Yesterday, news came out that Raf Simons will depart the house of Christian Dior after a three-year working relationship. Simons inhabited the spot once occupied by John Galliano (before he praised Hitler). I was never much of a fan of Simons style His most recent lines have featured skirts with faux bustles. That’s about all that stands out. Simons’ work for Dior has been one big yawn, except for his poncho game. This ^^^ is still one hell of a pink poncho.
But Simons is moving on and joins the likes of Donna Karon, Ralph Lauren, and Alexander Wang, all of whom have stepped down from their posts at big-time labels. I’m not crazy about how Simons has dressed Rihanna in pink for far too many events, and a good chunk of the stuff Jennifer Lawrence gets stuck wearing is all too much. Here’s Simons’ official announcement:
“It is after careful and long consideration that I have decided to leave my position as creative director of Christian Dior’s women’s collection. It is a decision based entirely and equally on my desire to focus on other interests in my life, including my own brand, and the passions that drive me outside my work. Christian Dior is an extraordinary company, and it has been an immense privilege to write a few pages of this magnificent book. I want to thank Mr. Bernard Arnault for the trust he has put in me, giving me the incredible opportunity to work at this beautiful house surrounded by the most amazing team one could ever dream of. I have also had the chance over the last few years to benefit from the leadership of Sidney Toledano. His thoughtful, heartfelt and inspired management will also remain as one of the most important experiences of my professional career.”
[From WWD]
Well, it sound like Simons simply wants to focus on his own thing, which is a menswear line. However, the article points out that Simons is probably bound for a number of years to a non-compete agreement, which could prohibit him from signing one elsewhere. Now the speculation begins as to who will take Simons’ place. WWD says Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci is a front runner, but that would be even more disastrous. Tisci is close to Kanye which means an instant “in” for the Kardashian-Jenners. Could an American designer head over to front Dior? It’s doubtful, but Dior will surely tease the heck out of their choice when the time comes.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN
As someone who likes fashion (although I don’t have $$$ to buy it) it’s insulting what Simons, Tisci and Lagerfeld do to those classic brands. They are tacky and tasteless and create those “fashion hits” that resemble nothing of what made those brands famous.
+123
So true
Exactly. Sorry but Jennifer or Rihanna it is a slap in the face to the founder of this brand. Dior is rolling in his grave. John Galliano was the best creative director. Maybe John is terrible person but he is talented as f@#k.
The designs are a slap. If the designs were solid they would be fine on nearly anyone.
Galliano’s personal approach fittted the phylosophy of the brand, that’s why it looked well. Even the drama was at place. Raf’s personal approach has never been a fit for Dior and I always wondered how did they think he would twist it to look Dior. It’s just not possible for a designer with already built understanding of fashion and a developed approach. And to be honest, those were bad fitted clothes which didn’t look well even on the models.
@ Mary Alice. It will not surprise me at all if there a rumors they are bring Galliano back in some capacity.
Eh when styled correctly Jen can pull off the elegance of any brand. Dior just dresses her in the most hideous outfits that age her terribly. And I blame Raf for that.
With a new head hopefully they can get back to what made the brand great. Because Dior for me has been mostly a miss for years now
Tbh jlaw SCREAMS walmart NOT Dior. This is something we’ve heard over and over and I do agree. She’s doesnt ever convey style or sophistication to the level a true Dior lady does…
Chanel has really gone down in my favor the last few years. It’s tacky AF, and I’m no fan of the current spokesmodel. Lagerfeld has lost his damn mind.
I lost any interest the moment they made Chanel and Dior sneakers. Coco and Christian would DIE. They were designers who changed a mindset of fashion in their times and now their brands constantly show renovations of old bags or things that are trend, not innovations. That’s not fashion.
I knew Karl had lost it once they made Blake ‘Malibu Barbie’ Lively the face of a bag line…… she’d have been a good fit for Guess? or Bebe maybe, but Chanel? No wonder even Chanel employees complained she was too downmarket for their brand!
agreed 100%
as someone who works in fashion, I am very happy. Raf is a good designer, but not suited for Dior. He basically did copy/paste to Neu Look and stopped there. With Galliano, it was a whole new world.
Galliano’s exit was a set up, he will never be back with LVMH. Tisci destroyed Givenchy, but he is a good little boy, so I can see him or even Olivier working for Dior. However, they are under the contracts, so for now, they will probably get someone unknown.
