Bill Blass Fires Designer Jeffrey Monteiro, Cancels Spring 2013 Show
Photos: Patrick McMullan | Imaxtree
Jeffrey Monteiro (left), a look from the Bill Blass Fall 2012 runway (right).
There's big drama over at Bill Blass.
Women's Wear Daily reports that designer Jeffrey Monteiro and his nine-person design team were given pink slips on Thursday, August 2, following an announcement by Bill Blass Group president Scott Patti that the label's Spring 2013 runway show would be canceled.
Monteiro's final collection for the label, meanwhile, will not be produced, despite reportedly being 90-percent complete.
While Patti has not yet issued a comment, former employees reveal that the label had been cutting costs by using only fabrics that they had in-house, and only producing styles which would be sold at Lord & Taylor, resulting in several canceled orders. Still, the decision to pull the plug on next month's Spring 2013 show comes as a shock, given that venues and staff had already been booked and at least one stylist was already paid in full.
Hopefully Monteiro, an Australian designer who joined Blass in 2009, will land on his feet soon. Maybe he'll revive his own eponymous label?
