Maria Grazia Chiuri - Designer, Creative Director of Christian Dior

[Frederic01]

BOF

 

[LadyJunon]

BOF

So her success sums up to using the Dior name to sell bland department store clothing and the creation of a "home" line. This reeks of the Pierre Cardin mass licensing back in the 70s and 80s.

 

[THD96]

LVMH chairman's son Antoine Arnault to head family holding Christian Dior SE
By Mimosa Spencer and Dominique Vidalon

PARIS, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Antoine Arnault, the eldest son of LVMH (LVMH.PA) chairman and chief executive officer Bernard Arnault, has been named chief executive of family holding company Christian Dior SE, replacing veteran LVMH executive Sidney Toledano, and stirring speculation about broader succession at the group.

Christian Dior SE is a listed company that owns the bulk of the Arnault family's stake in LVMH, the world's largest luxury group.

The move raises the stature of Antoine Arnault, one of Bernard Arnault's five children, all of whom hold senior positions in LVMH, the group behind fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, as well as scores of other labels ranging from champagne to five-star hotels.

The most visible of the five, Antoine Arnault, 45, oversees the group’s communications and environmental issues, driving efforts to shore up its reputation.

Arnault, who is married to Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova, often takes to the stage for presentations of the group's environmental efforts and hosts events such as public tours of workshops and factories.

For the past decade, he has been chief executive of high-end label Berluti, known for buffed leather shoes priced at more than $2,000, and bespoke tailoring for men as well chairman of Italian label Loro Piana.

Arnault's appointment follows a recent change in the legal structure of the family's investment to ensure its long-term control of LVMH, with holding company Agache, which owns shares in Christian Dior SE, becoming a joint-stock partnership on Tuesday.

Bernard Arnault, 73, is chief executive and chairman of LVMH, and has not publicly named a successor to lead the sprawling luxury empire he built through acquisitions starting with Christian Dior.

The fashion label was folded into the LVMH group in 2017, and Christian Dior SE now holds 41% of LVMH, corresponding to 56% of the voting rights in the group.

Bernard Arnault, who often speaks at company events and last week attended a dinner at the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron, has shown no signs he plans to step down soon.

LVMH in April raised the maximum age of its chief executive officer to 80 from 75.

Antoine Arnault, and his older sister Delphine, 47, are children from their father's first marriage. Both are on the group's board of directors.

Alexandre Arnault, 30, is an executive at Tiffany & Co. while Frederic Arnault, 27, is chief executive officer of TAG Heuer. The youngest, Jean Arnault, 24, heads marketing and product development for Louis Vuitton's watches division.

Bernard Arnault and his family briefly took the title as the world's richest earlier this week but were back at No. 2, behind Elon Musk, with a personal wealth of $185.3 billion, according to Forbes.

Source: Reuters

Justice for Delphine, she was robbed.

 

[gallianostan]

Source: Reuters

Justice for Delphine, she was robbed.

i need a succession-esque tv show about this family.

 

[velvetandsilk]

Source: Reuters

Justice for Delphine, she was robbed.

In reality she is the only one in the family who is not dependent on his father's money. She can always work in her husband's business.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

Source: Reuters

Justice for Delphine, she was robbed.

I don't think so. He's replacing Toledano. They're saving her to replace Bernard.

I know the structure is a bit confusing and that CD SE owns a controlling stake in LVMH but I'm not sure if that actually means Antoine is the big boss just yet.

 

[Lola701]

I’m sure she will replace Bernard.
The funny thing about LVMH is that there are nieces and nephews of Arnault in the company too.
This game is like playing chess. They all seems very close and supportive of each other but I think part of this is also because they have that common thing to « report » to their father. It will be interesting to see the family dynamic evolve even more now that they are all building their own families…

I wonder if Linda Evangelista’s son will have some sort of opportunity to be involved in his father’s company.

 

[gallianostan]

There's no thread for it but Dior Pre-Fall 23 is really good! A huge improvement over last season.

It's easily my favorite RTW collection from her so far.

there is a thread and we've been dragging it - Christian Dior Pre-Fall 2023 Paris

 

[Deleted member 7575]

there is a thread and we've been dragging it - Christian Dior Pre-Fall 2023 Paris

Thanks!

