DALLAS, Jan 8, 2005/ FW/ — With less than two weeks before the Paris Haute Couture Show kicks off, news of the House of Christian Lacroix being sold hits the airwaves.
In a report by French weekly Nouvel Observateur last Friday, LVMH is said to have negotiated the sale of the 17-year old couture house to Miami-based Falic Group.
Owned by the Falic brothers – Simon, Leon and Jerome, The Falic Group has interests in luxury retailing and the second-largest duty-free shop group in the United States, with reported annual sales of $620 million. Two years ago, the company bought California-based cosmetics companies Hard Candy and Urban Decay from LVMH.
The report of the sale was a surprise to the fashion flock, though some business analysts agree that it was bound to happen. Founded in 1987, maison Lacroix was historically in the red, except in 2003 when its balanced sheet was in the black.
According to the same report by Le Nouvel Observateur, the French couturier was “deeply hurt by the cavalier way his house was sold.”
Considered one of the brightest talents in the Paris fashion circle, Christian Lacroix trained under Patou who taught him the intricacies of Haute Couture.
It was during Patou’s last collection that they decided to launch Christian Lacroix Haute Couture. And in July 1987, the designer showed his first Couture Collection under his own name.
Two decades later, Christian Lacroix proved to be one of the most prolific fashion minds in the City of Lights. The Christian Lacroix fashion line has expanded from Haute Couture to wedding gowns, ready-to-wear, accessories, home, jeans and the diffusion line Bazar.
He has also designed theater costumes for Shéhérazade, Bérénice, La gaieté parisienne, Carmen and Les enfants du paradis.
In 2002, he was awarded a contract to create new uniforms for the employees of Air France, and redesigned the interior of France’s high-speed trains, the TGV.
Lacroix also designs four ready-to-wear collections a year – two for his eponymous line (Spring and Fall) and two for Pucci, which he has revitalized since he became the Head Designer of the Florentine fashion house in 2002.
Last year, Lacroix illustrated the centennial edition of Petit Larousse Dictionary.
[MARI DAVIS]
Photo by Giovanni Pucci
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