Bernard Arnault of LVMH has said that Dior won't be hasty naming John Galliano's replacement, WWD is reporting that advisers have compiled a list of suggested successors. Among them: Riccardo Tisci, Tom Ford, Hedi Slimane, Olivier Theyskens, Nicolas Ghesquiere, Alber Elbaz, Haider Ackermann, Prabal Gurung and Sarah Burton.
This comes after false rumours that Tisci had already accepted the position; he's supposedly the favorite of Delphine Arnault, Dior's deputy managing director and daughter of Bernard. As for Burton, WWD reports that if she dresses Kate Middleton for this month's royal wedding, her chances will shoot through the roof. WWD says: "According to a source, Bernard Arnault is transfixed by royalty, and would be keen to launch Dior alongside the next-generation couple, just as Princess Diana helped catapult the image of the brand in 1995 when she toted a Lady Dior bag and, a year later, donned a midnight-blue, bias-cut Dior gown by Galliano to attend the Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art."
DespiteJohn Galliano's swift booting from Christian Dior after the designer's anti-Semitic rant in Paris, it took until now for him to be ousted as head designer at his eponymous label. Now, the board of the label has decided to let him go. According to WWD: "It is understood the in-house design team at John Galliano, which shares members with Dior’s, will be charged with producing collections at a house prized for bias-cut dresses, newspaper prints and retro-tinged tailoring. A pre-spring collection is already said to be in the works."
The Galliano brand, 91-percent owned by Dior, isn't up for sale, but several parties have indicated they might like to buy it. As for the disgraced designer, he's finished an "intensive" month in an Arizona rehab facility and is said to be in "after care."
If you ask Donna Karan, John Galliano's anti-Semitic comments were overblown. She said on Wedneday: "I know John. I’ve met John. He’s a wonderful designer, a brilliant designer, and he probably needs help and support right now. To be a designer’s a very taskful situation, and sometimes it can push a few limits." Karan, who is Jewish, further explained: "I also come from a spiritual level where I care for everybody. I don’t believe you win anything by fighting. The only way we can retrieve peace is by love and compassion."
Word was, John Galliano had checked into rehab at Meadows in Arizona, but it seems that he's out. Sunday at LAX, he drew heat from reporters, including a staffer from TMZ. So yes, he's now officially worthy of paparazzi stalking. (See the video here.) One reporter at the Los Angeles airport called the designer "f*cking racist", but Galliano didn't speak a word to anyone in return.
Jamie Hince has just become the latest person to comment on John Galliano's anti-semitic statements, which got him fired from Dior last month. First off, Hince was quick to squash rumours that his fiancee, Kate Moss, would wear a wedding dress by the designer, calling the speculation "unfounded entirely." He went on to say that he believes Galliano's problem is one of alcohol abuse, not politics.
From Hince's point of view: "I don't even know John that well, but I feel like people have got to see reason here. John has a problem with alcohol, and the reality is that when we're in trouble, and that's all of us, we say the most violent, cursed things. You can judge them on the stupid words they said — which I think were stupid, I hope that goes without saying — or you can dig a bit deeper and you can try and find out what the problem is. And I think it's obvious that it's alcohol. People are trying to say those are his politics. 'I love Hitler' — that's not political, that's somebody in trouble."
Just in case you're not already tired of the constant speculation about John Galliano's successor at Dior, we come baring more news. A source revealed to Fashionista that despite Riccardo Tisci remaining the front runner, the company will not announce an appointment until towards the end of the year.
Understandably bosses want to revert the attention back to the collection and away from the controvery and speculation and Galliano is yet to be formally fired. After Natalie Portman made a stand about not being associated with Galliano in any way, it begs the question of whether other celebrities and creatives will snub the brand? Will a star taking the risk of wearing Dior on the red carpet and risk allegations of complicity? We doubt it.
The Guardian are at the centre of strong criticism at the moment, after Hedi Slimane's people firmly discredited a recent piece that ran in the newspaper, which suggested that the photographer would reject a job offer at Dior. According to Slimane, the interview was taken before the whole John Gallianosaga, so they deliberately postponed publishing the piece in order to cash in on the controversy.
I never really liked sort of what [Galliano] did so much. I liked better what McQueen did. I liked better what Vivienne Westwood did. So now I don’t like it, and he’s a Jew hater? I was like, ‘buh-bye’…Galliano was more of a fetishist to me. He was more of a fetishist than a democrat. And I refer to him in the past tense, because I don’t think he’ll work again. I hope not. I hope he doesn’t work again.
It was only a matter of time before the drama circulating John Galliano would have an impact on the commercial viability of his namesake brand. Despite Christian Dior agreeing to continue its support for the brand, many are speculating that, that won't last long, especially considering that the brand has never been a big earner so the ongoing drama definitely isn't helping.
It doesn't end there. A spokesperson from Saks revealed that "John Galliano's men's collection, of which we had a small presentation, is no longer on the floor of our New York store." The move hardly came as a surprise especially since the general manager of their flagship store said: "We have values like I hope everyone else has. What happened was not right, and we would not want to carry his merchandise in honor of our customers and my employees that work in the store."
I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano's comments that surfaced today... In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way. I hope at the very least, these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.
