Chloe to Pick Marni's Anderson * Confirmed *

[fashionologie]

from wwd:

Chloé has tapped a senior, but hidden, talent from Marni to succeed Phoebe Philo, WWD has learned.

According to sources, Paolo Melin Anderson will join the French fashion house later this year.

Reached late on Wednesday, a Chloé spokesman said only, "We do not comment on rumors." However, the house said recently it would make an announcement about its succession plan after its show during Paris Fashion Week.

Anderson, a Swedish native who has worked at Marni for several years, will assume the design helm at one of the fastest-growing fashion firms in Europe. Despite Philo's resignation in January for personal reasons — to spend more time with her family and new baby — Chloé has continued to report solid business, relying on its in-house design team.

The fashion house's sales increased by nearly 90 percent in the April to August period, although Chloé parent Compagnie Financière Richemont recently warned that growth was slowing due to tough comparisons and that the pace for the full year probably would be lower than in the first half. Chloé's sales more than doubled in 2005.

The selection of Anderson likely is to be greeted as a logical match for Chloé — and retailers and buyers are bound to applaud the arrival of new blood. Marni, long a darling of editors and retailers, is prized for its lighthearted and feminine designs with a slight retro flavor.

In recent seasons, Marni designer Consuelo Castiglione has steered the brand in a more sophisticated direction, and it consistently has ranked among buyer favorites in Milan.

Ralph Toledano, chairman and chief executive officer of Chloé, has a track record of flushing out hidden design talents. Before joining Chloé, he headed Guy Laroche and famously recruited Alber Elbaz, now Lanvin's creative director, from the design studio of Geoffrey Beene. And when Stella McCartney exited Chloé to form a signature fashion house in partnership with Gucci Group, Toledano promoted Philo, McCartney's longtime assistant.

During Philo's maternity leave, and following her resignation, Toledano let the Chloé team pick up where she left off. And even as he quietly conducted a broad industry search, he maintained that an internal successor was possible.

 

[tricotineacetat]

....EEEEEK!

I think I know the guy they are talking about - haven't I met him briefly at the Acne Jeans store opening in Berlin? I remember chatting with a swedish Marni senior designer when I was really drunk, well, good for him in any way to be promoted as designer at Chloé if the sources can be believed.

 

[softgrey]

i want to know exactly who is designing marni....
cause i also heard the the designer at vera wang came from marni...

but that was not a publicised fact...

i wish i knew more about who is really designing what......


on another note...
there has been so much movement in recent years...
it's good for the designers in a way....
they are getting a lot more opportunites...

 

[tricotineacetat]

Well, it's probably not as much Consuelo as people might actually think - I remember that when I was talking to that guy, I didn't know he was a Marni executive designer in the first place. He was spontaneously asking me how I liked the label without knowing who he was and I was answering "Oh, well, it's totally not my cup of tea. I don't really care much about Marni" ... I felt kinda sorry because he was staring at me in a kinda disappointed way (well, I guess the sales results speak for themselves, though...) and I remember him telling me later on that even though she is still the director of the label, it's actually a design team that does most of the concrete design work for Marni...

I also asked him if he was somewhat involved in the Marni menswear and he admitted to me that he had very little interference with it and that he thought it was not really a thought-out collection in itself. As far as I remember, he was personally dressed almost entirely in Dior Homme...

 

[gius]

i'm interested in knowing who he is too
and who the other people coming out of marni are...

 

[Scott]

Hmm...if he's largely responsible for the design at Marni perhaps we could expect some interesting things? I think the style of Marni could translate very well with that kind of quirky style Chloe is known for.

 

[Lena]

yes, i think its good news for chloe, maybe a new less romantic direction but it will fall in tune with the post-sugary era

 

[wheneveriwakeup]

This could be good. Can't wait to see it.

 

[BaroqueRockstar]

OMG i LOVE Marni!!!
this is confirmed? i really hope so!!!

 

[BaroqueRockstar]

i love marni, imo this is perfect!
so glad it's not luella or jane mayle!

 

[Luxx]

This is wonderful. The Marni aesthetic sensibility will translate well at Chloe. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with though I was secretly hoping that a woman would take over at Chloe...

 

[Lena]

i love marni, imo this is perfect!
so glad it's not luella or jane mayle!

right, luella could had been a disaster and jane was too sugar-y

 

[Pastry]

i'm just relieved it's not jane male!

phew!!!!

 

[softgrey]

official announcement in today's wwd...

Chloe Appoints Paulo Melim Andersson to Chief Designer
By Miles Socha
Melim Andersson, 34, who starts at the French fashion and accessories firm on Thursday, was previously the design director of the Italian firm Marni, where he worked for seven years.

Praising his intelligence, professionalism and “down to earth” personality, Chloé chairman and chief executive Ralph Toledano told WWD Melim Andersson would start work immediately on the pre-fall collection and for his runway debut in Paris next March.

“His mission is to find the new direction for the Chloé brand,” Toledano said. “He will be given, like his predecessors, a lot of freedom to find his own way.”

Melim Andersson succeeds Phoebe Philo, who resigned from Chloé last January to spend more time with her family, and he assumes the helm of one of the fastest growing fashion firms in Europe.

