Hedi's Days Numbered At Dior Homme?

[Lena]

Chanel, yes.. he could take either Chanel or ysl homme, i dont think he will go into building his own brand at the moment

 

[tricotineacetat]

here the full wwd.com article of today



maybe i have posted already the rumours i heard while in Paris in March, that Hedi (and Elbaz) have major issues with bringing in money.. hype is fine but at the end of the day is all about what sales well.
not a boy but friends who can easily afford Dior Homme say major issue with Slimaine's work is.. sizing and fitting

is that really true? judging from my own experiences in store, I didn't have a lot of problems selling the product to a diversity of clients with different bodytypes... his jackets still work in a size 52, whereas the pants have never been much different than any of those that Helmut Lang did.

 

[gallianoboy]

Why has it taken Tom Ford so long to launch his hyped men's wear line? And the Manhattan boutique to go with it? It seems easy in theory that Hedi would have success with his own line because of the hype he's brought to dior homme,yet it seems like everyone has forgotten about Tom Ford, (at least for the moment!!) I don't understand why LVMH would let someone of Hedi's caliber go! I don't like Hedi Slimane's work at all for dior homme, but i recognize it's influence. Why is there so much beef between Bernard Arnault and his designers??? If Galliano has his work for Christian Dior femme, his label Galliano femme, and Galliano Homme, why can't they also allow Hedi to do this??

Also does anyone know if LVMH has any stake in Galliano femme and Galliano homme, in terms of ownership???

 

[aldn]

Some people are talking about Mister Hedi for Chanel... men...

It is a dream for Karl but I bet that this will happen! maybe not for now because this is too early for chanel to expand in menswear...
but why not in a while..

They have Chanel menswear already. It's basically the womensline though remade for men.

 

[Honey~Blade]

^ this is why they need Hedi.

 

[style_expert]

^ true, but Chanel has menswear on a very small scale. I think Hedi is THE person to give Chanel menswear an enormous boost. That'd be great, with a seperate Chanel menswear show and maybe even seperate stores. I don't really see it happening unfortunately. I hope Hedi stays away from YSL because I really like Stefano Pilati's work for YSL. It is a bit unfair that Galliano has his own lines and Hedi not. And in terms of quantity, I think Dior Homme ready-to-wear is selling better then Dior womenswear, because the menswear is more affordable. But of course, Dior sells tons of handbags, that's where they make most of the profits (and with perfums and make-up). On the other hand, I think Dior Homme is going downhill now, it's a bit overhyped and the last seasons were not so great anymore (nothing really special at least). I'd love to see a new talent taking over at Dior Homme, and Hedi should get his own line.

 

[dhclam]

Ooh lala, good & bad news!!!
After reading the latest news and all the posts here, sure it’s sad to see him go, but he's pretty much done @ Dior Homme, and it’s good to see what he’d do on his own in both men & womenswear, y not if Raf could do Jil Sander with perfect result. Although I buy less and less DH stuffs in the last few seasons, but no doubt Hedi’s a talent and the most important menswear designer of our time, if DH let him go, it’d be their loss, however, it cannot keep happening once every few years.

I can’t see Galliano going anywhere since they are selling as many Gaucho as they wish worldwide this season, and he still is a very very good couturier with star quality by far. Neither do I see Hedi designing any of the Gucci labels, not even YSL rive gauche Homme, or setting up his own with their financial support, he’d sure feel more pressure than now.

IMO, and for his best benefit would be to set up his own label with the help of Wetheimer family (who owns Chanel), and also designing Chanel menswear. That would be interesting to see and as prestige as DH with low pressure, yet still tres French. Worst would be having Tommy Hilfiger’s fingers on him and turn out showing in NYC like Lagerfeld Gallery, scary – dun even think abt it.

 

[fashionista-ta]

Maybe. All I see is Hedi partying here, DJing there, hanging out in the back of the tour bus, going to misshapes, etc. I wonder when he gets time to design. If by brandbuilding you mean personabuilding - yea, he is doing a good job, but that's PR. He is becoming the new Tom Ford. I wish he'd get back to designing, because he is definitely good at it.

All that, *and* his continuous model recruiting at 2 am on the streets

 

[rach2jlc]

Hedi won't go to Gucci or any of the Gucci brands. If he does, I'll eat my hat. Pilati is doing a good job at YSL and I believe most people are happy with what he's doing; the talk of hedi going there makes no sense to me. It would be like Marc Jacobs going back to Perry Ellis. There is nothing at stake except absurdity if he goes back to YSL.

