Designer quits own company over 'difference of vision'

A week after actress Rachel Weisz dazzled in his "must-have" dress of the season, the fashion designer Roland Mouret has resigned from the company that bears his name.

In a move that has shocked the fashion industry, Mouret cited "managerial differences" for his unexpected decision to quit.

The timing of his announcement is particularly curious.

As the creative director of Roland Mouret Design Ltd, business was booming.

The success of his new beautifully tailored hourglass 'Galaxy' dress, which Hollywood royalty adopted as the frock of the moment, sealed his fate as a tour de force in haute couture.

A spokeswoman for the company said the designer had walked away after lengthy discussions but that the parting had been anything but acrimonious.

"We have nothing but good feeling for Roland, for his future and what he decides to do.

"It's a business decision and the way the company is moving. It happens a lot in the industry.

"It's not the first time and it won't be the last," she said.

But few in the industry felt French-born Mouret, 44, who built the company into a global brand since it was founded five years ago, would have made the decision to work out a six-month notice lightly and without "immense pain".

Fashion sources said the move was a culmination of a 'difference in creative vision' between the designer and the company's owner, Sharai Meyers, who provided Mouret with the investment that he needed to create his own fashion house.

"There are two people who have different visions of how the company should move forward. They want the business to grow in different ways.

"With the best will in the world, both tried to make this work," said the source.

Harriet Quick, fashion features editor at Vogue magazine, said the designer's sudden resignation had "taken everyone's breath away".

"It is a complete surprise. I think people were aware that there were disagreements along the way as there are in many companies. But this is a shock. It's been Roland's year. He's been a name to drop and women have clamored for his clothes.

"To have his sudden departure at such a high point this autumn says a lot about what was going on behind the scenes," she said.

When Mrs Meyers joined forces with Mouret, he had shown his first collection under his own name only two years previously at London Fashion Week.

As a struggling young designer with limited financial resources, Mrs Meyers' backing allowed him to stage catwalk shows that cost up to £100,000 a piece.

Over the past five years, the UK based company has established itself as one of the leading international design houses.

With sales in excess of £1m for his spring/summer 2006 collection, Mouret has dressed everyone from Scarlett Johansson to Cameron Diaz and Victoria Beckham.

Many put his extraordinary success down to the renaissance of the 'hourglass' shape.

He has suggested that he seeks to dress 'real women' rather than the ultra-thin figures created by some designers.

Mrs Meyers, who with her husband, Andre Meyers, holds 100 per cent of the company's equity, said she was confident "Roland will go on to do amazing work" but that "it got to a stage where there was less common ground than there needed to be."

According to the fashion website, Women's Wear Daily, Mouret is likely to receive a package of share options once the company breaks a profit, which is expected in the financial year ending in April.

Mrs Meyers said she believed the creative team that worked alongside Mouret would keep business booming.

"There is a strong, talented bunch of people who are already here - and they are the way forward. Roland was a big part of the team, but he was only a part of the team," she said.

But many in the industry believed it was the designer who was in the strongest position, after leaving the company for whom he had been a figurehead.

Ms Quick, from Vogue, said: "I think he will absolutely do great things on his own.

"It's publicly known he has been frequently sought after by design houses and head hunted at various times in his career."

- INDEPENDENT