This is the thunderclap announcement of the end of spring. Chanel has announced the departure of its artistic director, Virginie Viard. Who will win the most coveted position in the fashion world? For the moment, no name has been communicated by the Parisian house.
An era is ending. Chanel confirmed, on the night of June 5, 2024, that it was parting ways with its artistic director, Virginie Viard. An announcement which comes three weeks after the publication of the company’s financial results for the year 2023, marked by an increase of 14.6% in the company’s turnover. On this occasion, the work of the stylist was celebrated by management, who were keen to highlight the good performance of ready-to-wear since its debut in 2019. The Frenchwoman, appointed just after the death of Karl Lagerfeld, worked , for five years, to the perpetuation of the codes established by “the Kaiser”. Same tweed revisited from every angle, same muses from the international elite, same nods to Gabrielle… It must be said that the designer was in the right school: she spent nearly 30 years in the workshops of the house, until it becomes “the right arm and the left arm” from the German designer.
Succession
In an official press release, the house “thanks Virginie Viard for her remarkable contribution to Chanel’s fashion, its creativity and its vitality. The brand founded at the beginning of the 20th centuryth century by Coco Chanel continues: “A new chapter opens.” To write it, rumor suggests Hedi Slimane, to which Karl Largefeld partly attributed his spectacular weight losse in the 2000s. The German, which is the subject of a series ititled Becoming Karl Lagerfeld available from June 7, 2024 on Disney +, would have shed 42 kilos to be able to fit into the fitted suits that Hedi Slimane was then designing for Dior Homme. Passed by Saint Laurent of 2012 to 2016, the latter has been working at Celine since 2018. But in recent months, speculation about his departure has increased. Especially since thehe designer, who has never hidden his love for men’s fashion, would be the ideal candidate to launch a men’s line at Chanel, as he has already done successfully at Dior and Celine.
The name of Pierpaolo Piccioli, recently released from his obligations at Valentino, is also being whispered. Well versed in the practice of haute couture, he has succeeded, thanks to his magical creations, in putting his mark on red carpets around the world. The Italian’s strong point? Originally, its specialty was accessories and more particularly leather goods, a strategic sector for all luxury houses.
The other option, which would allow the house on rue Cambon to be one of the rare big names in the sector to keep a woman at the head of its artistic direction, would be to choose Phoebe Philo. The Briton, nicknamed “the Chanel of her generation”, left Céline in 2018 and recently launched a label that bears her name, run from London. His minimalist (and unattainably priced) creations are celebrated for their feminine lines and the discreet power that exudes from them. Her compatriot Sarah Burton, who left Alexander McQueen in September 2023, is also an alternative considered by industry professionals.
If Chanel is not yet disclosing any clue as to the identity of the person who will succeed Virginie Viard, the house owned by the Wertheimer family specifies in its press release that a “new creative organization will be announced in due course”. And affirms his confidence “in the capacity of the teams to ensure the continuity of the collections in this transition period”while the fall-winter 2024-2025 haute couture fashion show will be presented as planned on June 25 at the Opéra Garnier.