Galliano Still In Business, For Nowt

By Jenna Sauers | March 8, 2011 | 5:55pm

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The question of who will replace disgraced total-Nazi designer John Galliano at Christian Dior has tongues wagging all over the industry. (But then again, when are fashion people ever not gossiping about something?) But two of the alleged front-runners are tight-lipped. Riccardo Tisci, when asked after his Givenchy show about the rumors that he is in line to become the next Dior creative director, would say only, “I felt this was a strong, positive season. And I’m happy at Givenchy.” [Style.com]
Haider Ackermann, another designer — one from outside the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy fold — said to be in the running for the Dior gig, said cryptically when asked if he’d go to another house, “Yes, you have to find the right person and look in the same direction; it’s like a love affair. It has to be a coup de foudre on both sides. You know, sometimes you have a repertoire of your own, and sometimes you have something else to express and the code of another house may help. I don’t know. We’ll see.” Ackermann said that he turned down the opportunity to take over Maison Martin Margiela in 2009, because “Martin is my hero, so it’s a soul and souls are not replaceable. But yes there are places I would like to go and that I might go.” [Telegraph]
Then there’s this, from Style.com’s Twitter feed: “Not to add to the Dior rumor mill, but people in Paris are asking, why has the Lanvin team been in tears all day?” Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz is another name that’s been widely touted as a Galliano successor. [@styledotcom]
Earlier: We introduced you to some of the designers who are still in the running towards becoming fashion’s next top John Galliano
Meanwhile, Sidney Toledano, the C.E.O. of Dior, confirmed that LVMH is still backing the John Galliano signature label — for now. LVMH owns 92% of the John Galliano brand. It’s common for major luxury companies to back the namesake lines of the designers who toil as creative directors of their flagship brands (see: LVMH investing in Marc Jacobs when Jacobs signed on as the creative director of Louis Vuitton) as a reward for loyal service — whether or not those namesake lines, which are often lower in profile than the flagship brands, actually make money. (The John Galliano brand is said to “barely break even.”) Toledano attended the Galliano show in Paris on Sunday, and he said, “For the moment, the [Galliano] business continues. This is a business which has licenses and tomorrow we will show the collection in the showrooms as usual . . . I am here to prove that business goes on . . . and to support the teams.” Not a ringing endorsement, exactly, but then again, this is an industry where maybe money resounds even more loudly than saying “I love Hitler.” [WSJ]
One of the models at the Galliano show had a small Star of David tattoo on her arm. [Fashionista]

Remember when Keira Knightley rode a beige Ducati motorcycle around the streets of Paris, dressed in a beige leather motorcycle suit, like the mother-of-the-bride version of Beatrix Kiddo? Well, now the Chanel perfume ad she was shooting is out. You can’t actually see the bike. [Catwalk Queek]