the $76 million woman

You may have already picked up on the fact that I have a growing obsession with the luxury retailer, Net-a-Porter.com (pronounced net-a-portier).  The seed of my obsession was planted a few years ago when I stumbled on a profile of Net-a-Porter founder and CEO Natalie Massenet in Vogue magazine.   I've been hooked ever since.  Massenet, a former fashion journalist and stylist, made headlines a few weeks ago for selling her Net-a-Porter shares for a cool $76 million to the Richemont Group (owners of  luxury brands like Chloe and Cartier).  Massenet will stay on as the CEO.

The news of the deal sparked a fair amount of online media attention from news sources all over the world.  My favorite feature is Fast Company's Crib Sheet interview in which Massenet shares a few of the secrets to her success.  Her tips include: disregard your doubters, believe in your product, believe in yourself, innovate, service, service, service, know your market, hire talent, and finally, see the future.  Fast Company also included a YouTube video of a panel discussion she participated in at Zeitgeist Europe 2007.  If you have an extra fifteen minutes to kill today, I highly recommend it.

Vogue Daily's Sarah Mower asked possibly the most important question any woman can only dream of asking herself, "What do I wear the day I make $76 million?"  For Massenet, the answer was her favorite uniform: a white shirt from the Brooks Brothers boys department, a Marc Jacobs black skirt, black Wofford 100-denier tights, Chloe biker boots, Alexander Wang's Rocco bag and a black, belted Carven coat by Guillaume Henry. It just goes to show, you can never go wrong with the classic black and white combination.

What would you wear the day you made $76 million?  Feel free to share in the comments section!  

photos via Fast Company | Vogue.com