Hedi Slimane Exits Dior

Hedi Slimane (Billy Farrell/PatrickMcMullan.com)

Sidney Toledano, the chief executive of Dior, confirmed this morning that Hedi Slimane will no longer design Dior Homme, ending months of negotiations that were often at an impasse between the runway star and executives of Dior and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Slimane has been replaced by Kris Van Assche, who signed his contract with Dior just a few hours ago in Paris.

Toledano declined to comment on Slimane’s departure, but it’s no secret in the fashion world that Dior executives, and perhaps Slimane, have been frustrated in their relationship mexico Soccer Jersey, particularly over the issue of a women’s label for Slimane. Since Slimane’s days at Saint Laurent, there has been curiosity about what kind clothes he might design for women, and he has been eager to do that. And apparently there were extensive talks at Dior about a separate women’s line for him. But, for the moment, Slimane is on his own.

Left, a look from Kris Van Assche’s Spring 2007 show. Right, Kris Van Assche at the conclusion of the showing of his Spring 2007 collection. (firstVIEW.com)

Van Assche, a former Slimane assistant who was trained at the Royal Academy in Antwerp, will continue his own men’s label, Toledano said. It’s too early to know if Van Assche will be able to produce a Dior Homme collection in time for the shows in early July. Van Assche has had very modest success as a men’s designer, so it’s hard to predict what he’ll do for Dior.

Though nobody at Dior would deny that Slimane brought excitement and customers to the label, he may have tried the patience of even his supporters. So the choice of the relatively unknown Van Assche could well reflect a desire to calm things down a bit and get on with business.