Fashion writer Suzy Menkes is reporting at the International Herald-Tribune that Dior is set to announce tomorrow that Belgian-born designer Raf Simons will be taking the reins at the fashion house. Dior has been without an artistic director for more than a year, ever since longtime designer John Galliano was fired following his arrest — and eventual conviction — for using hate speech. (That would be the infamous "I love Hitler" speech.) Although the creative interregnum has not hurt Dior's financials, the collections overseen by a former Galliano studio head did receive mixed-to-condemnatory reviews from critics.

So who is Raf Simons? He's 44, and studied industrial design, not fashion design. His training, coupled with his work for Jil Sander, a house with a strong minimalist aesthetic, means that the adjective perhaps most commonly applied to his work by critics is "architectural." Two months ago, when Simons was ditched by the label Jil Sander, speculation that he would be in line for the job at Dior immediately followed. It took a while — and a few more turns of the rumor cycle — but today Simons says, "I feel fantastic. It is one of the ultimate challenges, and a dream to go to a place like Dior, which stands for absolute elegance, incredible femininity and utter luxury."