We have been reporting on this issue for the past six-months and if things keep going they way they have been we will be at it for another six, but the latest industry buzz is that Marc Jacobs will not be heading to Christian Dior. The French Fashion label has been without an experienced creative director for the better part of a year now since former creative director John Galliano was dismissed after a widely publicized, profane and anti-Semitic outburst in a Paris bistro. Jacobs, who currently occupies the creative director role with Louis Vuitton was long considered the favorite choice after attempts to secure other big name designers like Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz, Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton and fashion industry maverick Azzedine Alia fell through.
However the most recent statements from Dior insiders point toward talks between Jacobs and the fashion house breaking down due to the designer’s request to bring his current creative team over from Louis Vuitton. Usually the opportunity to take a competitor’s entire creative staff would be something a fashion house would jump on, but in this case both Dior and Louis Vuitton are controlled by French conglomerate LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) which has no desire to rebuild one label’s creative team by tearing apart another.
As of the writing of this article Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) as well as a few other fashion news outlets point to Raf Simmons, Alexander Wang and Jason Wu as being the front runners for the position, though Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci is apparently still an outside option. Still many have doubts that Wu, Simmons or Wang, all young designers currently growing their own labels, would have much interest being swallowed up by the marque name that is Christian Dior. Currently the creative director role at Dior is being filled by Bill Gayten, Galliano’s long time pattern maker and design assistant, who despite a clearly committed effort has not been very well received as a creative director for a major fashion label.
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