Remaking fashion's business model in NY

New York

ON the second floor of a classic cast-iron building in SoHo, just above the madding crowd, there is an airy loft, all cool cream tones and Pierre Paulin chairs, oversize art books, and Henri Cartier-Bresson prints.

And along one wall is a rail of discreet white and black, marinière striped linen, silk, cotton and denim; culottes, shirtdresses, tunics and cashmeres. With price tags attached.

That is because this is not actually an apartment at all. It is an experiment, and that rail is Stage Three of a long-term plan to do what has never really been done before in American fashion: create a conglomerate of brands all born, if not permanently housed, under one roof.

The experiment is being conducted by Adam Pritzker, a positive-thinking, spritelike 31-year-old scion of the billionaire Hyatt hotel family; and Vanessa Traina, the famously chic 31-year-old daughter of romance novelist Danielle Steel and stylist/ consultant/BFF of designers like Joseph Altuzar…