Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH

[Vicomte]

The news is on Vogue uk. Don't know if it's official though but it seems to be sure.

KRIS VAN ASSCHE will succeed Hedi Slimane as creative director of Dior. The Belgian designer, who previously worked at the label before launching his own line in 2005, has been chosen by LVMH for his comprehensive knowledge of the company and reputation for fine tailoring. As reported yesterday, contract negotiations between Slimane and Dior had been proving difficult since last June - predominantly because Slimane was keen to start his own label, but reluctant to give up complete control of his trademark. Friction between both parties was said to be filtering down into the rest of the company, and Dior yesterday decided to cut all ties with the designer. According to WWD, the brand is looking to change the direction of its menswear but keen to keep a sense of heritage within future collections. The move, which is bound to shock many in the fashion industry, smacks of the surprising splits between Jil Sander and Helmut Lang, who both left their namesake houses in 2004 and 2005 respectively. (March 29 2007, AM)

[Johnny]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH



Bit of a dumbass comment at the endthere.

Anyway my predicition (not very surprosing this)is that Dior Homme will continue to get rubbish-er after KVA joints and Hedi will be very succesfulon his own.

[Vicomte]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH



Yep, probably, indeed. Sydney Telado (or Toledo, can't remember), president of Christian Dior, said that he wanted Dior to expand A LOT (he said so to justify the two recent collections of Dior woman, which are even worse than usual) so they need to open new stores and sell a lot. That's probably why they fired Slimane (+ his refusing to sell his name to them), because even if Dior Homme is getting more and more commercial, his designs aren't mainstream enough for them.

[Faust]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH



Johnny, do you mean rubbisher in terms of design or sales? If Gucci/Tom Ford think is any indication, the sales will be just fine.

Hedi should be successful on his own, provided he actually concentrates on design (that in itself provided he actually designed early DH for the most part, which probably was the case judging by his work at YSL).

[kucejoe]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH



Here is the WWD article.

The Hedi Days Are Over: LVMH Dumps Slimane, Van Assche Deal Near

Published: Thursday, March 29, 2007
By Miles Socha
PARIS ? Dior Homme is bidding adieu to Hedi Slimane and is close to replacing him with Kris Van Assche, WWD has learned.


Sources said the French fashion house is zeroing in on a contract with
the 30-year-old Belgian designer, who cut his teeth at Slimane's side
before launching his signature brand in 2005. An announcement is
expected in the next few days.

It is understood Dior wants to
plot a new path for its men's wear and move on from Slimane, yet with a
designer familiar with Dior Homme's codes and possessing a strong knack
for tailoring. Neither Dior officials nor Slimane could be reached for
comment Wednesday.

The ouster of Slimane ? one of luxury titan
Bernard Arnault's biggest fashion talents ? is bound to reverberate
throughout the industry, signaling stardom is no guarantee of job
security and that brand owners are not prisoners of their creative
talent. The split with Slimane mirrors those of Jil Sander and Helmut
Lang at their respective houses, which at the time were owned by Prada
Group.

As reported in WWD Wednesday, Dior became "fed up" with
Slimane's demands during protracted negotiations to renew his contract,
which expired last July. Sources said control rights were the most
contentious issue, with Slimane, an exacting sort, determined to nail
down even niggling details about brand strategy and business plans.
Since his arrival at Dior Homme, he assembled a press department
independent of the main fashion house and constructed a minimalist
atelier ? complete with a monolithic ceiling speaker ? down the road
from Dior headquarters on Rue François 1er.

The failure to
renew Slimane's contract also scuttles plans for Dior to back a Hedi
Slimane fashion house, long a dream of the designer, who was keen to
branch out into women's wear and other lifestyle categories such as
home furnishings.

Sources said Dior was willing to back a
signature house, but there were wide differences over the estimated
value of the Hedi Slimane brand and control rights. Slimane was
reluctant to give up ownership of his name, even if LVMH Moët Hennessy
Louis Vuitton owns the companies producing the collections of its other
design stars, John Galliano and Marc Jacobs.

Sources close to
Slimane indicate he is sad to leave Dior and "tried to make things
work" with the luxury giant, but ultimately he was unwilling to
compromise his work, especially concerning a label under his own name.


Slimane's next move is bound to be the subject of intense speculation,
but sources suggested his goal is to find a financial backer to launch
his signature brand, putting him in a similar position to Tom Ford, who
was shown the door after a blockbuster reign as Gucci Group's creative
director after he and Gucci Group chief executive Domenico De Sole
failed to reach new contracts with parent PPR.

Ford's
signature men's wear will be unveiled next month, and he already has
introduced fragrances with Estée Lauder and eyewear with Italy's
Marcolin Group.

