Virginie Viard - Designer, Creative Director of Chanel

[Lola701]

Hedi seems to be the obvious choice for the suits. They only care about growing their business after alland the idea of Chanel Home will exactly help them propel the business to another level. But I’m genuinely hoping to be pleasantly surprised by Haider or Galliano taking over.

For the suits or for the Internet?

As far as I know, every name that we are throwing around is of currently employed by big corporations designers.

Except for Haider, all the names around are still CD of fashion houses: Hedi at Celine and Galliano at Margiela.

It’s funny how nobody wonders where she would go next even if I think she would probably be a costume designer either at The Opera de Paris or any cultural thing where Chanel is involved.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

^ she should do Patou and leaves us alone forever.

 

[tourbillions]

she will obviously go on as creative director of karl lagerfelds brand and start designing mcqueen inspired sneakers with lagerfelds embroidered cartoons or tweed jackets with the same cartoon.



karl.com

 

[LANZO_358]

Finally! Two of the 3 blind mice are gone from houses where their lack of mettle was evident. MGC, you’re next guuuurl.

Marco Zanini understands modern luxury and would bring Chanel back to its roots. But probably not likely, since he probably lacks the commercial instinct to drive sales at the current level...

Sidebar: his Schiaparelli was so madcap, cerebral and grossly underrated imo! I hope history will be kind to him.

 

[Lola701]

Finally! Two of the 3 blind mice are gone from houses where their lack of mettle was evident. MGC, you’re next guuuurl.

Who is the other one besides Virginie? The Williams guy from Givenchy?

 

[tourbillions]

Who is the other one besides Virginie? The Williams guy from Givenchy?

probably kim jones 🤣

 

[Creative]

You know, there’s something about Chanel’s way of management that I adore.

They are direct and to the point, and take the right decisions at the right time. It was right to appoint her as CD after Karl. And it is right to change it now. I thought they wouldn’t be brave enough after the numbers they had (they aren’t brave at LVMH even when the business doesn’t go half smooth as it goes at Chanel, see Dior).

Guys, Sarah Burton could never handle a house like Chanel. It’s impossible. PPP much less.

It is going to be Hedi and it’s the only option that makes sense. He might be a little bit boring sometimes and I am a tad afraid that having so many collections (I am sure they will launch menswear), it could end up being “same old, same old” quite soon, but let’s hope for the best.

I’ve seen they are remodeling their old stores into HUGE, GIGANTIC, never seen before enormous stores, so I think it is because they knew they would need space for the menswear.

Didn’t see this coming so fast. So excited for the next chapter.

 

[NoInvite]

i do not understand why so much hate about her... You just have to read the pity comments from people who are supposed to be "inclusive", "kind" ...
She wasn't Karl of course, but she never pretended to be at his level.

I don't know why the internet is always mean to her? It has become a template for young fashion commentators and personalities like ideservecouture and hautelemode.

 

[tourbillions]

it could end up being “same old, same old” quite soon, but let’s hope for the best.

when did he ever reinvent himself and lasted longer than his "rebranding phase"? He left saint laurent just after rebranding everything and he is rumoured to leave celine after his rebranding. I think houses like Chanel need someone who will stay for the long haul.

Burton atleast had many phases in her tenure which showed she was quite versatile and she has actual couture sensibilities. I just couldnt see the current chanel haute couture clients going for hedi's "couture". Specially their bridal clients which burton can and has shown capable of doing. I'd say most of couture clients' starting point is their wedding dress and from there they get sucked in in the world of couture. This is something Hedi could never. His couture is too juvenile for Chanel.

 

[Kimihiro]

I don't know why the internet is always mean to her? It has become a template for young fashion commentators and personalities like ideservecouture and hautelemode.

I hate these young fashion personalities that have such myopic views on fashion. Reducing clothes to just moments and visual drama without taking into account their technicalities and how they could live outside of the runway. They fail to take into account customers. Designers could have no ✨moments✨ like PPP who they worship and personally I would still consider better than him.

 

[Kennnnn]

Sidebar: his Schiaparelli was so madcap, cerebral and grossly underrated imo! I hope history will be kind to him.

Yes - what differentiates him from say Phoebe Philo and Sarah Burton is that he's actually worked in haute couture, which I think is critical for someone taking on a maison like Chanel.

 

[yslforever]

Exactly, they will announce right after couture. Also heard the clothes were not selling at all (all their sales were from the bags which have nothing to do with Virginie). And supposedly the campaigns cost them so much as Inez and Vinoudh supposedly demanded huge fees and production cost but for nothing in return - just their stuffy old fashioned pictures, and the bosses got fed up with all of them.
Farewell to all that!
Who’s next in there??

