Fashion world wants Alber Elbaz to make a big comeback

Now that men’s fashion week is over in Paris and the city is all ready for the beautiful couture season, there is one thing that is still on everybody’s mind — when is Alber Elbaz coming up with his own line?

There was a movement and support from people last fall, in the immediate wake of his firing, to draft him as the creative director of Christian Dior. The place was left vacant by Raf Simons, but that talk died down as quickly as it began. And now there is a groundswell of support for him to start his own line.

 

Lanvin is going to miss Alber Elbaz

At the time when he suddenly left Lanvin, the idea was mooted by Ralph Toledano, the President of the Fédération Française de la Couture, du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode (who was also Elbaz’s boss during his two-year tenure at Guy Laroche). Toledano said: “It was always his own vision. At Lanvin, what he did was Alber Elbaz for Lanvin. At Guy Laroche, it was Alber Elbaz for Guy Laroche. Now he should just do Alber Elbaz.”

In the same way, Kim Hastreiter, the editor of Paper magazine and an old friend of Mr. Elbaz’s, said, “Maybe he’d want his own house.” Marigay McKee, former president of Saks Fifth Avenue and now a luxury consultant, also suggested the same thing.

And now, Renzo Rosso, the President of Only the Brave, the company which controls Diesel, Maison Margiela, Marni and Viktor & Rolf, told a journalist that he had met with Elbaz. He mentioned that when Elbaz said, “I don’t have a company,” Renzo replied, “Make one!”

Alber Elbaz is not talking

This is the time when two of the biggest fashion houses, Dior and Lanvin, are without creative heads for their women’s lines. Just like Elbaz, there were similar speculations around Nicolas Ghesquière, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton, when he left Balenciaga in 2012 and spent a year deciding what to do next.

But even when the whole fashion world cannot stop thinking about it, Alber Elbaz just isn’t talking. According to his Instagram account, he is taking a break and posting beautiful pictures of himself. The fashion world is dominated by heritage brands so much that when talented designers like Elbaz become free agents, it becomes difficult not to fantasize about them starting their own brand.

Though it’s not as easy as it sounds, as it was proven by the careers of Ghesquière and Reed Krakoff, the former Coach creative director who founded a luxury brand bearing his own name in 2010 but had to suspend operations at his label last year to “refocus.” And of course, there was Phoebe Philo, who left Chloé in 2006 for personal reasons after an enormously successful run, who was widely discussed as someone who could do her own thing, only to re-join fashion in 2008 as creative director of Céline.

We can predict all we want, but the decision lies with Alber Elbaz. He might create his own brand, he might join another company, or he might just keep himself out of the fashion world, only time will tell.