Promise, peril seen for crowd-funding investors

Crowd funding is widely seen as a revolutionary idea.

A 2012 federal law known as the JOBS Act opens the door to allowing small, privately owned businesses to market ownership stakes in their ventures to people over the Internet.

Companies will be able to sell up to $1 million in equity a year to ordinary investors without having to register the offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission or state regulators.

Before the average person can use crowd funding to stake a claim in a startup, the SEC still must draft rules that the Obama administration hopes will result in U.S. businesses growing and adding jobs. At the same time, the securities cop needs to include safeguards that protect less sophisticated individual investors drawn to inherently risky startups.

That's why equity crowd funding under JOBS, or Jumpstart our Business Startups, has some longtime regulators and securities lawyers squirming.

"It can be an invitation for fraudsters to steal money," Matthew Brown, a Katten Muchin Rosenman lawyer, said last month at a CFA Society of Chicago event at 1871, a center for digital startups in Chicago.

But Brown also noted that equity crowd funding also democratizes small-business financing, a process that historically has given access mostly to wealthier — or, as they're known in high-finance circles, "accredited" — investors.

"The world has changed dramatically, and who's to say who is smarter than anyone else?" Brown added.

Many existing crowd-funding platforms such as Kickstarter don't sell equity stakes in businesses to average investors. Rather, they give consumers the chance to donate money to an enterprise or to get an early or discounted crack at a new product. Since Kickstarter's launch in April 2009, more than $450 million has been pledged by more than 3 million people funding more than 35,000 projects, the New York-based company's website says.

Their acceptance suggests that consumers are willing to engage with companies on a deeper level. As such, enabling unaccredited consumers to invest in companies in small increments online has promise and could become part of the fundraising "ecosystem," says one Chicago entrepreneur.

Abe's Market, a Chicago-based e-commerce site selling natural and organic products from more than 1,000 suppliers, said it would consider crowd funding under the JOBS Act, saying it and its vendors have "die-hard fans" and "a core group of customers" who might like to invest in their vision.

Last month, Abe's raised $5 million from Carmel Ventures, Index Ventures, Beringea and Accel Partners, a Groupon backer. New backers include OurCrowd, a crowd-funding site for accredited investors.

"If you can get passionate people to invest in your business, you're not just gaining investors, you're gaining evangelists," Abe's Chief Executive Richard Demb said. "The challenge for any consumer brand is: How do you find not just customers, but the right customers who are going to tell their friends?"

But there would also be potential headaches for companies raising equity financing through crowd funding, he said.

"You have to make sure that expectations would be set fairly, that no one is putting their life savings into the investment, and that they don't also come back and become a challenge to manage as the business grows," Demb said. "You don't want someone who invested $250 to come back and say, 'I don't think we should expand to the West Coast.'"

Safeguards for average investors exist in the JOBS Act. They include capping nonaccredited individuals' crowd-funding investments at $2,000, or 5 percent of annual income or net worth of less than $100,000, whichever is greater.

Snapclass, launched a few weeks ago at 1871, provides software enabling businesses to provide training online. Co-founder Scott Mandel, who has financed the company himself, doesn't expect to take advantage of equity crowd funding in the future and instead would seek, say, venture capital funding.

"Not all checks are the same," said Mandel, previously a trader and professional poker player. "I'd want someone who could add more than just the cash, such as connections and experience and help with things that I'm not an expert in."

One of 1871's fastest-growing startups is MarkITx. It recently raised $1.2 million from wealthy individuals in its first fundraising round, has seven employees and is looking to add sales jobs. It's an online exchange for businesses wanting to buy and sell used information technology equipment, from iPads to Oracle servers.

"For us, it wouldn't be the sole way to raise money, but it definitely is a viable vehicle to look at raising money," MarkITx partner Marc Brooks said of equity crowd funding under the JOBS Act.

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Multi-car wreck injures spectators of NASCAR race

YouTube video posted by user tyler4dx that shows fans being injured by debris coming into the grandstand area at Daytona International Speedway.

DAYTONA BEACH – At least 15 people in the stands were reportedly injured at Daytona International Speedway when a multi-car accident sent wreckage into the safety fence in front of the grandstand Saturday afternoon.

The accident came on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300.

Initial reports say at least 15 fans were injured, including four who were strapped to backboards.

Volusia County emergency responders transported eight race fans, six of which were trauma level patients with serious injuries, said Volusia County government spokesman Dave Byron.

Six of those patients were sent to Halifax Health Medical Center, one was taken to Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach and one at Halifax Medical Center in Port Orange.

