year. They dowhat they think individually is right for them.
But for the people involved when theylose the job, it's sad,
troubling. It's life. What doyou do? Sometimes your career loss,
sometimes you're financially lost. It dependson your status. But what do you

(19:45):
do approaching the new year without ajob. I've talked about this before,
about talking a little bit about findinga job, and I haven't done it
in a while a long time.Looking for work is not easy. It's
nerve racking, it's concerning, it'sdemoralizing, you go through different feelings of

(20:07):
being angry to scared, but youhave to go on and maybe I can
help a few of you out therewho are challenged in your career right now.
Either you don't like the position you'rein and you feel you're going nowhere,
or you lost your job and youhave to find a new one.
And I want to remind you firstand foremost, you can get to be

(20:30):
whoever you want to be. Thenext time you meet someone, whether it's
a recruiter, a headhunter, whetherit's a zoom call, whether it's a
new potential business opportunity, whether it'sthe boss who's deciding whether or not they
want to hire you, you geta chance to be whoever you want.
You can speak the way you want, you can look the way you want,

(20:52):
you can act the way you wantyour attitude. You can be the
best that you can be. Youcould change your peers and't your wardrobe.
However, I've learned more than anything, you have to be confident in spite
of the way you're feeling. Youhave to come across as a world beater.
Somebody ask you why you lost yourjob, you could say I was

(21:15):
fired. They didn't like me.They didn't think I was doing a good
job, or you could say,look, I had a great run at
the company. As time went on, they had a different view of what
they wanted to achieve. They didn'tbelieve that was me. I respect them
for what they did. I neverforgot for one moment that I don't own
the company. I work there,and the management of the company sees a

(21:37):
different solution to their goals, Sobe it. I don't agree. I
think I was great. I thinkI would be better than anyone who they
aired. But it's their choice andI have to accept it right away.
You sound like a winner. Youhave to be confident, and the reason
you're confident is you have to rememberwho you are, what you accomplished.
Fam if they didn't appreciate you,their loss. I've always felt that anybody

(22:03):
who fired me during my career,anybody who gave a promotion to someone that
I thought was mine, any friendwho's no longer a friend, I think
their worlds are less exciting, lessproductive, and less special without me being
around. No having said that,you have to be critically honest with yourself.
But you have to remember, nomatter what they can take your job,

(22:26):
they can give away your title.They take the seat, the chair
that you sat, and it wasn'tyours. However, they can't take your
education, they can't take the skillsyou've learned and acquired. You don't forget
any of that. You're still whoyou are. Now you have to be
willing to change. You're going tofigure out how to improve and most importantly,

(22:51):
how you're going to make a comeback. Now this is complicated. How
do you make a comeback? Inmy life I was a master of the
universe. People fought to get anaudience with me, to sit in front
of me. Now im without ajob. What do you do? Make?
Phone calls, send texts, sendemails. I remember when I was

(23:18):
looking for a job the first time, I made more calls in the first
thirty days to people that I thoughtcould help me than I did in thirty
years of my career. The telephone, the iPhone became my friend. It
was very demoralizing, humbling, butI didn't care. When I was looking

(23:41):
for work, I made a decisionthat no matter what, I will leave
no stone unturned. The first lessonI want to impart upon you when you
remember to be confident, and youremember that you still have everything that made
you you. The lesson you learnin life about humans, you'll be surprised

(24:02):
how people you never expected to helpyou stand up for you will be there
for you. And some of thepeople you're closest with will be the biggest
disappointments. But my advice to you, the most important thing you can do
once you realize who you are ishow to look for a job. You
do the following. Think about thepeople you know and put that off to

(24:26):
the side. Think about your industry, Think about the companies you know,
Think about the companies you admire.Think about, if you had your choice,
if you could pick the top fivecompanies you want to work for,
who would they be. And thefirst thing you should do when you're looking
for a job is list all thosecompanies in your industry and those that you'd

(24:49):
like to work for at the topof that list, and make a list
and make a column. If youask me to do that today, I
would say The Vitone Dior, RalphLauren, The Gap, American Eagle,
Macy's, Bloomingdale's. I would listthese companies and say, you know what,

(25:11):
I would really love to be partof them. If Apple was in
New York. That would be thetop of my list if Amazon was in
New York. At top of mylist, even though I know nothing about
what it takes to be successful shippinglike Amazon. But I'm creative and I'm
not afraid to learn, and I'mnot afraid I know how to be an
executive. But nonetheless, I'd loveto work for Ferrari. I'd love to