There are 2 Diors – The Christian Dior and The Galliano Dior. Everything else is easily forgotten. Speaking of unknown, Gucci did an amazing job, looks like fashion is back to Italy. London is great for smaller houses, Paris is done. For now.
I agree, John Galliano pulled Dior to a glory it hadn’t enjoyed since the days of M. Dior himself. If anyone wants to doubt the magnitude of what he achieved, just take a look at pics of Dior collections the year before he was hired…..that should give anyone an idea of just what he had to shake up.
Which is a similar impact to what Alessandro Michele has done at Gucci now – seasons of blah clothes following a well-trodden house template (itself introduced by Tom Ford, which was the last great designer the house had 10 years ago) and then a radical reimagination. I love it.
So much of what Simons has done is “take a great silhouette and make it look artificial. Then add some gimmicks.” The effort shows in every single thing he does. His interference with the shapes makes them so much uglier. Remember when he was big into those ridiculous folded boob darts?
Good, I won’t miss you.
Yes, good riddance.
If the photos are representative of his creations….good riddance. I wouldn’t want to wear any of the dresses.
Dior needs Galliano back.
I am “praying” for that but he is starting a menwear for Margiella
Yeah, I hope he comes back to and JLaw’s contract is up. Rihanna in Galliano Dior would be spectacular.
I very much hope he never agrees to work for them again. I badly miss his beautiful creations for Dior but the way they treated him and took his own brand from him was just sh*tty. He will be perfectly fine. They are of questionable value now. A certain elegance is expected not only from clothes but from human relations too, especially when someone fails in a way. IMO.
He never owned the JG brand. It’s got his name,yes but Dior owns like iirc 92% of the brand.
We can say or write or think bad stuff on Galliano but when he was fired,he was waste/tired/ragged by his job and unable to follow.His racist alcoholic rant was just an excuse to fire him.
Even Galliano ‘s worst creation always was better than Raf’s better outfit
Amen. Galliano made some truly horrendous statements when a drunken mess. He’s paid for it and I doubt that’s who he really is. He makes KILLER stuff and hasn’t been the same, including his designs, since that fiasco. He needs them and they need him. Bring Galliano back!
He’s sincerely repented, I very much doubt he’d be seeking continuing guidance from a rabbi if he was still the same man who said what he said back in 2011.
But NO, he shouldn’t come back to Dior. He may truly be better off with Margiela, where the superbranding hasn’t yet taken over everything and he is less likely to have to kill himself with overwork. Way too many designers end up on drugs to cope with their workloads even when they are doing things they love – look at McQueen.
Dior has standards(unlike Chanel). I can’t imagine them associating with the Jenner/Kardashian clan. I don’t even remember the girl who is the model in the family ever working for them.
Raf Simmons was a Dior snooze.
I’m really curious to see who they seek out to replace Raf if they go for a big name or for an unknown, it’s interesting because Dior has such a history in fashion.
Slightly OT but did anyone see the documentary Dior and I? Great look into the industry and showed how his ideas evolved from start to finish, highly recommend.
I watched “Dior and I.” It was very interesting. Raf never seemed to fit in to Dior’s culture, did he? The only thing Raf created that I liked was the red coat with the gold belt, and even that was just vintage New Look with a modern belt. Those special printed fabrics that he insisted on having made were just awful.
Dior seems to have a more classic, striking feel to their signature looks which I don’t think he always managed to capture but I would love to go to one of his shows, they looked spectacular.
I loved “Dior and I” if only for the focus on the two female workroom heads….(didn’t love the printed fabric either) I loved that they never mentioned why he was stuck with a such a short time to create the collection and really looked at the house as a very unique sort of workplace….great, great movie…even if you hate his work.
You can’t have trendy minimalism for Dior, it’s not in the brand DNA. I hope they get an unknown.
Does that mean Jennifer Lawrence is out of her disaster of a contract with them?
She has a contract of several years with Dior what happens
It wouldn’t have been a disaster of a contract if not for Raf.
Honestly Rihanna’s rosa coat thing looks like somebody threw some cloth parts at a fashion doll and then it was sewn together that way. The collar should be more voluminous. Both arms should be from that different fur cloth.