Florida Hospital spokeswoman Lindsay Rew confirmed they currently have one patient but are expecting four more.

Halifax Health Medical Center officials have not confirmed the number of patients at their facility but sources say there are about 10.

"The important thing is what's going on the front stretch right now," race winner Tony Stewart said."We've always known since racing was started this is a dangerous sport. But it's hard. We assume that risk. It's hard when the fans get caught up in it.

"As much as we want to celebrate right now, as much as this is a big deal to us, I'm more worried about the drivers and fans in the stands right now. I could see it all in the mirror and it didn't look good from where I was either."

As drivers jockeyed for position on the final lap, a number of cars made contact. Kyle Larson's' car was essentially sheared in half as cars spun out of control..

His engine ending up in front of fans along the front stretch after the car tore through the catch fence _ designed to protect fans in case of accidents. The debris splattered all over, going as far as to hit a spectator 45 rows up in the stands at Daytona International Speedway. Other car parts -- included a tire -- also flew into the stands.

"I know I took a couple of big hit there and saw my engine was gone," Larson said.

Although no driver was seriously hurt, NASCAR officials were still trying to assess if any fans had been seriously hurt.

"You've been able to see and explain," said Mike Helton, NASCAR President on the ESPN broadcast following the race. "There was some intrusion into the fence and there were plenty of emergency worker ready to go and jumped right into it quickly."

"They are moving folks into the care center and Halifax Medical Center."

Driver Michael Annett was transported to Halifax Medical Center after his car slammed into the SAFER barrier head on during an earlier incident during the race.

NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said the damage to the stands in time for the running of the 55^th Daytona 500 Sunday afternoon.

Sentinel staff writer Arelis R. Hernández contributed to this report. Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego or e-mail him at gdiaz@orlandosentinel.com

 

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Drone Pilots Found to Get Stress Disorders Much as Those in Combat Do

U.S. Air Force/Master Sgt. Steve Horton

Capt. Richard Koll, left, and Airman First Class Mike Eulo monitored a drone aircraft after launching it in Iraq.

The study affirms a growing body of research finding health hazards even for those piloting machines from bases far from actual combat zones.

“Though it might be thousands of miles from the battlefield, this work still involves tough stressors and has tough consequences for those crews,” said Peter W. Singer, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who has written extensively about drones. He was not involved in the new research.

That study, by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, which analyzes health trends among military personnel, did not try to explain the sources of mental health problems among drone pilots.

But Air Force officials and independent experts have suggested several potential causes, among them witnessing combat violence on live video feeds, working in isolation or under inflexible shift hours, juggling the simultaneous demands of home life with combat operations and dealing with intense stress because of crew shortages.

“Remotely piloted aircraft pilots may stare at the same piece of ground for days,” said Jean Lin Otto, an epidemiologist who was a co-author of the study. “They witness the carnage. Manned aircraft pilots don’t do that. They get out of there as soon as possible.”

Dr. Otto said she had begun the study expecting that drone pilots would actually have a higher rate of mental health problems because of the unique pressures of their job.

Since 2008, the number of pilots of remotely piloted aircraft — the Air Force’s preferred term for drones — has grown fourfold, to nearly 1,300. The Air Force is now training more pilots for its drones than for its fighter jets and bombers combined. And by 2015, it expects to have more drone pilots than bomber pilots, although fighter pilots will remain a larger group.

Those figures do not include drones operated by the C.I.A. in counterterrorism operations over Pakistan, Yemen and other countries.

The Pentagon has begun taking steps to keep pace with the rapid expansion of drone operations. It recently created a new medal to honor troops involved in both drone warfare and cyberwarfare. And the Air Force has expanded access to chaplains and therapists for drone operators, said Col. William M. Tart, who commanded remotely piloted aircraft crews at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

The Air Force has also conducted research into the health issues of drone crew members. In a 2011 survey of nearly 840 drone operators, it found that 46 percent of Reaper and Predator pilots, and 48 percent of Global Hawk sensor operators, reported “high operational stress.” Those crews cited long hours and frequent shift changes as major causes.

That study found the stress among drone operators to be much higher than that reported by Air Force members in logistics or support jobs. But it did not compare the stress levels of the drone operators with those of traditional pilots.

The new study looked at the electronic health records of 709 drone pilots and 5,256 manned aircraft pilots between October 2003 and December 2011. Those records included information about clinical diagnoses by medical professionals and not just self-reported symptoms.

