Having filed for voluntary bankruptcy with the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris last month Christian Lacroix’s troubled French fashion house stated that it had hoped to continue to operate and intended to obtain court permission allowing it to do so, by going into administration and making a deal with its creditors according to Reuters.

Chief executive at Lacroix, Nicolas Topiol attributed the company’s downfall to the current economic meltdown that has resulted in consumers’ reluctance to spend money, stating that “The consequences of the global financial crisis (have) sharply hurt the luxury goods industry.”

Preparations for the forthcoming Couture Week show in Paris came to a halt as the company’s employees were left in limbo while they awaited the outcome of the courts pending decision on whether work at Christian Lacroix would be allowed to continue as before.

Addressing the wait in a press statement at the time Topiol said “This process, which was in its final phase, has also been hit by the financial crisis and could not be concluded within the necessary deadlines. The company hopes to complete the (legal) procedures quickly and continue to develop the brand.”

Subsequently on the 2nd June the courts reached a decision and Christian Lacroix SNC was placed under creditor protection for a period of six months, granting the company the right to continue work according to a company official for the brand. The Christian Lacroix label is renowned for its extravagant and opulent creations and has always been a favourite with celebrities, including Nicole Kidman, Christina Aguilera, Helen Mirren and Uma Thurman and was famously worshipped by fictional character Edina Monsoon from the UK television series Absolutely Fabulous. Shockingly, despite its 22 years of a seemingly successful existence, the couture label has not once turned a profit. Founded in 1987 after the luxury group LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A.) Chief executive; Bernard Arnault approached Lacroix to set up a bespoke couture house for his luxury goods conglomerate. But even the world’s biggest luxury-goods company failed to curb the label’s losses and later sold it to The Falic Group in 2005.

The first signs of serious trouble for the French design house, while owned by Falic, emerged in early 2008 when demand from stores in the US plummeted. The Neiman Marcus Group and Saks, on which the house heavily relied upon, reduced their orders considerably for Lacroix goods and soon after the creditors were demanding the label to pay off its amounting debts – A task deemed impossible after it had suffered a staggering €10m (£8.7m) loss in 2008 and sales this year of the SS ’09 collection reportedly dropped by more than 35 percent.

The Falic Group, a U.S duty free retailer have been searching for a partner or buyer for the couture label since those red flags were first waved more than a year ago. The collapse of the brand, which employs 125 people, has meant imminent job cuts in order to stay afloat, yet without these integral employees it could leave the business difficult to sustain.

Lacroix himself is contractually obligated to stay on at the company until 2010; the CEO has been designing for free in the last few months and is currently owed more than € 1.2m from Christian Lacroix SNC. The factory that makes the clothes and the workers it employs have also not received payment, so there is still a strong possibility that the highly praised A/W 2009 collection may not be produced, despite all the effort to ensure business could continue.

In a letter to the firms staff, read to AFP by a company source, the French designer expressed his current mindset, saying “I don’t know what tomorrow will be made of, if indeed there is a tomorrow, but I will do everything to ensure we remain a couture house 200 percent and to safeguard a know-how, without which the lungs and heart of this house would not exist.” Currently Lacroix is scheduled to appear at the Paris Couture Week in July, although at the time of publication this was still awaiting confirmation. Many feel that this show in particular just would not be the same without him. In May the designer was not sure if he would even be allowed to showcase his collection, at the time stating that he hoped to stage a scaled-back couture show for the sake of his seamstresses in his atelier, he told WWD ‘’They deserve it, even if we can’t show it – I can’t stand having them do nothing during this period because they have it in their blood. January and July, it’s couture. It’s a physical clock.” He added “They are very strong – you know French women and the Resistance! The best way to fight would be to do a beautiful collection.”

It emerged recently that one of Lacroix’s wealthy clients had offered to rescue the label, but bizarrely the designer turned this down, saying he preferred the woman as a client rather than a chairwoman. It;s a  sign at least that there are people who still believe in the brand.A nother glimmer of hope that has presented itself comes by the way of a group of Swiss investors who have expressed an interest in purchasing the business. However as Lacroix has stated, once all of the outstanding debts have been settled the label could just become a licensing operation without couture…

Let’s hope the spring 2009 collection was not the last.