(NEW YORK) Nicolas Ghesquière is in the hot seat, following his critical remarks about his former employer, Balenciaga, to System magazine in April. The designer claimed he felt the label was “sucking me dry,” that there “wasn’t really any direction,” and that it “started becoming a bureaucracy and more corporate”. While the full interview can’t be accessed on System‘s site, you can still read excerpts of the juiciest bits of the revealing Q&A on The Business of Fashion.
So what price will he pay for speaking his mind? The Parisian fashion house is going after Ghesquière to the tune of $9.2 million in defamation damages. That’s a little over the $8.7 million the designer was paid as compensation for breaking his latest employment contracts that he signed in 2010 and 2012. When the Gucci Group bought Balenciaga in 2001, the designer received $42.3 million for the purchase of his 10 percent stake of the company. At least he won’t be in debt, non?
Additionally, stylist Marie-Amélie Sauvé, who worked for the label under Ghesquière and who also made disparaging comments about the house to System, is also being named in the suit. Lawyers for Ghesquière have until October 15th to prepare counter arguments for the case, just two days shy of being exactly a year to the date when the designer signed a separation agreement with the fashion house on October 17th of last year. Expect the drame to continue unfolding…
