Bill Gaytten to Succeed John Galliano
It doesn't look like John Galliano is welcome back at his eponymous fashion house after all.
Though anonymous LVMH executives told New York Times fashion scribe Cathy Horyn that there had been "casual discussions" about bringing the troubled designer back to his own label, it has now been announced that longtime Galliano collaborator Bill Gaytten will be taking over the reins, she reports.
What's more, LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault tells Horyn that Galliano's days at LVMH are over.
“He will not be working for LVMH,” Arnault said, adding that, after his arrest for making alleged anti-Semitic statements, "he [Galliano] didn’t have the simple politeness to contact me.”
While John Galliano—reportedly back in rehab following his June 22 court date—will have to stage his eventual comeback elsewhere, the attention now turns to his 51-year-old successor.
As reported previously, the British-born Gaytten took over the creative responsibility for the John Galliano's Resort 2012 collection as well as its Spring 2012 menswear show on June 24, which ended with him taking a bow.
A 23-year veteran at the label, Gaytten is presumed to take on the creative director role, though his official title has not been confirmed.
Christian Dior and John Galliano CEO Sidney Toledano, seen posing for photos with him backstage, confirmed to Women's Wear Daily that Gaytten “has been leading the design team."
The scene marked a sharp contrast to the Spring 2012 womenswear shows. At Dior, Toledano kicked off the show with a statement stressing the house's legacy, while roughly 40 seamstresses and cutters took the final bow in lieu of absent Galliano. The John Galliano line, meanwhile, stuck to a more modest presentation.
Known for his "expertise to innovate patterns, cut, and drape," Gaytten may just be the sobering influence the label needs following the flamboyant Galliano's fall from grace. Holding a degree in architecture, the Englishman worked for British couturier Victor Edelstein before collaborating with Dior and John Galliano.
"It’s the same job for me; I’ve been doing it for a long time,” Gaytten told WWD of his 1960s London-inspired menswear collection. “It was a bit different because John wasn’t there. I’m dying to know what he thinks!”
He's not the only one.
