Who Will Succeed John Galliano At Dior? #1

[pen6693]

And now we're back to where we started...

 

[mikeijames]

i could see lvmh bringing galliano back.....to his eponymous house NOT to dior. remember, there also exist a number of celebrities that would not wear dior -- nor pose in their campaigns -- if galliano returned.

 

[Label Basher]

Further complicating matters is that Phoebe Philo, the preferred candidate of LVMH kingpin Bernard Arnault to take over Vuitton should Jacobs shift to Dior, is said to have been cool to that scenario, preferring to continue her minimalist makeover of the Céline fashion house, which — like Givenchy — is part of Arnault’s sprawling luxury empire.

wwd.com

Thank you for that.

 

[Pradable]

Ohhh! Jason Wu or Alexander Wang, tweeted by Glamour Magazine...

 

[mackos]

Alexander Wang for Christian Dior? Are we still being serious?

 

[iluvjeisa]

It's so cold outside - and now this.

 

[Flashbang]

What if... they rehired Galliano BUT under someone's name (Gaytten, etc)
Like, "We forgive you, under one condition..."

 

[blackcherrified]

IMHO given all that drama at dior since the Galliano incident, they probably should consider one option...

closing down dior and let maybe a decade pass by before reopening the house again...

like what was once commented (I can't remember who said it...), one can pinpoint what's a Chanel woman, a Valentino woman... but the identity of a Dior woman is ambigious...

And it's interesting to note that Monsieur Christian Dior himself is at helm of his own eponymous brand for only 11 years, while the remainder 54 years of the 65 years, YSL took 3 years, Marc Bohan took another 29 years, Gianfranco Ferre took 7 years and Galliano took 15 years... if we want to be fair to the designers, the house should actually be called "Marc Bohan" (since he was at helm for the longest and he created the Slim look and Peter Pan look for the house)... so... who is actually the main source of aesthetic for the house? Who's archive, which era should the new designer reference to to create new lines for the brand?

I seriously think that Dior executives should sit down and discuss what is the future for Dior... Is Dior the new Givenchy? (no offense to Givenchy brand but it seems like a "training school" to LVMH... with the examples appointing Galliano, McQueen, Julien MacDonald and Riccardo Tisci, relatively young designers for short terms before moving them to a bigger brand, or forcing them out)

Anyway, with successful examples like Vionnet and Lanvin... I think Dior should take that route...

 

[Thefrenchy]

^Closing Dior as a whole? That's silly. Just look at how profitable Dior is. Just because the charismatic former head designer was fired doesn't mean it should close down

 

[mikeijames]

@blackcherrified i'd imagine they've had nothing BUT those type of conversations. even when galliano remained at the helm, the house had found itself in the midst of an identity crisis. one just has to look at the "dior borehouse" thread to witness the transformation of the house before galliano's meltdown. i'd imagine that any creative director who makes it to the final round of interviews would have a compelling view of where to take this brand. as for houses dior should emulate? dior would find itself insulted to imitate houses like lanvin or balenciaga or jil sander mainly because it has aspirations to compete with powerhouses like chanel or burberry or vuitton or gucci. houses that have some design integrity but who have product lines that appeal to all parts of the market. very few creative designers have it in their ability to invigorate a house with that type of reach. that's why they're chasing marc jacobs so....

 

[Marc10]

It will be really funny, to say the least, if after all this saga, Galliano comes back to Dior. But it's the right thing to do, I can't really see anyone who can't take his place. Plus, I have a feeling that he's comeback collection will be legendary.

 

[jmrmartinho]

Oliver NOW!

 

[neonsprinkles]

^ 100$ agreed. This needs to happen, even if there's a risk involved- he's young enough to grow and develop his own identity into Dior in the same manner as Riccardo Tisci (his earlier collections for Givenchy were pretty weak/shakey...but after a few years of really engraining his identity into it, he's really taking strides).

Oliver for Dior!!!

 

[blackcherrified]

^Closing Dior as a whole? That's silly. Just look at how profitable Dior is. Just because the charismatic former head designer was fired doesn't mean it should close down

Haha not as a whole, but maybe lie low for a while to reorganize itself...

