Who Is gonna get the TOP SPOT at Dior?

ANOTHER FASHION HEAVYWEIGHT WEIGHS IN ON DIOR

by BRITT ABOUTALEB

Raf Simons gives a tearful farewell at Jil Sander. Photo: Getty Image

We’ve heard from Suzy Menkes and Bridget Foley, as well as Cathy Horyn, but what about Colin McDowell?  The British journalist took to the Business of Fashion this morning to play the Dior guessing game.   While most of the names bandied about in conversations regarding the future of the house of Dior—Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, Sarah Burton—McDowell thinks we’re approaching it all wrong.  Why not, he suggests, nominate someone young and fresh, someone akin to Yves Saint Laurent when he took over Dior?  Furthermore, why not give designers time to develop their vision and make these big brands their own, like Riccardo Tisci’s so successfully done at Givenchy?

Aside from the Dior gig, there’s one other question everyone in fashion is asking: what will happen to Raf Simons?  McDowell writes that the designer, who was let go to make room for Jil Sander’s return, was up for the Yves Saint Laurent job before Stefano Pilati was even pushed out.  The critic writes, “Touted as the “right” man for just about every label that has appeared to be headed for hard times, the poor lad [Simons] must have been through more interviews than anybody else. But he was still not selected for the Yves Saint Laurent job, which everybody now knows has gone to Hedi Slimane.”  McDowell thinks that Slimane was chosen for his “cool” factor (and has some interesting thoughts on Celine and Galliano, too), but stops short of saying why Simons is still out of a job.

Every time a major fashion journalist addresses the gaping hole at Dior or the inexplicably unemployed Simons, there’s a new bobmshell making this game of musical chairs even more convoluted.  And yet, there’s never an actual answer.

VIA ELLE

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Apparel Prices Caught in Complex Cycle: WWD

High gas prices hurt consumer spending.

Photo By Michael Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty Images

By ARTHUR FRIEDMAN

Price inflation appears to have a firm grip on the apparel sector, as last year’s volatility in cotton has been replaced by soaring gas prices and related polyester costs still at peak levels.

Retail apparel prices rose 0.9 percent in January compared with December, as merchants regained some pricing power after heavy discounting during the holidays, the U.S. Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index showed. Women’s apparel prices increased 1.2 percent in the month, while men’s apparel prices rose 1.7 percent.