Reviving Lacroix; after Years of Creating Unwearable Clothes and Unbearable Losses, the French Designer Label Has Acquired Savvy New American Owners and a Fresh, Streamlined Look. Just Ask Helen Mirren

Thomas, Dana, Newsweek International

Byline: Dana Thomas

For 20 years, the name Christian Lacroix has stood for two things in fashion: complicated clothes and capital losses. But that's about to change. Three American brothers who bought Lacroix from the French luxury group Moet Hennessey-Louis Vuitton (LVMH) two years ago are using their no-nonsense business acumen to reinvent the label. They have pulled the disparate lines into one, cohesive ready-to-wear collection and planned a major expansion into the United States, setting the company on a course to become profitable--for the first time--within two years. "This [restructuring] is what I've always wanted to do," Lacroix says in his immense new showroom in western Paris. "I was on my hands and knees begging my successive presidents at LVMH. It's a complete relief. It's as if I were reborn."

And what a grand entrance he's making. Last week Helen Mirren picked up her Oscar for best actress wearing a Lacroix made-to-order gold lace couture confection. "It held me like two angel hands," she said later. A few days …

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Publication information: Article title: Reviving Lacroix; after Years of Creating Unwearable Clothes and Unbearable Losses, the French Designer Label Has Acquired Savvy New American Owners and a Fresh, Streamlined Look. Just Ask Helen Mirren. Contributors: Thomas, Dana - Author. Magazine title: Newsweek International. Publication date: March 12, 2007. Page number: Not available. © 2009 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group.

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