Susan Posen

>> Zac Posen's mother and longtime business partner, Susan Posen, has left the company to "pursue other interests," relinquishing her CEO duties at Posen to Susan Davidson, who is also CEO of Scoop NYC. Both companies are owned by Ron Burkle's The Yucaipa Cos.

“It has been nearly 10 years since Zac, Alexandra and I founded Zac Posen,” Susan Posen, who will continue to serve in her role as chair of the board, said yesterday by email. “During that time I have had the privilege to work — both within the company itself and in the larger fashion arena — with an amazing group of people. The company is now poised for a new phase of growth, and I have decided it is time to step aside from my current role as acting CEO and pursue other interests.”

WWD's sources say that Yucaipa "was getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of return on its Zac Posen investment and sought a change at the helm to steer the business in a new, more profitable direction." Susan Posen had said in April that she expected the company to make its first profit this year. She also noted yesterday that she was “pleased to welcome Susan Davidson who has joined us as CEO. She will now steward the Zac Posen and Z Spoke brands. I look forward to their success and growth.”

>> Zac Posen, known primarily for his red carpet gowns, has gone populist between his lower-priced line Z Spoke and his collection for Target (the latter which hits stores nationwide April 25 and is shoppable in Manhattan at 481 Eighth Avenue as part of a 24-hour pop-up preview starting tonight at 11 pm).

Posen had turned down a previous offer from Target for a collaboration, but has since changed his sensibility to the more commercial. "There's nothing unbeautiful about mass quantities. This is where you can really change fashion," he told The Wall Street Journal. "No matter what the trendoids say, power to the people!"

He also has handbags in the works »

>> Last April at a dinner celebrating Cartier's 100th Anniversary, Zac Posen took a seat next to Harper's Bazaar editor and the evening's hostess, Glenda Bailey. Posen, offended that Bazaar, which rarely featured his clothes, had asked him to appear in a spread next to Sesame Street Muppet The Count, confronted Bailey in front of her guests. “I didn’t want to model with the Count,” Mr. Posen told the New York Times this week. “She said that was the only way my clothes could be in the magazine as a non-advertiser. I think she was surprised I wouldn’t take the part, but I stood my ground and I still do.”  Last September, Glenda Bailey did not attend Posen's show, although a Bazaar spokeswoman said the magazine had always supported Posen.

Posen, in the meantime, has his work cut out for him »