Kering Names Gavasalia Artistic Director at Balenciaga
October 07 2015 - 6:50AM
Dow Jones News
PARIS—French luxury group Kering SA Wednesday named Demna
Gavasalia as the new artistic director at Balenciaga, replacing
Alexander Wang who announced his departure earlier this year.
The appointment ends weeks of speculation on who would succeed
Mr. Wang, who left the label to focus on his own eponymous
brand.
Balenciaga, along with Kering's other smaller brands, including
Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta and Yves Saint Laurent, have been
relied upon over the past two years to make up for falling profits
at the company's flagship brand Gucci.
Kering doesn't break out the financial results of Balenciaga.
Citigroup analysts estimated in a report earlier this year that
Balenciaga's sales in 2014 were €300 million ($338.2 million),
representing about 3% of Kering's total revenue.
While far from being the largest brand in the Kering stable,
Balenciaga is still regarded by fashion insiders as an important
influence on the runway and has been a steppingstone for past
designers to larger brands. Before Mr. Wang, who took over in
December 2012, the brand was helmed by Nicolas Ghesquiè re, now
artistic director at giant luxury brand Louis Vuitton.
Mr. Gavasalia, a 34-year-old Georgian-born German national is a
rising star in the fashion world, with stints at Maison Martin
Margiela and Louis Vuitton before launching his own brand,
VETEMENTS in 2014.
Write to Jason Chow at jason.chow@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 07, 2015 06:35 ET (10:35 GMT)
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