(25:33):
work for General Motives because most timesthe boring is can be I'd love to
develop new automobiles, not electric nota fan at least not yet. But
you make a list of all thosecompanies you admire, those companies in your
industry that you like, and mostimportantly, those companies you'd like to work

(25:55):
at if you could. Then youneed a second column. Second column is
the key. Who do you knowthat you think would help you? Who
do you know that respected you andappreciated what you had done for them in
the role that you were in.It could be people you work with,

(26:15):
but more importantly it's people of theoutside. So if I wanted to work
for Macy's, who do I knowin Macy's that I had a great relationship
that I could talk to about opportunitiesin Macy's that they may be aware of
who would recommend me to someone inthe buying staff or the management staff that
I don't know, but they wouldrepresent me saying I know someone blah blah

(26:38):
blah blah blah. There are headhuntersand search firms constantly looking for people.
They're in the business of finding andfilling jobs for companies. Who are they?
Who are the people that you know, and who are the people have
specific entree into the companies you're interestedwith. You want to work at Ralph

(27:00):
Lauren, which would be my probablyfirst choice. Who do I know that
has a relationship with Ralph Lauren?Who do I know that liked me,
respected me, appreciate what it did. Who knows people at Ralph Lauren?
Who would I use to get toRalph Lauren? And I take that entire
list on the left of the companiesyou know, the companies you admire,

(27:21):
the companies you might want to workwith, and I pair it with the
people you know who might be ableto get you connected at any one of
those companies. And the next thingyou do, you start keeping a record.
You start calling, indoor, emailing, end or texting all of these
people that you've listed on your list, and there are few things that will

(27:42):
happen. There are people who automaticallysay, love to make a reference for
you, love to call this iswho I'll call for you great? Oh,
I know about that opening. Ican get a call in there.
There are people, the ones youadmire and the ones you would count on
the most, who are going tobe disappointing. That's life. Can believe
the amount of people that I lostinterest in when I look for work.

(28:03):
And then there will be people who'dsay to you, you know, I
don't know anyone at Ralph, butI'm very close to the general manager at
Michael Core's, would you be interested? And by making these calls, phone
calls first if you can. It'sdifferent than sending a text through an email.
It's more personal. The more calls, the more text is, the
more emails you write, the morenetworking that you do, the more search

(28:27):
firms that you call. You neverever know who will be able to be
helpful to you. And I guaranteeyou what happens next is your next column.
You start meeting people, you startgoing on interviews. The first interview
you're going to be smarter than thenext interview. If you don't get the

(28:48):
job right away, you're going tolearn what worked and didn't work. You're
going to listen to the questions theyasked you in the interview. How important
was your experience? If you don'thave experience in this particular area, is
it a problem? What are theylooking for for that four page column.
When you listen who you met,there'll be follow ups, There'll be all
kinds of things going on. Yournetworking things are happening. You will find

(29:10):
a job. You know why becauseup until the new year you were successful
in whatever you did. You knowwhy because you still have the education that
you garnered along the way. Youknow why you'll find a job because you
still have all those skill sets.My father in law, man your Recipece
used to say to me, everypot has a cover. You will find

(29:33):
your pot, or you will bethe cover. Just have the confidence.
So I give you this reminding youwhat tonight show is. Yesterday I was
clever, so I wanted to changethe world. Today I am wise.
I'm changing myself in this case,I'm helping change you to prepare for a
difficult year that you're going to turninto a great year. Back in a

(29:53):
minute. Always in Fashion spent alifetime of my career building the van Usen
brand, and I am so pleasedthat they're back with us now talking about
suits. Men were dressing up againand it's become cool to wear a suit.
Suits can be won on multip occasionsin multiple ways. You could wear

(30:15):
a suit formally to go out atnight or to an event. You wear
a suit to the office with orwithout a tie. If you look closely,
now fashion trends, suits are beingworn with turtlenecks or mark next.
The choices are endless and every oneof them looks right. You could really
really look the part. I believethat packaging yourself is as important does the

(30:37):
products you package, and wearing asuit is one of those things that make
men look their best. Venues Ininvented a new idea. It's called the
cool flex suit. It's been engineeredwith stretch technology, giving you the most
comfortable fit and mobility. It's wrinkleresistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki.
It makes it perfect for all ks. As we discussed just now, this

(31:02):
new style of looking sharp while feelingcool and comfortable is amazing, and I'm
so excited that the van using companyis 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 onlyproper that the suit business follows strongly in
its way. You can find vanus and Cool Flex Men's stretch suits at