WWD first reported a stalemate in contract
negotiations with Slimane last June, and noted at that time that Van
Assche was already among designers Dior contacted as a possible
successor. According to sources, talks with Van Assche reached an
advanced state on the eve of the Dior Homme show that summer, but they
suddenly halted. It is understood Dior considered other possible
candidates in the interim, but opted to resume exclusive talks with Van
Assche.

A graduate of Antwerp's famed fashion academy, Van
Assche worked with Slimane for seven years, both at Yves Saint Laurent
and Dior Homme. Known for his sartorial style ? dashed with
lighthearted and romantic touches *? he first hit the fashion radar in
2005 with the launch of his signature brand, which he shows in Paris
and sells to retailers such as Harvey Nichols, Colette, Holt Renfrew,
Bon Marché and Printemps.

Van Assche recently branched out
into women's wear, featuring such whimsical elements as an embroidered
duck motif sketched by his six-year-old niece and embroidered around
the waist of a white blouse. His concept is to use men's materials for
women's clothing, and he has shown his-and-hers styles side-by-side on
his Paris runway for two seasons.

It could not be learned if
Van Assche will continue to produce his signature brand or devote his
energies exclusively to Dior Homme.

Slimane's departure is
bound to shock many in the industry, given the impact he's had on men's
fashion, making skinny suits and tight, low-riding jeans the epitome of
cool for today's young generations. He also transformed Dior Homme into
the must-see show of Men's Fashion Week in Paris, drawing a Who's Who
of the art, music and fashion worlds.

Designer Karl Lagerfeld
famously shed more than 90 pounds simply to be able to shimmy into
Slimane's spare, graphic threads, and rock stars from Mick Jagger to
Pete Doherty have belted out tunes decked out in Dior Homme.


Slimane was also given purview over men's fragrances at Dior, tapping
David Lynch to direct commercials for Fahrenheit and conceiving a
prestige skin care line called Dermo System as sleek and exacting as
his fashions, albeit with a more classic edge.

An art history
graduate from the Ecole du Louvre, Slimane burst onto the fashion scene
in the late Nineties as the men's wear creative director at YSL,
earning standing ovations for collections that were seductively
androgynous and crackling with modern energy. He was a pioneer in
inviting contemporary artists like Ugo Rondinone to put works in YSL
stores, putting his fashions in a broader cultural context.


But when Gucci Group acquired YSL in 1999, Slimane balked at a
hierarchy that had him reporting to Ford. In spring 2000, he resigned
from YSL to pursue talks about a Gucci-backed signature collection.
Prada Group also courted Slimane to take over Jil Sander, but he
ultimately accepted an offer from Arnault to join in the rejuvenation
of Dior, which was already kicking into high gear with the arrival of
Galliano.

From his first explosive show in January 2001,
attended by the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Catherine Deneuve and Cate
Blanchett, Slimane imbued Dior Homme with buzz and a strong youth
appeal. Detractors scoffed at his young and often painfully thin models
and stick-to-the-ribs styles requiring a svelte figure and a bold
attitude.

Still, his impact on fashion has been broad and many
retailers clamored for a Slimane women's line, since he already enjoyed
a cult female following, having dressed the likes of Madonna, Charlotte
Rampling, Linda Evangelista and Nicole Kidman. Slimane also recently
made a name for himself as a photographer and fine artist, with his
sculptures and paintings commanding hefty sums at the Almine Rech
gallery in Paris and at key art fairs in Europe.

Men's wear
represents about 10 percent of Dior's business globally, but is as high
as 20 percent in Japan. The Dior fashion house last year had sales of
731 million euros, or $918.3 million at average exchange rates.

[Johnny]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH

Faust I meant rubbisher in terms of the product generally, not sales at all. Think you're probably right about that. I'd be genuinely interested to see whatHS can doon a smaller scale, where maybe he takes amore, dare i say it, artisanal approahc to the clothes. While i've never been a fan personally of his work (i.e. never bought any ofit (save for one shirt)), i think he has been an extremely influental designer and that he does have real talent.

[Faust]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH



[quote user="Johnny"]Faust I meant rubbisher in terms of the product generally, not sales at all. Think you're probably right about that. I'd be genuinely interested to see whatHS can doon a smaller scale, where maybe he takes amore, dare i say it, artisanal approahc to the clothes. While i've never been a fan personally of his work (i.e. never bought any ofit (save for one shirt)), i think he has been an extremely influental designer and that he does have real talent.[/quote]

I agree. As much as I don't like what DH has become, I think Luster was the best menswear collection in the past 10 years. It just blew me away in terms of design, construction, and quality of fabrics.

