Remember when Alber Elbaz said, repeatedly, that he’d never leave Lanvin? The brand has confirmed to the Cut that Elbaz will, in fact, be leaving the house. Women’s Wear Daily had reported that the love affair may be over, saying that his design team was informed of the news Wednesday, with an official announcement expected in the next couple of days. According to their sources, the breakup was a result of disagreements between Elbaz and Lanvin’s owner and CEO. Elbaz has been at the house for almost a decade and a half.
Just last week, the designer spoke out about his increasing weariness with the ever-quickening pace of fashion. Among his remarks was a lament about the changing role of designers like himself. “We started as couturiers, with dreams, with intuition, with feeling, we thought, What do women want? What do women need? What can I do for a woman to make her life better and easier? How can I make a woman more beautiful? That is what we used to do. Then we became ‘creative directors,’ so have to create, but mostly direct. And now we have to become image-makers, creating a buzz, making sure that it looks good in the pictures. The screen has to scream, baby. That’s the rule. And loudness is the new thing.”