After analyzing diagnosis and treatment records, the researchers initially found that the drone pilots had higher incidence rates for 12 conditions, including anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and suicidal ideation.

But after the data were adjusted for age, number of deployments, time in service and history of previous mental health problems, the rates were similar, said Dr. Otto, who was scheduled to present her findings in Arizona on Saturday at a conference of the American College of Preventive Medicine.

The study also found that the incidence rates of mental heath problems among drone pilots spiked in 2009. Dr. Otto speculated that the increase might have been the result of intense pressure on pilots during the Iraq surge in the preceding years.

The study found that pilots of both manned and unmanned aircraft had lower rates of mental health problems than other Air Force personnel. But Dr. Otto conceded that her study might underestimate problems among both manned and unmanned aircraft pilots, who may feel pressure not to report mental health symptoms to doctors out of fears that they will be grounded.

She said she planned to conduct two follow-up studies: one that tries to compensate for possible underreporting of mental health problems by pilots and another that analyzes mental health issues among sensor operators, who control drone cameras while sitting next to the pilots.

“The increasing use of remotely piloted aircraft for war fighting as well as humanitarian relief should prompt increased surveillance,” she said.

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Promise, peril seen for crowd-funding investors

Crowd funding is widely seen as a revolutionary idea.

A 2012 federal law known as the JOBS Act opens the door to allowing small, privately owned businesses to market ownership stakes in their ventures to people over the Internet.

Companies will be able to sell up to $1 million in equity a year to ordinary investors without having to register the offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission or state regulators.

Before the average person can use crowd funding to stake a claim in a startup, the SEC still must draft rules that the Obama administration hopes will result in U.S. businesses growing and adding jobs. At the same time, the securities cop needs to include safeguards that protect less sophisticated individual investors drawn to inherently risky startups.

That's why equity crowd funding under JOBS, or Jumpstart our Business Startups, has some longtime regulators and securities lawyers squirming.

"It can be an invitation for fraudsters to steal money," Matthew Brown, a Katten Muchin Rosenman lawyer, said last month at a CFA Society of Chicago event at 1871, a center for digital startups in Chicago.

But Brown also noted that equity crowd funding also democratizes small-business financing, a process that historically has given access mostly to wealthier — or, as they're known in high-finance circles, "accredited" — investors.

"The world has changed dramatically, and who's to say who is smarter than anyone else?" Brown added.

Many existing crowd-funding platforms such as Kickstarter don't sell equity stakes in businesses to average investors. Rather, they give consumers the chance to donate money to an enterprise or to get an early or discounted crack at a new product. Since Kickstarter's launch in April 2009, more than $450 million has been pledged by more than 3 million people funding more than 35,000 projects, the New York-based company's website says.

Their acceptance suggests that consumers are willing to engage with companies on a deeper level. As such, enabling unaccredited consumers to invest in companies in small increments online has promise and could become part of the fundraising "ecosystem," says one Chicago entrepreneur.

Abe's Market, a Chicago-based e-commerce site selling natural and organic products from more than 1,000 suppliers, said it would consider crowd funding under the JOBS Act, saying it and its vendors have "die-hard fans" and "a core group of customers" who might like to invest in their vision.

Last month, Abe's raised $5 million from Carmel Ventures, Index Ventures, Beringea and Accel Partners, a Groupon backer. New backers include OurCrowd, a crowd-funding site for accredited investors.

"If you can get passionate people to invest in your business, you're not just gaining investors, you're gaining evangelists," Abe's Chief Executive Richard Demb said. "The challenge for any consumer brand is: How do you find not just customers, but the right customers who are going to tell their friends?"

But there would also be potential headaches for companies raising equity financing through crowd funding, he said.

"You have to make sure that expectations would be set fairly, that no one is putting their life savings into the investment, and that they don't also come back and become a challenge to manage as the business grows," Demb said. "You don't want someone who invested $250 to come back and say, 'I don't think we should expand to the West Coast.'"

Safeguards for average investors exist in the JOBS Act. They include capping nonaccredited individuals' crowd-funding investments at $2,000, or 5 percent of annual income or net worth of less than $100,000, whichever is greater.

Snapclass, launched a few weeks ago at 1871, provides software enabling businesses to provide training online. Co-founder Scott Mandel, who has financed the company himself, doesn't expect to take advantage of equity crowd funding in the future and instead would seek, say, venture capital funding.

"Not all checks are the same," said Mandel, previously a trader and professional poker player. "I'd want someone who could add more than just the cash, such as connections and experience and help with things that I'm not an expert in."

