“Didier Grumbach was always a visionary,” said Christian Courtin-Clarins, president of Groupe Clarins’ supervisory board. “He had the vision to see Thierry Mugler’s potential.”
Courtin-Clarins first met Grumbach in the mid-Eighties, prior to the Mugler fashion show extravaganza at Paris’ Zenith. By then, Grumbach was running the Thierry Mugler label.
Also around that time, Grumbach, the designer and Michel Douard effected a leveraged management buyout, taking control of the Thierry Mugler brand. In 1989, Groupe Clarins started up a Mugler fragrance company through which it purchased a 34 percent stake in its fashion. Today, Clarins owns both activities.
“Sometimes people say Didier was difficult to understand, because he was two, three, four, five years [ahead of his time],” said Courtin-Clarins. “I love talking with Didier, because he has a very long-term vision. He was the first one to say it’s totally stupid, you do a fashion show and then the goods arrive [in store] six months later. People will copy [fashion looks], and that’s happened.
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“He always promoted putting some pieces that will be spectacular [in a fashion show], but [said] it was more important to have some wearable pieces,” he added, describing Grumbach as “a very human person, very kind. He is a poet and was looking for the artist, for perfection.
“He respected Thierry Mugler’s creativity,” said Courtin-Clarins, who deems Grumbach to be a champion of French fashion.
“He is one of the rare gentlemen I have met in my life,” continued Vera Strubi, a former president of Thierry Mugler SA and Thierry Mugler Parfums. “He really knows everything about fashion.”
Grumbach gave Strubi insight into the Mugler brand, especially in the run-up to the creation of the label’s blockbuster women’s scent, Angel.
“He knew all the major retailers and of course a lot of the press,” she said. “Didier was really the spokesperson for the company. He has a perfect eye for fashion.”