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Alber Elbaz Was Pushed Out of His Lanvin Job

Allber Elbaz
Allber Elbaz Photo: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis

In a statement to news outlets following up his suprise Lanvin exit yesterday, Alber Elbaz said that “the decision of the company’s majority shareholder” was the cause of his departure. (That would be publishing exec Shaw-Lan Wang.) Striking something approaching a Marc Jacobs–esque “praying for you” tone, Albaz added that he hopes Lanvin “finds the business vision it needs to engage in the right way forward.” The brand responded by saying that it “would like to thank [Elbaz] for the chapter he has written” at the house, where he worked for 14 years. (Elbaz still owns a stake in the brand — for now, at least.)

According to WWD, the design team will be finishing the pre-fall collection without their chief, but who will succeed him? Right now, the names in the air are Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing, Joseph Altuzarra, Simone Rocha, and Lanvin’s current menswear designer, Lucas Ossendrijver, who has been with the brand for a decade. Fashion’s roulette wheel is spinning again, and where it stops, nobody knows.

Alber Elbaz Was Pushed Out of His Lanvin Job