One of 1871's fastest-growing startups is MarkITx. It recently raised $1.2 million from wealthy individuals in its first fundraising round, has seven employees and is looking to add sales jobs. It's an online exchange for businesses wanting to buy and sell used information technology equipment, from iPads to Oracle servers.

"For us, it wouldn't be the sole way to raise money, but it definitely is a viable vehicle to look at raising money," MarkITx partner Marc Brooks said of equity crowd funding under the JOBS Act.

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Jail officers ordered inmate beating, prosecutors say

Two Cook County Jail officers overseeing a high-security psychiatric ward ordered two inmates to beat up another inmate who had angered them, and then tried to cover it up by claiming the victim had attempted suicide, prosecutors said today in court.

“This is what happens to you (expletive) when you step out of line. You disrespect us, we disrespect you,” prosecutors said the women officers announced to the entire tier after the beating last February. 

Delphia Sawyer, 31, and Pamela Bruce, 30, both six-year veterans with the sheriff’s office, were charged with official misconduct, obstructing justice, perjury and mob action.

Judge Edward Harmening set bond at $50,000 each and ordered them to turn over any firearms and passports. The two were stripped of police powers by the sheriff’s department.

“They are supposed to maintain order in the jail in a professional and conscientious manner,” Assistant State’s Attorney Nicholas Trutenko said in court. “Instead, they used these two inmates (who administered the beating) in the same way you would a gun or a knife.”

On the night of Feb. 9, 2012, Sawyer and Bruce were monitoring the psychiatric tier in Division 10 – a maximum-security area of the jail – when some of the inmates tried to light a makeshift cigarette in an electrical outlet, sparking a small fire and cutting power to part of the tier, Trutenko said.

The officers believed an 18-year-old inmate was partly responsible and confronted him in the shower. Both sides cursed at one another, the prosecutor said. As they led him to his cell,  the exchange grew more heated, he said.

“The officers told him that he would see who the (expletive) was,” Trutenko said.

Sawyer and Bruce then summoned “two of the larger inmates from the tier and instructed them to go in to his cell and beat him,” the prosecutor said.

Sawyer and Bruce unlocked the victim’s cell and stood watch while the two inmates beat the victim in the face, head and body for nearly five minutes, the charges alleged. At one point the officers warned the inmates to administer only “body shots” so the damage to his face would be less visible, Trutenko said.

The officers then joined in the beating, striking the victim with their radios and kicking him in the side, according to the prosecutor.

Sawyer and Bruce told their supervisor that the inmate’s injuries were self-inflicted and that they had seen the victim “attempting suicide in the shower by banging his head against the wall,” according to the charges.

The sheriff’s Office of Professional Review began an inquiry into the incident almost immediately and turned the case over to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office last year.

Bruce and Sawyer later signed false statements and lied repeatedly to a grand jury investigating the beating, Trutenko said.

Trutenko showed the judge a large color photo taken the day after the beating that showed the victim with two black eyes and severe swelling to his face. The victim still has hearing problems in one ear but did not suffer any other permanent physical injuries, the prosecutor said.
 
Bruce, of Chicago, and Sawyer, of Justice, both are married mothers of two and have no previous criminal records or disciplinary history with the sheriff’s department, according to their attorneys.

Peter Hickey, who represented Sawyer at the bond hearing, noted she was in charge of a very volatile tier of “psychiatrically disturbed patients.”

“These aren’t choir boys from St. Patrick’s parish,” Hickey told the judge.

Court records show the victim, Kyle Pillischafske of Mount Prospect, was in jail on an aggravated battery charge at the time of the beating. He later pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 2 years of probation and released from custody.

He filed a federal civil suit against the officers, the county and Sheriff Tom Dart still pending in federal court, records show.

jmeisner@tribune.com

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Well: Savory Pie Recipes for Health

Pie is an indulgence often saved for holiday time. But this week Martha Rose Shulman shows us how to bake a pie and eat it too, without the guilt. She offers savory vegetable pies, showcased in whole grain crusts. She writes:

This week I slowed down and made pies: savory ones filled with vegetables … I used a number of different crusts for my winter pies. My favorite remains the whole wheat yeasted olive oil crust that I have used before in this column, but I also worked with a simple Mediterranean crust made with a mix of whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and olive oil. And for those of you who are gluten-free, I made another foray into gluten-free pastry and produced one I liked a lot, which was a mix of buckwheat flour, millet flour and potato starch. It had a strong nutty flavor that worked well with a very savory, very vegan, tofu and mushroom “quiche.” They are all simple to mix together and easy to roll or press out. And if you don’t feel like dealing with a crust, just use Greek phyllo. The important things, after all, are the savory vegetables inside.

