LVMH

>> Marc Jacobs, long the favorite to take over at Dior, may not be headed to the house after all. Talks between the two parties have once again halted, WWD reports, and Dior has stepped up both the pace and depth of negotiations with other designers — Alexander Wang, Raf Simons, and Jason Wu, in particular. Riccardo Tisci is also still in the mix, but given his strong momentum at Givenchy, is viewed as unlikely to be appointed.

Although last month, talks between Jacobs and Dior were said to be progressing — Bernard Arnault reportedly flew into Manhattan to meet with Jacobs — and there was no explosive breakdown, Arnault and Dior recently decided to move onto another scenario — in part because Jacobs requested that he take his Vuitton design team to Dior, which would leave Vuitton without creative support, and Phoebe Philo, the preferred candidate to take over at Vuitton, reportedly prefers to continue at Celine.

The Dior search is said to be focused on finding a designer — young or mature — with an affinity and respect for the brand's glamorous DNA, and a vision for taking it forward, post-Galliano. However, one source told WWD: “It is not impossible that [Arnault] resumes his talks with Marc.”

>>At the end of last month, Sidney Toledano, president and CEO of Dior, said he expected to have news on Dior's new designer "in the next few weeks." Not a day later came reports that talks between Dior and the front runner for the position, Marc Jacobs, had been tough and at a standstill.

Now, however, WWD reports: "Negotiations with Marc Jacobs . . . to become Dior’s next couturier have been progressing, sources said this week. It is understood . . . Phoebe Philo remains the preferred candidate to succeed Jacobs at Vuitton, should the American designer conclude a deal with Dior."

Dior, which has now been without a creative director since March, reported that its revenues were up 17.6 percent in the third quarter — suggesting that the brand is more potent than the famous designer behind it.

>> After recent rumors that LVMH could be interested in buying a stake in Alexander Wang (or that he is being considered for a design role at Christian Dior or Louis Vuitton), what does the designer have to say for himself on the matter? Nothing — he declined to respond — aside from a "nervous giggle," WWD reports.

Emphasizing his pride at growing a company without external financing, he didn't rule out the possibility of a future alliance: “I always take a meeting, and I always want to hear what people have to offer, but at the same time, I’ve been very content with focusing on our own brand. If I was to do something else, I would want to do something that would be completely different from me. Sometimes you don’t get to say all you want to say in your brand. When the right opportunity comes, it will present itself in a way that I’ll be inspired by it. But right now, it’s not like, ‘Oh I’m after that house, I want to do that.’”

Currently, he's focusing on expanding into new categories, like home lifestyle accessories, he said.

>> Yesterday, Opening Ceremony's Humberto Leon and Carol Lim welcomed editors and buyers to view their first, contemporary-slanted Kenzo collection — for Spring 2012 — at company headquarters. Giant, brightly-colored block K, E, N, Z, and O letters were lying about, a remix of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was playing on the loudspeaker, and their friend Chloe Sevigny closed the parade of models in a blue jumpsuit.

“We kind of put our feelers out that we were available to do something,” Leon said of how they got the job — they were two of 30 candidates interviewed. “We wanted to do a big project that felt ——” “—— creative and exciting,” said Lim, finishing his sentence.

And it seems that they succeeded, according to Style.com: "Reactions at the presentation and afterward leaned toward raves." Added WWD: "The knowingly hip outfits probably missed the duo’s ambition of designing for 'all different types of bodies and ages,' as Leon said, but they delivered enough of a jolt to successfully reposition Kenzo as a more accessible contemporary label." Most of all, sounds like Lim and Leon will be sticking around a while — LVMH executive Pierre-Yves Roussel, who interviewed all 30 Kenzo candidates, noted of the collection: "It was exactly what we wanted."

>> Sidney Toledano, president and CEO of Dior, gave an update yesterday on the status of the label's designer search (Bill Gaytten, acting head of design, oversaw both the Spring 2012 Dior and John Galliano collections): "We will have news in the next few weeks."

He refused to suggest who it might be, but when Marc Jacobs's name was brought up, Toledano paused, then replied: "There is an old proverb, those who don't know, speak loudly. Those who know, stay silent." As for the company as a whole, Toledano says, "Business has been great," but declined to go into further detail.

A "source close to LVMH" recently told Vogue UK: "For Dior, it's a pretty tricky situation, as the three favourites really can't take the job. Haider Ackermann is said to be 'way too edgy' for Dior; Marc Jacobs wanted the job a lot, but LVMH wants him to stick with Vuitton; and Riccardo Tisci simply refused, saying that he was feeling more than comfortable with the job at Givenchy. So nobody's taking over so far."

>> In the aftermath of the Alexander Wang for Dior rumors, Vogue UK reports that LVMH may have been expressing interest in Wang for another reason, instead: "While no investment has been confirmed, or even properly discussed, it seems Wang's burgeoning brand has caught the eye of LVMH — and rumors suggest that the designer could follow fellow New Yorker Marc Jacobs into the conglomerate's luxury stable." [Vogue UK]

>> Last month, Marc Jacobs was said to be frontrunner for the currently-vacant Christian Dior creative directorship. That still seems to be the case, according to WWD sources, but there have been a few sticking points.

