Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta in court over Laura Kim

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Susan Spies

Published
Dec 23, 2016

The battle line has been drawn between the two titan New York luxury labels Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta. Carolina Herrera has brought a suit against Oscar de la Renta to the Supreme Court of the state of New York for hiring her former designer Laura Kim while still subject to a non-compete clause, according to the US media.

The highly talented designer had worked 12 years alongside Oscar de la Renta, as director of the studio, six years of which she worked with Fernando Garcia. The two, a couple both in life and at work, launched their own ready-to-wear label, Monse. in 2015 with a collection for spring/summer 2016, one that is already highly popular among several US celebrities.

After the death of Oscar de la Renta in 2014, followed by the arrival of Peter Copping as creative director, the couple left the brand to join Carolina Herrera, Laura Kim as Vice President for Design and Fernando Garcia as a consultant.

The two managed a successful update to the house’s style, with the 2016 cruise collection selling particularly well, according to court documents cited by the American press.

Last July, WWD and Page Six reported that Francois Kress, CEO of Carolina Herrera, had allegedly offered Laura Kim a contract of $ 1 million to take the position of senior vice president for design. But Kim turned down the offer, saying that the founder of the house Carolina Herrera, now aged 77, would never give up her role as creative director.

A few months later, in September, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia left the label owned by the Puig group to return home to Oscar de la Renta, this time to take the reigns as creative directors following the departure of Peter Copping.

Their first collection is expected to be unveiled at the New York Fashion Week: Women in February for autumn/winter 2017-18. That is unless Carolina Herrera wins her court battle preventing Kim from working for the competition until after April 2017. To be continued.