**Exhibit 10.69**SEVERANCE AGREEMENT     This Severance Agreement (the “Agreement”) is made as of the later of December 17, 2007 andthe Executive’s employment commencement date, between The Talbots, Inc., a Delaware corporation(together with its subsidiaries, the “Company”) and Basha Cohen (the “Executive”). This Agreementsets forth the agreement of the parties relating to the severance arrangements for the Executiveunder certain circumstances. Capitalized terms used in this Agreement are defined in Section 7hereof.     1. Severance Pay and Associated Benefits Upon a Qualified Termination.          (a) Severance Benefits. In the event of a Qualified Termination, and subject to theterms of this Agreement, the Company will provide to the Executive the payments and benefitsdescribed in this Section 1 (collectively, the “Severance Benefits”).          (b) Severance Pay. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, in the event of aQualified Termination, the Company will pay to the Executive severance pay in the gross amountequal to 1.5 times the Executive’s annual base salary in effect immediately prior to suchtermination (the “Severance Payment”), payable in equal installments in accordance with normalCompany payroll practices over a 18 month period beginning immediately following the TerminationDate (the “Severance Period”).          (c) Benefits Continuation. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, upon any suchQualified Termination, the Company will also arrange for the Executive to continue to participate(through COBRA or otherwise), on substantially the same terms and conditions as in effect for theExecutive (including any required employee contribution) immediately prior to such termination, inthe medical and dental programs provided to the Executive immediately prior to such terminationuntil the earlier of (i) the end of the Severance Period, or (ii) such time as the Executive iseligible to be covered by comparable benefits of a subsequent employer. The Executive agrees tonotify the Company promptly if and when the Executive begins employment with another employer andif and when the Executive becomes eligible to participate in any benefit or other welfare plans,programs or arrangements of another employer. Executive agrees that any automobile/housingallowance or other personal benefits provided by the Company to the Executive immediately prior tosuch termination will cease as of the Termination Date. The Company, however, may choose to makeany separate arrangements with the Executive to assist with the transfer of any such benefits.          (d) Retirement Benefits. Nothing in this Agreement will modify or otherwise limit anyof the Executive’s rights and benefits as may exist under the terms of any qualified, nonqualifiedor supplemental retirement, 401(k), savings or deferred compensation plans of the Company(excluding any severance or severance compensation plans) (“Retirement Plans”), nor will anybenefits or amounts payable under any such Retirement Plans reduce or offset any Severance Benefitsafforded to the Executive under this Agreement.          (e) Equity Awards.
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               (i) If in the event of a Qualified Termination the Executive still holds one or more optionsto purchase shares of Company stock which have not expired and have not been fully exercised, theExecutive, at any time within 3 years after the Termination Date (but in no event after the optionhas expired), may exercise any such options with respect to any shares as to which the Executivecould have exercised the options on the Termination Date.               (ii) The Executive agrees that until the expiration of 6 months from the Termination Date, theExecutive will not engage in the purchase or sale of the Company’s common stock (including withoutlimitation any “cashless exercise” of any stock options involving the sale of any Company commonstock as part of such option exercise) during any trading window “blackout” or “quiet period”applicable to management level employees (“Quiet Period”). The Executive acknowledges that theCompany reserves the right to modify the Quiet Period from time to time in its sole and absolutediscretion. The Company will provide the Executive with notice of Quiet Periods and changesthereto at the time it provides such notice to the Company’s management level employees. Inaddition, the Executive agrees to notify the Company’s General Counsel prior to exercising anyoptions or trading in the Company’s common stock within such 6 month period following theTermination Date to ascertain whether such transaction would violate any Quiet Period covered bythis subsection (e)(ii).               (iii) Except as otherwise expressly set forth in any agreement between the Executive and theCompany relating to any restricted stock or performance accelerated restricted stock award, in theevent of a Qualified Termination or other termination of employment, the Executive agrees that theCompany will be deemed to have exercised its repurchase option with respect to any shares ofunvested restricted stock or performance accelerated restricted stock of the Company held by theExecutive as of the Termination Date, and the Company will promptly pay the Executive $.01 for eachshare.          (f) Withholdings. The Company may deduct from the Executive’s Severance Payment andany other payments otherwise due to the Executive, such withholding taxes and similar governmentalpayments and charges as may be required.          (g) Timing for Payment; Section 409A Restrictions. Notwithstanding anything in thisAgreement to the contrary, it is the intention of the parties that this Agreement comply withSection 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and any regulations orother guidance issued thereunder, and this Agreement and the payments of any benefits hereunderwill be operated and administered accordingly. Specifically, but not by limitation, the Executiveagrees that if, at the time of termination of employment, the Company is considered to be publiclytraded and the Executive is considered to be a specified employee, as defined in Section 409A (andas determined as of December 31 preceding the Executive’s termination of employment, unless theExecutive’s termination of employment occurs prior to April 30, in which case the determinationwill be made as of the second preceding December 31), then some or all of such payments to be madeunder this Agreement as a result of the Executive’s termination of employment will be deferred forno more than 6 months following such termination of employment, if and to the extent the delay insuch payments is necessary in order to comply with the requirements of Section 409A of the Code.Upon expiration of such 6 month period (or, if earlier, the Executive’s death), any payments sowithheld hereunder from the Executive hereunder will be distributed to the Executive, with apayment of interest thereon
