Month: June 2011

Azzedine Alaia was called to take the open creative director job at Dior, recently vacated by John Galliano, he has just confirmed. But: he said he wasn’t interested — flattered, but not something he was going to pursue. The story of what happened with Galliano was a sad story, he added, and he didn’t want to be part of the next chapter. As the Financial Times‘s Vanessa Friedman points out: “The sheer fact that the Dior leadership was thinking this way does … make me think the field may be more open than the fashion world suspects. … Since I would never under-estimate Bernard Arnault, chairman of Dior (which actually owns LVMH), nor CEO Sidney Toledano, … this makes me wonder if perhaps the group has some interesting plans to change the way it does business up its sleeve, and will use the new designer as an excuse to do so. If so, it would be a revolution that would have an enormous ripple effect on the whole fashion industry. My guess is other brands would immediately fall in behind; everyone is looking for a reason to change and slow down, but everyone is scared to be the brand that sticks its neck out.”

British supermodel Naomi Campbell is working on a denim collection for Italian fashion brand Fiorucci, Sassybella reports. The collection is rumored to be debuting during Milan Men’s Fashion Week, which starts tomorrow.

I’m not at all surprised that Campbell is designing; however, it’s an odd collaboration for a couple of reasons, the first being that Fiorucci hasn’t really been relevant for decades. Since seeing success in the ’70s and early ’80s, the brand has suffered through mismanagement, legal battles and, eventually, several failed relaunches. Perhaps this is a sign of change for Fiorucci, which was recently acquire by Italian company Ittierre, who currently holds licenses for Balmain’s second line, CNC Costume National and Galliano, among others (although, those brands don’t exactly seem to be riding the waves of success these days either).

The other, less important reason being that it’s a denim line and I almost never see her in jeans (the above photograph from Cannes this year is bit of an anomaly). No word yet on whether the collection will be men’s denim (since it’s debuting during men’s fashion week), which day the collection will debut, or whether it will be available in the U.S.

Her last stab at designing was in 2008. It was a collection for a Sao Paulo-based retailer and didn’t really seem to go anywhere. If for whatever reason, this collaboration doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her designing somewhere else. It seems like a natural addition to her ever-expanding repertoire of starring in music videos, putting together charity fashion shows and still, occasionally, walking the runway.