Daily Front Row

2007 September 21

Dior Names New U.S. President

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Pamela Baxter
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(NEW YORK) Change continues to pervade the air at Christian Dior.

The French fashion giant named Pamela Baxter to the position of president of the U.S. division of Christian Dior Inc. on Thursday, succeeding Patricia Malone, who is leaving the company to pursue other interests. Baxter, who starts October 1, will report to Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, COO of Christian Dior Couture. She will continue to serve as president of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s Perfume and Cosmetics Group, a position she has held since 2003.

“The move reflects Dior’s appreciation of Pamela Baxter’s success in managing the North American perfumes and cosmetics business and it looks forward to her leadership in these expanded responsibilities,” the company said in a statement. “Patricia Malone will be stepping down from her responsibilities as president and chief operating officer of Christian Dior Inc. in order to pursue other opportunities. Dior thanks Patricia Malone for her contributions to its North American activities.”

Baxter’s appointment is the second top-tier change in management Christian Dior Couture has made to its U.S. subsidiary in 17 months. But unlike Malone, who joined Dior in April 2006 from Gucci, where she was president of the Italian fashion label’s U.S. arm, Baxter starts at the company with experience working for the Dior brand. Among her chief duties as head of LVMH’s highly profitable perfume and cosmetics division, were overseeing Christian Dior Perfumes as well as Parfums Givenchy and Guerlain. Baxter, a veteran of the beauty industry for three decades who served as president of Estée Lauder’s Specialty Brands Group prior to joining LVMH, was instrumental in rejuvenating Dior’s North American business, aligning the brand with the right marketing and branding associations (including tapping socialite and handbag designer Tinsley Mortimer as a U.S. ambassador) while sharpening its focus and distribution with an unrelenting pursuit to perfecting its image.

In her new role, Dior is banking on Baxter’s multifaceted prowess to juggle its plethora of categories, which include ready-to-wear, couture, accessories, shoes, and jewelry, in addition to perfume and cosmetics.

While Baxter joins Dior, which just celebrated its 60th anniversary, during an upswing--sales of its couture division grew 12 percent to 368 million euros, or $489.2 million, and operating profits accelerated from 8 million euros to 28 million euros, or $37.2 million, last year--the company has been mired by talk that the U.S. division has yet to reach its full potential in terms of sales. Baxter, in fact, is the house’s second U.S. president in less than two years. Marla Sabo resigned from Dior in early April after a five-year stint and has since joined Fragments Inc., the SoHo-based fashion and fine jewelry firm, as president and chief executive officer.

Dior has put a significant emphasis on its U.S. market, where it has 22 freestanding stores in addition to outlets at Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Saks Fifth Avenue, most noticeably staging two consecutive lavish resort collections, flying in creative director John Galliano, who also celebrated his 10th anniversary at Dior this past summer. In Paris last week, Dior unveiled his latest crown jewel: a redesigned Avenue Montaigne flagship designed by Peter Marino that was fêted with a sumptuous dinner attended by Sharon Stone, Dita von Teese, and Elton John, who performed for the intimate audience.