Bill Gaytten succeeds John Galliano

British-born Bill Gaytten will take over as Creative Director of the designer’s eponymous label

While disgraced designer John Galliano awaits a verdict in his public insult trial, his successor at his eponymous label has been named as Bill Gaytten.

Gaytten, who worked alongside Galliano in his studio for 23 years, has been leading the design team at the label in the 50-year-old’s absence and has now officially been confirmed as his replacement.

No title has yet been announced, but it’s believed that he will be Creative Director of the John Galliano brand, which is majority owned by fashion house Christian Dior.

British Gaytten took a bow at the end of the John Galliano spring/summer 2012 menswear show during fashion week in Paris on Friday - a collection he designed - and later posed for photographs with Sidney Toledano, CEO at John Galliano and Dior, fuelling speculation that he could succeed the disgraced designer at the helm of the latter too.

Cheltenham-born Gaytten told WWD after the show: ‘It’s the same job for me, I’ve been doing it for a long time. It was a bit different because John wasn’t there. I’m dying to know what he thinks!’

Gaytten studied in London for a degree in architecture but chose to hone his skills in fashion instead, working for British couturier Victor Edelstein before joining Galliano to collaborate with him at his eponymous label, as well as Dior. Galliano was sacked from his Creative Director posts at both labels following an anti-Semitic outburst in Paris earlier this year.

JOHN GALLIANO A/W 2011 IN PICS

CHRISTIAN DIOR A/W 2011 IN PICS