Dior confirmed on Tuesday the death of Mathilde Favier, its longtime public relations director, describing it in a statement as an accidental death. She was 57.
Favier died on Monday, Aug. 17, alongside her partner, the French film producer Nicolas Altmayer, who was 61. Their car collided with an oncoming heavy goods vehicle while overtaking another car on a departmental road in the Deux-Sèvres region of western France, in the late afternoon, according to the Niort prosecutor's office. Deputy prosecutor Nicolas Leclainche said an investigation into involuntary manslaughter by a driver has been opened to establish the circumstances of the crash, Variety reported. No findings have been announced, and no determination of responsibility has been made public.
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In its statement, the house said Favier made a significant contribution to the reputation of Christian Dior Couture through her commitment and her elegance.
Favier joined Dior in 2011 and became director of public relations for Dior Couture, a role in which she managed the house's relationships with the actors, musicians and cultural figures who wore its clothes on red carpets and sat in its front rows. Variety reported that she worked closely with ambassadors and guests including Natalie Portman, Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence, Anya Taylor-Joy, Camille Cottin and Jisoo. Before Dior, she spent more than a decade at Prada, where Variety reported she helped establish the Italian house's Paris press operation.
She described the job in plain terms in a 2017 interview with Tag Walk, saying she headed press relations and the celebrity team at Dior and served as the link between the studio's designs and the people who would wear them.
Delphine Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of Christian Dior Couture, called Favier an extraordinary person in a statement issued through LVMH, saying her joy, optimism, courage and loyalty were exemplary and that she embodied the Dior woman. Arnault's tribute named Favier's children, Héloïse and Carlo, her mother and her sisters, Victoire and Pauline. Favier was the sister of Victoire de Castellane, creative director of Dior Joaillerie.
Jonathan Anderson, Dior's creative director, said the house owed a great deal to her work and dedication, and described her as the most positive and uplifting person he had met. He called her, in many ways, the spirit of couture itself.
Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH, said he was deeply saddened by her death and that she had devoted many years to putting her passion, energy and talent at the service of Dior.
Tributes also came from outside the industry. Marion Cotillard posted a remembrance on Instagram recalling shared memories, Favier's gentleness and her fighting spirit, and said she had held her in great admiration.
Beyond Dior, Favier was a founding member of Esthétique & Cancer, a French association that supports people undergoing cancer treatment through beauty and care programs. In 2024 she published "Mathilde à Paris," a personal guide to the city written with the journalist Frédérique Dedet.
Altmayer ran the production company Mandarin with his brother, Éric Altmayer. Their credits include the "OSS 117" spy spoofs and the comedy "Brice de Nice," and the company worked with directors including François Ozon, Bertrand Bonello and Julia Ducournau.
Dior has not announced funeral arrangements or a successor.
