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Julie Macklowe

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Julie Macklowe at a Hamptons party hosted by Alison Brod. July 2011.

Julie Macklowe is an investor, former hedge fund manager, and socialite. She has managed portfolios at several high profile firms and regularly appears in the pages of style magazines. Macklowe currently invests in startup fashion businesses and young designers.

Background

Macklowe's family roots in the fashion industry date to her grandfather’s ownership of a t-shirt company. After World War II, her father, Harold Lerner changed the company into the women’s sportswear company, Fire Islander.[1]

Macklowe was born in Aspen and raised in Arizona.[2] She completed her B.A. in Economics and B.S. in Commerce with concentrations in Finance and MIS at the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce in 1999. During her time at UVA, she held internships at Goldman Sachs and Neuberger and Berman.[3]

Career

Chase Capital Management (now JPMorgan Partners) hired Macklowe out of school in 2000. There she worked in Seoul and Hong Kong helping to structure leveraged buyouts.[1] Between 2003 and 2006, Macklowe was Managing Director at Metropolitan Capital Management focusing on consumer and retail sectors. In 2006, she joined investment firm SAC, where managed retail/consumer investment portfolios for Sigma Capital Management.[3]

Macklowe Asset Management

In 2009, backed by Millenium Partners, Macklowe opened her own $250 million hedge fund, Macklowe Asset Management. In October 2010, Macklowe closed the fund to pursue her own investments in fashion businesses.[4] In an interview the following year discussing her twelve years in finance, she said, "I haven’t looked at a stock since the day I left.”[5]

Fashion Industry Investments

After leaving a career in hedge funds and finance, Macklowe turned to the fashion industry using her business experience and feel for style to scope the fashion industry for good investments.[1]

Bauble Bar

In December 2010 Macklowe’s first fashion industry investment, Bauble Bar, launched with help from Accel Partners.[1] The online startup, founded by two Harvard business graduates with backgrounds in finance, sells jewelry direct from suppliers and designers which normally work with retailers.[6] Macklowe helped the company in its initial efforts, raising over $1 million and she currently sits on the company’s board.[1]

vbeauté

Macklowe launched her own luxury cosmetics company, vbeauté on November 1st, 2011. Vbeauté is luxury, travel-friendly toiletry kit that can get past the TSA, called the "It Kit". Vbeauté is part of Macklowe's simple approach to skin care, and features harvested stem cells from the Alpine Rose flower as its main ingredient. The Alpine Rose is a small pink flower which is known for its resilient properties and which can only be found in the harsh climate of the Swiss alps.[7]

The inspiration for this company came in 2009 as she was flying to her friend's wedding in France when her toiletries were confiscated by security. The replacement products she purchased in France gave her a severe allergic reaction. By 2011 she had raised $4 million and her product sells at 37 stores.[8]

Macklowe stressed her dedication to being socially responsible when she launched the product line in New York City for her 34th birthday. When asked about the charitable component, she said: "social responsibility was very important. I think more corporations should do it."[9] She also attends many other charity events. Macklowe said that she doesn't do things halfway, describing her search for a retailer for the vbeauté line -- going through options one-by-one until she felt comfortable. She has utilized contacts that she has made throughout her time living in New York and expressed her enthusiasm for networking.[10]

Personal life

In 2004, she married Billy Macklowe, president of Macklowe Properties, the New York real estate firm founded by his father.[11] The couple live in Manhattan with their daughter Zoe.[1]

The family owns a house in the Hamptons, designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf, and decorated by interior designer, Eric Alch. Selldorf describes the house as a "sophisticated project with a lot of layering of ideas."[5] The glass and concrete, contemporary-style 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) home contains works from painter Donald Judd and luxury-furniture makers Poltrana Frau, Le Corbusier, Droog, and Eero Saarinen. It also includes an infinity lap pool, wine cellar, and home cinema. The house has been featured in Hamptons magazine and Harper's Bazaar.[5]

