Tunisian-born couturier and shoe designer Azzedine Alaïa has reportedly turned down, what some may call, the job of a lifetime! And yes, we’re talking about the creative director title at Dior.

Alaïa has never been one of the main names cited by sources, bloggers, tweeters and reporters to take over at the Parisian fashion house, but the Financial Times says the designer told the paper himself he did infact turn down John Galliano‘s former job.

“Mr Alaia wasn’t interested. Flattered, but not about to pursue. The story of what happened with John was a sad story, he said when I asked him, and he didn’t want to be part of the next chapter. And that’s even before you got to the other stuff,” writes Vanessa Friedman.

“The sheer fact that the Dior leadership was thinking this way does, however, make me think the field may be more open than the fashion world suspects.”

Friedman continued to analyse the reasons behind why Azzedine may have turned down the job – noting the designer is in his seventies, and a rare designer who has taken a stand against the demanding nature of the fashion cycle.

“Mr Alaia has been perhaps the most vocal advocate of all living designers about the need to change the fashion system, to slow it down, to stop the relentless demand for more collections and more store openings,” continues Friedman.

“Years ago he stopped having official fashion shows, and started showing, and delivering to stores, only when he was ready as opposed to when the schedule dictates. And one of the houses that most embodies that continuous pressure is Dior; indeed, when former designer John Galliano imploded, the pressures of the system were cited as major contributing factors.”

It’s also assumed Alaïa has a pretty nice life with his namesake label, now partially owned by Richemont. Basically, they ‘leave him alone’ and he probably wouldn’t get that at Dior, reports The Cut.

Not with Bernard Arnault around, that’s for sure.