News: Balenciaga set to name successor
Balenciaga is in advanced negotiations to name a replacement for its star designer, Nicolas Ghesquiere, the house's chief executive said on Tuesday.
"We have a shortlist, and negotiations are well under way," Isabelle Guichot said, a day after the house's owner, the PPR luxury group, announced its designer of 15 years would leave at the end of November.
"It won't be a drawn-out transition," she added, in a nod to the recent situation at Dior, which took a year to name Raf Simons as successor to disgraced designer John Galliano.
PPR, whose fashion brands include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, has owned Balenciaga since 2001.
According to the , Ghesquiere - at 41 one of the most acclaimed designers of his generation - could be poised to launch his own brand for PPR's arch rival, luxury giant LVMH.
The paper reported that Ghesquiere had been offered a house under his own name, to be overseen either by Arnault's daughter Delphine, who works for the company, or his son Antoine, who recently relaunched the shoe brand Berluti.
Ghesquiere, whose surprise departure has rocked the fashion industry, has put the historic house of Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga back on the fashion map since taking over in 1997. AFP
