The rumours surrounding Alber Elbaz’s departure at the house of Lanvin have proven to be true, the designer has officially been discharged from his position as creative director of Lanvin. After 14 years in the top job at France’s oldest luxury label, Elbaz was dismissed by Lanvin’s majority shareholder, Shaw-Lan Wang, who is rumoured to have had disagreements with the Israeli born designer. Lanvin’s Paris employees and the design team were notified of the news late yesterday.
Alber Elbaz came to Lanvin in 2001 and is credited with reviving the house, he is also said to own a stake in the company that should he sell will see Elbaz in a similar position to Nicholas Ghesquière who upon departing Balenciaga sold his 10% stake in the house for $42.3 million.
The complete departure statement issued by Elbaz is below….now let’s see if he takes the throne at Dior.
“At this time of my departure from Lanvin on the decision of the company’s majority shareholder, I wish to express my gratitude and warm thoughts to all those who have worked with me passionately on the revival of Lanvin over the last 14 years; express my affection to all my wonderful colleagues in the Lanvin ateliers who accompanied me, and who enriched and supported my work. Together we have met the creative challenge presented by Lanvin and have restored its radiance and have returned it to its rightful position among France’s absolute luxury fashion houses.
“I also wish to express my profound and deepest gratitude to all of the clients and friends, to the French and international press and to all those business partners who collaborated with Lanvin, providing us with support since 2001.”
“I wish the house of Lanvin the future it deserves among the best French luxury brands, and hope that it finds the business vision it needs to engage in the right way forward.”
Credits
Text Courtney DeWitt
Photography Mitchell Sams