He was the talk of the town during Paris Fashion Week – will he or won’t he be out? After months of speculation, and despite showing what most critics called his best collection ever, it has finally been confirmed that Olivier Theyskens is indeed out as Nina Ricci’s artistic director.
The designer and the house have decided to part ways months before Theyskens’ contract expires (it is set to end in October), amidst poor commercial success and a flurry of rumors that the designer and Mario Grauso, the head of Puig Fashion Group which owns Ricci, were butting heads.
A joint press release stated that Nina Ricci “wishes to re-orientate its development strategy for the years to come. Consequently, Nina Ricci and its artistic director Olivier Theyksens have decided by mutual agreement to cease their collaboration.”
Peter Copping, top design deputy to Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, is reportedly up for Theyskens’ old job.
As for Olivier Theyskens’ future, many are hoping that the talented young designer will re-launch his namesake label (he owned the rights to his trademark), but there is no evidence pointing to that at the current time.
WWD is reporting that there are rumors of a design role at Schiaparelli for Theyskens. Schiaparelli is a dormant brand owned by Tod’s Diego Della Valle. It’s slated for revival in 2010, though Della Valle has denied conducting a design search for Schiaparelli.
Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.
