Virginie Viard Is Leaving Chanel

In one more seismic shift within the style world, Chanel introduced on Wednesday that Virginie Viard, Karl Lagerfeld’s handpicked successor, was leaving the style home after 5 years as its inventive director — years through which, although her collections obtained a crucial drubbing and hypothesis was rife about her attainable departure, gross sales exploded, reaching almost $20 billion in 2023.

In a quick assertion, Chanel, the second largest luxurious model on the planet, thanked Ms. Viard for nearly 30 years of service, “throughout which she was capable of renew the codes of the home whereas respecting the inventive heritage of Chanel.” No new designer was introduced.

Ms. Viard, 62, assumed the inventive director position at a precarious second, following the death of Mr. Lagerfeld, who had led the model for greater than 35 years, in 2019.

An unassuming presence who averted the highlight, Ms. Viard had labored facet by facet with Mr. Lagerfeld for many years and been his alternative for a successor. He described her as each his left and proper arm, and her appointment introduced a way of continuity to a home Mr. Lagerfeld had lengthy dominated.

However regardless of annual revenues rising to $19.7 billion below her tenure — a 16 percent increase over the earlier yr — Ms. Viard appeared extra like a caretaker designer for the storied home than a change agent like her mentor, Mr. Lagerfeld. She toned down the runway theatrics he was identified for, however her efforts to make Chanel really feel youthful usually fell flat. Her runway signatures included bow ties, numerous sorts of shorts and a keenness for Nineteen Eighties silhouettes.

Ms. Viard’s departure comes only one month after Chanel’s cruise present, held on a bleak wet day in Marseille, with friends together with Lily-Rose Depp, Marion Cotillard, Sadie Sink and Tessa Thompson. It additionally follows a shake-up at Valentino, the place the home’s longtime inventive director Pierpaolo Piccioli was changed by the previous Gucci designer Alessandro Michele in March, and comes within the wake of rumors that Hedi Slimane will quickly be departing his submit at Celine.

Not surprisingly, nearly as quickly as Ms. Viard’s departure was introduced, hypothesis started that both Mr. Slimane or Mr. Piccioli may change her.

“A brand new inventive group will probably be introduced in the end,” a consultant for Chanel stated in a quick assertion.

The following Chanel runway present, its couture presentation in Paris in June, will proceed as deliberate.