Paris Fashion Week: A Sad, Sad Day For Hedi Slimane

It hardly seems fair. Hedi Slimane had to leave his job designing for Dior Homme in part because his bosses at LVMH wanted to control any label he did in his own name. How sad he must feel then to be reading the reviews of his successor, Kris Van Assache's women's wear show. By the sound of it, van Assache's women's wear looks a lot like what Hedi Slimane's would have -- WGSN called it "men's tailoring, but fitted for a woman." Is this what Slimane's women's wear would have looked like? Seems we're unlikely to know now for some time. Van Assache had women's in the works before signing with LVMH so control of it was never an issue.

And then the news that Slimane's old buddy, Karl Largerfeld, is going to be photographing the ads for Assache's Dior homme men's collection. Lagerfeld famously lost 40 pounds just to wear the designs of Hedi Slimane when he was at the label.

Of course Hedi can take some solace in the reviews of the Christian Dior show.

At the time of his departure it was said that Slimane was jealous of the attention and financing that John Galliano received for the women's line. But there wasn't much to be jealous of at this show. Even the evening wear seemed mundane. Perhaps Galliano spent all his creative energy at the Christian Dior haute couture anniversary gala this summer. Or perhaps he's saving it for his own collection -- yes, he's got one too. One he started before joining LVMH.