Fern Mallis, who was the Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), thinks a Jewish designer would be a good fit at Christian Dior. Photo: Twitter.

Fashion icon Fern Mallis has suggested that a Jewish designer would be an appropriate choice for the role of creative director at Christian Dior, a position held by the controversial John Galliano before he was fired for a drunken antisemitic tirade in 2011.

“I would love to see Alber [Elbaz] end up at the house of Dior — I think his design aesthetic would be perfect for it,” Mallis, who created Fashion Week, told the New York Post on Wednesday. “I think there’s something poetic about a Jewish designer going there.”

Elbaz, a Moroccan-Israeli fashion designer, was the creative director of Paris fashion house Lanvin from 2001 until October 2015. The designer was born in Casablanca and moved to Tel Aviv, Israel, when he was 10.

If Elbaz were to be hired by Dior, he would fill a position held by Galliano until 2011, when he was fired after being caught on film shouting “I love Hitler,” and hurling antisemitic epithets at patrons in a Paris bar. Designer Raf Simons took over as Dior’s creative director in 2012, but quit last week, according to the Post. He said his decision to leave the fashion house was based “entirely and equally on my desire to focus on other interests in my life, including my own brand, and the passions that drive me outside my work.”

Galliano has since tried to make amends and has sought forgiveness from the Jewish community.