Loathe, Like, Love.: Loathe... The Mysterious Departure of Carine Roitfeld

Carine looking chic...

I have been waiting to post about this for days under the assumption that very soon a verdict would be given concerning Carine Roitfeld's announcement on December 17th that she would be resigning as Editor in Chief of French Vogue. Unfortunately, no such news regarding her reasons for leaving have surfaced, well nothing too scandalous anyhow. Rumors of her having been fired for her poor relationships with design house Balenciaga (recall the big mess concerning leaked designs to Max Mara) were swirling around blogs, the Post and the Times; however no confirmation from the higher-ups has been given. Roitfeld broke her silence last week and spoke with WWD (www.wwd.com) about her departure, but didn't reveal anything juicy. She also didn't share any plans for the future! Here's what she told WWD:

I have always been a freelancer, so when I was hired 10 years ago, I found it very difficult to have an office, an assistant, a schedule, fixed vacations. But at the same time, it was such a huge job that I said yes. It's been an incredible adventure, but maybe in my heart and soul, I am more of a freelancer. I'm surprised I even stuck it out this long, but what made me stay is having a boss like Jonathan [Newhouse], who is an incredible man who gave me total freedom, and God knows I pushed the boundaries.

Her friend and former creative director Fabien Baron, told the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/fashion/18vogue.html?scp=1&sq=carine%20roitfeld&st=cse) a similar story, telling them:

She’s the type of person who feels that if she’s getting into a routine, she’s not going to stick around,” he said. “I don’t think that was the case for her yet.” He added: “She’s a very passionate person who can do many different things. Maybe the magazine was not enough.

I can see that she was perhaps ready for a change, but I find it very hard to believe that this fabulously creative, talented and at times controversial woman doesn't have something in the works... During her stint at Vogue she has done some amazing things, re-vamping the magazine from a rather tame publication to one that truly embraces that French "I'm-effortlessly-superior-to-you" attitude that we Americans love to hate- and that I personally envy more than anything! On her favorite boundary-pushing memories Carine had this to say:

Putting a transsexual bearded black man [Andre J.] on the cover in a shoot by Bruce Weber. Jonathan was very courageous to let that one through. Sophie Marceau smoking a cigarette on the cover. That did very, very well, so I mean, people expect it of us and that's what they love about us. I'm not saying I don't get letters from people who are unhappy, but you can't please everyone, and we take risks.

So with all this gossip to mull over, we can be thankful we will have February and March issues to pick up with Carine's name in the masthead... then who knows, but I know one thing, I'll be excited to see what this fashionable freelancer-at-heart decides to do next!

Some shots of Carine as Vogue EIC...