There s been another designer change at Vionnet. The Croce sisters, who took over for Rudy Paglialunga, are out after just one runway season. Today s collection was designed under the new creative director Goga Ashkenazi, who is also the company s new owner. And don t forget Sophia Kokosalaki and Marc Audibet, who both had their shot at turning the label into something with its previous owners. Got all that?
It s a long way of saying that reviving a heritage label, no matter how illustrious the name, is hard. Really hard. And Vionnet s name was once illustrious; the inventor of the bias cut, she helped free women from the cage of corsetry. Now? You can t blame customers if they ve lost interest. Inconsistency can sink a brand; even a 100-year-old name can lose its currency.
Ashkenazi demonstrated today that she has a general sense of Madeleine Vionnet s house codes—the asymmetric necklines, the draped square cuts—and she gave the sheer chiffons and georgettes a modern spin, often pairing them with pants underneath. But the collection lacked finesse, and it ll need it to compete in the fashion world of 2012.