Here are recipes for a pie crust and four savory winter vegetable pies.

Whole Wheat Mediterranean Pie Crust: A simple Mediterranean crust made with a mix of whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and olive oil.

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Mixed Greens Galette With Onions and Chickpeas: A tasty way to use bagged greens in a dish with Middle Eastern overtones.

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Goat Cheese, Chard and Herb Pie in a Phyllo Crust: A garlicky mix of greens and your choice of herbs inside a crispy phyllo crust.

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Tofu Mushroom ‘Quiche’: A vegan dish with a deep, rich flavor.

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Winter Tomato Quiche: Canned tomatoes can be used in the off season for a delicious dinner.

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Air travel could be hit in sequestration budget cuts

U.S. airports and fliers around the country face widespread disruptions if automatic spending cuts take effect next week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Friday in an effort to pressure Congress to delay the cuts.

LaHood illustrated a bleak picture of delayed and canceled flights, shuttered airports and irritated air travelers if across-the-board spending cuts are allowed to take place under the process known as sequestration. Travelers could start to feel effects in April, he said.

LaHood told reporters at the White House that flights to major cities such as Chicago, New York and San Francisco could see delays of up to 90 minutes at peak travel times. Delays in Chicago or in major coastal airports tend to ripple across the country quickly because they're frequent flight transfer points. O'Hare was already the fifth-most delay plagued airport in the U.S. last year.

Security delays could also be significant. Homeland Security Department of Secretary Janet Napolitano said in Senate committee testimony last week that cuts could increase passenger wait times by as much as an hour at airport security checkpoints, leading many travelers to miss flights.

The potential cutbacks would be especially damaging to large airlines that cater to business travelers, who are the most sensitive to flight delays, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Hudson Crossing LLC.

"They have the most flexibility, and they also have the least patience," he said. "Since airlines rely on business travelers for their profits, this could have a disproportionately negative impact on airline revenues, profits and earnings."

Potential delays could also discourage some vacationers from booking summer travel, he said.

Airline consultant Robert Mann said customers will blame the airlines for delays, even if they're the government's fault.

"When you look at how customers rate airlines, ratings go right to the bottom whenever delays are involved," Mann said. "And it doesn't matter what causes the delay. A delayed passenger is a ticked-off passenger, and that reflects on the airline."

The flight delays will be caused, LaHood said, by a number of behind-the-scenes cuts including employee furloughs and a reduction in equipment maintenance.

LaHood said the cuts will also mean the elimination of overnight shifts at 60 air traffic control towers across the country and the closure of more than 100 towers.

Under the plan, local airport towers that would see an end to overnight monitoring include Midway and two smaller airports, Dupage and Peoria International.

There are 48 Midway flights that operate between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation said. Southwest Airlines, which has one of its biggest flight operations at Midway, said it’s too early to assess the potential effect on carriers and the airports they serve.

The closure list includes five Illinois airport towers: Central Illinois Regional Airport at Bloomington-Normal, Decatur Airport, Dupage in West Chicago, Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro and Marion County regional in Marion.

Some $85 billion in cuts are due to be applied across government programs on March 1 unless lawmakers act. The cuts were designed to be so onerous they would force a compromise over a broader deficit reduction package, but this has proven elusive.

President Obama has urged Congress to postpone the cuts for several months to let the White House and congressional Republicans hammer out a deficit-cutting deal. Republicans, who have argued that government overspending is a leading problem hurting the U.S. economy, have rebuffed the president's efforts. A number of Republican members of Congress have said that while the cuts may be painful, they could benefit the nation's finances in the long term.

LaHood said sequestration would lead to $1 billion in spending cuts at the Transportation Department, of which more than $600 million would be to the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees U.S. air travel.

The "vast majority" the FAA's approximately 47,000 employees face furloughs of at least a day per pay period until the end of September, he said.

LaHood said the traveling public could start seeing delays just ahead of the busy summer travel season.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the main union representing controllers in the U.S., said Friday's announcement of "draconian" cuts was worse than it anticipated.

"Once towers are closed, the airports they serve may be next," the union said in a statement. "We believe the delay estimates provided by the FAA are conservative, and the potential for disruptions could be much higher."

But the main trade association representing U.S. airlines urged lawmakers to work together to reach a deal, and warned that air transportation "should not be used as political football."

- Reuters and Tribune staff reporters Gregory Karp and Samantha Bomkamp contributed to this report.

