YSL Store Manager Fired For Not Recognizing Creative Director ?

[HeatherAnne]

What Happens When YSL's L.A. Boutique Doesn't Recognize Designer Hedi Slimane

The manager of the Rodeo Drive store hit a career hurdle when the brand’s boss dropped in.

By now, the Hollywood fashion community is quite aware that YSL's new Creative Director Hedi Slimane -- best known for making ths skinny men's suit famous at Dior Homme years ago -- has decided to bring the newly named Saint Laurent Paris design team to his home base since 2007 -- Los Angeles. No major European house has ever designed luxury clothes out of the West Coast, but as the new hope to revive the slagging sales of YSL, Slimane now holds all the cards with the Gucci-owned brand. He relocated to L.A. after he left Dior Homme -- and fashion design in general -- for the sunnier shores of L.A., where Slimane reinvented himself as a photographer. He actually had many shows around town.

Word is, according to sources who talked to THR, Slimane will work out of YSL's Paris offices right before a runway show -- like the spring 2013 one to be shown in Paris in early October -- but do the rest of the design out of L.A. So it stands to reason that the L.A. climate and lifestyle will probably turn up in his collections somehow.

But not everyone knows Hedi Slimane's face. It isn't like he's Karl Lagerfeld or Marc Jacobs. He's never done a ton of interviews or posed for many magazine spreads. So when he walked into the YSL boutique recently, some staff members simply failed to recognize him. When the store's manager approached him and didn't know his name, he simply fired him on the spot, our source reports.

The YSL store on Rodeo is reportedly, according to Rodeo Drive sources, now indeed looking for a new manager. Reps at YSL did not get back to us by presstime.

thehollywoodreporter

 

[GERGIN]

Is this for real? If the Manager didn't know who was the current designer of the house then how did he succeed as a Manager for that YSL location? Did he even know Pilati was at the helm? Wow some people these days...

 

[HeatherAnne]

I agree with you, people have an obligation to know all about the company they are working for, including who the head-honcho is (I've never understood that Undercover Boss show for this very reason), but to fire someone on the spot because they don't know who you are is quite pompous.

 

[GERGIN]

^
It does sound pompous but this is a major fashion label we're talking about. To know about the company you work for is a big deal. Suppose a customer walks in and asks who designs the clothes and your response was "Oh I don't know, they got some new talent who I seem to not know about. As I for some reason do not have any access to the internet or I just don't care"

That to me is someone who only does not know about the company, but someone who is completely disrespecting the company for not caring about what is happening in the work environment he/she is in.

And besides, i'd love to what the sources were for this information, as I think it was probably taken way out of context. But still, I don't know anyone stupid enough to not want to know about the people that they work under, that's a big no no in any industry and this person totally deserved to lose his/her position.

 

[LagerfeldBoy]

Firing the Manager from the Rodeo boutique is a little excessive, no? I mean, for someone that works at a prestigious brand like YSL, I feel it's kind of expected to at least know who the current creative director is. Nonetheless, firing someone is just a bit too much of a punishment. The least Hedi and the other notable key people at YSL could've done is at least have a talk with the manager and let him be notified who Hedi is. Poor guy, though.

 

[Thefrenchy]

What an *******! I hope that will be denied later, because it will make me lose a hell lot of respect for him.

I just wonder if they didn't recognize his name or his face. If they didn't recognize his name then that's a bit of a shame but it was clearly not necessary to fire them on the spot. If they didn't recognize him physically, the whole thing is just plain ridiculous. I mean, he's quite basic looking and I'm pretty sure it would take me some time to recognize him too...

Ah, designers and their egos...

 

[alonsoJonathan]

if that is true,that is Pure BS. woww that guy really need a reallity check. fired someone just for that? SMH

 

[style_expert]

All these stories/scandals/rumors/changes/whatever about HS at YSL are becoming quite excessive and boring. It's about time we actually get to see a collection....isn't designing what he's supposed to do after all?

 

[haydn]

I'm sure there must be more to this story... Not recognizing a designer who's been quite elusive and out of the public eye for a while, that's understandable.

My bet is that he walked in and nobody approached him as he was most likely wearing jeans and a t-shirt and looked unkept... I was in this store last year and didn't have a "welcoming" experience, so if he had the same, it's understandable. But still, curious to know more about this story!

