Mathilde Favier, Dior’s public relations chief, died Monday in a car crash in western France that also killed producer Nicolas Altmayer. She was 57. The crash happened on a departmental road in Airvault in the Deux-Sèvres region at around 4 p.m.
The loss lands hard because Favier was not a back-office name. She joined Dior in 2011 after working at Prada and became director of public relations for Dior Couture, where she worked with ambassadors and celebrity guests including Natalie Portman, Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence, Anya Taylor-Joy, Camille Cottin and Jisoo. Le Figaro described her as a solar and influential figure in fashion.
Altmayer, 61, was one of France's most prominent independent producers. With his brother Éric Altmayer, he ran Mandarin & Compagnie and produced films including OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, Brice de Nice, Young & Beautiful, The New Girlfriend, Frantz, By the Grace of God, Summer of 85, Everything Went Fine, Saint Laurent, Alpha and Monsieur Aznavour. Nicolas and Éric Altmayer received the César Academy's Daniel Toscan du Plantier Award in 2017.
The crash itself leaves the sharpest unanswered point in the account. Their vehicle hit a heavy goods vehicle traveling in the opposite direction while they were overtaking another vehicle, but no fault has been assigned. An investigation for involuntary manslaughter by a driver has been opened, and that inquiry now carries the weight of determining why the maneuver happened on that stretch of road and how the fatal collision unfolded.
Le Figaro reported that Altmayer and Favier were traveling from Cabourg to the Île de Ré, where Favier owned a home. Favier had also published Mathilde à Paris with Frédérique Dedet in 2024 and founded the association Esthétique & Cancer. For Dior and for French film, Monday took away two figures whose work had reached far beyond their own industries.