That's what I heard for the last 2 years, clothes struggling, and very unhappy shareholders, both the Wertheimers but especially the Heilbronns, who are the most inclined to be involved in the day-to-day business. Financials are excellent but it's half price increase and half new store opening. They did NOT sold more clothes per store for the last 2 or 3 years. I can't recall them opening productions facilities at all.

On the other side, Virginie has been willing to retire for a while now...

 

[Creative]

Yes - what differentiates him from say Phoebe Philo and Sarah Burton is that he's actually worked in haute couture, which I think is critical for someone taking on a maison like Chanel.

It’s not critical at all.

I don’t know what you guys think couture is. If you are a good designer, it doesn’t matter. My first “job” as a designer was for a couture house and had no previous experience whatsoever. It’s really not rocket science

 

[tricotineacetat]

Let's face it - A company the size of Chanel that had no problems to realize Karl Lagerfeld's runway productions, with such a large PR spending, will not hesitate to pay a non-compete for any designer they deem worthy to become the true successor to Karl Lagerfeld - We can now safely consider Virginie Viard an interim creative director much in the vain as Bill Gaytten was after John Galliano.

That being said, I don't think Chanel is looking for a turnaround of designers for Chanel much in the way as Kering and LVMH have proven for most of their brands in the last 15 years. And it explicitely mentioned a new "creative organization" which suggests a much-needed overhaul of the houses' visuals, from the art direction down to packaging, advertising imagery and the fashion.

The hiring of Hedi Slimane would make sense in that

- He is one of the very few acclaimed creative directors with a daft eye for art direction - As his Saint Laurent and Celine rebrandings have shown.
- A menswear division at Chanel would become a certain hit for the house, therewith providing a distribution channel so far not tapped into - Again, none of the possible creative directors would arguably be up for this challenge.
- The choice of Hedi Slimane would signal a good balance between renewal but also continuation for the house, with a vision not steering too far from an imprint once laid.
- A hiring of this responsibility would no doubt come with a whole lot of staff in all creative departments to reporting to a global image director the kind of which Hedi Slimane would be named as. Just one look at the fact that Balenciaga's couture is headed by Peter Copping, a veteran designer in his own right, makes it a certain bet that he would bring a decently sized staff to handle the couture part, providing him enough time to grow into his shoes with Haute Couture design.

 

[pradn]

 

[LANZO_358]

Who is the other one besides Virginie? The Williams guy from Givenchy?

I forgot about him LOL. I stopped caring about Givenchy after CWK left. (Which if the fashion set is honest with itself, she was the best of the female hires of the mid to late 2010 era)

But no, I was talking about Burton for AM. She was a careful enough “steward”, as stewards ought to be. But her no-teeth AM was similar to VV’s Chanel. They (SB, VV), along with MGC are my three blind mice of fashion.

 

[tourbillions]

I forgot about him LOL. I stopped caring about Givenchy after CWK left. (Which if the fashion set is honest with itself, she was the best of the female hires of the mid to late 2010 era)

But no, I was talking about Burton for AM. She was a careful enough “steward”, as stewards ought to be. But her no-teeth AM was similar to VV’s Chanel. They (SB, VV), along with MGC are my three blind mice of fashion.

hope you're satisfied and has been wishlisting a lot from the last mcqueen mess.

 

[Lola701]

View attachment 1275484

2 to go: Don’t forget Mr Kim Jones.

 

[Norden]

In my opinion it can only be hedi. Perhaps his introverted nature will reposition Chanel as a truly high end and more discrete thing. Its current form would be much more suited to someone like Marc Jacobs - who in my opinion just doesn’t have the energy and finger on the pulse anymore.

Chanel needs a sharper and more consistent proposition, we saw how hedi did this at Celine, turning it into a mini Chanel. The issue could be that in all his efforts to streamline the house, it will flatten its output to something very superficial. With Karl you always felt that there was world and a person behind it that was truly interesting, hedi is just very far away from a lot of people.
Also we can all question his long term commitment by now.

 

[mikel]

And supposedly the campaigns cost them so much as Inez and Vinoudh supposedly demanded huge fees and production cost but for nothing in return - just their stuffy old fashioned pictures, and the bosses got fed up with all of them.
Farewell to all that!

I’m taking this with a large grain of salt.

But kudos for sneaking in your usual and repetitive hatred for I&V into the mix in such a creative way.