One such hitch in the talks? It's believed that Jacobs and his long-time business partner Robert Duffy are seeking a substantial increase on their current salary and benefit packages from LVMH, which already place them among the highest-paid designers and fashion executives in the world.

Dior is a more demanding job than Jacobs's current position at Louis Vuitton, with two couture collections in addition to two ready-to-wear shows and pre-collections. And Jacobs would be required to spend more time in Paris working with the atelier, given the intense craftsmanship involved with forming a couture collection.

If Jacobs does make the move to Dior, Phoebe Philo has been reported to be first in line to succeed him at Louis Vuitton. But according to WWD's sources, as of last week, she had yet to commit to the project or enter negotiations.

>> A couple of weeks after rumors popped up suggesting that Marc Jacobs was at the top of the pack to take over as Dior's new designer, reports corroborate that the rumors just might be true.

According to WWD, Bernard Arnault is in talks with Jacobs about moving from Louis Vuitton to Dior, and meetings have reportedly been scheduled in Paris this week between Dior officials and legal representatives for Jacobs. Jacobs, who signed on as Vuitton's artistic director in 1997, has been in the midst of renewing his employment contract at Vuitton, but those discussions are said to have been put on hold, pending the outcome of Jacobs's discussions with Dior.

One source cautioned WWD that deal with Jacobs is not done, but both the designer and Dior management are so far "excited" about the prospect. If the deal goes through, Jacobs will get his first opportunity as a couturier, and his business partner Robert Duffy would come with him. Dior declined to comment on the reports, and Jacobs could not be reached for comment.

As for who would replace Jacobs at Vuitton, it sounds like Phoebe Philo could be first in line. LVMH has already reportedly held preliminary discussions with Philo, who is said to be "intrigued" by the project. If the shuffling plays out, it's reportedly likely she would design Vuitton in addition to Celine.

WWD reports that a number of potential candidates have been approached to succeed John Galliano, who exited Dior in March, including Alber Elbaz, Nicolas Ghesquière, Sarah Burton, Haider Ackermann and Hedi Slimane. Elbaz and Ghesquiere, who both have equity stakes in and strong commitments to the houses they design for, have withdrawn themselves from the running, and Burton is said to have rebuffed overtures. Talks with Ackermann and Slimane, meanwhile, did not end in an agreement. As for Riccardo Tisci, he is still considered a dark-horse candidate, and has been championed by Delphine Arnault, Dior deputy managing director and Bernard Arnault's daughter.

>> LVMH, which has repeatedly said it doesn't want to make a bid for Hermes, has increased its stake in the house again, from 20.2 percent to 21.4 percent. Since first announcing it held a 14 percent stake in Hermes last October, LVMH has increased its holdings on Hermes to 20.2 percent in December and then again last month. Hermes shares have been climbing relentlessly since May on speculation that LVMH could launch a takeover, and LVMH has always said it would buy Hermes shares on the market. [Reuters, Forbes]

>> Phoebe Philo was very adamant about coming back to fashion on her own terms — that includes working out of London rather than Paris, and having reasonable work hours, she tells The Independent: "I think that's a discipline I've taught myself. We're just organised. Everybody in this building knows when I arrive and when I leave and the important things are done within those hours. That's just the way it is. And it works." She continues: "I have a fantastic team and it's much easier having children, because that creates a natural limit. If I have a good time with them before they go to sleep, it's worth everything to me."

A few more quotes from the rare Philo interview, below.

On not allowing media backstage at her runway shows: "Once the show has happened there's no need to control any image, but I don't like the idea of people sending out images before we've even done it. We don't allow anyone to do that. I don't like all that 'model backstage standing around having her picture taken in a stupid pose.'"

On being interviewed: "I just feel it's really unnecessary ... I think that the clothes say it all much better than I can. I always find it strange after a show when everybody comes backstage and says: 'What was it all about'? It's like: 'You've just seen it. What do you mean?' My instinct is to say: 'What did you think? What did you get from it?' And yet they want you to fill in even more. To me, the show is quite a complete story. There's nothing more for me to say and, anyway, it doesn't matter what it was meant to say. It's out there. It can be whatever anyone watching it thought it was, surely."

On being approached by LVMH: "I was heavily pregnant with my second child and LVMH contacted me to find out what I was up to. I remember having this huge tummy. We agreed it wasn't the right time to go into details, but I said I was looking at going back to work at some point. So, I had my baby, and I think when he was four months old and I was ready, the conversation began again. We looked at a business model for [a completely new, eponymous brand for Philo]. We talked about the products I wanted to do and the vision I had for it. And then Celine came into the picture. LVMH seemed very happy to allow me to do everything I would have done for my own label there, basically giving me the same amount of control, and it just felt right. It's never been important to me that my name is above shop windows, and I get a lot of comfort out of having something I can stand behind. Let Celine be the name and the front of it, and I just quietly come to work every day and get on with it. It's nice. It fits."