John Galliano’s gaffe of making anti-semitic remarks in the La Perle restaurant in Paris has finally resulted in costing him the House of Dior. However, by some accounts, it’s said that the House has been looking to replace him for some time and that a former worker in its Atelier Flou said that he was rarely seen and looked disheveled and disconnected with the workshops.

So, the biggest question looms: who will take the helm at the House of Dior? A prestigious name for a designer who had created the “New Look” with emphasis on new shapes.

As the conversations are flying off on Twitter on speculations of the next Creative Director, a few names have popped up: Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hedi Slimane, and Rodarte.While all are notable designers in their own right, there are several reasons why those particular choices wouldn’t work for Dior.

Jean-Paul Gaultier
Having just left Hermes to concentrate on his own collections, including Haute Couture, J-P probably doesn’t have the time to shoulder more RTWs and Haute Couture collections. Karl Lagerfeld is probably the only man who is doing triple duty in this industry (Chanel, Chanel Haute Couture, Fendi, and Karl Lagerfeld), and it’s safe to assume that J-P isn’t looking to have a House rich in history resting on his shoulders. Besides, J-P’s vision is much too wild for Dior. Galliano was wild, but J-P is even wilder, he’s not nicknamed L’Enfant Terrible for nothing.

Hedi Slimane
Formerly the head designer for Dior Homme, it would be a natural choice for Slimane to take over, but given he has little experience in womenswear and much less in Haute Couture, it would be doubtful he could pull it off. Let’s also remember that he’s left Dior in 2007 by his own will to have more creative control, so a stuffy House of Dior is probably not his cup of tea.

Rodarte
The brand has received much praise since their debut of edgy, almost visceral looks, and it’s grown in the last couple of seasons into more prim designs. Still, RTW is nothing like Haute Couture, the Mulleavy sisters are much too young and free spirited to be confined to Dior’s standards. They need to run free with their designs, they’re a pair that can’t be tamed.

Marc Jacobs
Considering he has revitalized intense interest in Louis Vuitton with his flamboyant designs, he’s a good candidate for Dior, however Marc Jacobs himself has pretty much become the face of Vuitton. Having him switch over to Dior would be a strange move and it would only cause further controversy of who would replace him at LV. I say Marc is out of this one.

Alber Elbaz
As much as I love Elbaz, he should stay at Lanvin. It’s his home. Seriously. Don’t take the man away from a brand he has revitalized with his beautiful designs. Elbaz is Lanvin, point final.

So who would I pick to fill in the shoes at Dior?

Left: Raf Simons for Jil Sander F/W 2011, Phoebe Philo for Celine S/S 2011. Style.com

Ideally? Raf Simons from Jil Sander. But because he’s part of the Prada Group, that may not be possible. He’s repeatedly shown his eye for couture lately, with constant play on shapes and colors while still keeping with minimalistic elements of Jil Sander. I would assume he would apply the same kind of care to Dior and have ample resources to really let his imagination fly at Dior. Let’s not confuse that Simons’ interpretation of Dior will be vastly different from Galliano. The last 15 years are certainly filled with theatrical showmanship with Galliano’s Dior, but what of the essence of Dior? Back when Christian Dior was still alive, he was establishing new silhouettes and having women guffaw over how much fabric he was using to create his dresses during penny-pinching war times. Dior, much like Yves Saint Laurent, was all about the shapes. It would be nice to return to that.

Another rather good pick would be Phoebe Philo from Celine, which belongs to LVMH, and who better than the hottest female designing star to take over the helms at Dior? Perhaps a move away from the flamboyant will be a good change for Dior, and I think Philo would definitely have the chops to live up to expectations.

But, it’s all speculation, for now Paris is swirling in drama right now. Tomorrow is the big Thierry Mugler show with Lady Gaga and Nicola Formichetti as creative director. Times are certainly changing.

Samuel Dong has been known more so for his work at the CIMM in Montreal, creating commercial collections in womenswear rather than high end collections. In the past, I’ve seen mini collections that were associated with CIMM and had always appreciated his commercial touch. Recently he has been breaking out on his own, and this fall’s collection seems to be channeling some well-known designers.

Right from the start, we are treated to a club mix of “Un Bel Di Vedremo”, the famous song sung in the equally famous opera, Madame Butterfly, and when the first model walked out with dramatic fusion of Chinese Opera meets Japanese Kabuki makeup, I knew exactly where this collection was going. It immediately conjured up a post I did 2 years ago about the Dior Spring/Summer Haute Couture show in 2007. John Galliano had explained that he was inspired by the sad story of Cho Cho-san in Madame Butterfly and designed the entire collection revolving around Japanese costumes. The result was a stunningly theatrical collection, complete with dramatic eyemakeup and striking color palettes that Galliano is known for.

