NEWS: Dior Looks to the Future After Galliano's Firing

It appears that although the legendary house of Christian Dior sustained a massive PR torpedo by the hands of its creative director John Galliano when he was videotaped in the midst of a racist harangue towards Paris cafe patrons, they are excited with the new direction they are taking after his dismissal. Galliano is set to stand trial for his remarks which he later recanted in the midst of acknowledging his impropriety. Some would say that this is only a reflection of the blatant inelegance that is plaguing not only the fashion world and the spheres of the Page Six fixtures, but also a large number of public and private figures; the you're-only-sorry-because-you-got-caught phenomenon. For a company that embraced the avant-garde, envelope-pushing influence of John Galliano, it no longer remains to be seen how Dior feels about his leaving or his mark on the Dior brand. Dior wants to move in the direction of a return to the classical, youthful, and exuberant beauty that Christian Dior himself painstakingly created in each fashion show. A very different direction indeed from the somewhat outre and darker hold John Galliano had.
However, even in the midst of Dior's great push forward, the company's owner, LVMH, the biggest luxury conglomerate in the world isn't exactly feeling the change will be as quick as Dior may think. The major issue in the matter is not just finding Galliano's successor, but in figuring out where that successor will come from. Names such as Hedi Slimane and Alber Elbaz are being thrown around but people close to the LVMH camp are saying that neither will probably be in the running due to aesthetic differences and business ties. Since the fiasco began, Dior's share's went up 4% but then jumped back down when those shareholders became privy to Dior's uncertainty for the new creative director. Perhaps Dior is trying to save face, or maybe this really was the event they were waiting for to find their tabula rasa. Dior is saying that they never really regarded John Galliano as a powerful force in raising Dior sales, seen in their not-so-great finish compared to their rivals. But perhaps in the following months Dior will have a new face, a new brand, and hopefully a new start.