@blackcherrified i'd imagine they've had nothing BUT those type of conversations. even when galliano remained at the helm, the house had found itself in the midst of an identity crisis. one just has to look at the "dior borehouse" thread to witness the transformation of the house before galliano's meltdown. i'd imagine that any creative director who makes it to the final round of interviews would have a compelling view of where to take this brand. as for houses dior should emulate? dior would find itself insulted to imitate houses like lanvin or balenciaga or jil sander mainly because it has aspirations to compete with powerhouses like chanel or burberry or vuitton or gucci. houses that have some design integrity but who have product lines that appeal to all parts of the market. very few creative designers have it in their ability to invigorate a house with that type of reach. that's why they're chasing marc jacobs so....

Ummm. what I meant was that for Dior to lie low for a while before having a come back, not saying to emulate the business model of Lanvin or Vionnet... the brand should sit down and re-think the brand's identity and future direction...

I think LVMH should let Bill Gaytten be at the helm until the identity crisis of Dior is settled... instead of finding any random designer and throw that person up there. he's doing a pretty good job for SS12 (but yes... FW11 couture is a wreakage...)

 

[Lee MG Tisci]

i love Galliano as a designer but i don't think he should come back to Dior, i prefer to see him back to his namesake brand exclusively and focus all his energy there to do his magic

i think it's time for Dior to start a new era with a young really talented designer
and please not Wang or Wu, nothing against them but they're a totally different kind of designers and Dior is just too big for them..
.

 

[Squizree]

Jason Wu? Really? Have they lost their minds? I mean Wu is nice and all, but putting him where Galliano used to be is like replacing Big Ben with a watch.

 

[Pradable]

Definitely the best choice is Olivier... C'mon I can imagine Wu or Wang with they sporty american style at Dior RTW and would be worse with the HC line... just saying

 

[thejarc]

First I think that thete are a lot of talented and young designers that could 'grow' into the role of a couturier. Look at riccardo at givenchy, he has done wonderful things.

And after careful consideration I think that, next to Olivier of course, that Iris van Herpen could do absolutely jawdropping things at the house of Dior. Her work might not seem classical enough but she has the creativity and the understanding of the technical side. Her asthetic combined with a more classical one lik Dior's would be heavenly.

I would wish that LVMH would be a bit more daring in their consideration of designers (come on, Marc Jacobs, are you serious?) maybe choosing one with a more edgy aesthetic. They make most of their money with make-up, perfums and bags anyway. So why going safe and boring with the clothes?

 

[mikeijames]

^i don't think that lvmh nor arnault has that "daring" spirit.....remember, galliano found his place due to anna wintour championing him. something tells me that if she really threw her weight behind someone, they would've made their decision by now.

 

[agee]

One thing that stuck out to me from the luxurysociety.com article is that there may be waning interest in the position because as of this point none of the name-brand designers want to be seen as the third, fourth or fifth choice for the job, I get that. I don't think that the protracted search has hurt the brand in terms of sales, but I can see why, at this point, if someone (other than the three upcoming names that I mention) is named the Creative Director (CD) s/he will have added challenges on his / her hands. I think that the options are at this point: 1) Name Gaytten the permanent CD; 2) Name Gaytten the interim CD for an extended period of time like a year (in order to get a breather from this search); 3) Re-appoint Galliano; 4) Appoint Tisci since his was the first name in the hat.

My guess is that they are going to go with either of the first two choices. As a fashion spectator I would love to see some flamboyant genius join the house who will create spectacular collections but I don't know if that is needed at Dior. No matter what I want, I know that there are examples of other houses that are thriving after elevating second bananas to the top spot like Alexander McQueen, Gucci and Valentino and I doubt if that has escaped LVMH's notice. At the end of the day they are really in it to sell more handbags and other accessories, and cosmetics and fragrances. They also want to sell clothes and service their haute couture clients but I don't know if Dior's core RTW customers are trendy, and when it comes to haute couture customers are they loyal to Dior because of the CD or because of their relationships with the atelier. At this point, I am not sure if a flamboyant genius is much more beneficial to the house than a mild-mannered designer who will create nice but not earth shattering clothes.