Chanel menswear would be perfect for him, if not his own line. He wouldn't have to worry about democracy of cut or price; Chanel is already known to be one of the most expensive brands and people expect that, so a $2500 jacket wouldn't frighten people, nor would the fact that it might be cut so slim it is better suited to a large snake.

As well, Chanel makes enough from perfumes, bags, and cosmetics to allow a less democratic line and one that could be more focused on creativity and a smaller clientele (like Dior USED to be in the beginning). If hedi had his own line, there would be more pressure to make an immediate profit and he DOESN'T have a lucrative cosmetics, perfume, accessory line already in existence to cushion his "whimsies." Maybe we'd have to see Puma for Hedi Slimane, H-3 (Hedi Adidas), or "H" by Hedi diffusion line produced by Ittierre.

So, in short, only three possibilties as I see them (in order of probability staying at Dior, his own line, Chanel. He'll probably just stay at Dior (boring), I'd be in line to buy his Chanel, I'd at least visit his boutique if he had his own line.

John

 

[Acid]

obviously if there is a problem with sizing and fitting then that can be discussed with the pattern cutters no?
I dont see why LVMH are reluctant to give Hedi the salary he wants.... compared with MJ's salary at LV that is peanuts!

 

[oStelios]

Published: Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Dior Preps for Possible Slimane Departure
By Miles Socha
PARIS — Kris Van Assche is among the designers contacted to take over Dior Homme should negotiations over a new contract with Hedi Slimane fail, WWD has learned.
(…glad to hear of this switch)

 

[battles]

they should seriously consider dirk schönberger... he's one of the most underrated designers who i believe could deliver the expectations. by far, he's the best contender yet.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I'm not sure if I like KVA doing Dior without Hedi's direction. He's talented but the clothes he puts out for his own line isn't enough to win me over. I've questioned Hedi's actual design prowess before and despite KVA being behind many Dior collections, I'm not all convinced he's strong enough to head the label .

Hedi wants to do his own thing uninhibited, asking for 2 mil Euro is his way of saying "if you guys are going to f*ck with me having my own line then you better pay me a bunch more". I share the sentiments with others on the board that whatever the outcome is, it will be exciting.

 

[realitysucks]

yah, KVAs own line is not impressive. my friend got a sweater from him and the tailoring is just way too basic. dont think he would do well at dior and same thing with baal. havent seen much of taralis but what ive seen im impressed, but he loves designing womenswear even if its androgyn he want females models and that would be a issue with dior homme.

 

[jpolla]

Hedi has made dior what it is today. Personally i feel that if he left and did his own collection he could achieve similar success to that at dior. There would be huge publicity and exposure needed 2 do his own collection because he is so big. As someone else said, like tom ford post gucci. Dior could steal stefano pilati (sp?) or not but still!

 

[faust]

they should seriously consider dirk schönberger... he's one of the most underrated designers who i believe could deliver the expectations. by far, he's the best contender yet.

Indeed. Dirk is the man.

 

[Arturo21]

^Definately

 

[aldn]

i know it's unfair to voice out my hypothetical theory but i think hedi is very much comfortable with the direction that he'd taken himself to and i won't be surprise if he is just going to stop designing for good. being a cult-figure, hanging out with rockstars and crackheads, i think he'd sold himself to the image that he was selling...

you think he wants to follow marc jacobs' footsteps? no. die young and stay pretty. it's kind of a dead-rockstar-legends syndrome too...

OMG!Very interesting concept! I can see it! Whoa!

 

[tricotineacetat]

I really doubt that Dirk would be a good choice for a big house such as Dior... even now that he is with Anne Chapelle, his own line is again stagnating... which hasn't got necessarily anything to do that he is underrated (in fact, a lot of influential shops bought it) but because the "design" seems very forced and gimmick-y (rubber-ized collars and trimming on nearly every garment (he really went riot with silicone tape this season), waistcoat fronts sewn on dress shirts,)... it's alarming to see that none of these shops actually sell Dirk's collection...It's still hanging almost in it's entirety.

 

[botoxmolecula]

...Also does anyone know if LVMH has any stake in Galliano femme and Galliano homme, in terms of ownership???

They have.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica: "...Twice, however, Galliano's business went bankrupt. Then, in 1994, John A. Bult, a Swiss-born New York-based investment banker, rescued Galliano and set him up in an atelier near Place de la Bastille in Paris. Upon his appointment at Dior, LVMH bought Galliano's company from Bult. As designer in chief of two fashion houses, Galliano enjoyed an unrivaled position among British designers."