That’s the bad news. The good news is that Alber Elbaz’s position is not under threat, as the company plans to concentrate on the core fashion business.

I let out a sigh of relief, because last March, Alber Elbaz’s Fall 2004 collection for Lanvin is nothing short of magnificent.

And if I read the announcement from Lanvin correctly, Alber Elbaz’s work had actually softened the blow. “Despite strong development in the women’s activity,” the company has suffered losses of 22 million euros on sales of 80 million euros in 2003.

The news about Lanvin reminded of the interview that I granted Arab television channel, Al Jazeera last March, a few minutes after the Lanvin runway show held at the Tuileries.

It was great because Rosy Abso asked me pertinent questions relating to the collection. That is only natural as Albert Elbaz achieved yet another K.O with his women’s Fall Winter 2004-2005 designs.

“With this collection, one knows that Albert is at home with Lanvin. The two are sheer magic together!” I told Al Jazeera.

“A woman has two ways to wear the same dress, which means for me, she’s getting two dresses in one or two dresses for the price of one. Bravo!”

This statement is concise, clear and 100% accurate. Although the fashion industry is experiencing an economic upswing after 2 ˝ years of serious troubles, some women are still a little reluctant to spend. But they can now feel guiltless when making a purchase at Lanvin thanks to Albert Elbaz.

Finishing the interview I dashed off in a frenzy to rejoin FashionWindows.Com’s editor-in-chief, Mari Davis, and Juan Smith, a visiting student and aspiring stylist from Atlanta’s Morehouse College.

A word about Juan, “ALL OF PARIS LOVE’S HIM!!!”

With his Betty Boop style makeup, stilettos and bobby hats, He seemingly flew into Paris on one of my old broomsticks and took the city by storm!!! I love him because he has the energy of a thousand Amazons warriors. He reminds me of a younger me but only with out the heels.

Mari, Juan and I were running to the Carrousel du Louvre for the Balmain show. As luck would have it, a leading French television fashion journalist who refused to allow us to get away without an interview stopped us. For the sake of this memoir, I’ll just refer to her as “Madame”.

Madame loved our style! Who could ever blame her? She’s not blind. When you’ve got it, you’ve got it.

That said, I must admit to being grossly surprised by Madame’s line of questions. She was only concerned about if we would miss Tom Ford.

Great Balls of Fire!!! Call me crazy, but I personally feel that if I were to lose my job, very few people including the fabulous Mr. Ford would ever lose any sleep over it!

The whole thing was pathetic! Elbaz had just given the world the gift of a most splendid collection and Madame only wanted to talk about Tom Ford.

Acquiescing, I commented, “Tom Ford is a talented and a smart man. Regardless of whatever he does, he will be successful at it.”

However, I was also careful to reiterate, “Mr. Ford is not the only person in fashion with talent. Remember that when he started at Gucci, he too was an unknown talent. Now that he’s gone, it’s time to give another talented someone the same chance to make his or her contributions to the annals of fashion.”

[Before I go further, I would like to qualify “Great Balls of Fire”. This phrase was used to express one’s great anger or disbelief upon seeing, hearing, feeling or smelling something amazing or distasteful. It was highly en vogue among the USA’s southern gentry from the mid 19th Century to the earlier part of the 20th Century. (Just think Scarlett O’Hara to her second husband Frank in Gone With The Wind”.)] Since the 1950’s it has been replaced by other, more colourful four and five letter words.

So when Madame asked me if I would miss Tom Ford, I gave her one of my sickening GREAT BALLS OF FIRE looks! And in all honestly I thought to myself, “This woman must be plum crazy!

It’s the only logical conclusion that I can offer which may serve to explain how and why Madame would ask me a question that was so irrelevant at the time. Either that or she had just bumped her head against the Eiffel Tower. I’ll let you chose.