Macklowe spends much of her time there with her daughter and husband and surfing with a custom blue surfboard designed by an original iMac designer, Thomas Meyerhoffer.[12] At the beach, she favors the bold, but practical neoprene suits of designer Lisa Marie Fernandez.[13] Also included in her Hamptons life are driving her Toyota pickup truck, spending time with her daughter and husband, lunches with other New Yorkers, and dining at the famous Nick & Toni's.[12]

Macklowe is a regular actor in New York’s social scene. She is noted for her investments and personal taste in fashion. Francisco Costa, creative director at Calvin Klein says she has an “amazing sense of luxury.” Macklowe’s picture, profile, and fashion picks have appeared in Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Women’s Wear Daily, and other style-conscious magazines. Her friend and designer Jason Wu describes her as "The gutsy one [...] She's just a lot of fun."[1] Macklowe was featured on AvenueInsider's "Best Dressed New Yorkers" list[2] and as Vogue's "it" girl in July 2008.[14]

Macklowe has been photographed at various social and philanthropic events wearing a range of designers including Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Balenciaga, and Oscar de la Renta.[5] [15] She is also frequently photographed with the younger designers whose clothing she wears including Francisco Costa,[16] Jason Wu, and Zang Toi.[17] She names her grandmother as her fashion inspiration, saying "My gradmother Dolly was always dolled up in Dior, Chanel, and other greats[...]She truly loved a 'statement piece.'"[1] Macklowe says her favorite wardrobe essentials are thigh-high boots, Christian Louboutin heels, and a pencil skirt.[1] Asked in an interview about her own style, she said "If you're not controversial, you're not doing it right...you have to take risks."[5]

In 2011 Macklowe hosted her 34th birthday party, which also featured the launch of her new VBeauté skin care line. The event was part of a cooperative effort to raise money for VH1's Save the Music Foundation.[9]

Activities

Early in her career, Macklowe created the “Learn to Invest” class for the all-girls Cathedral High School in New York.[18]

Macklowe currently sits on the Advisory Board of the McIntire School of Commerce and serves on the friends committees for both New Yorkers for Children and the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to whom she has contributed four of the exhibit's gowns.[5] She is also a founding advisory board member for Fashion Week at Lincoln Center.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Clark, Evan (1 December 2010) "Julie Macklowe: Beginning with a Bauble." Women's Wear Daily. p 3-4. Cite error: The named reference "Magazine" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Peter Davis (18 March 2011). "Chic of the Week: Julie Macklowe". Avenue Insider. Manhattan Media. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "Julie Lerner Macklowe." University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Hedge funder Julie Macklowe to form new company for fashion investments" The New York Post. 10 Oct, 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Julie Macklowe: A Fashionable Life". Harper's Bazaar (September 2011): 504–509.
  6. ^ "About Us" Bauble Bar. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  7. ^ Brown, Sarah. "Jet Setter". magazine article. Vogue. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  8. ^ http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/after-hedge-funds-a-career-rejuvenation-02022012.html?utm_source=vbeaut%C3%A9+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c0d2a71784-Bergdorf_Goodman_PA1_8_2012&utm_medium=email
  9. ^ a b Heymen, Marshall (21 December 2011). "Swapping finance for facial products". article. wall street journal. Retrieved 12/22/2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ "Beauty as Their Business". The New York Times.
  11. ^ "Julie Lerner, William Macklowe." The New York Times. 21 November 2004. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  12. ^ a b "Julie Macklowe Hangs Ten in the Hamptons". WWD Postcard. Women's Wear Daily. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  13. ^ Esther Adams (2 June 2011). "Surfer Girls: What Women in Fashion are Wearing to Ride the Waves". Vogue Daily. Vogue. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  14. ^ Hruska, Rachelle (29 Sept, 2008) "Julie Macklowe, The NEW Tinsley Mortimer." Guest of a Guest. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  15. ^ Vanessa Lawrence (October 2008). "Indecent Exposure". W. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  16. ^ "New York: 15 November". India Times. Times Internet Limited. 15 November 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link‍]
  17. ^ Elgene Castueras (11 June 2011). "Zang Toi + Julie Macklowe: 2011 CFDA Awards". Fashion Windows. Elle Style Coalition. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  18. ^ "Julie Lerner, William Macklowe." The New York Times. 21 November 2004. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
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