Mar 09, 2011 15:28 GMT BREAKING NEWS: Riccardo Tisci poised to replace John Galliano at Dior.

BREAKING NEWS: Riccardo Tisci poised to replace John Galliano at Dior.

Riccardo Tisci, creative director of Givenchy is rumoured as the bookies’ favourite to replace John Galliano as head designer at Christian Dior.

Originally from Taranto, Italy, Tisci, 35 studied at the prestigious Central Saint Martins and in 2005 was appointed creative director for Givenchy womenswear. He later progressed at Givenchy to eventually hold the position of menswear and accessories designer. His love of gothic and space-age minimalism has given a refreshingly new identity for the Givenchy brand.

The rumours have been said to surface at Paris Fashion Week, where many were under the assumption that Tasci was to be offered the prestigious position at Dior. Fashion editor Derek Blasberg tweeted that he heard a confirmation at a Katy Perry concert, held at the Le Zenith concert hall in Paris.

When asked by fashion journalists in the French capital, Dior refused to make any comments. And as for Tasci himself, he was more interested in highlighting his relief at the strong positive reception from fashionistas of the Givenchy collection: "I felt this was a strong, positive season. And I'm happy at Givenchy."

Dior have found it highly complicated to replace Galliano as the dismissal cannot be processed for as long as several weeks under French employment law. Dior sacked Galliano following his arrest over an anti-semetic tirade in a Paris bar. Videos surfaced the same day with Galliano quoted to have said: "I love Hitler... People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers would all be f***ing gassed." This happened just before Paris Fashion Week. Galliano will stand trial over the allegations in June. Another name thrown into the rumour cauldron has been the Lanvin artistic director of Israeli descent, Alberto Elbaz after members of the Lanvin team were said to be in “floods of tears” after a recent meeting in Paris.

Who replaces Galliano is still a mystery, but Dior will certainly be looking to recruit someone in swift fashion to take the spotlight off the Dior brand for all the wrong reasons.

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