(31:26):
jcpenny or online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great. You should
go look at them. Welcome backto Always in Fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber. Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the
world. Today I am wise.I'm changing myself. That's what we're talking

(31:47):
about. It's a new year.Well, I don't believe in New Year's
resolutions because it's an excuse to stayof execution. You wait around to have
a new Year's resolution to do whatyou should have done the day you thought
of it. But I do believethe new year is a great time to
think about change, rebooting, andbeing whoever you want to be. If
you've been a loud mouth, youcould quiet down. If you've been a

(32:09):
bragger, you can have some humility. If you've been lazy, you could
be energetic. If you had abad attitude. You could have a great
attitude. If you're good, youcould be great. If you're great,
you can find new ways to dothings. You could be a positive force
in this world. You could beanybody you want to be. I didn't

(32:29):
say you can do anything you wantedto be puff I want to be an
astronaut. It's not happening. Butyou could be a better version of yourself.
And that's what I'm talking about tonight. I had a bunch of things
that came across my desk and mylife that I thought it was worth pointing
out, you know, talking aboutattitude. If I would think about who
had the worst attitudes. Sometimes governmentworkers, whether they heir in China or

(32:52):
whatever, when they're not working forincentive, they have bad attitudes. People
are general. You know. I'mnot a fan of humans, but I
had to tell you last year Igot a new passport and record time.
The woman who handled me renewing mypassport, I was an idiot. I
didn't know what to do, butshe did it. She guided me through

(33:13):
it, and I got my passportin record time. I like think two
weeks when they were talking six oreight. I renewed my driver's license,
had to get a new eye test. Women from the Motor Vehicle Bureau,
who are usually the meanest, themost arrogant, you want nothing to do,
was so helpful. I was sograteful. I loved it. It
was amazing. And then there's thepost office. You want to talk about

(33:36):
lethargic and people that may or maynot give a hoot. My local post
office. I now know everybody who'sthere. They're so helpful, they're always
smiling. They always offered her todo the right thing. I love when
they tell me about stamps or whatever. There's nothing they won't do. So
something's changed in that government environment.I don't know when it happened. I

(34:00):
don't know why it happened, butthese people are different today. They're enthusiastic.
They're there to help, they're thereto do what's right for the institution
that they represent. And I wasreally excited about that. Now I talk
about change, I want to talkabout something I found very interesting. I

(34:20):
want to call out Ace Hardware.One night, I park my car at
my favorite restaurant, and there arevarious different places to park, and because
I'm a car guy, I tryand be very careful where I park my
cars. I don't want to benext to another car. I don't want
them to open their door and dingmy door. Nothing would drive me crazy
than having a little dent in mydoor. Now I get it fixed immediately,

(34:45):
but I don't want to go throughit, so I'm very careful.
I'd never park face in where somebodycould open the door into me. And
if I'm going to park on astreet parallel parking, I'll leave the park
in the first spot, which myspot of choice, or reluctantly at the
end spot, because I could goas far backwards as I want to the
curb to leave whoever's in front ofme enough room to park without backing up

(35:08):
into me. The other night,I went to my favorite restaurant and I
happened to park parallel on the backend of the street. As I just
said, left a lot of rooms, and no one hit me from the
front. And I come out afterhaving dinner, and I noticed there's this
paper on my windshield. So Iget out of the car and I take
what I thought was the flyer,and there's a note. I'm going to

(35:30):
say it was from a woman theway it was written, and the sweetness
says, oh, I'm so sorry. I was parking my car and I
scraped the front of your car,and she left her number, and I
wanted to scream. I got outof the car. I looked at the
front and sure enough, the leftfront panel near the light was dented.

(35:50):
I was so upset. You know. First of all, I love my
cars and I don't want to putthem through this. Number two, I
don't want the aggravation. Number three, I don't want to be without the
car. Everything's a freaking hassle.You have to bring it in, you
have to negotiate the price, youhave to agree on the timetable. Then
you have to come back, leaveit, pick it up. Who wants
that? It was aggravating, butsure enough I went. My son has

(36:14):
a go to guy, guy thatlet's go to. These are the people
that anytime you need something done,they're quick, energetic, excited to have
your business, and they do theright thing. The guy went to was
great, told me he'd have thecar for me. Boom had it and
fixed. But that's not the story. A couple of days later, I'm
driving the car. It's the sunlightand the windshield is filthy. I can't

