VIRGINIE VIARD LEAVES CHANEL, WHY IS THE ENTIRE WORLD OF FASHION CELEBRATING?
The fashion world celebrates after the announcement that Virginie Viard is leaving Chanel. What did this woman do so terribly that everyone is so happy about her departure?
Last night, it was strategically announced that Virginie Viard, after five years as creative director, is leaving Chanel. The fashion world welcomed the morning in celebration. If it were physically possible, there would be fireworks going off on Instagram as if it were the new year or at least the soccer world championship. What did this woman do so terribly that everyone is so happy that she is leaving Chanel?
The general public first paid attention to Virginie Viard in December 2018 when she took a bow with Kaiser after the Chanel Metiers D'Art show in New York's Metropolitan. When we rewind, it is clear that it was a kind of announcement, the beginning of a symbolic presentation of the holy fire. Lagerfeld was famous for his reticence, but he always had only words of praise for Viard, calling her in interviews his "right and left hand" and the most important person, not only for him and the atelier, but "for everyone". They worked together at the head of Chanel since 1997, but only he collected laurels while Viard was in the media's shadow. Karl was quite awkward, politically incorrect, obsessive overachiever. A man who consciously and deliberately turned his public image into a caricature, a cartoon character. It is expected that he himself appointed Viard as his successor. It has long been clear that he wanted an heir who would protect his name at least as much as the name Chanel.
Ironically, the morning before her first solo show for the brand, Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel's fashion department, stated that Virginia Viard's approach was: The same, but different. She knows everything about Chanel and is ready to write a new chapter in the brand's history."
The story did not develop like that. Not at the first fashion show on the "empty platform" or in the next five years. The best prediction was the last looks of that first collection inspired by Karl himself, and the last model had a high white collar and a long black dress and white straight hair, just like his. Lagerfeld, perhaps more than all his muses combined, was the face of Chanel. He himself decided to keep it from the grave and, with the help of the company's management, he managed to do it for five years by putting his closest colleague in an unenviable position: Virginie had an impossible task - preserving the Kaiser's cult and at the same time coming out of the shadows the titan who nurtured her.
At some point, Virginie Viard had to move on or hand over control to someone else. The moment came for him to do the latter, and (as I said) there was a popular rejoicing. In a way, this is actually Lagerfeld's real and final departure from the brand, as his guardian of the throne is leaving.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are already bookmakers taking bets on potential replacements. Judging by the comments on social networks, fashion fans are no different from the already mentioned football fans. Favorites spring up from everywhere, and the names are well known to everyone. By the time she took over in 2019, dashing (my slim) hope that Phoebe Philo would take over Chanel, things were much calmer. Now there are lively discussions about whether Hedi Slimane will replace her (please, no), as well as Piccioli (we love drama, so a Michele-Piccioli reunion would be an interesting scenario, especially after Piccioli ransacked the Gucci store in Rome). Instagram included Galliano in the imaginary race, which is hard to imagine when you know that Chanel is owned by a Jewish family. There are also sea ideas about Jeremy Scott (bring back kitch to Chanel, double no) and the two perhaps most meaningful options, Simone Rocha and Marc Jacobs, who in a way led their careers as silent auditions for Chanel. Her aesthetic and a customer base that is comparatively small, but currently unattainable to Chanel due to the energy and cool factor that the brand unsuccessfully pursues with an endless stream of Gen Z stars, would be a good direction provided her spine doesn't snap under corporate pressure. Jacobs has talked about his love for Yves Saint Laurent all his life, but he uses far more of Karl's elements in his designs, and we haven't really seen him in full glory since he left Louis Vuitton. Maybe he rested enough and sharpened up for the second round.
How radical the house will be turned around is still unknown, but the break with Karl is certain and, let's not lie, natural five years after his death. Under Virginia's leadership, Chanel increased revenue (some say solely due to price hikes, khm khm) but the brand's aesthetics and identity became like overpriced dead dogs from Tim Burton movies. We all love them and I will be the first to shed a sentimental tear, but they are no way to live in the moment or to move forward.
Let's be clear, I personally have absolutely nothing against Viard. If anything, I have sympathy for her situation, and the main reason I started writing the lyrics in the first place is the amount of hate being showered on her in the general wave of happiness over her departure. Virginie created decent clothes, preserved the legacy of the man who shaped her life, and at the same time she was crucified because she was not that man. In the eyes of the public, she has no other identity than "she is no match for Karl". For example, I don't believe anyone knows that she did the costumes for the legendary movie "Three Colors Blue". As Susy Menkes would nicely say "... (Viard) deals with both art and music, he can certainly build a more beautiful life for himself than the one in which he is the target of criticism because he is not Mr. Lagerfeld." Good luck, Madame Viard, and I bought some popcorn and "Let the hunger games begin" is ringing in my head.
By Manda Javorina
Text taken from buro247.hr
