What do you do when your head designer turns out to be blatantly anti-Semitic? Well, first you fire him. Then you hope for a reputation makeover. Christian Dior is collaborating with a German artist for a pop-up shop in the Design District during Art Basel Miami Beach. These kind of collaborations are nothing new -- MAC recently enlisted Cindy Sherman and Louis Vuitton worked with Takashi Murakami.
But will Dior's collaboration with Anselm Reyle make you forget that then-head designer John Galliano shouted "I love Hitler. People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers would all be fucking gassed" at a group of women? Better be some damn eye-catching purses.
When the incident happened last March, Dior President and CEO Sidney
Toledano, told press: "I condemn most firmly the statements made by John
Galliano which are a total contradiction with the essential values that
have always been defended by the House of Christian Dior."
The fashion house also told WWD that the Reyle collaboration was in the works long before the nasty Galliano business, but the timing can't help but shift focus from the last time they were in the news.
The German artist, known for large-scale
abstract paintings, designed a Dioir collection reminiscent
of the 80s: think metallic purses with a diamond quilted pattern,
digitized landscapes of neon colors, and key rings dangling with geometric
plastic.
The pop-up Dior x Anselm Reyle shop will open in Miami's Design District
on November 28 and will be open for three weeks. For those unable to visit
this temporary store, the line goes onsale to the public on January 9.
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