PARIS—Longtime Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz said Wednesday that he has been pushed out of the French fashion house by its majority owner, the latest departure to rock a high-end couture brand in recent months.

The Paris-based fashion house informed the company's staff on Wednesday of the designer's departure, but Mr. Elbaz pre-empted his former employer by sending out his own announcement, saying that the decision for him to leave after 14 years was made by Shaw-Lan Wang, the company's majority shareholder.

"I wish the house of Lanvin the future it deserves among the best French luxury brands, and hope that it finds the business vision it needs to engage in the right way forward," Mr. Elbaz wrote, seeming to suggest tensions between him and Ms. Wang, who in the past has often presented Mr. Elbaz with bouquets of flowers after his Paris runway shows.

Marie-Sabine Leclercq, Lanvin's communications chief, confirmed that it was the company's decision to end Mr. Elbaz's tenure, adding that Lanvin thanked him for his service.

Mr. Elbaz is largely responsible for Lanvin's rejuvenation over the 14 years he has been the creative director of the once moribund label. He created the trend for luxury brand jewelry by launching fabric-covered pearls—a strategy that many luxury brands have since followed. His humorous sketches of everything from lollipops to his own portly visage have become a brand signature. The privately held label sometimes hands out fans covered in the sketches at its well-received fashion shows.

The departure of the high-profile designer underscores a new level of change—and sometimes discontent—at the pinnacle of the fashion world.

Mr. Elbaz is the third creative director to leave the top job at a high-fashion brand since July, when Alexander Wang left Kering SA's Balenciaga to focus on his own eponymous brand. Raf Simons last week said he was stepping down as creative director of Christian Dior SE, also in part to focus on his own brand.

The departure comes at a delicate time for Lanvin. Revenue at parent Jeanne Lanvin SA has been falling since at least 2011, and dropped 9.5% on-year in 2014 to €168 million, according to a company filing. Profit fell 48% to €2.9 million in the same period.

Ms. Leclercq, the Lanvin spokeswoman, acknowledged that declining revenue can create tensions, but added that the company would have "stable" revenue in 2015.

Mr. Elbaz's departure may also reflect a level of strain among designers in the fashion world who started by making clothes but now oversee large marketing operations for many collections every year. Creative directors are in charge of store design, ad campaigns and brand image, leaving little time to actually design apparel.

Fashion newspaper Women's Wear Daily first reported the news of Mr. Elbaz's departure earlier Wednesday.

Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com and Christina Binkley at christina.binkley@wsj.com

 

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2015 17:25 ET (21:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.