 

[Frederic01]

Delphine Arnault is the new CEO of Dior. Pietro Beccari is headed to Louis Vuitton. Interesting to see what changes in terms of creative or artistic direction under her helm...


CORDELIA DE CASTELLANE

 

[THD96]

The race for Bernard's title is heating up, This is only between Antoine and Delphine, the other three brothers are already in their places.
I'm on team Delphine all the way. She contributed to Dior and LV success throughout the years proving that she is ready, meanwhile, Antoine failed to even make Berluti relevant.

I hope that with her arrival Dior can be fashion-forward again. Her LV has already proven that you can be a commercial success while still keeping your fashion integrity. It's alarming that LV now offers more fashion than Dior.

Can you imagine Christian Dior archives through the lens of Nicolas, Nicolas Haute Couture? A total dream.

 

[Lola701]

^^
I mean Delphine is the reason MGC is at Dior…
I don’t know if her taking over Dior means something in terms of change of creative direction…Even if the aesthetic of Dior seems quite removed from her personal style.
She knows Dior very well as she worked there with Galliano and she is good with talents. I would love to see her hire a new designer to signal in a way her arrival or a new dynamic.

Pietro Beccari did a great job at transforming Dior into a lifestyle brand. That seemed to have been his mission and he executed it perfectly.

One thing about Bernard Arnault is that he learned a great deal on the sneaky way he took over LVMH. He keeps everybody in the family happy in terms of responsability. He is playing with the strength, interests and ambitions of his children.

Delphine is obviously the most capable and competent. Alexandre comes second.

 

[LadyJunon]

The race for Bernard's title is heating up, This is only between Antoine and Delphine, the other three brothers are already in their places.
I'm on team Delphine all the way. She contributed to Dior and LV success throughout the years proving that she is ready, meanwhile, Antoine failed to even make Berluti relevant.

I hope that with her arrival Dior can be fashion-forward again. Her LV has already proven that you can be a commercial success while still keeping your fashion integrity. It's alarming that LV now offers more fashion than Dior.

Can you imagine Christian Dior archives through the lens of Nicolas, Nicolas Haute Couture? A total dream.

That would be smart considering Nicolas' demi-couture background at Balenciaga and he has done wonders for Louis Vuitton's ready-to-wear offering. Also, it would allow him to leave the "shadow of Virgil" that has only worsened with thatnewly implemented changing designer model on the Menswear side.

^^
I mean Delphine is the reason MGC is at Dior…
I don’t know if her taking over Dior means something in terms of change of creative direction…Even if the aesthetic of Dior seems quite removed from her personal style.
She knows Dior very well as she worked there with Galliano and she is good with talents. I would love to see her hire a new designer to signal in a way her arrival or a new dynamic.

Pietro Beccari did a great job at transforming Dior into a lifestyle brand. That seemed to have been his mission and he executed it perfectly.

One thing about Bernard Arnault is that he learned a great deal on the sneaky way he took over LVMH. He keeps everybody in the family happy in terms of responsability. He is playing with the strength, interests and ambitions of his children.

Delphine is obviously the most capable and competent. Alexandre comes second.

While I'm sure that she appreciates what Becccari and Chuiri has done for Dior, I feel that she might desire to put Dior back in the limelight by hiring a designer who can deliver a more "fashion" proposition for "Haute Couture" and "Défilé" offering,

 

[Frederic01]

^^
I mean Delphine is the reason MGC is at Dior…

That's so interesting! I always thought Sidney Toledano was responsible for hiring MGC. The documentary "Inside Dior" gives the strong impression that it was all Toledano that was making the creative director choices?

It will be interesting to see if anything changes at Dior later this year. I see that on LinkedIn there are a lot of positions in the design and studio team that are starting specifically in July 2023. I might be reading into this, but isn't that when MGC's could potentially expire? The announcement of her appointment was made in July 2016...

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I don't think the change came out of any drastic need for maneuvers at Dior or Vuitton.

I wouldn't expect any drastic changes in creative leadership.. just yet.

If anything Vuitton menswear will be affected.

Anyways, I wonder how this works into the rumor that I heard about Philo doing Vuitton.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

The race for Bernard's title is heating up, This is only between Antoine and Delphine, the other three brothers are already in their places.
I'm on team Delphine all the way. She contributed to Dior and LV success throughout the years proving that she is ready, meanwhile, Antoine failed to even make Berluti relevant.

