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"Today in serious fashion rumormongering: late last night, WWD pulled the trigger on a report that places Belgian designer Raf Simons squarely in the midst of a Christian Dior deal. The French luxury house has been without clear leadership since the unceremonious departure of creative head John Galliano earlier this year. Above: Two looks from Raf Simons&amp;#x27; spring 2012 menswear collection. The report cites &amp;quot;industry sources&amp;quot; that say:A deal with Simons, 43, has yet to be concluded, and sources cautioned that several key details must be worked out. Chief among them would be a start date, given that Simons, creative director at Jil Sander since 2005, would have to unravel his contract with that Milan-based house, which is understood to have been extended recently for an unknown duration. Simons&amp;#x27; appointment to head Dior would mean a drastic departure from the brand&amp;#x27;s now-signature over-the-top Galliano-gone-wild look (examples from 2010, above). Simons, who&amp;#x27;s been designing menswear since 1995, never had any formal fashion training&amp;amp;#8212;instead, he studied industrial design and worked for years as a furniture designer before launching his first collection. Over the course of his menswear label&amp;#x27;s first ten years, Simons became one of the industry&amp;#x27;s most acclaimed visionaries. Influenced and inspired by goth and punk subcultures, the English schoolboy aesthetic, and Bauhaus architecture, he redefined an entire generation of menswear as we know it today. The WWD report acknowledges this potential shift, suggesting that &amp;quot;Dior management is prepared to nudge the storied fashion house in a more modernist direction, given Simons&amp;#x27; predilection for minimalism and futurism.&amp;quot; What do you think about this potential shake-up at Dior? I&amp;#x27;m a huge fan of Raf Simons&amp;amp;#8212;always have been, and I love what he&amp;#x27;s done with womenswear since taking over at Jil Sander (example from spring 2012, above). I don&amp;#x27;t understand, however, what will happen to Dior as we know it (or as we remember it, as the case may be) if Simons takes the reins. Undoubtedly, he will infuse the luxury brand with his signature attention to detail, sharp tailoring, and clean look&amp;amp;#8212;but will his minimalism alienate Dior&amp;#x27;s core couture customer? Can you imagine a Dior handbag that doesn&amp;#x27;t have gold stuff or quilting all over it? If you&amp;#x27;re a huge fan of the Galliano glory days at Dior, tell us what you think about this potential shift. PLUS... &amp;amp;#183; Today in Dior news: a new designer probably won&amp;#x27;t be named until fall &amp;amp;#183; Is Marc Jacobs getting the top spot at Dior? &amp;amp;#183; Alexander Wang and Jason Wu are apparently contenders at Dior Photo credit: Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs/dressed/2011/12/rumormongering-raf-simons-to-t>