>> Despite appearing in court in late June to give his testimony, when John Galliano's verdict is handed down Sept. 8 — deciding whether he made anti-Semitic remarks to three separate people — he won't be in the courtroom, according to his lawyer. If ruled guilty, Galliano could face a six-month jail term and a fine of 22,500 euros ($32,410); however, during the trial in June, the prosecutor recommended a diminished fine of up to 5,000 euros ($7,188). [@cpassariello]
>> It has come to light that Steven Robinson, John Galliano's longtime right-hand man at Dior who passed away in 2007 at the age of 38, did not die of a heart attack as it was reported at the time. Instead, according to new reports, his cause of death was a cocaine overdose — he was found in his Paris home with up to 7 grams of the drug in his system.
Robinson was supplied the cocaine by Alassane Seck, a 40-year-old illegal immigrant from Senegal, who was later convicted of manslaughter after Robinson's death. Galliano is said to have testified at Seck's trial in 2008, but no journalists attended proceedings, and no official documents containing Robinson's cause of death were ever released, provoking accusations of a cover-up aimed at protecting Dior's reputation.
During Seck's trial, it emerged that dozens of "big names in the fashion world" were using his services, according to his lawyer, Francois-Henri Blistene. "There is a great deal to this entire case which has never been discussed publicly . . . My client was supplying cocaine to some of the biggest names in Paris, including Mr Robinson. Many other public figures were also using his services."
Seck was jailed for seven years in 2008, but has since been released.
>> It's sounding more and more like Bernard Arnault's long-held strategy of hiring enfant terrible designers to reinvigorate luxury brands (John Galliano at Dior, Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen at Givenchy) will not be employed for his new Dior hire, whoever that may be.
Arnault has seen the even-tempered — even shy — Phobe Philo create triple-digit growth at Celine, and believes that it has the potential to be the next major brand. “It will take time, but [Celine] is on the way,” he tells Robin Givhan in Newsweek. “Phoebe has the potential. She is doing a style which is completely in line with our time.” Plus, he notes: “My daughter Delphine, she’s working at Dior, but she wears Celine.”
There's also the bad taste that Galliano seems to have left in Arnault's mouth. “I’m surprised that I did not get a call or a word of excuse from him,” he said not long after Galliano was fired. “After all that I did for him?” And he still hasn't been able to bring himself to forgive Galliano: “Not yet."
Although Arnault says he has no plans to make Dior into a minimalist label in the way of Celine, he does suggest it's time for a change at the house. Givhan writes: "[It's] time to recast his global, glittering, status-laden empire as something else. The watchwords are: intimate, Old World, artful. And the timing feels right."
As Dior chief executive Sidney Toledano points out: “A lot of schools produce designers, but the technical people — this is what we have to protect. They work very hard here, and they live outside of Paris. They are not living like the designer. They are simple people. Some of them have a difficult life. They have their feet on the ground." Ultimately, he says, "They’re sustaining the house."
Arnault agrees, saying of the current Dior situation: “I think we have the equivalent of the Vienna Philharmonic. From time to time, the Vienna Philharmonic could play without a conductor because they are so good. But that cannot last forever. We want to [make] the best choice for the house and find the best conductor.”
But, star designers can come and go. “A good product,” Arnault says, “can last forever.”
>> John Galliano's next gig could be designing for Topshop, if rumors are to be believed. Vogue UK reports that Sir Philip Green and Galliano — who both attended their mutual friend Kate Moss's wedding last weekend — are in the earliest stages of discussions.
However, this morning Topshop Tweeted: "It's incredible how rumors get started!" And Elle UK talked to the Topshop press office, which denied that they are doing a Galliano collaboration.
Green himself has now commented: "I saw John Galliano at Kate's wedding last Friday. I did not discuss any business with him then, nor have I since."
>> Kate Moss's wedding ceremony is about to get under way — at 3:30 pm GMT at St Margaret's Parish Church near her Cotswalds home. Pictures of the wedding may be few and far between — Vogue has the exclusive for their September 2011 issue, with Mario Testino on camera duty — and the events are under security lockdown, with both neighboring villages of Southrop and Little Faringdon closed down. In fact, wedding guests and locals had to be issued permits to allow them to pass through roadblocks. However, PopSugar has a look at Kate on her way to the ceremony this afternoon in her veil.
Last night, Moss and Hince gave paparazzi a rare treat, posing for photographs outside The Swan pub in Southrop before their rehearsal dinner. Moss, in a vintage dress and blue Tabitha Simmons boots, looked visibly ecstatic, and apparently told the Daily Mail: "I was so nervous when I was practising signing the register. I've been so stressed out. My hands were shaking like an old woman's!" As for Hince, the couple's friend, Primal Scream bassist Mani said: "He's all right, he's marrying a supermodel. What's there to be nervous about?"
Moss is apparently set to wear a custom John Galliano gown to the ceremony, with Christian Louboutin shoes. Jamie Hince and his "best man," Kills bandmate Alison Mosshart, are confirmed to wear Yves Saint Laurent, while maid of honor Trish Simonon will sport Erdem. The newly-wedded couple and their 300 guests (including Naomi Campbell, Vivienne Westwood, Stefano Pilati, Stella McCartney, Sir Philip Green, and Edward Enninful) will then retreat to the model's home for the first of a three-day, reportedly £500,000 ($800,000) celebration.
>> There's been a lot of back and forth about the designer of Kate Moss's wedding dress, but John Galliano has dominated the rumors. Now, a source close to Moss confirmed that she will wear a Galliano dress when marrying Jamie Hince tomorrow. Her maid of honour Trish Simonon (wife of Clash bassist Paul Simonon), meanwhile, will wear Erdem. [Vogue UK]
>> Despite reports late last week that LVMH was considering re-hiring John Galliano to design for his eponymous label, it's not happening. LVMH chief Bernard Arnault laid any rumors to rest on Saturday, when he said of Galliano: “He will not be working for LVMH.” Arnault added that after Galliano's arrest and dismissal from Dior and LVMH, “he didn’t have the simple politeness to contact me.”
When asked if he had been concerned about Galliano's behavior and absences from work in recent years, Sidney Toledano, CEO at both John Galliano and Christian Dior, replied: “There were concerns, and we warned him officially. I’ve talked to the lawyers for years.”
A new designer, meanwhile, is stepping into Galliano's shoes — at least at his namesake label. Bill Gaytten, who worked beside Galliano in his studio for 23 years, took a bow at the end of the Galliano Spring 2012 menswear show in Paris on Friday (which featured Galliano lookalikes) and is set to succeed Galliano at the creative helm of the collection, Toledano confirmed.
Gaytten oversaw the men's collection from conception to runway. “It’s the same job for me; I’ve been doing it for a long time,” he said. “It was a bit different because John wasn’t there.” He then confessed: “I’m dying to know what he thinks!”
Gaytten is also the studio team leader for Dior's Fall 2011 couture show next week, fueling speculation that he might be a contender to succeed Galliano at Dior, as well. Toledano declined comment on that search.
LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault squashed rumors regarding the possibility of John Galliano coming back to his namesake label over the weekend, telling the New York Times's Cathy Horyn that "he will not be working for LVMH." Instead, Bill Gaytten will be the new creative director of the John Galliano brand.
Gaytten has worked with Galliano for the past 23 years. "It's the same job for me; I've been doing it for a long time," said Gaytten, who took the final bow after the label's Spring 2012 menswear show last Friday. “It was a bit different because John wasn’t there.” The designer also admitted, "I'm dying to know what he thinks!"