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credited at a rate of prime plus 1% (with such prime rate to be determined as of the actualpayment date).     2. Release and Waiver.     The Company’s obligation to make the payments and provide the benefits to the Executive as setforth in Section 1 above will be conditioned upon and subject to the Executive having delivered tothe Company an executed full and unconditional release (that is not subject to revocation) of anyand all claims against the Company, its parent entities, affiliates, employee benefit plans andfiduciaries, and their respective officers, employees, directors, agents and representativessatisfactory in form and content to the Company’s counsel.     3. Cooperation.     In connection with a Qualified Termination or any other termination of the Executive’semployment, the Executive agrees to reasonably cooperate with the Company prior to and in the 60day period immediately following the Termination Date, subject to the Executive’s othercommitments, in promptly transitioning the Executive’s duties and activities within the Company tothe person or persons designated by the Company to receive them.     4. Nondisparagement; Non-Solicitation; Confidentiality.          (a) Nondisparagement. In connection with a Qualified Termination or any othertermination of the Executive’s employment, Executive agrees not to take action or make anystatement, written or oral, in the 1 year period following the Termination Date which is intendedto materially disparage the Company or its business.          (b) Non-Solicitation. The Executive agrees that, during the 1 year period following aQualified Termination or any other termination of the Executive’s employment, the Executive willnot directly or indirectly solicit, attempt to hire, or hire any employee of the Company (or anyperson who may have been employed by the Company during the last year of the term of theExecutive’s employment with the Company), or actively assist in such hiring by any other person orbusiness entity or encourage, induce or attempt to induce any such employee to terminate his or heremployment with the Company.          (c) Confidentiality. The Executive will not in any manner following a QualifiedTermination or any other termination of the Executive’s employment, directly or indirectly, withoutthe express prior written consent of the Company, disclose or use any Confidential Information ofthe Company. “Confidential Information” will include all information concerning the Company or anyparent, subsidiary, affiliate, employee, customer or supplier or other business associate of theCompany or any affiliate (including but not limited to any trade secrets or other confidential,proprietary or private matters), which has been or is received by the Executive from the Company,or from any parent, subsidiary, affiliate or customer or supplier or other business associate ofthe Company, and which is not known or generally available to the public.
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     5. Remedies.     The Executive acknowledges and affirms that money damages cannot adequately compensate theCompany for any breach by the Executive of Section 4 of this Agreement and that the Company isentitled to equitable relief (without posting any bond) in any federal or state court inMassachusetts or other court of competent jurisdiction to prevent or otherwise restrain any actualor threatened breach of the provisions of said Section and/or compel specific performance of, orother compliance with, the terms thereof.     6. Miscellaneous.          (a) At-Will Employment. This Agreement is not a contract to employ the Executive fora definite time period, and is not intended to be and does not constitute a contract or part of acontractual agreement for continued employment, either express or implied, between the Company andthe Executive, it being acknowledged that the Executive’s employment is “at will” and that eitherthe Executive or the Company may terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any or noreason, with or without Cause and with or without prior notice, but subject to the Executive’srights to Severance Benefits under the terms provided hereunder.          (b) Successors and Assigns. This Agreement and all of the provisions hereof shall bebinding upon, and inure to the benefit of, the parties hereto and their successors (includingsuccessors by merger, consolidation, sale or similar transaction, permitted assigns, executors,administrators, personal representatives, heirs and distributees). This Agreement is personal innature and the rights and obligations of the Executive under this Agreement shall not be assignedor transferred by the Executive.          (c) Attorneys Fees. Each party shall bear his or its own attorney’s fees andexpenses.          (d) Governing Law. This Agreement shall be interpreted in accordance with thesubstantive laws of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and without regard to any conflict of lawsprovisions.          (e) Effect on Other Agreements; Modification. This Agreement constitutes the entireagreement between the Executive and the Company with respect to the subject matter of thisAgreement. This Agreement may be modified only in a writing signed by both parties. For as longas this Agreement is in effect, to the degree there is any conflict between the severance paymentsand benefit provisions to which the Executive is then entitled under this Agreement and those ofany other written agreement which continues to be in effect between the Company and the Executive,such conflict shall be resolved by the Company in good faith by affording the Executive the morefavorable severance payments or benefits contained in any such agreement. Notwithstanding theforegoing, nothing herein relieves the Executive from the obligation to comply with the restrictivecovenants of all such agreements or from the consequences of noncompliance therewith regardlessunder which agreement the severance payments and/or severance benefits may be deemed to have beenmade. Furthermore, for purposes of clarification only, if an Executive receives severance pay andbenefits under one agreement, the Executive shall not be entitled to severance pay or benefitsunder any other agreement, plan or arrangement.
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          (f) Execution. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each ofwhich when so executed shall be deemed to be an original, and all such counterparts together shallconstitute but one and the same instrument.          (g) Notices. For the purpose of this Agreement, notices and all other communicationsprovided for in this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly given whendelivered or when mailed by United States registered mail, return receipt requested, postageprepaid, addressed to the respective addresses set forth below, or to such other address as eitherparty may have furnished to the other in writing in accordance herewith, except that notice ofchange of address shall be effective only upon actual receipt:To the Company:The Talbots, Inc.