BCBG Max Azria Files For Bankruptcy

Reports from earlier in the week that BCBG Max Azria Groupwas in dire financial straits have today been confirmed, as the company files for bankruptcy protection. The brand listed assets “in the range of $100 million to $500 million and liabilities in the range of $500 million to $1 billion,” Reuters reported, in figures taken from the company’s Bankruptcy Court filing. BCBG Max Azria asserts that stores will remain open during the reorganisation.

Although the brand's website is still live, displaying the spring/summer 2017 resort collection, the company is said to be moving towards closing freestanding stores in Canada and consolidating its operations in Europe and Japan, in addition to the 120 retail stores set to be closed as part of restructuring efforts.

The company – the name of which is an acronym for the French phrase "bon chic, bon genre", meaning "good style, good attitude" - was established in the late Eighties by Tunisian designer Max Azria but saw its heyday in the Nineties and Noughties. Its brightly coloured form-fitting dresses became firm fixtures on the red carpet worn by stars including Sarah Jessica Parker, Heidi Klum, Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock and Eva Longoria.