the rumor has been around MANY times. like before his FW couture show, everyone said he was showing before sunset as something symbolic before he left and whatever...
everyone said the successor would be Elbaz back then too.
to me, it doesnt make any sense at all, and i'd be greatly surprised if it was true.
first, the company has denied it. many times. they are making more money with karl than they could've ever wished for. alber is great and all among fashionistas, but karl is an icon, their best publicity. it's not only his designs that sell, it's him, the persona, the character, the workaholic that appeals to everything between classy ladies in their 70s, and brandwh*res in their early 20s. who would fire the creative mastermind that has allowed you to increase the price of your bags by 20% in this previous quarted, as in the middle of a recession?
second, if ever was karl to retire (not that he seems to have any interest in that, but he could be after all forced to), what makes people think Elbaz would be eligible for that?
I was discussing with a friend today how the possibility seems just as odd as Carine Roitfeld taking over Anna Wintour's Vogue.
Yes, it has been said many times. Yes, the magazine may be able to benefit "creatively" and it would be the perfect DevilWearsPrada story. But the truth of the matter is that from a business perspective, not in a Hollywood scrip, nobody thinks it's possible.
Just as Carine can't go from publishing a magazine with a 300000 readership, to one of the biggest fashion books of the industry. It's different business, different scales, different leagues.
We are talking about Alber Elbaz, him who seems to struggle reinventing himself in time to present 2 collections a year (+2 tiny resort and prefall).
Who can see him changing his intimate approach to the Lanvin woman, for Chanel's 8+ collections of fashion stravaganza? I've heard people even make connections between Elbaz, and Saint Laurent, and how Chanel was the house Saint Laurent would've always wanted to take over, and whatever...
The point of the thing is the commercial pressure chez Chanel is huge. It's not about selling beautiful cocktail dresses and "putting the woman first" (Suzy Menkes dixit). It's all about making the whole bags+beauty+lifestyle engine work. It's a pressure not even Galliano or Marc Jacobs have to face (despite business volume, it's more a matter of all the pressure being concentrated in one person, in one sole message from the house).
on another note, why would Tommy Ton tweet that and now leave us all dying to know!!???!!!
