Was Carine Roitfeld Fired?

Her staff may have been shocked by the news, but it may be that the parent company, Condé Nast, was not - in fact, it could be that they were at the source of Carine Roitfeld's departure. It seems that the directors of the American group had simply had enough of the bad press caused by their turbulent employee...

Topping the list of the alleged complaints is her side job as a consultant for some big luxury brands, something she has always denied. This practice, which the entire profession finds offensive, consists of going so far as to loan the entire Balenciaga collection (that she happened to have in her possession) to Max Mara (for whom she was working as a consultant), who then "took inspiration from it." According to some sources, this was the reason why the entire Vogue Paris team was banned from Nicolas Ghesquière's shows.

Another black mark: the ANDAM 2010 episode (the competition promoting emerging designers) for which she was president of the jury. The fact that the Turkish designer Hakaan Yildirim had received the blessing of the Vogue Paris editor-in-chief, and that he had received so many favors, was intriguing to say the least. What comes to mind in particular was Roitfeld's presence at his show last March, something that she usually never does. In addition, she was accompanied by the top fashion icon, Kate Moss, and there were several top models on his catwalk (including Natalia Vodianova, Lara Stone, Mariacarla Boscono, and Natasha Poly), something that should have been totally impossible on a young designer's budget.

The secret behind this completely unknown label? Its artistic director is none other than Mert Alas (of the duo Mert & Marcus), photographer of Vogue Paris, which explains the young designer's friends in very high places and the corresponding budgets. When taking into consideration the number of young and talented Parisian designers who are struggling more than ever to raise funds, it seems clear that the 220,000 euro prize money would have certainly been better invested elsewhere.

It would also seem that LVMH - a major French Vogue advertiser - is no longer supporting Madame Roitfeld. Bernard Arnault, the group's president, allegedly hated the latest edition of the magazine, which he found not only lacking in LVMH products, but also in very bad taste - referring to the fashion editorial showing little girls made up like sexy women. He went so far as to threaten to boycott the next edition of Vogue.

A last point in favor of the hypothesis that Roitfeld was let go: the email received by Vogue's staff last Friday that explicitly spoke of a "mise à pied," meaning that she was fired. Nothing could be clearer...

Finally, as for the theory that Carine Roitfeld left Vogue to work with Tom Ford, the director of A Single Man cut that rumor short by stating: "Carine and I have no plans to work together at the moment, and it is nothing that we have even discussed, but of course I think she is brilliant and we are close friends so who knows about the future.