Christophe Decarnin is out at Balmain, according to a statement from the brand. The former head designer was notably absent from the Fall '11 show, and Cathy Horyn says he might have left as early as the start of the year. It's rumoured that Decarnin barely talked to the company CEO towards the end of his stint, and sources have suggested he might have been in a mental hospital at show time.

Horyn believes Decarning "hit some kind of personal impasse and lost control of the label." She adds: "Balmain’s success in the Decarnin years was based on a relatively simple formula of impeccably tailored jackets, tough pants, t-shirts and sexy beaded dresses - all for staggering sums - and Mr. Decarnin may have felt stuck in recent months about his direction. Designers are indeed under a lot of pressure, some of it self-imposed, to create relevant collections. Shy and introverted, with a label that had its admirers and critics, Mr. Decarnin may have been more vulnerable than others to that pressure."

The designer's successor hasn't been announced yet, but it's thought that his replacement will be someone from inside Balmain. Melanie Ward, a stylist who formerly worked at Helmut Lang, is rumoured to be at the top of the list. She took over Emmanuelle Alt's consulting and styling job at the label when Alt left to helm Vogue Paris.