For Samuel Dong, the colors were equally striking, and the models were tall and slender with cinched waists and voluminous bubble skirts. Yes, there was Dior written all over the collection, and throwing in an Alexander McQueen-esque Victorian ruffled coat in red, or an animal printed silk shift dress – which reminded me of Christopher Kane’s baboon-printed dresses for some reason, and a touch of Roberto Cavalli with leopard print tights and shiny coats. It was such a shame that Samuel didn’t have an army of couterieres to add details to his already beautifully structured clothes, it was definitely a winner for the night. It’s odd to say, but the clothes had no “asian flavor” so to speak, so it didn’t entirely pay homage to Madame Butterfly.

Like much of Galliano’s work however, I find it difficult to place this collection on the sales floor, much like it would be rare to find Dior clothing in most retail stores. There a lot of pieces that look great on the runway, but sadly sometimes doesn’t translate well into commercial standards. Still, it’s not to say that the entire collection is completely unsellable, there are a few pieces that could work well into one’s wardrobe. But this collection has indeed come to a pleasant surprise, surpassing my expectations and seeing that there is hopeful potential in Samuel’s work to keep channeling a simmering talent for haute couture looks.

Having heard news that there were chances of thunderstorm in Las Vegas, I was prepared to spend my stay in dreary rainy weather. But no. What kind of meteorologist says that it’ll rain…in the desert. Take no heed to anyone who says it’ll rain in Las Vegas. Today I baked and toasted under the hot desert heat like an omelette on a grill.

I arrived yesterday to our modest but rather very large hotel 15 mins off the strip at South Point Hotel Casino & Spa. The rooms are large and comfortable, very clean, huge plasma screen and a great view over the hotel’s pool.

But enough about hotel and comfort talk, let’s talk fashion and shopping in Las Vegas.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Las Vegas is building CityCenter on the Vegas Strip right next to the Bellagio Hotel. It’s slated to open in 2009 and construction has already been underway and had progressed much faster than I had anticipated. This patch of land already has the infrastructure to a near completion, a few of the buildings are already halfway through putting on the glistening silvery windows. CityCenter will definitely stand out in the Strip as I noticed many other buildings may be flashy with lights, but many are covered in gold mirror like windows. CityCenter will be all silver mirrored.

Caesar’s Palace : The Forum Shops

Not exactly knowing why Caesar’s Palace was deemed la creme de la creme of shopping areas, I understood the moment I set foot in The Forum Shops. A gargantuan maze of marble floors, winding escalators at the entrance, fountain center pieces galore with painted sky domed ceilings, and well over 100 high end brand names including Emilio Pucci, Christian Lacroix, St-John, Roberto Cavalli, Tourneau (a luxury watch store) and even a huge Trojan horse at FAO Schwartz. Tourists crowd the Italy flavored hallways as they are mesmerized by the beautiful sculptures and captivating lighting. The luxury stores were scarcely empty except for the venerable Louis Vuitton store. However, it isn’t to say that they weren’t making any money. I’ve seen dozens of tourist carry shopping bags from Gucci and Dior.

In general the atmosphere was completely commercial, enticing shoppers to spend their precious money at every stop. It was very hard to resist even for someone like me to simply pass by.

Fashion Show Mall

This huge mall is more catered to the general public but remained less crowded than The Forum Shops. The main concept for this mall is that there is a huge center runway in the middle of the mall, with a control room on the 2nd floor which controls the lights above it. From what I saw on the screens, there are regular fashion shows at the mall and models strut down the runway. I call it the Vegas Panache. They always have to add a lil form of entertainment value.

Here you’ll find many generic mainstream brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Steve Madden, etc. There were also the high end department stores like Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as the lower end like Macy’s and Dillard’s. There were a couple of stores that caught my eye, mainly a store I fancy called White House & Black Market. I especially liked their strapless bubble skirt dresses, and the quality looked satisfactory. My main problem with this store is the fit, just a tad too big even as a size 0. A shame, it’s a really lovely store.

Style? What style?

There’s not much to speak of in terms of fashion style in Las Vegas. Everyone’s wearing board shorts, thonged sandals and tshirts. Only at night can you see the few who bother to dress up for a night out on the town, but there’s nothing really relevant to say about American style dressing (sorry). From my experience so far, most American cities are not quite into fashion eventhough they have a huge spending purse for luxury goods. But like many affluent shoppers who love to buy luxury items, they can’t dress themselves to save their lives (I am being biased of course, but if you want a city with style I would say Montreal, Tokyo and New York are the most fashionable I’ve seen so far). I am hopeful that I’ll see more interesting styles in Los Angeles and San Francisco though.

I’m on current a mission to find toy slot machines, the kind that acts like a bank and also serves as an entertaining slot machine. Anyone happen to know where I can find one? It’s for a friend since she couldn’t make it to Vegas with me.

I’ll also be attending a Cirque du Soleil show called “Ka” at the MGM Grand. Originally I had wanted to see “O” at the Bellagio, but unfortunately they don’t play Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh well, at least just one show will be enough.