Selling Out

The news isn’t all bad for Jared Paul Stern

April 13, 2006—The Jared Paul Stern/Ron Burkle/Page Six brouhaha hasn’t lacked for press coverage, but here at men.style.com, we can’t help thinking too little has been written about the all-important fashion angle. How, we wondered, has Stern’s pirate-prep clothing line Skull and Bones been faring since the scandal broke? Well, as Kate Moss might have told you, it turns out there’s no such thing as bad publicity in the fashion business. "We're down to a dozen ties from around 60 before this happened,” says Ryan Deussing, owner of Elsewares.com, which specializes in independent designers. "The morning the story broke, we got one order for six ties. It's weird for someone to buy so many expensive ties at once. Maybe they gave them out as an office joke." At Wonderland Beauty Parlor in New York, meanwhile, "there's definitely been a surge following the story,” says owner Michael Angelo. Stern’s own site, www.skullandbonesjps.com, is seeing a similar uptick. “The web site has gotten a lot of attention and a small flood of orders for our online store,” the writer says. ”But, it's not exactly the kind of publicity we really wanted." Looking on the bright side, he adds: “We haven't had anyone want to return anything yet.”
Skull & Bones by Jared Paul Stern, $50-$150, available at www.skullandbonesjps.com