Goga Ashkenazi: Oil Oligarch-Turned-

Fashion-Designer
By TFL | Published July 21, 2014
Goga Ashkenazi certainly is not ignored by the fashion press. She has been described as an
Oxford University-educated socialite, billionaire, and entrepreneur, the oligarch-turned-
fashion-designer [who] embodies the shifting global economy, a social cyclone who
hopscotches between Milan, Paris, Los Angeles, and New York, a female Roman
Abramovich, etc. The majority of descriptions of Ashkenazi also include the fun(?) facts that
she is quite close with Prince Andrew, Duke of York and the ex-gf of Fiat heir and street style
god, Lapo Elkann. Interestingly, there is more to Ashkenazi than her lavish lifestyle or her
love life; namely: her recently acquired titles as majority stake holder and creative director of
historic Parisian label, Vionnet.
In May 2012, Ashkenazi, then 32, whose background is in oil (she is the founder and CEO of
a private Kazakh oil and gas company) and fnance, purchased a majority stake in Paris-
based Vionnet. The storied house was founded by designer Madeleine Vionnet in 1912, who
is known for pioneering the bias cut and creating elegant, sculptural, corset-free looks FYI.
(The house was shuttered in 1939 at the height of World War II and was not formally
resurrected until 2006). That summer, in August 2012, brought the announcement that
Ashkenazi had somewhat abruptly replaced sisters Barbara and Lucia Croce as creative
director; publications largely referred to the change in directors as a disruption. The
Independent wrote: [Ashkenazi] likes wearing clothes, sure. But she isnt a
designer. Lacking both extensive formal design training (she, however, spent a year taking
art and fashion design courses at Moscow State University of Design and Technology,
according to a statement from Vionnet) and experience in a fashion house, much of the
fashion world was not surprisingly quite skeptical of her appointment.
As for why she traded in fnance for fashion, Ashkenazi says Vionnet is a special case, I feel
like everything Ive done in my life has led me to this moment I believe in heritage, I
believe in the history. I believe especially in Vionnet because the tools that [Madeleine
Vionnet] has given the fashion world form the basis of fashion. For me, the story is extremely
important. But is passion actually enough?
Under the helm of Ashkenazi (and her design team), Vionnet has unveiled just over ten
collections (including Resort and Pre-Fall), which have all received largely mixed reviews.
Style.com, for instance, has referred to her as fabulously determined, stating that lack of
experience has done nothing to dampen her ambition and calling the labels Fall 2013 demi-
couture presentation a testament to [Ashkenazi's] ambition, and deep pockets. (More about
the demi-couture collection coming soon).
Of Ashkenazis Spring/Summer 2014 collection for Vionnet, Style.com had qualms with the
format/presentation of the runway show, noting that while Ashkenazi scored big name
models, her catwalk was scattered with high walls that ended up obscuring the audiences
view. Of the clothes that season, some were more praiseworthy than others, such as the
mens white jersey T-shirts that she layered underneath draped tulle evening gowns, which
Style.com called a misguided attempt at raising the labels cool factor. More recently, for Fall
2014, the reviews are were not as kind. The infuential industry site, wrote:
Ashkenazi and her team ventured further afeld from Vionnets fuid signatures for
Fall There are no rules for brand revivals anymore. Honor the archives or dontit doesnt
matter as long as the clothes are desirable. You just couldnt say that about enough of the
pieces here.
Despite the less-than-praising reviews, Vionnet is a bit of a red carpet hit. Carey Milligran
wore a Vionnet Fall 2013 frock to Cannes last year, and this year, in fact, actresses Eva
Longoria (who actually wore a vintage dress from the label), Amber Heard, and Beatrice
Rosen stepped out in Vionnet at the famed flm festival, as did model Jessica Hart. Even
more recently, actresses Blake Lively, Olivia Munn, Rosario Dawson, and Margot Robbie all
wore frocks from the houses Spring/Summer 2014 collection, as did model Liu Wen; Sandra
Bullock, Taylor Schilling, and Moran Atias have also been spotted in Vionnet designs this
summer.
Ashkenazi difused any suggestion that the house may not be thriving last year when she told
Harpers Bazaar that sales [had] surged by more than 50 percent. Did I forget to mention
that in addition to taking over the creative director duties, Ashkenazi is also handling quite a
bit of the business aspects of the brand? She says that in addition to major growth in terms of
sales, many retailers have picked up the brand again, including Joyce in Hong
Kong. Ashkenazi now has her sights on new markets in South America, the Middle East and
Japan. In addition, there are also plans to move the Milan-based operation to Paris. While
exact fgures are not known (as Vionnet is a privately held company), the company was
expecting revenues of 9.5 million euros ($12.12 million) for 2012.
Because Ashkenazi is the majority owner of Vionnet, her rather unusually large role is not
frowned upon quite like it as at other brands. Burberry shareholders, for instance, have
frowned upon the fact that Chief Creative Ofcer, Christopher Bailey, is also acting as CEO
as of this past May. In his new role, replacing Angela Ahrendts who left to head up the retail
division at Apple, Bailey is also responsible for the companys overall image, including
advertising and store design as CEO. Hedi Slimane plays a similarly active role in the Saint
Laurent brand as a whole. Since being named creative director in 2012, Slimane relocated
design to Los Angeles and renamed the brands ready-to-wear collection. He has control over
everything from the designs, themselves, and the ad campaigns to the design of the brands
stores, the sets and the music for the runway shows (and the ad campaigns) and maybe
most importantly, the complete overhaul of the brands image. He also has the fnal say on all
castings, and for awhile there, he even had control over the brands social media. He
technically holds the title of creative director, Slimane arguably shares quite a bit of work
with Francesca Bellettini (the companys CEO post Paul Deneves move to Apple).
As more and more brands welcome creatives into the business and branding aspects of
established houses, it may not be terribly unconventional for Ashkenazi to be signifcantly
involved in many aspects of the brand. However, based on the fact that Vionnet is a privately
owned company, we may never really know just how well it is doing in terms of revenue. But
we will stay tuned for reviews of the collections and any potential role changes to come in the
future as indications of just how well things are going for this recently-relaunched brand.
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SEE: Edie Campbell and Co. in Lanvins Fall/Winter 2014 Campaign