66-year-old French fashion house that recently engineered a comeback with skimpy dresses and spray-on jeans that were shockingly priced, announced last Wednesday that its famous designer, Christophe Decarnin, had left the company. His leave is the latest in a string of shake-ups that suggest, after the John Galliano debacle at Dior, that luxury fashion houses are becoming less concerned in promoting lively personalities than in protecting their own brands.
In the weeks since Mr. Galliano was fired from Dior on 1st March after an anti-Semitic outburst that embarrassed the company, at least four other European labels, including celebrated brands like Cacharel and Azzaro, have dropped their designers, some with little explanation. The sudden moves had shocked retailers and editors, in one case prompting a licensee of Cacharel clothing to publicly rebuke the decision by the label’s owner to remove its designer, Cédric Charlier, whose collections were bolstering sales.
Mr. Decarnin’s departure from Balmain had been expected since early March, when he did not attend its runway show during Paris Fashion Week amid reports that he was no longer communicating with the company’s management. While the company has not yet determined its plans, executives there said that a successor would most likely come from the recent design team, possibly Melanie Ward, who quietly planned on the fall collection in Mr. Decarnin’s absence. But it is unlikely they will consider another designer of Mr. Decarnin’s prominence.
Since joining the company in 2005, Mr. Decarnin introduced Balmain to a younger prospects that included many French celebrities and influential editors, drawn to his rocker-chic vision of what was once considered a stuffy couture house. But his designs were also criticized for their high prices, including $2,000 for holey T-shirts and $6,000 for some styles of jeans, contributing to tension between the designer and management over strategy.His ouster was viewed by luxury executives as further evidence that such labels were becoming less tolerant of creative demands, even as the high-end market was beginning to pick up.
“I honestly believe the star designer will become less and less of a force, especially for brands that have to answer to shareholders why the business is dropping off,” said Betsy Pearce, a consultant and legal adviser who has represented several top designers and executives.
In 1990s, hiring a prominent designer became a popular strategy for older labels looking to reinvent themselves, but some recent pairings have been shaky at best, often involving designers with small business experience. Some brands have fallen badly in their to seem fresh, as when Ungaro hired Lindsay Lohan as an artistic adviser in 2009.
“We are now seeing the fallout of companies not thinking ahead,” Ms. Pearce said.
Mr. Decarnin’s exit from Balmain illustrates the challenge facing companies that have relied on star designers, which is what happens when they resign from their company. The label’s revival was based more on his designs than anything its founder, Pierre Balmain, would have shown, so a successor will have to either follow Mr. Decarnin’s formula or start from ground-zero. So much of their potential for success depends on the chemistry between the designer and the house that fewer of them seem willing to take a chance.
“That’s the double-edged sword,” said Jeffry M. Aronsson, a consultant who was formerly the chief executive of Oscar de la Renta and Donna Karan. “To really make the brand solidify requires an ego on the part of the designer to push his point of view. It just needs to be the right point of view.
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Here is the latest runway of Christophe Decardin`s former fashion house last year.Watch it all here !!
