Zannino still has his fashion sense

Kenneth Li of Reuters writes Thursday that corporate gadfly Evelyn Y. Davis testing the fashion skills of outgoing Dow Jones & Co. CEO Richard Zannino, who used to work at Liz Claiborne and earlier at Saks, at the shareholders meeting to vote on the sale of the parent of The Wall Street Journal to News Corp.

Here is the conversation:

Davis: I had heard you’re going to go back into retailing. Let’s see how much Mr. Zannino remembers. I am wearing an outfit by a well known Italian designer, who has been around a lot. Can you tell me who the designer is?

Zannino: Let’s see if I still have my touch. It looks like Valentino to me.

Davis: My God! You are right. You haven’t lost your touch in retail. You would be a great CEO of Neiman Marcus and hope you take it public again.

Davis’s final farewell: About your golden parachute of $20 million. That’s a little bit high for somebody who has been a CEO for only about two years. That’s a golden parachute. Rich, I know you’re feeling sad just like I do. I want to give you a golden handkerchief to wipe off your tears.