Okay, if you haven’t heard it by now, then I’ll assume you live under a rock. Raf Simons, the designer behind MANY of the delicious looks produced by the powerhouse Dior over the past 3 years, is leaving. According to Dior, the designer did decide to leave for “personal reasons”, which raises many flags amongst spectators and the top people of the Fashion world.
He did release a statement, which to me, sums up everything we might question.
“It is after careful and long consideration that I have decided to leave my position as creative director of Christian Dior’s women’s collection. It is a decision based entirely and equally on my desire to focus on other interests in my life, including my own brand, and the passions that drive me outside my work. Christian Dior is an extraordinary company, and it has been an immense privilege to write a few pages of this magnificent book. I want to thank Mr. Bernard Arnault for the trust he has put in me, giving me the incredible opportunity to work at this beautiful house surrounded by the most amazing team one could ever dream of. I have also had the chance over the last few years to benefit from the leadership of Sidney Toledano. His thoughtful, heartfelt, and inspired management will also remain as one of the most important experiences of my professional career.”
While I wouldn’t normally be the one jumping to discuss the political moves of the fashion word, I felt something had to be said when we found out Alber Elbaz of LANVIN was leaving after a 14 year tenure.
But I understand it now. While many of us can only dream of working for a place such as LANVIN or Dior (that is inevitably tied to the idea of Rihanna and all of that beauty for eternity), good things must come to an end. & while others may not understand it or the ‘why’, I think to myself that we are all entitled to be free at some point. Do you remember in The Devil Wears Prada when Nigel was so excited to branch off Runway Magazine and call his own shots? Yeah, I’m thinking this is probably around the same ballpark.
Raf Simons teaches us a powerful idea: It’s okay to walk away from a good thing. Even when things are all gravy and everything seems to align with the things we need to do, there can still be an itch to do something more, even if we have no idea what that ‘more’ is. When I was working for a restaurant, I was making decently good money (anything that allows me my addictions of Chipotle and Starbucks and gets me on the train/back is decent for me), and pretty content. Until I realized I had the capacity to do something more, be something more, and go on and do other things with my time and effort. I feel like this is that moment for Mr. Simons, who has graced us with fabulous muses and collections for years, but at the hands and name of someone else.
Now it’s time for him to create his own truth and begin his own life. While the runways of Dior will always be a coveted dream of all fashion citizens, perhaps it is time for Raf Simons to create his own, or just to move forward with his career and his decisions. & like him, perhaps we can all take a lesson from the Dior House (Haus?) and Mr. Simons. Even when a good thing is a good thing, sometimes it gives us all we can have, and therefore leaves us with the necessity for more, which must be received by leaving what is good. What is comfortable.
Make those big, wild decisions you’ve been thinking of, Misfit. Who knows? It may just make headlines.
