Speculation abounds about what Nicolas Ghesquière's life will look like after he leaves Balenciaga, but there are some in the industry who aren't confident he'll be able to start a signature label.

"I don't see private equity or hedge funds backing (a Ghesquière) brand, because of time horizon and fashion risk," said Pierre Mallevays of the London investment bank Savigny Partners in an interview with WWD. "Only a strong group with a confident vision and the means to boot would seriously contemplate that. The temptation for any such potential backer will be to try to apply Ghesquière's talent to an established brand with operating leverage, not just to a start-up, however prestigious."

Mallevays is one of a number of financiers and other business experts who said starting a brand from scratch — even a brand built on a talent like Ghesquière's — is a risky proposition. Their commentary comes on the heels of Karl Lagerfeld saying it wouldn't be "a bad idea" for Ghesquière to start his own line, as well as rumors that Bernard Arnault and LVMH have already offered him the ability to do so.

Sources claiming to be close to Ghesquière say he'll take a break from designing but has been "seriously considering" starting his own brand and is open to working for another house.

Photo: Nicolas Ghesquière in the March 2010 issue of Numéro.

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The latest designer partnership to make the news isn't a mass market effort. Instead, Rei Kawakubo has channeled what she calls an "immense respect for Hermès' tradition and artisanal know-how" into two capsule collections of carrés, the French company's iconic silk scarves.

"During this joint project, rather than being guided by the idea of the scarf as it is worn, I became interested instead in the beautiful 'artworks' that the designs on Hermès carrés represent, and I sought to change them by adding elements," Kawakubo said. "By combining them with abstract images, we have transformed the carré and created a unique object."

Both collections, one featuring black and white designs and one with colorful geometric patterns, will be available in February. The five black and white scarves will retail for €380 (or $493 at current exchange) at the Comme des Garcons stores in the Aoyama neighborhood of Tokyo, and in New York and Paris. Six color scarves will range from €380 to €1,600 (about $2,076) at the Dover Street Markets in London and Tokyo.

Kawakubo is noted for a number of high-profile collaborations with brands like H&M and Louis Vuitton, but an Hermès product partnership is harder to come by. Perhaps that's changing, though: news also broke today that Hermès is lending one of its scarf designs to the French postal service's annual Valentine's Day stamp collection.

Related: A Look Back at Rei Kawakubo's Comme des Garcons
Photo courtesy of Comme des Garcons