PARIS — It seems no designer is immune to the ongoing great shuffle — not even those with their names on the door.
According to industry sources, French designer Alexandre Vauthier has been pushed out of his 16-year-old namesake brand.
U.S.-based retailer Revolve, which purchased the brand out of administration in June, declined to comment.
Vauthier, an ESMOD graduate who cut his teeth at the side of Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier, launched his couture house in 2009 and received the “haute couture” appellation in 2014.
He became one of the red carpet’s go-to couturiers thanks to unabashed glamour that telegraphed a strong, confident female character.
In addition to his couture line, the designer parlayed his volumes, fabric developments and embellishments into more readily reproducible ready-to-wear variations on his daywear tailoring and sultry evening looks.
Despite a roster of A-list wearers that included Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Rihanna and French First Lady Brigitte Macron, the company joined a long list of smaller independent brands faced with slow payments from retailers, political and economic uncertainty, and lingering effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.
After defaulting in November 2023, the brand subsequently filed for court protection with the Paris commercial court in February 2024. It went into receivership later that month, seeking buyers.
According to French court documents, a joint offer was made by Chinese businessman Zhong Sun and the American e-tailer, a longtime stockist of the French label.
After Zhong pulled out of the bidding, Revolve purchased the company in June, pledging to invest a total of 6 million euros to relaunch the brand. Vauthier was permitted by the French court to retain a stake of up to 20 percent.
In its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February, Revolve indicated that the acquisition was made through L.A. Rive Droite, a newly incorporated French joint stock company. It also mentioned that a July shareholder’s agreement with Vauthier saw the designer transfer all intellectual properties and rights relating to the business in return for a 20 percent stake and voting rights in the new company.
Revolve indicated that the total acquisition cost of the purchase was $500,000 “and primarily related to legal fees.”
The brand, which sat out the spring and fall couture seasons in 2024, returned off-schedule to the runway in January with an understated couture lineup that had only hints of Vauthier’s erstwhile party-ready exuberance.
Ready-to-wear relaunched for spring 2025 on a revamped e-commerce site under the “Vauthier Paris” moniker, with a new logo and oblique references to a namesake designer.