(36:35):
see clearly. Through the windshield.So I put on the windshield wipe.
I wash, it doesn't go away, and I keep driving. I started
thinking to myself, what the heckis that? And then it occurred to
me. When the car was fixed, the car was painted. Whatever they
put as a coating to protect thepaint must have got all over the windshield.
So what am I going there?How am I gonna get off?
Well, me, the part ofme that is an idiot, decide to

(37:00):
try steel wool. It never occurredto me that steel wool might scratch the
glass when I used it, butI did. I used the steel whel
it didn't scratch the glass. Italso didn't take out this paint coder.
I still had the sloppy windows,and I was very frustrated. What to
do? So occurred to me,I'll go to Ace Hardware and buy something

(37:22):
to take it off. I gothere, I'm looking around. I don't
know what to look for. Idon't remember what turpentine does, I don't
remember what thinner does. I don'tremember any of this. I go to
the front desk as a woman there, I said, I wonder if you
could help me. I said,I have clear paint on my windshield,
as we have paint remover. Shesends me to this aisle come back.

(37:43):
I said this, if somebody chosewhat should I use? What did she
do is what was remarkable. Shewent online, whether it was her website
or she went on the internet andsaid, what do you use to remove
paint from a car windshield? Shetold me a ready nail polish remover.
I said, where's your nail polishremoved? She said, we don't have

(38:06):
that, but if you go toany drug store you'll find it there.
I was astounded, first of allthat she looked it up. Second old
she gave me the vice, andthird of all sent me to another place
rather than use something that she hasthere. And sure enough I used it
and it worked and it was amazing. So let me call out ACE Hardware
for being solid citizens. I don'tknow the woman's name or i'd call it
out, but it was great.Talk about change. Seeing these institutions,

(38:30):
whether it's the government or store,affect change means a lot to me in
the new year, and that's whyI'm talking about changing myself. I have
a number of stories where I hadno choice but to alter my behavior.
In my book, there's a chapterOnce in My Life I was brilliant.
When I was twenty six years old, I invented a system for purchasing textiles

(38:53):
for shirts, the fabric for shirts, and shipping that fabric all over the
world. And the system in itselfwas brilliant when made it really really smart
was I was able to negotiate prices, whether it be in Japan, Taiwan,
Korea, China, on these textilesand shipped them all of the world,

(39:14):
including into the United States, andlowered the price of our products by
at least thirty percent, sometimes fiftyeven more. And I said in my
book Once in My Life, Iwas brilliant. I was twenty six years
old. I invented it. Itold my boss one day we should go
to Asia together. I told himwhy. I told him what the thought
process was, and he came backto me a day late and said,

(39:36):
I spoke to the president of thecompany, said you and I should go
to Asia. And we implemented thisplan, not him me. I invented
it, I learned it, andfor a ten year period I was a
remarkable human being for the company becauseof what I did. But it was
in the fifth year that change reallycame to me and really more than the

(39:59):
CIS than I invented. My understandingof people was brilliant. Once again,
my boss was an influence. Toldme I had to hire this guy who
I knew from being in a salesmanfor one of the largest textile companies,
and he wanted me to make himthe general manager of the division we were
running. And I was taken abackbecause he had no skills, and he

(40:22):
said, Mark, teach young guy, good guy, smart guy became a
friend, but he wasn't good atit. He had no experience. He
couldn't survive with me there because everytime I asked the question, he didn't
have an answer, and every timehe didn't have an answer, I had
it. And the people around himwere better. But he was a salesman

(40:42):
from a textile industry. And itoccurred to me one day that if we're
going to keep him employed, whichwas always a given, we took him
out of a company where it wasa senior vice president. He was doing
well. We thought he would makea contribution to the company. We were
not going to fire him, andstuck with him, stuck with him in
a good way. One day Isaid to myself. You know, he

(41:05):
knows so much about textiles, maybeI should teach him the textile business.
Turn over to him, let himsee what I invented, and lo and
behold was one of the greatest changesI ever made in my career because he
was like a fish to water.He knew exactly what to consider for textiles.
He knew how they were made,but he didn't know is where they

(41:27):
came from. He didn't know whatthe options were. What he knew was
American textiles because that's where he worked. And I had him travel with me
around the world, teaching him thesystem, and in a matter of two
or three trips, he might havebeen better than me. I don't know
that he would have invented the system, but he understood how to purchase it,
what to pay for it, howto move it around the world,

(41:50):
and he became brilliant at it.He became my successor in that business,
and it taught me how important changewas. And at a time when I'm
focusing on being wise and changing myself, I tell you that story I told
you earlier. Sometimes you have totrain people to find a way to move
yourself forward. And I learned thatlesson when I think about it. Another

(42:13):
major transformation for me was going fromworking for American company to a French company.
I had worked for PVH. PhillipsVenues and the owners of Calvin Klein,
Tommy Hill, Figure and a bunchof other brands, including the van
Usenshir Company. ISA no an Americancompany. You know, we Americans.

