fashionologie

Olivier Theyskens Rumored to Have Turned Down Top Jobs at Valentino, Christian Dior

fashionologie — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:50:30 PDT

>> Rumors have Olivier Theyskens waiting to take over at Lanvin in 2012, but how about some rumors on top of rumors? Hint reports: "Remember years ago when Theyskens, at only 25, was interviewing at Givenchy and asked for a salary twice that of [Alexander] McQueen's when he started? (They refused.) Well, he's either a skilled negotiator or self-saboteur. We hear that in the last several years he's turned down the job at both Valentino - despite a fortune proposed by Marzotto Group - and Dior. And get this: it seems he turned down Dior not once, but twice. Why? Because, according to conventional wisdom, there is no life after Dior. Many see it as an ailing house and view John Galliano as a protege of Helene Arnault, wife of LVMH (and Dior) owner Bernard Arnault." [Hint]

fashionologie — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:58:26 PDT

>> Bernard Arnault, Francois Pinault Are Playing Nice, Still Rich -With the lapse of almost a decade since the fight over Gucci, LVMH's Bernard Arnault and PPR's Francois Pinault are experiencing a detente, symbolized by their willingness to appear on the cover of French business magazine Challenges together this week. The accompanying story credits Arnault's wife, Helene, with the warming of feelings when she embraced Pinault's wife Maryvonne at an event last November. Since, the Arnaults invited the Pinaults to dinner on May 26. The magazine also tabulates France's largest fortunes, with Arnault (14.58 billion euros) in second, the Hermes family (7.68bn euros) in fourth, Pinault (4.95bn euros) in sixth, and Alain Wertheimer and family, owner of Chanel, (3.5bn euros) in tenth. [WWD]

Bernard Arnault Doesn't Like Plastic Pendants on His Dior Bags

fashionologie — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 15:05:24 PST

>> So just how does the richest man in France, and one of the most powerful in fashion, do it? A profile in the March 2009 issue of WSJ. gives us a clue about the dealings of Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, who Anna Wintour says "has a very strong understanding of what [his] designers do. If he’s concerned about something, he’ll speak up, but he’ll never tell them, ‘Do this’ or ‘Do that.”

But he will give them a strong hint. When John Galliano was presenting the Pre-Fall 2009 collection to buyers in Paris, Arnault came to oversee. Twenty-three models are escorted in for Arnault's perusal, and Galliano "reads nervously in English from a prepared speech to explain the source of his inspiration: Dior seen through the erotic lens of photographer Helmut Newton":

Arnault, seated on a white sofa, focuses on two ingredients: Is the piece “Dior” enough and is it priced right? “Ah, this is true Dior,” he states definitively of a black waist-cinched suit with pleated pockets. “It’s Dior safari,” he says of a beige coat with fox-fur collar. A skirt suit in Prince of Wales check appears: “The Dior woman will like this and will want to come back season after season,” he says.

"Ça, c’est beau - how much is it?” Arnault asks as a tall blond model stands before him in a $1,500 red double-face wool dress. “Will that sell?” he asks of an embroidered $15,000 cream-colored gown. (The answer was yes, in Monaco, Hong Kong and Moscow.) “Why not use those black masks for the ad campaign?” “If you tell me so, sir,” Galliano answers.

Now about those pesky plastic pendants »