Rihanna isn’t good for Dior as she lacks elegance and refinement which Dior stands for despite its occasional rebellious approach. Jennifer Lawrence is still too young, I’d say.
I think Simons got kicked because he wasn’t good at that refined rebellion which is Dior. And to make it look nice it was agreed that he would say he wanted to try on his own.
As for Lagerfeld and Co.: they keep repeating themselves with minimal differences in their clothes which is the part that makes the money. Or they create clothes that aren’t ment to be worn which is the part that creates headlines.
Rihanna doesn’t strike me as a good fit for a contract with *any* particular house b/c she’s too eclectic. As for JLaw, I definitely agree that Dior calls for someone with more fashion gravitas, although it’s hard to judge the results of any contract with Dior while Raf was in charge. His stuff is a total snooze, especially compared to Galliano.
Rihanna is possibly the only woman alive who could have made that crazy pink poncho look good, and she is the only one of the current spokesmodels besides Cotillard to have any kind of fashion presence or taste at all (and even Cotillard has been badly done by the Raf-era designs, she looked beautiful in Galliano’s stuff). Portman is a snooze, JLaw just doesn’t have the fashion nous, and Charlize is gorgeous and has presence in spades but isn’t quite a style icon in the same way as Blanchett/Swinton.
Rihanna would actually have fit beautifully as a John Galliano-era Dior model – the drama, the lushness and out-and-out STATEMENT nature of the clothes was amazing. But Raf’s design sensibilities don’t quite fit her.
I loved what raf did while designing for Jill Sanders. His collections at the time really were beautiful. I spent an entire summer wearing bright colored maxi skirts with a plain white tee because of him. I really do think he has talent but he has never been a good fit for Dior. I wish him every success and hope he gets his mojo back.
On another note, those gold sandals on Jlaw in the top pic are the most unflattering looking shoe!!! They make her feet look awful!!
I agree, Raf was fabulous for Jil Sander because the house fit his sensibilities to a T – I always had misgivings about him at Dior, and we were right about that. But his work for Jil Sander, especially his last collection, was sublime. It’s a shame that he wasn’t able to assess that Dior wasn’t a good fit for him, but like you, I hope he gets his mojo back.
(also – great username btw! That’s my favourite lipstick <333)
Dior’s designs to me have been tacky for a long time. Even with Galiano involved I hated it. Now Elie Saab is a good designer. Those dresses are always gorgeous.
They’re gorgeous, but one-note as all hell.
Elie Saab has about as much imagination or creativity as my little sister spackling sequins on everything she can reach. His clothes may be pretty, but they’re boring as hell. I’ll even take Raf over him!
Just a small selection of Galliano’s Dior below. You may not like all of these, but you rememeber all of them. They’re not boring. They all have some flair. Unlike Raf’s borefests. The chartreuse on NK was considered a game-changer.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/564638872003247866/
https://youluckyluckygirl.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/20130225-004729.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d2/ff/7e/d2ff7ef5c19cc7b5a8e3e578628fe87f.jpg
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01592/charlize-theron_1592073i.jpg
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Lifeandhealth/Pix/pictures/2009/1/12/1231761571040/Gallery-Golden-Globes-Out-001.jpg?w=700&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=0efa936114be2c846efc8a31ee5f62ab
Nicole Kidman’s Galliano dress was my all-time fave.
Simons is talented but wasn’t a good fit for Dior. I think such a great house doesn’t need to resort to retread tactics by making nice with Galliano. Since much of their clientele are wealthy Jewish Americans, I would be surprised if they wanted to reopen that wound. For the record, I think Galliano may have snapped under the pressure and said things he would never have said in his right mind, but I don’t think a decent person, in a moment of total candor, does anything as revolting as praising Hitler. I’m not eager to see him embraced again by the great atelier. Tisci would be an insulting disaster, so I pray feverishly that the rumor of his being a “front runner” is false. The Phoebe Philo rumor is interesting.
I like Phoebe’s stuff well enough, I just think Galliano set a certain expectation for Dior for really grand gowns and I don’t think that’s Phoebe’s thing. I get why Dior might not be eager to take Galliano back, I just think there’s really nobody else out there doing what he did at Dior and it’s really a shame, would love to see that kind of thing back on the carpets, which have definitely gotten more boring without him.
Let’s just face it people. These brands suck now days…the ship sailed and the fat girl in the bulimic model body has sung…