So, the biggest news in fashion today is that the house of Christian Lacroix has filed for bankruptcy. Which comes as a rather big shock, because (1) the Lacroix exhibition at the National Museum is still on-going and my friends are going tomorrow, and (2) I just saw a selective capsule of his S/S09 haute couture collection during the recent Audi Fashion Festival! So this all seems rather sudden. timeliness and proximity-wise.

The hardest hit on Lacroix’s wallet, however, are not the stratospherically-priced haute couture pieces, but the ready-to-wear sales, which had dropped by 35 per cent. Losses for 2008 were about US$14 million. I suppose this is hardly surprising. The uber-wealthy will always be  safe and snug in their safety nets, always ready to finance an ailing economy with their spendthrift habits. The clientele for the more affordable RTW pieces are no doubt feeling the pinch on their wallets. and perhaps choosing to spend at H&M instead.

The F/W09 couture show should still be going ahead, albeit on a smaller scale, but let’s hope someone sees the bigger picture and buys Lacroix out of this misery. The world would be a sadder place if his fantastical creations no longer grace fashion week.

In other news, Veronique Branquinho has also closed shop. The Belgian designer is forced to close her eponymous label due to (what else?) the recession. She will now focus on her role as the new artistic director of Belgian leather goods brand Delvaux and will continue teaching as a professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

 

Tis a sad day for fashion. It makes me wonder how everyone else is really doing, when a fashion great and an established designer both throw in the towel on the same day.