In 2015, Raf Simons announced that he would be leaving the position of Creative Director of the House of Dior. I don’t think many of us mourned the death of that connection – I personally thought Simons was a terrible fit with Dior, and Dior’s designs suffered a great deal under his leadership. That being said, under Simons, Dior amassed a full stable of high-profile faces, from Jennifer Lawrence to Marion Cotillard to Natalie Portman. Halfway through 2016, Dior was still struggling to replace Simons, but eventually they hired Maria Grazia Chiuri, who has already been called a “lightning rod” of controversy. Chiuri is the one introducing those “We Should All Be Feminists” t-shirt. She’s the one doing Dior denim. She’s the one doing fashion shows in Calabasas. And now she’s the one who apparently sh-tcanned Marion Cotillard!!
Eagle-eyed fashion watchers did a double take when longtime Dior spokesperson Marion Cotillard showed up to her Cannes opening night premiere of Ismael’s Ghosts in a black dress from competing house Chanel. The black lace-up gown, paired with gold platforms, was a bit of an understated look from the normally shining star — especially on such a big night — but it was said to have been a last minute replacement, as she was dismissed from the house in a shocking move earlier this week.
Sources say the Cotillard was unceremoniously dropped from the brand by new creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri. Chiuri, who took the reins of the historic house last July, reportedly wants a newer, younger face for her reimagined brand. The Italian designer has made an effort to take the house in a new, more casual direction with her “We Should All Be Feminists” T-shirt partnership with Rihanna, her denim-dominated fall collection and her recent Western-themed cruise runway show in the wilds of Calabasas.
Cotillard is said to be upset by the abrupt dismissal after a nearly decadelong relationship with the house, where she has fronted 15 campaigns since 2008. The surprise move is also said to be causing strife between luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesey chairman Bernard Arnault and Dior CEO Sydney Toledano. LVMH recently took control of the couture house in a $13 billion deal to simplify the ownership structure. Reps for Dior did not respond to request for comment.
Ain’t no drama like FASHION DRAMA. I understand why Marion is reportedly upset, because the collaboration was so long-standing and she was so connected to the Dior label, and she wore Dior to almost every major event. That being said… I don’t think Marion brought much to Dior and I don’t think Dior brought much to Marion. The collaboration really had run its course. The beginning of the end was during Marion’s pregnancy, when Dior kept sending their best maternity looks to Natalie Portman. So… Marion will be fine. She’ll probably get snapped up by another luxury label. As for Dior… it’s not a good look to “unceremoniously drop” one of your muses just after she had a baby, and right before the Cannes Film Festival. Yikes.
Photos of Marion in Cannes, not wearing Dior, courtesy of WENN.
She’s beautiful, talented, Oscar winner, Love her.
Maybe Chanel will want her?
She’s also a 9/11 denier.
She’s a 9/11 denier??? I want more info on that.
Yep, she’s a loon. She also denied the moon landing.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/09/20/a_primer_on_the_philosophies_of_marion_cotillard_no_this_has_nothing_to.html
Totally read that as a 9/11 derrière!
No Birdix
She’s not a denier
She just rightly questions the official narrative
She’s right that never before or since havevsteel framed buildings collapsed into their own footprints. Not from fire. And if you say to that Oh but it was Jet fuel! Then please DO explain bldg 7 collapsing into its own footprint that same day. No jet fuel. Just fires.
That’s who I thought of for Marion! Chanel.
Since John Galliano firing Dior dresses and gown have been a total mess.
Spot on.
Exactly. I can’t wait to see what she wears next.
Yeah. I miss the Galliano Dior it was dramatic and feminine and fun.
I do not find any current popular designer interesting.
Dior is kind of a mess. The Joe Boxer style waistbands? So bad.
Marion is one of the greats, imo and deserves better. Dior will probably start paying the insta-contingent any day now. Le sigh.
Nothing like a woman throwing a woman under the bus because she wants ‘younger’. This new fashion designer sounds horrible.
She is fiercely feminist and is pushing a “controversial” feminist slogan for the company…does it really sound like she would ditch a successful celebrity spokesperson who is famously youthful merely a week to Cannes just because she is “too old”? No I think theres much much more to this. I think this is Marions narrative and the fuller story will make more sense
So the designer is fiercely feminist, created the ‘we should all be feminists’ t-shirt and Marion Cotillard has previously said she has a problem with the word …
@Craven. There is so much more to this story. Watch and see who replaces her and the dots will start joining up
I was reading that in total disbelief. “We Should All Be Feminists” yeah right. Dior was already trying too hard by hiring 10 different celebrity “muses” but now ? Even worse. Is their next celebrity contract going to be Kylie Jenner? Or perhaps Hailey Baldwin while we’re at it.
Ugh.
Marion has incredible legs! But she needs a new stylist pronto.
So women aren’t supposed to fire other women now?
There will always be turnover when someone new heads a label, especially when the new vision is such a stark contrast compared to the outgoing, as it is with Chiuri’s vs Valentino. It’s a multimillion dollar contract to literally represent the essence of the brand, and it would appear that Chiuri specifically doesn’t feel that Cotillard isn’t right. Its art and aesthetic.
