French fashion house Vionnet and its creative director Sophia Kokosalaki are ending their brief collaboration. The house said it has appointed former Hermès and Prada designer Marc Audibet to replace Kokosalaki, who joined Vionnet only last year. As the new artistic advisor for the legendary label, Audibet will show his first collection for Spring Summer 2008 during this upcoming couture season in Paris in July.
The Greek-born Kokosalaki will be focusing on her own label. Many in the industry are not surprised by the development, especially after Diesel owner Renzo Rosso acquired a majority stake in her label. Although Vionnet did not give an explanation for her departure in its press release, the house’s chief executive, Arnaud de Lummen, told WWD: “We weren’t displeased with Sophia. But we have our own ambitions and she has hers. We want to develop Vionnet and it will help that we have a designer devoted full-time to the task.”
In a statement Kokosalaki said: “It was interesting to contribute to the relaunch of Vionnet, but I realized it was the right time to move on, and I’m finally happy to focus my energy on my own label, which is growing very fast.” Audibet, 52, is described by Vionnet as a “visionary designer, inventor of the stretch”. He has worked at venerated fashion houses, including Hermès, Prada, Trusardi and Ferragamo. At Prada, where he worked for nine seasons, he was credited with helping to position the brand as a leader in the luxury market in the Nineties.
“We are delighted that Marc Audibet provides us, with all his sensibility to Vionnet, and enlarged vision of strategy and creativity,” De Lummen said in a statement. Madeleine Vionnet created her iconic label in 1912 and opened her first Parisian boutique in 1923, followed in 1925 by a boutique in New York. She was the first designer to translate couture looks to ready-to-wear for the US market. She was forced to close the business at the onset of World War II in 1939. The De Lummen family acquired the trademark Vionnet in 1988 and relaunched the label last year.
