How Dior Offered Raf Simons The Job

by Hilary George-Parkin | 10:21 am, November 15th, 2012

Finally, some of the mysterious behind-the-scenes dealings surrounding the top spot at Christian Dior are coming out. While we were speculating (and speculating, and speculating) about who would fill the shoes of John Galliano at the venerated French house, it turns out Marc Jacobs was arguing with his partner about whether to accept the offer and Raf Simons was in meeting after meeting after meeting about the possibility of his taking over the post. Of course, Simons was eventually named the head honcho at Dior, and in a lengthy profile in December Vogue, he tells the tale of exactly what went down:

“Conversations about Simons coming to Dior started with the house’s president, Sidney Toledano, and LVMH’s Delphine Arnault, and, lastly, Bernard Arnault, and were numerous. The day Simons was told the job was his, he was taken aback; there was nothing momentous about this particular assignation. Except, recalls Simons, ‘the table looked a little chicer than usual—there was a bouquet of flowers sitting on it—but I thought that was because we were meeting with Mr. Arnault. We started eating and chatting, and at one point, he turned to me and said, ‘We are offering it to you.’ And it was an instant yes. There was no moment of doubt or fear.’ It was only when he left that the enormity of it sank in. ‘I walked and walked and walked, halfway around Paris,’ Simons says.”

He must have stopped sometime however, since he’s managed to do some pretty major work since that fateful meeting. Check out the photos from his Vogue spread below: