Raf Simons confirmed as Head of Dior

[droussin]

Dior Selects Raf Simons to Replace John Galliano

The job at Dior has finally been filled. Wednesday, the Paris fashion house will announce that Raf Simons will take over immediately as artistic director, replacing John Galliano, who was fired from Dior last year following anti-Semitic remarks. His first collection is planned for July at the fall haute couture shows.

The choice of Mr. Simons follows more than a year of discussions and apparent soul searching by Dior and its boss, Bernard Arnault, who is chairman of LVMH, about the ideal person to give creative direction to the 66-year-old luxury brand

rest of the article here
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/fa...r-at-dior.html

[Faust]

Oh, boy...

[Creep]

how is someone like him ever gonna know how to cut a dress, hes an industrial designer by training. i forsee disaster, or a dress with joy division prints.

[Pumpfish]

how is someone like him ever gonna know how to cut a dress, hes an industrial designer by training. i forsee disaster, or a dress with joy division prints.

Might have agreed before the Jil Sander gig, where his womens collections were pretty much regarded as a success.

I don't think Raf has anything to prove.

[kowei]

That's very exciting. I think Christian Dior needs to reunite Dior Couture and Dior Homme: this strict partition was only relevant under Galliano ; even without talking about the brilliant Slimane reign, I think as John's womenswear and couture was quite awesome, spectacular and sometimes "costumey", doing the same in menswear wouldn't have been very good.

So, now, considering Raf's skills as a Creative Director, I'd like him to take over menswear... or just overlook it and create a coherent branding at least.

Creep> with your signature I don't think we can take any of your opinion seriously

[Dane]

Neoprene Couture!

[Zenith]

Neoprene Couture!

SNAKES ON A PLAN...I mean, DRESS!
I feel like we can do this for a while

[kunk75]

I am the designer JOHN Galiano!

[laughed]

this is so weird. i would have went with tisci myself.

[Faust]

Might have agreed before the Jil Sander gig, where his womens collections were pretty much regarded as a success.

I don't think Raf has anything to prove.

Oh, yes, he does.

[Urthwhyte]

Oh, yes, he does.

Really? While all the menswear shows were...off, I never saw the same issues with womenswear. Could you elaborate a bit?

[Faust]

Really? While all the menswear shows were...off, I never saw the same issues with womenswear. Could you elaborate a bit?

Jil Sander was a relatively easy transition for Simons because it's a minimalist label, not far from what he was doing with the men's. Joy Division patches aside, Simons excelled at perfectly elegant, fresh and young tailoring. Dior is a full-blown luxury house that is centered on bags, shoes, and dresses. Stereotypically speaking, it's a girly girl, luxury housewife label as opposed to Jil Sander, a label for gallery owners and women who want to look smart and in-the-know. It's a world of difference in terms of both vision and skill. And I don't buy the idea that Dior wants Raf to bring pantsuits and camel coats - somehow everyone's idea of modern dress - to Dior. Granted, Simons will have a lot of help from the Dior team, so it might be good. Also, I want to note that Simons, despite all the editor fawning, does not have the brand-name awarness of the luxury purchasing masses, the way Galliano did. Go stand on the corner of 5th and 57th and ask a hundred people who Simons is. I imagine your rate of success will hover around 5-10%.

Anyway, only time will show. He seems to have been doing a lot of soul searching. I would too, if I went from designing punk gear to cocktail dresses. Good luck, Raf, sincerely.

[zamb]

it could be one of the most brilliant move in a long while, as well as t could be an epic disaster.......personally I dont believe his skill sets are suited for this type of brand, but ultimately he is an "intelligent designer" so I wouldn't pt it beyond his abilities to do something special. with the resources now at his disposal the possibilities may be endless it would be interesting to see how he transitions from his arch minimalist perspective into dealing with a leagacy of frou frou.........

[Johnny]

Dior Selects Raf Simons to Replace John Galliano

"I got the job?... oh fuckity fuck, just chucked in the application for a laugh...needed cheering up a bit."

[pennickNY]

it could be one of the most brilliant move in a long while, as well as t could be an epic disaster

I would err on the side of brilliant , although Jil Sander may have been an easy transition, that doesn't mean he wasn't limited by the very sophisticated minimalism of Jil.

You can see him, wanting to break the mold at Jil in his latter collections, BUT because he was aware of the brands identity he wasn't able to venture into new territories.

At Dior, with endless amounts of resources, I see him using the same brand awareness and exploring it to the fullest extent.

He's also to me very similar to Marc Bohan aesthetically, could definitely see him referencing that period in Dior a lot.