PARIS — Fashion has a new mantra: Looking out for number two.
Opting for a hidden talent instead of a media star, Chloe on Wednesday named Paulo Melim Andersson as its new chief designer, confirming a Sept. 28 WWD report.
Melim Andersson, 34, who starts at the French fashion and accessories firm today, was previously the design director of the Italian firm Marni, where he worked for seven years.
Recruiting unknown designers from the studios of successful brands is a growing industry trend — and a signature of Chloé chairman and chief executive officer Ralph Toledano, who drew parallels between his hiring of Melim Andersson and that of Alber Elbaz, whom Toledano plucked from obscurity at Geoffrey Beene to helm Guy Laroche in 1996. Elbaz is now creative director at Lanvin.
“Like Alber, [Paulo] has a personality that demands your attention,” Toledano told WWD. “[Paulo’s] mission is to find a new direction for the Chloé brand. He will be given, like his predecessor, a lot of freedom to find his own way.”
The announcement Wednesday ends an almost yearlong search to find a successor to Phoebe Philo, who resigned from Chloé in January to spend more time with her family and new baby, Maya.
Toledano went out on a limb in 2001 when he named Philo to succeed Stella McCartney, who went on to launch her signature brand in a venture with Gucci Group. Philo, then 27, had been McCartney’s assistant at Chloé for four years — unknown even to most industry insiders. She went on to help catapult the brand into the fashion stratosphere with feminine and influential designs.
Toledano characterized Melim Andersson as part of a generation of designers who have convivial, not rival, relationships with fashion peers and who have a “very professional and down-to-earth approach” to the business.
“He’s very intelligent, very cultivated and very low profile,” Toledano said.
True to form, Melim Andersson declined interview requests until he gets settled. Toledano said the designer would start immediately on Chloé’s pre-fall collection and his runway debut in Paris in March.
A Swedish national, Melim Andersson has degrees in fashion design from Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art in London.
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Despite his low profile up till now, Melim Andersson is taking on one of the fastest-growing fashion firms in Europe. After more than doubling its business in 2005, Chloé’s sales increased by nearly 90 percent in the April-to-August period.
On Wednesday, Toledano cited “strong double-digit” sales of Chloé’s pre-spring collection and a “very good” reaction from wholesale clients to the collection shown on the runway on Saturday during Paris Fashion Week.
Yvan Mispelaere, a member of Chloé’s design team since January 2005, took the bows for that runway outing; however, he is leaving the firm to join Frida Giannini’s ready-to-wear team at Gucci, as reported.
Toledano stressed he never intended to pursue a team approach at Chloé, although he heaped praise on his employees for keeping the firm’s momentum going despite not having a “face” for the brand since Philo’s exit.
“I needed the time to find the right person,” he said, disclosing he interviewed more than 30 potential candidates in a search led by the Paris recruitment firm Floriane de Saint Pierre and Associates. “The goal was to find someone talented, someone I believed in.
“You always have to look forward and not backward,” Toledano continued. “Fashion means, more than anything, newness.”
Retailers cheered the appointment.
“Neiman Marcus was excited to hear the announcement,” said Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director. “The breadth of [Melim Andersson’s] work at Marni was impressive, and we look forward to his first collection.”
“I am extremely positive,” agreed Sarah Rutson, fashion director at Lane Crawford, Hong Kong. “Having a new vision will actually give a fresh viewpoint to Chloé, and we are extremely excited about that. Fashion is about moving on and developing, so we embrace that with open arms.”
Rutson noted Chloé has remained one of Lane Crawford’s top-selling and growing brands despite Philo’s exit. “The Hong Kong customer brand recognition has been with the brand’s aesthetic, as opposed to the power of the designer’s name behind it,” she noted.
“I’m very positive because I love Chloé and Marni. They’re both retail-friendly,” added Kuwait retailer Majed Al-Sabah of Villa Moda. “I’m sure Chloé made a smart decision tapping into someone who helped [Marni designer Consuelo Castiglioni] make Marni into a success. I’m very happy that Chloé has someone like him to develop the brand and take it further.”
Asked about Melim Andersson’s departure and its succession plan, Marni declined all comment.
In recent years, several number-two designers have landed in top slots at many European houses. Last month, Damiano Biella, who had been design director at Valentino, was named creative director at Escada.
A litany of designers from Gucci have also landed top design jobs, including Giannini, who rose up through the ranks to become the current design director. Other famous Gucci alumni include Burberry’s Christopher Bailey and Calvin Klein’s Francisco Costa. Out of Miu Miu’s design studio came Stefano Pilati, now at Yves Saint Laurent, and Ivana Omazic, creative head of Celine.
“Great designers usually choose very carefully their first assistants,” said De Saint Pierre. “[Recruiting a number two] is one way to make talent emerge.”