Christian Dior sales up despite Galliano outburst
Fears that John Galliano's anti-semitic outburst in February in a Paris bar might harm the Christian Dior fashion house he once headed proved unfounded when the group announced a 17.6 percent increase in sales.
Figures released by the Christian Dior group showed third quarter sales up to €260 million ($368 million), reported Women's Wear Daily (WWD).
Sales for January to September 2011 were up even more, by 18.7 percent, taking total revenues to €705 million.
WWD reported that a variety of leather lines contributed to the healthy sales, including the Lady Dior, Granville and Miss Dior ranges. Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard has fronted the advertising campaign for Miss Dior.
Christian Dior head designer John Galliano was dismissed after an anti-semitic outburst outside a Paris bar in February.
According to several witnesses, the designer subjected fellow patrons of the La Perle cafe in Paris' fashionable Marais district to streams of foul-mouthed anti-Jewish and anti-Asian abuse.
He allegedly called one witness a "fucking ugly Jewish bitch" after mocking her "cheap boots" and insulting her figure.
Video footage of another incident, posted online, showed Galliano declaring "I love Hitler" and telling a couple at the next table: "People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be fucking gassed."
Galliano was convicted by a Paris court in September for anti-Semitic insults and given a suspended fine of €6,000.
Dior has still not named a successor to Galliano, although current Louis Vuitton artistic director Marc Jacobs is still seen as the frontrunner.
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