LVMH Reshuffles Management, Shifting Sidney Toledano From Dior
Widely respected, his influence has reached far beyond LVMH, through the ascension of a group of chief executives who once worked for him at Dior, including Michael Burke, the chief executive
of Louis Vuitton; Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, the head of Bottega Veneta; Valérie Hermann, the president of global brands at Ralph Lauren, and Pierre Denis, the chief executive of Jimmy Choo.
Along with Mr. Arnault, Mr. Toledano, who joined Dior in 1994 as director of leather goods and was named chief executive in 1998, masterminded the transformation of the elite French fashion house into a worldwide phenomenon
that became something of a strategic model for other luxury brands on how to bridge haute couture and haute pop culture.
Mr. Toledano will become chairman and chief executive of the LVMH Fashion Group, the division
that encompasses eight of the group’s smaller brands including Céline, Givenchy, Loewe, and Emilio Pucci.
Pietro Beccari, the chief executive of Fendi, another brand in the LVMH stable, will become chief executive of Dior.
I believe in the luxury market — I don’t need to see analysis from consulting firms — and think we can catch more market share.”
Dior holds a special significance in both the group
and the overall sector as the first luxury brand acquired by Mr. Arnault in 1985, and is the cornerstone of his empire.
Pierre-Yves Roussel, the former head of LVMH Fashion Group, is leaving that role to become a special adviser to the LVMH chairman, Bernard Arnault.
In the biggest management shuffle of a luxury group in years, Sidney Toledano, the man who built Christian Dior into a multibillion-dollar global powerhouse
and shepherded it successfully through one of fashion’s biggest scandals, is stepping down from the helm of the brand after leading it for almost 20 years.