It’s the job of the century, probably the most prestigious in the fashion industry: the artistic direction of the house on rue Cambon which has had only three designers since its founding. A number of star designers have already joined the ranks, publicly or not, in recent years.
The fashion transfer window has nothing to envy of that of football. Its star artistic directors also have salaries worthy of the headliners of PSG or Real Madrid. However, recruitments and appointments in the luxury industry generally take place behind the scenes, with complete discretion. So until June 5, nothing had filtered out about Virginie Viard’s departure from the Chanel house. Appointed in 2019 after having spent almost her entire career at Chanel, the stylist had accepted this difficult mission of taking over from the hypermedia Karl Lagerfeld, whose right-hand woman she was for thirty years. But on the condition of remaining in the shadows – she has accepted very few interviews in recent years – and of “make Chanel” in his way. His sudden departure – especially since the brand announced exceptional figures less than two weeks ago, namely nearly $20 billion in 2023 turnover – suggests that the conditions were no longer in place. . The 62-year-old Parisian who always said that she did not want to cling to the chair at all costs, would have decided to leave the house where she grew up, to finally claim a new life, she who was in charge of the six annual fashion shows, two ready-to-wear, two haute couture, a Métiers d’art collection and a Cruise collection. We think of Roger Federer who, since his retirement, has been living his best life. We wish the same to Virginie…
Read alsoFashion: Virginie Viard leaves Chanel to everyone’s surprise
As soon as it was announced, this departure obviously launched all the speculation about the succession. It must be said that it is the “hottest job» of the fashion industry, firstly because the Chanel brand has an extraordinary heritage and only three creators have embodied it: Coco Chanel, obviously, Karl Lagerfeld from 1981 to his death in 2019, and therefore recently Virginie Viard (for comparison, the Dior house founded in 1947 has had 8 artistic directors from Christian Dior to Maria Grazia Chiuri via Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano). But also because the group has a very good reputation and a long-term vision that is rare in this area. Remember that the Wertheimers began to collaborate with Gabrielle Chanel in 1921 by producing the perfume N°5 and despite their extremely tense relations during the war and the years that followed, relaunched her house in 1954 convinced that at the age of 70, she still had the genius to speak to the women about the Trente Glorieuses.
It is therefore not surprising that many star designers dream of getting the job and making the codes of rue Cambon flourish. Karl Lagerfeld himself loved nothing more than throwing false leads, as when in 2010, he mentioned the name of Haider Ackermann as a worthy heir (which was not successful for the Franco-Colombian designer). The name of Hedi Slimane also comes back like a sea serpent. A friend of the German designer, he is also one of the few whose notoriety goes beyond closed fashion circles. Today at Celine, a brand of the LVMH group, he is currently in complex negotiations to sign his contract again or not. Obviously, it didn’t take that much to restart the rumor. But Slimane is a real star with all the demands that that entails, is the discreet Chanel brand ready to let him take the reins?
There is also talk in the media of Pierpaolo Piccioli leaving Valentino three months ago (and replaced in the Roman house by Alessandro Michele, ex-Gucci), but in our humble opinion, the suit is a little big for him. From the British Kim Jones who has always proclaimed his love for Chanel and who is also currently in negotiations at LVMH where he is responsible for women’s at Fendi and men’s at Dior. By Simon Porte Jacquemus who in ten years has become the darling of French fashion. By Sarah Burton free since she left the Alexander McQueen brand in September 2023. She has had a bit of the same journey as Virginie Viard since she started as an intern at the age of 20 with Lee McQueen before becoming his arm right then to take over, almost constrained and forced, after her suicide in 2010. Burton has the merit of being a (talented) woman, which is not anecdotal for Chanel, founded by a woman and who is the only house of this level to only make women’s fashion. The name of another British woman is making people fantasize: Phoebe Philo. The one who went to Chloé (like Lagerfeld) from 2001 to 2006, and who above all put the Céline house in orbit (before Hedi Slimane, and before the first name lost its accent on the e) from 2008 to 2018, marketed , last October, the first collection of his own brand. At Céline, she had on several occasions presented extraordinary collections inspired by the look of Coco Chanel, with whom she shared the very rare sense of feminine wardrobe.
In the days to come, many other names should fuel the most outlandish hypotheses. We know that Chanel intends to take its time, even if it means not having a new artistic director for the next few months. This is probably the biggest casting in the sector in the last twenty years. Which is reminiscent of the crazy appointment of John Galliano in 1997 at the head of Dior and then his succession after the famous scandal which led to his departure in 2011.
Beyond the Chanel case, the entire industry is facing a renewal challenge today. With the exception of a Jonathan Anderson (at Loewe), an Olivier Rousteing (at Balmain) or a Jacquemus, it is difficult to see the next generation of 50-60 year olds who have marked the fashion of these twenty recent years and accompanied the exceptional growth of its business, Virginie Viard, Hedi Slimane, Raf Simons (currently at Prada), Nicolas Ghesquière (at Louis Vuitton), Alessandro Michele and Phoebe Philo. And in a more subtle way, it is almost a plate tectonic that luxury is experiencing at the moment while Kering is in turmoil (because of the fall of Gucci), and LVMH is in the middle of a game of managerial musical chairs ( and doubtless creative people) before the succession of Bernard Arnault begins to take place on a larger scale.