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Mom, daughter stabbed to death on South Side

Brittany Pullum describes the scene at a fire in the East Chatham neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon. (Posted on: Feb. 21, 2013)

Curtria Duncan had gone back to school to become a medical technician. Her mother Cherie Adams doted on her grandchildren.

Wednesday afternoon, the two were found stabbed in the bathroom of their apartment in the East Chatham neighborhood as firefighters put out a suspicious blaze.

Duncan, 24, was lying inside a bathtub and Adams, 43, was lying on the floor nearby in their apartment in the 8100 block of South Maryland Avenue, officials said.

Duncan died from "homicidal asphyxia," with multiple sharp force injuries a contributing factor in her death and Adams died from multiple sharp force and blunt force injuries, the Cook County medical examiner's office determined following autopsies. Both deaths were ruled homicides.

The apartment may have been set on fire to conceal the homicides, sources said. A large kitchen knife was found in the bathroom. No arrests have been reported.

"It hurts so bad," said Duncan’s sister Rochelle Pinex, 28, of Harvey. "Who could have done this and what for?"

Duncan had a 3-year-old son, Michael, but the boy was not home because he was visiting his father, Pinex said.

She said Duncan was studying to become a medical technician at Kennedy-King College, where she’d met a man who works at the school.

Pinex said Adams was her stepmother who had eight grandchildren who called her “Nana.’’

"She was changing her life around," Pinex said of Adams. "She was going to church three times a week and trying to spend more time with her grandchildren."

She described her sister and stepmother as people who “stayed to themselves’’ mostly.  “They don’t bother anybody,'' she said, sobbing.

Pinex said the women lived at the Maryland address for just under a year and rarely socialized, except for going to church and classes. “She’s a quiet girl,’’Pinex said of her sister.

Pinex, who has three children, said her 8-year-old daughter was looking forward to seeing Adams. “My kids, they loved their Nana to death,’’ she said. Her daughter was “begging” to go there for a weekend visit.

“She tugs at her (Adams’) heart and made her feel good,’’ Pinex said. “My daughter was her heart.’

“I’m trying to be strong,’’ Pinex said. “I can’t believe this tragedy.’’

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

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Large coats a mainstay for next winter from Milan

MILAN (AP) — Many of the fashions displayed on the Milan runway Thursday had a yesteryear appeal — but with a contemporary edge.

Coats are a mainstay for next winter, many of them oversized with accentuated cuffs — part of a trend toward architectural references in clothing. Fur coats and jackets make the biggest comeback in many a season, perhaps appealing to new markets in cold weather climates, and certainly fitting for the snowy Milan weather.

Many of the styles, from the flared skirts to belted suits, recalled couture favorites from earlier fashion eras. However, the styles were updated by paring down the silhouette and using coarse fabric for elegant wear that in the past has been associated with silkier materials.

Spandex gave a modern glint to looks, including form-fitting dresses, jumpsuits and turtleneck tops, which were softened with sewing details or by coupling them with softer materials like fur and cashmere. For romantic looks, there was lace paired with leather or animal prints for a new twist. Gold lame and sequins add luxury to sensual evening wear.

The palette featured a lot of blues, green, red, some white and flashes of yellow along with mainstay black.

Hardy, practical shoes were a mainstay, but designers aren’t neglecting pretty looks and are still coming up with sandals, pumps and feminine slippers and booties.

Bags tend to be large, but not huge, and no few have a Mary Poppins practicality.

PRADA

The Prada finale was a long luxurious mink coat with ample collar and cuff like the ones the Hollywood divas used to wear in the 1950s. Underneath the model wore a sheer see-through silk dress.

It was only the showiest item of the winter collection presented Thursday evening, based on yesteryear luxury, from the opulent coats to the gilded gowns to the mink wraps.

Miuccia Prada season after season has a fashion vision, and follows it through regardless. This round she revisits vintage couture in a contemporary context.

Coats have extra wide cuffs and are often belted at the waist and flared toward the bottom. Skirts come in wide ballerina styles, as do some the dresses. The jumper dress is another 1950s look, which Prada revisits, even for evening, not to mention the many coat dresses in the collection.

Totally Prada, and anything but retro, was the uneven hemline (one side much longer than the other) that the designer used for daytime belted sheaths as well as gilded, belted gowns.

Fabrics ranged from coarse tweeds to shimmering metallic materials, plus leather and fur. Crocodile takes on new importance when used not only for bags, but also for skirts and even a suit.

