After 5 years, Virginie Viard she will no longer be the creative director of Chanel. A sudden farewell for the 62-year-old designer originally from Lyon who had taken over the leadership of the brand after the death of Karl Lagerfeld who had defined her as his “right and left arm”.
Chanel: surprise farewell from Virginie Viard
The artistic director of Chanel Virginie Viard she will leave the fashion brand, the luxury brand said Thursday, setting off a flurry of speculation about who will replace her in one of the fashion industry’s highest-profile positions.
“A new chapter opens for Chanel Mode,” the fashion house declared in a statement, confirming the farewell first reported by the Business of Fashion website.
The brand, known for tweed suits, quilted bags and No. 5 perfume, said a “new creative organisation” will be announced in due course and thanked Viard for his “rich five-year collaboration”.
His departure comes as the industry adapts to slower growth and many other brands, including Kering-owned Gucci, seek a new creative direction to reignite sales. The post-Covid pandemic boom, fueled by pent-up demand for fashion, has faded as shoppers spend less due to rising costs of living.
Chanel teams will ensure the “continuity” of the collections in the interim period and the brand will host the autumn-winter 2024/2025 haute couture show on June 25 in Paris. Last month the CEO of Chanel, Leena Nairhad dismissed rumors of a designer change, pointing out that Viard had overseen strong growth in ready-to-wear sales, which have increased two and a half times since 2018.
The second largest brand in the world after Louis Vuitton, owned by LVMH, Chanel is owned by French billionaire brothers Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer.
Who is Virginie Viard
Virginie Viard began working at Chanel as an intern in 1987, where she remained throughout her career, apart from a brief stint at Chloé. She known as the right hand man of Karl Lagerfeld – who referred to Viard as “my right arm and my left arm” – until his death in February 2019.
Viard was named Lagerfeld’s successor at Chanel and debuted her first collection for the Parisian fashion house in March 2019.
Viard was born in 1962 and raised in Lyon, France. Her entry into the fashion industry began with her grandparents, who were silk manufacturers. After studying Theater Design at the Cours Georges, you assisted costume designer Dominique Borg, who created the costumes for Camille Claudel. Viard then worked with French actress Isabelle Adjani and director Bruno Nuytten, and continued to do costume design while at Chloé, creating costumes for the films “Three Colors: Blue” (1993) and “Three Colors: White” (1994).
Viard began working at Chanel as a haute couture embroidery intern in 1987, at the suggestion of Lagerfeld, who hired her four years after becoming the brand’s creative director. With Lagerfeld she moved to Chloé in 1992, before returning to Chanel in the haute couture department five years later. In 2000, Viard moved into ready-to-wear.
Director of the Viard creation studio, she is also artistic director of the fashion collections, including haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories. With Viard it was the first time a female designer was at the helm of the luxury house since its founder, Gabrielle Chanel.