Chloé sales increased by nearly 90 percent in the April to August period, and Toledano cited “strong double-digit” sales of its pre-spring collection and a “very good” reaction from wholesale clients to the collection shown on the runway last Saturday during Paris Fashion Week. Yvan Misepelaere, a member of Chloé’s design team since January 2005, took the bows for that runway collection, however, he is leaving the firm to join Frida Giannini’s ready-to-wear team at Gucci, as reported.

A Swedish national, Melim Andersson has degrees in fashion design from Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art.

Founded in 1952, Chloé has had a long list of celebrated designers, including Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld and Martine Sitbon. The brand is owned by Compagnie Financiere Richemont.

 

[softgrey]

i get how someone from marni makes sense at chloe...

but i still can't see how someone from chloe is going to work at gucci...
...

 

[jssy4eva]

^ Very true

 

[BaroqueRockstar]

^ maybe it's a good thing?
i wouldn't mind gucci becoming a little more like chloe...

 

[yoyogixxx]

Well! I love Marni and Hopefully, he won't bring Marni to Chloe. It is different. Yvan also great, where he is now and then ? Philo's root is quite a big abstable for new era. Actually, she is available! what is she gonna do ? From buyer's sight who care about clothes as long as there are plenty of double digit sale figure from BAG.

 

[Lena]

here comes anderson
more from wwd of today

PARIS — Fashion has a new mantra: Looking out for number two.

Opting for a hidden talent instead of a media star, Chloe on Wednesday named Paulo Melim Andersson as its new chief designer, confirming a Sept. 28 WWD report.

Melim Andersson, 34, who starts at the French fashion and accessories firm today, was previously the design director of the Italian firm Marni, where he worked for seven years.

Recruiting unknown designers from the studios of successful brands is a growing industry trend — and a signature of Chloé chairman and chief executive officer Ralph Toledano, who drew parallels between his hiring of Melim Andersson and that of Alber Elbaz, whom Toledano plucked from obscurity at Geoffrey Beene to helm Guy Laroche in 1996. Elbaz is now creative director at Lanvin.

"Like Alber, [Paulo] has a personality that demands your attention," Toledano told WWD. "[Paulo's] mission is to find a new direction for the Chloé brand. He will be given, like his predecessor, a lot of freedom to find his own way."

The announcement Wednesday ends an almost yearlong search to find a successor to Phoebe Philo, who resigned from Chloé in January to spend more time with her family and new baby, Maya.

Toledano went out on a limb in 2001 when he named Philo to succeed Stella McCartney, who went on to launch her signature brand in a venture with Gucci Group. Philo, then 27, had been McCartney's assistant at Chloé for four years — unknown even to most industry insiders. She went on to help catapult the brand into the fashion stratosphere with feminine and influential designs.

Toledano characterized Melim Andersson as part of a generation of designers who have convivial, not rival, relationships with fashion peers and who have a "very professional and down-to-earth approach" to the business.

"He's very intelligent, very cultivated and very low profile," Toledano said.

True to form, Melim Andersson declined interview requests until he gets settled. Toledano said the designer would start immediately on Chloé's pre-fall collection and his runway debut in Paris in March.

A Swedish national, Melim Andersson has degrees in fashion design from Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art in London.
Despite his low profile up till now, Melim Andersson is taking on one of the fastest-growing fashion firms in Europe. After more than doubling its business in 2005, Chloé's sales increased by nearly 90 percent in the April-to-August period.

On Wednesday, Toledano cited "strong double-digit" sales of Chloé's pre-spring collection and a "very good" reaction from wholesale clients to the collection shown on the runway on Saturday during Paris Fashion Week.

Yvan Mispelaere, a member of Chloé's design team since January 2005, took the bows for that runway outing; however, he is leaving the firm to join Frida Giannini's ready-to-wear team at Gucci, as reported.

Toledano stressed he never intended to pursue a team approach at Chloé, although he heaped praise on his employees for keeping the firm's momentum going despite not having a "face" for the brand since Philo's exit.

"I needed the time to find the right person," he said, disclosing he interviewed more than 30 potential candidates in a search led by the Paris recruitment firm Floriane de Saint Pierre and Associates. "The goal was to find someone talented, someone I believed in.

"You always have to look forward and not backward," Toledano continued. "Fashion means, more than anything, newness."

Retailers cheered the appointment.

"Neiman Marcus was excited to hear the announcement," said Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director. "The breadth of [Melim Andersson's] work at Marni was impressive, and we look forward to his first collection."

"I am extremely positive," agreed Sarah Rutson, fashion director at Lane Crawford, Hong Kong. "Having a new vision will actually give a fresh viewpoint to Chloé, and we are extremely excited about that. Fashion is about moving on and developing, so we embrace that with open arms."

Rutson noted Chloé has remained one of Lane Crawford's top-selling and growing brands despite Philo's exit. "The Hong Kong customer brand recognition has been with the brand's aesthetic, as opposed to the power of the designer's name behind it," she noted.

"I'm very positive because I love Chloé and Marni. They're both retail-friendly," added Kuwait retailer Majed Al-Sabah of Villa Moda. "I'm sure Chloé made a smart decision tapping into someone who helped [Marni designer Consuelo Castiglioni] make Marni into a success. I'm very happy that Chloé has someone like him to develop the brand and take it further."

RCA graduates have something 'special' one is hard too find at CSM grads

wishing him best luck at Chloe