Alber Elbaz Is Leaving Lanvin
29 October 2015 - 8:40AM
Dow Jones News
PARIS—Longtime Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz said
Wednesday that he has been pushed out of the French fashion house
by its majority owner, the latest departure to rock a high-end
couture brand in recent months.
The Paris-based fashion house informed the company's staff on
Wednesday of the designer's departure, but Mr. Elbaz pre-empted his
former employer by sending out his own announcement, saying that
the decision for him to leave after 14 years was made by Shaw-Lan
Wang, the company's majority shareholder.
"I wish the house of Lanvin the future it deserves among the
best French luxury brands, and hope that it finds the business
vision it needs to engage in the right way forward," Mr. Elbaz
wrote, seeming to suggest tensions between him and Ms. Wang, who in
the past has often presented Mr. Elbaz with bouquets of flowers
after his Paris runway shows.
Marie-Sabine Leclercq, Lanvin's communications chief, confirmed
that it was the company's decision to end Mr. Elbaz's tenure,
adding that Lanvin thanked him for his service.
Mr. Elbaz is largely responsible for Lanvin's rejuvenation over
the 14 years he has been the creative director of the once moribund
label. He created the trend for luxury brand jewelry by launching
fabric-covered pearls—a strategy that many luxury brands have since
followed. His humorous sketches of everything from lollipops to his
own portly visage have become a brand signature. The privately held
label sometimes hands out fans covered in the sketches at its
well-received fashion shows.
The departure of the high-profile designer underscores a new
level of change—and sometimes discontent—at the pinnacle of the
fashion world.
Mr. Elbaz is the third creative director to leave the top job at
a high-fashion brand since July, when Alexander Wang left Kering
SA's Balenciaga to focus on his own eponymous brand. Raf Simons
last week said he was stepping down as creative director of
Christian Dior SE, also in part to focus on his own brand.
The departure comes at a delicate time for Lanvin. Revenue at
parent Jeanne Lanvin SA has been falling since at least 2011, and
dropped 9.5% on-year in 2014 to €168 million, according to a
company filing. Profit fell 48% to €2.9 million in the same
period.
Ms. Leclercq, the Lanvin spokeswoman, acknowledged that
declining revenue can create tensions, but added that the company
would have "stable" revenue in 2015.
Mr. Elbaz's departure may also reflect a level of strain among
designers in the fashion world who started by making clothes but
now oversee large marketing operations for many collections every
year. Creative directors are in charge of store design, ad
campaigns and brand image, leaving little time to actually design
apparel.
Fashion newspaper Women's Wear Daily first reported the news of
Mr. Elbaz's departure earlier Wednesday.
Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com and Christina
Binkley at christina.binkley@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 28, 2015 17:25 ET (21:25 GMT)
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