I hope that with her arrival Dior can be fashion-forward again. Her LV has already proven that you can be a commercial success while still keeping your fashion integrity. It's alarming that LV now offers more fashion than Dior.

Can you imagine Christian Dior archives through the lens of Nicolas, Nicolas Haute Couture? A total dream.

Yes, a bunch of heavy, clunky space costumes.

Kidding. Half kidding.

Actually, I think his wardrobing for Brigitte Macron has already been an interesting trial run for the Dior job.

Maybe he will go to Dior and she will go to Armani.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ He’s absolutely capable of brilliance. But yes, clunky spacesuits with overly-complicated lacey trains and overly-disproportionate footwear would likely be more in line with his current preference. He’s not returning to the best of his Balenciaga anytime soon. So no thank you for Nicolas’ current state of sensibility translating to couture. I’ll take Maria Grazia’s couture anytime, anyday, anywhere over whatever overwrought, ironic, trolling fashions-- and made more insufferable with MAS’ styling, that will inevitably take form should he be doing couture in his current aesthetic trajectory. I can’t suffer any faSHON from this era anymore. Nicolas is a fantastic talent, of course (and his S/S 23 offering is a back to form of sort). Just that nowadays worse than faSHON, is smug faSHON. And him and MAS have been marinating in an air of smugness for a while now.

(Would love to seeing Maria Grazia rebrand Armani. Of course it’s always good to see an OG icon still heading his own label successfully, but whatever state of sensibility he’s been brewing in for a good decade has been so mother-of-the-bride gaudy: The proportions, the fabrics, the prints, and that hideous colour-palette of pink/purple/blue that’s been the mainstay of baby/doll clothes. Returning the Armani silhouette to a more reserved and quietly classic, even conservative one, will be a much needed welcome. And with her, it would be thankfully free of any nostalgic, retro trappings. Yes, please.)

 

[gallianostan]

I can’t suffer any faSHON from this era anymore. Nicolas is a fantastic talent, of course (and his S/S 23 offering is a back to form of sort). Just that nowadays worse than faSHON, is smug faSHON.

i'm curious to know what you think are the main characteristics of faSHON today? i've been thinking about this quite a bit too; right now i identify those 'faSHUN' sensibilities mostly in daniel roseberry's work for schiaparelli, or in the renewed interest we're seeing in mugler's archives. but the more that i think about it, it seems as though this approach is becoming increasingly commonplace. idk about you but i see faSHUN as fundamentally just the dragification of fashion.

 

[LadyJunon]

i'm curious to know what you think are the main characteristics of faSHON today? i've been thinking about this quite a bit too; right now i identify those 'faSHUN' sensibilities mostly in daniel roseberry's work for schiaparelli, or in the renewed interest we're seeing in mugler's archives. but the more that i think about it, it seems as though this approach is becoming increasingly commonplace. idk about you but i see faSHUN as fundamentally just the dragification of fashion.

I always considered "faSHUN" to mean loud, Galliano/Mugler/drag derived clothes made solely for social media with no depth behind them. While I consider Ghesquiére's clothes to be loud, they lack that shallow hyperfemiminity to appeal to the "faSHUN" crowd.

I know that while today's Ghesquiére is questionable at times, I just want is for Dior to be remotely directional again, wearability be damned.

 

[gallianostan]

I always considered "faSHUN" to mean loud, Galliano/Mugler/drag derived clothes made solely for social media with no depth behind them.

i agree, and i think it's important you included "derived" because ultimately these new sensibilities and the clothes they inspire merely try to imitate or replicate the greats, e.g. galliano and mcqueen. it's important that we create a distinction between what they did and what these new kids are doing, because they're entirely different. the new generation lacks the wit, nuance, and intellect that the masters had. even galliano's worst shows had an interesting context, each look with its own shades of layered meaning. there was a finesse and effortlessness that this generation sorely lacks. it may have been ostentatious at times, but it was always authentic, technically excellent, and very rarely, if ever, overwrought. nowadays, everyone wants to create instant faSHUN moments, and that's what's given rise to this increasingly draggy fashion climate. what these new kids fail to understand is that drag is, whether we like it or not, low culture. low culture can never truly be haute.