Mistake. The woman has class.
Marion is so elegant yet she seems approachable and warm.
It’s a French label and she is the best known French actress of her generation (including an Oscar).
I do not understand that reasoning at all. And if they end up giving the job to one of the Instagram models, I will freak out.
Same here. She was the only French face of an iconic French label, has no shortage of professional accomplishments or fashion cachet…. and if MGC is seriously proposing to replace her with some social media attention wh*re she’s got to be out of her mind.
They were making Marion wear all sorts of shapeless sacks during her pregnancy
So she should have dropped them
But this might not do well for their reputation as fashion scene is largely dominated by women and they might see this as penalizing post having baby
On other note: Marion looked sizzling in her armani so… its Diors loss
ETA: app new creative director is a fiercely feminist woman.
Somehow these fiercly feminist ( in speech atleast) are the pettiest lot.
RE- the feminism shirt: Nothing more feminist than overpricing a white shirt that only the 1% can buy in the name of feminism
And 2 years worth of ugly designs, that do nothing for women wearing them!
Nothing says “We Should All Be Feminists” like a super expensive shirt and firing women for someone younger!
Dior is not a young brand. It costs too much. Why all these Kardashian touches are being added makes no sense. Might bring more insta-interest but they’re not going to consistently spend $700 on a teeshirt.
At least Marion is now free to wear more interesting designs. I see her paired with Chanel in 3, 2….
And will this mean Natalie Portman will also be dropped?
I dunno about Chanel. They may be reluctant to appear like they are taking Dior’s cast offs. And they tend to skew very young as well- Lily Rose Depp, Kirsten Stewart etc so I don’t think she would really be on brand for them either.
I don’t understand why we need to pity relatively rich actresses who lose access to free designer clothing. Seriously.
I really don’t think they dropped her because she’s too old – they were dressing lots of people that are older than her… maybe it’s because she’s said that she will be taking time off from now on and there won’t be any events to dress her for? I also follow the Dior Celebrity manager person on Instagram and she was taking photos with Marion so I don’t think it can be this big terrible insult/falling out.
It is still awards season in Europe (Cannes, Venice etc) and dropping Cotillard like that isn’t exactly the nice way. Organising a different dress takes time and Dior should have given Cotillard enough time to re-organise her wardrobe for the currently running awards seasons.
Cannes and Venice aren’t awards shows, they’re film festivals, and Venice isn’t even until August.
Has charlize been dropped as well? she’s an older actress like marion who headed campaigns. If so, they are better off. Dior has been a load of shit for some time now.
nothing against her, but there’s really no evidence it’s an age related thing, since they still have active contracts with actresses like charlize theron (she was at their last event) and natalie portman, who are about marion’s age. must be something else.
The article made me laugh. She designed the popular “We should all be feminists” shirts ….and then immediately fired the current female muse as she wanted to go in a more “new and casual direction” as opposed to old and matronly.
Hah! Exactly.
“The beginning of the end was during Marion’s pregnancy, when Dior kept sending their best maternity looks to Natalie Portman. So… Marion will be fine. She’ll probably get snapped up by another luxury label.” this analysis and observation is why gossip has become a very serious industry
BRAVO CELEBITCHY.COM
“Newer and Younger” won’t do the trick: that wouldn’t lift Dior.
Cotillard was essentially right for Dior but she was dressed wrong by Dior. As Dior didn’t manage to dress Cotillard who has that type of french-gallic beauty I doubt they will manage to dress somebody else in such a way to get noticed.
This new designer stole that slogan from Chimamanda Ngozi. She is a Nigerian writer and feminist. I hope people just go read Ngozi’s book or even watch her ted talks instead buying some expensive shirt.
Also too bad about Marion. I love her and think that she along with Liv Tyler are just truly stunning women.
Are you kidding me? It wasn’t STOLEN it was a COLLABORATION.
I personally think this is a dumb decision. Marion was the only one out of all the actresses who could pull off the ugly Dior designs. She has the beauty and the charisma to wear the dress instead have the dress wear her.
J-Law and Natalie Portman just dont do it for me in that instance. Blegh.
To be honest Marion to me was the best thing about the media presence of Dior. There I said it.
I agree. Barring Charlize and Rihanna, none of the other faces of Dior have the kind of red carpet presence and fashion cachet that Marion does. Jlaw and Natalie are gorgeous but uh, I wouldn’t call them stylish. Ever.
+100
A runway event in Calabasas? There’s nothing there but Kardashians. It’s a way outer burb of LA. Close to nothing and not worth visiting.
There is new big money there. As is said before Dior is expensive so they produce something Kardashian appealing and sell that to them. In the end is about making money and they go after the rich. I saw on tv a program about the luxury brands in Saudi Arabia and other rich countries around it. Channel, Armani, Dior Versace etc are killing it there with their muslim inspired clothes and what not. We don’t really see those clothes on the internet or instagram but they have a HUGE market there.
Good riddance. Never liked Marion “I wan’t to fight for human rights not women’s rights” Cotillard and her weepface.