 

[LUXXX]

That Hollywood Reporter story displays a very vile human being...instead of having a sense of humor, he has to act a fool. He is not as recognizable as Karl Lagerfeld or Tom Ford, and should most certainly get that ego in check.

 

[Chanelcouture09]

That report would have to be false, that is unfair dismissal by all accounts, when they fire him what reason would they give ? he didn't know the head designers name so we fired him ? that looks fantastic to the public persona of the company, for a company wanting to rebuild or enhance it's profile with it's new head designer.

 

[TianSoFine]

Is this for real? If the Manager didn't know who was the current designer of the house then how did he succeed as a Manager for that YSL location? Did he even know Pilati was at the helm? Wow some people these days...

The article didn't imply that the manager didn't know that Hedi Slimane is the current designer, but rather that he didn't recognize his face. I think that's completely fair, and the article makes a good point: his face isn't as publicly displayed and recognizable like the faces of Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Alber Elbaz, etc. I consider myself relatively knowledgeable about fashion and I don't know what Hedi's face looks like.

 

[Lee MG Tisci]

^ exactly, plus he's been practically retired until now..
if this story is true i think that is totally unprofessional what Hedi did, he is the new person in the company.. the right thing to do would probably be that Hedi introduces himself as the new boss to the staff, he just can't expect that everybody knows how he looks like or even who he is.

 

[before]

This has to be true, Hollywood Reporter isn't some low level tabloid.

 

[Melancholybaby]

If it is true then my feelings towards towards his personality were right...he always rubbed me the wrong way and this incident shows why.

 

[botoxmolecula]

Does a creative director have the power to fire a store manager?

It would be interesting to know what the boss of YSL thinks about the attitude of his new employee.

 

[dior_couture1245]

Well...to be honest, it doesn't surprise me at all that the store manager was fired. Do any of you realize how extremely unprofessional it is for the manager for such a high end boutique to know so little about and of what is going on within his own company? At this level of retail, the customer can be and often is a demanding one and those who work at these stores have to know the product inside and out and need to know even the basics of the collections, ie, inspiration, etc. What would this manager have said had a customer asked his opinion on the new creative director? Did he even know that that was news?

To not even know who Hedi Slimane is is unacceptable. It's one thing to not know Hedi if you do not work or even care about fashion...but to be so involved and not know? That's embarrassing.

And come on...in this day and age, there's even less of an excuse - anyone can google and find out everything they need to know about someone or a news item in less than 5 minutes. I, for one, do not feel sorry for this manager.

 

[reese06]

Do people actually believe this happened? In today's climate, this would be an incredibly stupid move. It's not a fair reason to fire someone and a company of this size wouldn't risk a lawsuit over something like that without a paper trail of incompetence. Not knowing his face when he walked in doesn't mean that he doesn't know anything about the designer, product, etc...

 

[GERGIN]

Well...to be honest, it doesn't surprise me at all that the store manager was fired. Do any of you realize how extremely unprofessional it is for the manager for such a high end boutique to know so little about and of what is going on within his own company? At this level of retail, the customer can be and often is a demanding one and those who work at these stores have to know the product inside and out and need to know even the basics of the collections, ie, inspiration, etc. What would this manager have said had a customer asked his opinion on the new creative director? Did he even know that that was news?

To not even know who Hedi Slimane is is unacceptable. It's one thing to not know Hedi if you do not work or even care about fashion...but to be so involved and not know? That's embarrassing.

And come on...in this day and age, there's even less of an excuse - anyone can google and find out everything they need to know about someone or a news item in less than 5 minutes. I, for one, do not feel sorry for this manager.

Thank you!

This is Yves Saint Laurent, not Brooks Brothers!

A manager of a very high luxury boutique is required to know these things, to show any sign of little interest in their work or who they work under do not deserve this position they were given.

The members on here can say what they please to but until you work in management of a luxury boutique then it will all come clear to you why this may have happened. If Hedi did this or not at this point does not matter, he had every right to do so! This man has been a media phenomena for the past 5 months now and the manager still doesn't know?

In luxury there is no room for minor errors, if you're a manager of this type of retail then you worked your butt off to get to that point and you don't waste time not caring about what is going on with the business you are trying to financial strive forward with.

 

[LUXXX]

While I agree it would be nice for this guy to know who Hedi is...firing him over it? Sorry, I won't defend that unless the guy displayed some nasty attitude toward Slimane, but the story makes no mention of this. Basically, it implies that Hedi's ego was bruised by the slight, which is not a fireable offense, in my opinion.