UNTIED KNOTT: In the latest sign that business is rough for independent designers, Jean Paul Knott, the Paris-based Belgian who worked at Féraud and Krizia, said he is shuttering his four-year-old signature business. He blamed difficult market conditions. “I believe it’s almost impossible for an independent to survive these days,” said Knott, whose clothes were sold in Galeries Lafayette and Maria Luisa in Paris. But Knott added that he’s not disappearing. He will collaborate this fall on lingerie with French firm Dim and he has designed a hotel room for the Royal Windsor in Brussels. He’s also consulting for several fashion companies in the Far East.
another indie casualty 
