What is with these French fashion houses? Do they not get enough attention?

• Louis Vuitton became the talk of New York Fashion Week when it announced Yves Carcelle, chief executive, was stepping down — but not now, in a year!
• Ungaro revealed that it was parting ways with its designer, Giles Deacon
• A French court upheld an earlier ruling that the majority family shareholders of Hermès could indeed, combine their shares without having to make the usual tender for the outstanding stock

New York fashion? What’s that?

Giles Deacon. Image by Getty.

Hermès can’t control the schedule of a court but the Ungaro announcement today is as weirdly timed as the Vuitton one yesterday.

I mean, Ungaro has a show in a few weeks in Paris designed by Giles that, according to a spokesperson, will go on, though without Giles. Apparently, it was a mutual decision to part ways, as the designer had different ideas for the direction of the house than the management, but I wonder how this will affect the audience?

After all, what is the point of reviewing a collection when the house is clearly changing aesthetic direction? Or buying it for stores for that matter, and risking confusing the customer? Going to a designer’s last collection, especially one that doesn’t have the support of the corporate side, is like going to a wake.

Seems to me it would have made more sense to at least wait until after the show, so it got the most bang for the lots of bucks that a runway production requires. But what do I know? I’m in New York!