(42:34):
We're very confident, We're very quickto talk, we have big smiles on
our faces. We can be verygregarious. The word I hate, but
nonetheless I'll throw it out there ifyou're interested looking up and will you walk
around with a swagger? And Ialways had a swagger, and I loved
being that way. I loved thinkingI was the smartest guy in the room,
even though I knew very often Iwasn't. That goes under the headings

(42:59):
act as if in than you are. There are so many subjects along the
way that I really didn't understand,and finance or the law. But if
you nod your head, you makelike you understand and take some notes to
look up what you don't understand later. Because it's not acceptable to me to
hear these things, make believe Iknow them, and not go out and
find out what it meant, soI would learn it, but act as

(43:19):
if in the un you are soin America and my American company, I
had a swagger and I had thisconfidence that some people, I'm sure liked
and admired, but most people mighthave turned them off. But nonetheless,
I'll stand by my record. Toughbut fair, and I was an honest
guy and I never did anyone wrong. And it was great. Next thing,
I know, I'm out of work. I have to find a job.

(43:39):
I end up at LVMH, andI was a different person. I
knew that the culture was different.I can tell by the series of interviews
with the three people I met priorto meeting Bernard Ornau, the chairman and
founder of LVMH. This luxury company, this French company, this your ping

(44:00):
conglomerate. The people were different.They were more reserved, They had a
quiet confidence. They were elegant intheir approach to business. They just were
reserved. They kept their powder dry. Whatever they knew. They gave information

(44:20):
in a different way. And asI started to meet them, I understood
things were different and me at thispoint in my career, I had to
find a job and I was tryingto connect with the most powerful, prestigious
luxury company in the world, andI realized that I needed to change.
I went from being an American businessmanaround the world to an American working in

(44:44):
a French company around the world,and I noticed there were style changes.
I always wore dress, shirts andties. I worked for the largest share
company in the world. The firstthing I did when I walked into a
room is I would take off myjacket. Could be ten people. They
are addressed in suits. I tookoff my jacket. I've been wearing a
beautiful shirt and said, hey,guys, I don't wear my jacket and
meetings. I work for the biggestshirt company in the world. Oh,

(45:06):
I just see my great shirt.Blah blah blah. The Europeans never took
their jackets off at meetings. WhenI joined them, I noticed they didn't
wear tuys, but they wore theirjackets. Very formal, very elegant.
I had a change from a fashionpoint of view. The way they imparted
information. They were extraordinarily smart,they went to the best schools. They
weren't braggarts. They had humility.They very often gave you information rather than

(45:30):
tell you to do something. Wouldyou consider doing something. They were very
different, and I realized in orderfor me to be successful, I needed
to emulate those things. I neededto change. I needed to understand that
when American says, like me Gavinci, the real pronunciation is givalchet. Someone

(45:52):
taught me that recently after pointing outthat I'm supposed to know fashion. Thank
you for that. But the pointis that you have to change, and
that's what life is all about.But I can't change the world, but
I can change myself. You canchange yourself. As much as I like

(46:15):
myself, as much as there aretimes that I maze myself, how did
I think of that? Where didI come with this idea? How impressed
I am with me? And thenthe many times I do things that I'm
so embarrassed, using steel wool onthe front of my car, on my
windshield. You know I could bean idiot. I know who I am.

(46:35):
I don't fool myself. I lookin the mirror. I know who
I am. I know what Ihave and I know what I don't have.
You want to know what I'm goodat, I'll tell you. You
want to know what I'm bad at, I'll never admit it doesn't mean,
I don't know it, but Iknow about as I turn gray, I'd
like to believe I'm getting wiser,and I know today I am wise,
so I'm changing myself back in aminute. Always in fashion, I've been

(46:59):
shopping for fun lately, and whileI'm out, I always look at men's
and I look at women's. What'sgoing on? And I was particularly interested
in dk Y because of their sponsorshipof the show. I went downstairs at
Macy's thirty fourth Street to look aroundand I saw DKY Activewear, And I
promise you, ladies, it issensational. From the sports spras to the

