He is the man who never existed — airbrushed out of history to remove an ugly stain from the glittering reputation of a world-renowned French fashion house.
As Christian Dior held its annual meeting in the Louvre yesterday, executives deployed extraordinary linguistic talents to avoid all mention of John Galliano, the British couturier who was its figurehead until last month.
Take, for instance, Florian Ollivier, the chief financial officer, who skipped over the inebriated rants that led to Galliano’s dismissal as he delivered an upbeat presentation of record sales and an even better outlook.
Dior was known for its “formidable creative capacity”, he said in a speech that came after shareholders were shown a film featuring its fashion shows, with Galliano’s celebrated end-of-show appearances left on the cutting-room floor.
Sidney Toledano, the chief executive, did even better as he managed to answer a question on the company’s response to the couturier’s fall without actually pronouncing the dreaded G-word.
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Asked by a shareholder how the group had dealt with “the massacre of its reputation”, Mr Toledano referred to the accusations of anti-Semitism made against Galliano as “The Crisis” and said Dior followed public reaction on an hour-by-hour basis.
There was a moment of toe-curling embarrassment when another shareholder broke the taboo to pay homage to Galliano’s final collection for Dior, unveiled at Paris Fashion Week a few days after his sacking.
She asked who would replace him as head designer. Bernard Arnault, the chairman, said that he and Mr Toledano were sifting through a list of candidates following the “unpredictable and regrettable events” — which was another way of describing Galliano’s sacking without having to mention his name.
No decision had been made on his successor, it was reported, although that did not mean Dior would be absent from this summer’s shows. Collections were being designed internally, said Mr Toledano, and “there will be no blanks”.
He did nothing to play down suggestions in Paris fashion circles that Dior might not name a new head designer until the autumn.
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Given the group’s failure to notice Galliano’s descent into drink, it is determined to run thorough checks on whoever steps into his shoes.
According to the Parisian rumour mill, Riccardo Tisci, the creative director at Givenchy, a brand owned by Mr Arnault’s LVMH luxury goods group, is among the contenders.
So are Phoebe Philo, creative director at Céline, another LVMH brand, and Peter Copping, creative director at Nina Ricci. Both are British.
Dior, which holds 42 per cent of LVMH, reported sales of €21.1 billion for last year, up from €17.7 billion in 2009. Profit increased by 29 per cent to €4.3 billion and free cash flow reached €3 billion. It was, said Mr Arnault, a “remarkable performance”.
Fast fashion, pages 62 to 63