The latest Prada shoe, either a sandal or a bootie, has a thick high heel, but a heavy rubber sole.

The sides of the voluminous bags in tweed and leather, including crocodile, were folded in such a way to give the impression of a feline face, perhaps inspired by a video of a cat that was part of the background of the show.

FENDI

Fendi is to fur what Ferrari is to cars. Yet given current concerns about animal rights, the brand has moved from the lavish fur coats that were all the rage in the 1980s to a more discreet way of interpreting fur as fashion.

Fendi creative director Silvia Venturini, daughter of one of the company’s five founding sisters, opted for wisps of fur used as hair decorations, bracelets, or charms hanging from Fendi bags.

Fur also appeared as inserts in a skirt or a dress, or sheered and fashioned into a cozy, but not showy, jacket. Long fur, usually goat, also seen on other runways during Milan’s preview showings, was used to make up a skirt or a cape.

For decades, German born designer Karl Lagerfeld has been working with Fendi, adding his flamboyant designing talent to their creative genius.

This round he offered a constructed slim silhouette, with accentuated shoulders and a knee-length hemline. The look is sophisticated rather than sexy and used deep, dark shades of red and blue, which along with black are becoming the staple colors for next winter.

In the accessory department, Fendi chose to reinvent its iconic handbags, from the clutch bag — this time furry — to a modern version of the Mary Poppins bag.

The shoes are sure to be a winter hit. Whether a pump, a boot or a lace-up, each pair was elaborately decorated, some in fur, and comes with a pointed toe and a glistening mirrored high heel.

BLUGIRL

Blugirl has looks for women feeling both demure and daring at the same time — mixing traditional tartan, peek-a-boo lace and bold leopard prints.

The women’s wear collection for next winter, took as its muse the British style icon Alexa Chung. The label described Chung’s style as “midway between tradition and urban accents, ultra-cosmopolitan, always cool.”

Designer Anna Molinari’s collection started off with a preppy coed look: green, red and navy plaid skirts, sometimes pleated, or pencil pants paired with oversized green sweaters, pullovers or cardigans. Shoes were leather ankle boots, worn with short, dark socks.

The outfits transitioned into more feminine territory. A tartan-printed taffeta bubble skirts paired was with a ruffle-neck lace shirt and topped with a loose-fitting leopard-print jacket, leading off an array of looks combining plaid, lace and leopard. Here the preferred shoe was the pump.

The collection finished with a flash of gold, with sequined evening dresses and skirts.

Dragon and swan motifs gave a nod to Chung’s British-Chinese heritage. Commanding dragon shaped necklaces and Chinese-style jackets offered Asian flair, while sequined kissing swans on evening wear were reminiscent of an English park.

The looks were finished with small shoulder bags in leopard print, tartan or sequins, strapped across the body for the stylish girl-on-the-go.

MAX MARA

The German Bauhaus design school gave a sophisticated clientele functional yet elegant design in everyday objects, like chairs and teapots, as well as living and working spaces. On the runway in Milan, Max Mara struck the same note of functional elegance in its Bauhaus-inspired women’s wear show.

The collection for next winter was, fittingly, highly structured.

The coats alone were a feat of layered and textural complexity. A hooded overcoat, worn open over the shoulders with empty sleeves hanging, accompanied another interior jacket with a nubby texture.

Often, the overcoat sleeves were rolled up to reveal another layer of, say, spandex, which contrasted with the satiny coat lining. Leather patches emphasized rounded shoulders.

Max Mara’s heritage of practical luxury was highlighted by its focus on new camel fabrics for their coats, including spun alpaca and mouflon wool. From super-functional camel, the color palette then progressed to a deep yellow and onward to decidedly urban shades of gray, black and midnight blue — a nod to the Bauhaus inspiration.

The silhouette ranged from skinny pencil skirts paired with long sweaters for the office or loose-fitting pajama pants for relaxed afternoons. Shoes emphasized comfort — sneakers — but were built from luxury materials like suede and leather. Boston bags were made from leather and crocodile prints.

DSQUARED2

Both the masculine and feminine sides of the DSquared2 label were shouting over each other for attention.

The collection for next winter featured over-the-top masculine tailoring balanced with oversized jewels.

For daytime, the look was gangster chic, with loose-fitting men’s double-breasted suits worn with nothing more than a dickey underneath and topped with exaggerated bowler hats — pink with purple ribbon. Pencil skirts paired with belted jackets, one with layered, architectural lapels.