[dontbecruel]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH



I never paid much attention to this stuff when it was in shops because I knew it wasn't for me but after reading this thread I went back and looked at some of the celebrated DH collections (Luster, Strip, Victim of the Crime etc) here

I really don't think they hold up well at all. It all looks very cheap, as though it was styled for a make-believe rock band in a TV drama. And most of it is just failed attempts to recreate the stuff people buy second-hand in Camden Market. Where am I supposed to see the Slimane genius?

[Faust]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH

[quote user="dontbecruel"]

I never paid much attention to this stuff when it was in shops because I knew it wasn't for me but after reading this thread I went back and looked at some of the celebrated DH collections (Luster, Strip, Victim of the Crime etc) here

I really don't think they hold up well at all. It all looks very cheap, as though it was styled for a make-believe rock band in a TV drama. And most of it is just failed attempts to recreate the stuff people buy second-hand in Camden Market. Where am I supposed to see the Slimane genius?

[/quote]

Believe me, they were anything BUT cheap. The construction and fabrics were as top notch as it can get. It was definitely very very luxe - nothing like the thrift store knock-offs of the recent days. I have handled most of that collection, and sold a ton of it on Ebay, so I got to examine it pretty closely.

[rach2jlc]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH

[quote user="Faust"]


[quote user="Johnny"]Faust I meant rubbisher in terms of the product generally, not sales at all. Think you're probably right about that. I'd be genuinely interested to see whatHS can doon a smaller scale, where maybe he takes amore, dare i say it, artisanal approahc to the clothes. While i've never been a fan personally of his work (i.e. never bought any ofit (save for one shirt)), i think he has been an extremely influental designer and that he does have real talent.[/quote]

I agree. As much as I don't like what DH has become, I think Luster was the best menswear collection in the past 10 years. It just blew me away in terms of design, construction, and quality of fabrics.

[/quote]

Me too; in fact every season up to then (was Luster after Strip? Geesh, I can't remember now). Anyway, everything before VoTC was pretty good to me even when I couldn't actually make the styling work. And, as you mentioned, the construction and quality were top notch. "Follow Me" was the collection where I bought the most pieces and they were arguably amongst the best-made things I've owned. I had the pair of black-painted Japanese denims with the baked whiskering, which were amazing (I read that they did the whiskering by hand with the jeans on a seated mannequin); I also had the over-embroidered button front shirt that looked like something a gothy Louis XIV might wear. I ended up selling both items because I'm neither a rockstar nor a French Aristocrat and so had no occasion to wear them.

But, I haven't even kept up with what's been going on after 2004 or so, because suddenly Dior became this really irritating "it" Lifestyle brand, where you could get Dior toothbrushes, shavers, bee-monogrammed bags, tshirts with "rock music slogans" on them, etc etc. that werequickly latched ontoby whiney, spoiled, angst-riddenteenagers. I realize that Hedi may not have been directly responsible for this, but nevertheless it is clear that the brand changed and wasn't what it once was.

And,to be honest, responsible or not,Hedi started getting on my nerves as well with the whole indie-rock inspiration thing.It waslike Karla, only... not. ;)

[laika]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH



Well, this is hardly surprising. [:|]

Perhaps he will go to Chanel. [:P]

[Faust]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH

[quote user="laika"]

Well, this is hardly surprising. [:|]

Perhaps he will go to Chanel. [:P]

[/quote]

Karla will take him under her wing [:P]

[casem]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH

And then there were none...

I'm starting to feel cursed, my list of favorite designers is now reading like a list of who left fashion in the last few years, Lang, Plokhov, Sander and now Slimane. That seals it, I'm spending all my money next fall then leaving high-end fashion. At least his last collection is really good, I just hope it's not too hard to get a hold of given this news.

[rach2jlc]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH

Anybody ever read Atlas Shrugged? I think it's happening in fashion; the best people are getting tired of the bullshit and quitting (although I doubt they're moving together to some secluded utopia... could you imagine the four of them all together in the same place? Although the fireworks would be fun...) ;)

[justine]

Re: Hedi Slimane to leave Dior Homme, Kris Van Assche to design for LVMH

[quote user="Faust"]

Johnny, do you mean rubbisher in terms of design or sales? If Gucci/Tom Ford think is any indication, the sales will be just fine.

Hedi should be successful on his own, provided he actually concentrates on design (that in itself provided he actually designed early DH for the most part, which probably was the case judging by his work at YSL).

[/quote]



I second that YSL comment, his collections there are amongst some of my absolute favorite, just so beautiful and elegant. I'm actually excited to hear this news. Hedi's worth more than the last years at DH.