(47:19):
crop tops, to the leggings andthe sweats, it really is a great
look. And dk Y had begunas an all American brand dressing casual clothes
engines, and the stuff looks incredibleand right now, the colors and the
styles is so exciting that I feelgreat about the company. I always do.
I wear the men's where all thetime. I've had situations where I've

(47:42):
gone to big events and been interviewedTV or the radio, and someone comes
up to me in a microphone andlike they always do, who you're wearing?
And here I am this big shotwith big company, and they say,
well, I'm wearing a DKY andthey laugh and say, no,
you're not. I actually have oneon the internet where you could see me.
They asked me what suit I'm wearing, and I say DC and why
and open it up and there's theDKY label. Great fashion, it fits

(48:05):
well, it looks right. It'sdesigned to make you comfortable in the city,
goes from day and tonight. Youcould wear it in the morning,
you wear it in the afternoon,and you look cool at night as well.
It's great for the office, it'sa great for Leisia. But I
was talking about the dkmy active wear. The first time I really became aware
of it. Jesse and I wereup at Sirius Radio. He was doing
a job for Serious. He doesDan Abrams show, he fills in on

(48:29):
the Potus Network and we were inthe lobby and this hip hop group came
up with this really great looking Latinosinger girl Young Beautiful, and she was
wearing a DKY sports bar and Isaid to myself, this is amazing.
Actually went to Macy's to see it, and I'm excited about the brand.
And I tell you what, ladies, dk Y always has great fashion for

(48:50):
work, always wonderful dresses and thingsthat you'd wear. Their accessories are great,
the shoes are always very cool.But act to wear in particular right
now looks sensational and being that everyone'sath leisure and active wear, it's a
great time dkmy go take a look. As one of the world's most celebrated
fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld was renownedfor his aspirational and cutting edge approach to

(49:13):
style. His unique vision of Parisianshit comes to America through car Lagofeld Paris.
He has women's collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory,
shoes and bags. The fashion houseCarlagofeld also offers a range of watches,
I wear and premium fragrances. Youcan explore the car lagofl collection at car
Lagofelparis dot com. But it's morethan that. I have for one,

(49:35):
love to shop. I love goingaround and seeing what's happening and what catches
my attention, what would make mefeel good to wear now. I don't
wear the women's wear obviously, butI 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 looklike you're wearing something that's very expensive,
that's exclusive for you and yours.You can find a very affordable rice is

(50:00):
at Macy's Orcarlagofel dot com Paris.The women's ready to wear fashion is extraordinary,
as well as the handbigs and theshoes. I, for one,
wear men's clothes, unlike my appreciationof women's clothes. I'm a modern guy.
I want to look current, Iwant to look the way I want
to feel. I go out atnight, I'm in black and Carlagafel is

(50:20):
my buddy. Clos are great,They fit great, and they have little
tweaks and touches, whether it's astripe on the sleeve or button at the
neck or on the shoulder. There'sa lot of details that go into Carlagafel
because he's always been, he alwayshad been one of the world's great designers,
and this legacy and goes on andon. I can't speak enough about
it except to say to you,you want to feel good about yourself.

(50:42):
You want to know that you're dressingproperly. You want to clothes that fits
you well. Carl Lagafeld Paris atMacy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com. Welcome back
to it always in fashion. Here'syour host, Mark Webber, Happy New
Year. This is our first showof the year. Sighted Facing the new
year, I say, one thousandmile journey begins with the first step,

(51:05):
the three hundred and sixty five dayjourney. This year begins with the first
show, the first step with anidea. My idea tonight was based on
wisdom. Yesterday I was clever,so I wanted to change the world.
Today I'm wise. I'm changing myself. I don't believe in New Year's resolutions.
I believe that if you have anidea of improving yourself and doing something

(51:29):
to make yourself better, what areyou waiting for this? Just to waste
the time waiting the first of theyear. However, if my fellow humans
feel that this specific date is thetime to improve yourself, then go right
ahead. I applaud it. Dowhat you need to do to be a
better you. It's for life,it's for business in the world we live

(51:53):
in. Why I said I wantto spend time changing it? Boy?
Do we need change? Is abig year for a change. And I'll
leave you with what Ronald Reagan said, as you make your decisions in this
year, are we better off nowthan we were four years ago? Great
question. As I said yesterday,I was clever, so I wanted to

(52:15):
change the world. Today I'm wise. I'm changing myself. I hope you
do too. Good Night,
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