But for nighttime, the mood was more speak easy slinky with silky dresses with an asymmetrical, trailing feather boa hemline or a fur stole — a favorite on Milan runways this season.

Designing twins Dean and Dan Caten showed at night for the first time in a while, giving up their closing day slot.

JUST CAVALLI

Designer Roberto Cavalli drew inspiration for his second line “Just Cavalli” collection, from a recent trip to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, at the foot of the Himalayas.

“Riches there are measured by the values of happiness,” the designer said ahead of the show, which had an ethnic, almost hippie feel to it.

Almost the entire collection came in subdued native prints, fashioned in anything from tunics over pants to colorful evening gowns. Accessories included long silk necklaces like the ones worn by the Bhutan nobility, and a backpack to replace the more urban handbag.

Many designers are featuring fur this round of preview shows, including Cavalli who used it mainly to trim the hoods of his winter parkas. That was enough to draw the wrath of a small group of animal rights activists who disrupted the show holding up signs in Italian saying, “Your fashion is our death,” until they were forcibly removed.

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Living With Cancer: Arrivals and Departures

After being nursed and handed over, the baby’s wails rise to a tremolo, but I am determined to give my exhausted daughter and son-in-law a respite on this wintry evening. Commiserating with the little guy’s discomfort — gas, indigestion, colic, ontological insecurity — I swaddle, burp, bink, then cradle him in my arms. I begin walking around the house, swinging and swaying while cooing in soothing cadences: “Yes, darling boy, another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust.”

I kid you not! How could such grim phrases spring from my lips into the newborn’s ears? Where did they come from?

I blame his mother and her best friend. They sang along as this song was played repeatedly at the skating rink to which I took them every other Saturday in their tweens. Why would an infatuated grandma croon a mordant lullaby, even if the adorable one happily can’t understand a single word? He’s still whimpering, twisting away from me, and understandably so.

Previously that day, I had called a woman in my cancer support group. I believe that she is dying. I do not know her very well. She has attended only two or three of our get-togethers where she described herself as a widow and a Christian.

On the phone, I did not want to violate the sanctity of her end time, but I did want her to know that she need not be alone, that I and other members of our group can “be there” for her. Her dying seems a rehearsal of my own. We have the same disease.

“How are you doing, Kim?” I asked.

“I’m tired. I sleep all the time,” she sighed, “and I can’t keep anything down.”

“Can you drink … water?” I asked.

“A little, but I tried a smoothie and it wouldn’t set right,” she said.

“I hope you are not in pain.”

“Oh no, but I’m sleeping all the time. And I can’t keep anything down.”

“Would you like a visit? Is there something I can do or bring?” I asked.

“Oh, I don’t think so, no thanks.”

“Well,” I paused before saying goodbye, “be well.”

Be well? I didn’t even add something like, “Be as well as you can be.” I was tongue-tied. This was the failure that troubles me tonight.

Why couldn’t I say that we will miss her, that I am sorry she is dying, that she has coped so well for so long, and that I hope she will now find peace? I could inform an infant in my arms of our inexorable mortality, but I could not speak or even intimate the “D” word to someone on her deathbed.

Although I have tried to communicate to my family how I feel about end-of-life care, can we always know what we will want? Perhaps at the end of my life I will not welcome visitors, either. For departing may require as much concentration as arriving. As I look down at the vulnerable bundle I am holding, I marvel that each and every one of us has managed to come in and will also have to manage to go out. The baby nestles, pursing his mouth around the pacifier. He gazes intently at my face with a sly gaze that drifts toward a lamp, turning speculative before lids lower in tremulous increments.

Slowing my jiggling to his faint sucking, I think that the philosopher Jacques Derrida’s meditation on death pertains to birth as well. Each of these events “names the very irreplaceability of absolute singularity.” Just as “no one can die in my place or in the place of the other,” no one can be born in this particular infant’s place. He embodies his irreplaceable and absolute singularity.

Perhaps we should gestate during endings, as we do during beginnings. Like hatchings, the dispatchings caused by cancer give people like Kim and me a final trimester, more or less, in which we can labor to forgive and be forgiven, to speak and hear vows of devotion from our intimates, to visit or not be visited by acquaintances.

Maybe we need a doula for dying, I reflect as melodious words surface, telling me what I have to do with the life left to be lived: “To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.”

“Oh little baby,” I then whisper: “Though I cannot tell who you will become and where I will be — you, dear heart, deliver me.”

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Susan Gubar is a distinguished emerita professor of English at Indiana University and the author of “Memoir of a Debulked Woman,” which explores her experience with ovarian cancer.

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