Who Owns Chanel Cosmetics?

Who Owns Chanel Cosmetics
About Chanel Chanel is a privately held company owned by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was an early business partner of Coco Chanel. Its products cover clothes, fragrances, handbags and watches. The brand is most famous for its “little black dress”, the Chanel No.5 perfume and the Chanel Suit.

Who owns the brand Chanel now?

The Wertheimer family fortune dates back to 1920s Paris when Pierre Wertheimer funded designer Coco Chanel, His grandsons, brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, control Chanel today, which generated $9.6 billion in 2018. They own 3 vineyards in France and one in Napa Valley, They also breed and race thoroughbreds, according to Forbes. The brothers have a combined net worth of $42 billion.

Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, co-owners of luxury brand Chanel, are amongst the 10 richest people living in France, Their wealth, while largely inherited, has been grown through business deals and acquisitions spanning retail, wine, and horse racing.

The brothers are largely tight-lipped, hardly ever speaking to the press or giving interviews about their wealth, companies, family, relationships, or hobbies. They live lavish lifestyles in private, surrounding themselves with those similarly closemouthed, and are known as fashion’s quietest billionaires.

With a combined net worth over $40 billion, the Wertheimer brothers are among the richest people in the world. Here’s a look at their lifestyle.

Is Chanel owned by LVMH?

Unlike other prominent fashion houses, Chanel has escaped ownership by Kering, a group that owns Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Saint Laurent. And they have also escaped ownership from LVMH, who own Dior, Fendi and of course Louis Vuitton. Compared to a brand like Gucci, Chanel has had a much more stable chronology.

Who owns Chanel and Gucci?

Kering (French: ) is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods.

Does the Chanel family own Chanel?

Alain Wertheimer – Wikipedia French billionaire businessman Alain Wertheimer Born Alain Ernest Wertheimer ( 1948-09-28 ) 28 September 1948 (age 74) Paris, France OccupationBusinessmanKnown forCo-owner and chairman of SpouseBrigitte LaloumChildren3Parent(s) Eliane Heilbronn (Fischer)Relatives (brother) Charles Heilbronn (half-brother) (grandfather) Alain Ernest Wertheimer (born 28 September 1948) is a French businessman, based in New York City.

Is Chanel still privately owned?

CHANEL 0 Views Chanel is a privately held company owned by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was an early business partner of Coco Chanel. Its products cover clothes, fragrances, handbags and watches.The brand is most famous for its “little black dress”, the Chanel No.5 perfume and the Chanel Suit.

Who owns Chanel after Coco died?

Copyright © AFP / Lipnitzki / Roger-Viollet Gabrielle Coco Chanel biography Born: Saumur, France 1883 Died: Paris, France, 1971 Gabrielle Chanel’s mother died while she was still a child. Following the death of her mother, her father abandoned her and her siblings and they were forced to enter an orphanage.

She spent six years in a Roman Catholic orphanage where the nuns taught her how to sew.
School holidays spent with relatives encouraged her sewing interest helping her to develop her skills.
Aged 18 Chanel left the orphanage to join a circus as a cabaret singer.
During her time performing Chanel was given the nickname ‘Coco’.

She later commented it was a shortened version of coquette. The circus provided Chanel with irregular work but, while staying with them, she met Etienne Balsan a French textile heir. She became Balsan’s mistress and left the circus securing a job in a tailoring shop.

Lavishing Chanel with gifts, Balsan invited her to move in with him. Accepting his offer, she enjoyed a luxurious life and started to design hats as a hobby. In 1909 Chanel met Captain Arthur Edward Capel, a friend of Balsan’s. The two had an affair which resulted in Capel agreeing to finance the opening of her first shop.

Chanel opened her boutique in Paris at 31 Rue Cambon in 1910. A licensed hat maker, it wasn’t until two years later, when one of Chanel’s hats was modelled by actress Gabrielle Dorziat that her career started to move. In 1913 opened a boutique in Deauville, where she sold luxe casual clothing.

Two years later she opened a third boutique called Chanel-Biarritz, selling to wealthy Spanish cliental. Chanel started to create clothing made of Jersey. Normally a material used for men, the fashion industry was outraged. For women the fabric had previously only been used for underwear. This led to Vogue commenting, ‘this designer made jersey what it is today – we hope she’s satisfied’.

Chanel was introduced to Igor Stravinsky, composer of ‘The Rite of Spring’. She invited him and his family to live with her in 1920. A year later Chanel launched her first fragrance, Chanel No.5. The first designer scent, it went on to become one of the world’s most famous fragrances.

Vera Bate Lombardi became Chanel’s personal muse in 1925.
Lombardi inspired her to create her ‘English Look’ style and introduced her into the world of the European Royals.
By 1930 Chanel was so successful that the annual turnover from her boutiques exceeded 120 million francs.
A meeting with Samuel Goldwyn in 1931 saw Goldwyn pay Chanel $1 million to visit Hollywood twice a year designing costumes for MGM stars.

Having successfully created her own signature style, Chanel had established the basic modern women’s wardrobe. With her designs already popular, she didn’t feel the need to change the style every year. When the War broke out in 1939 Chanel closed her shops.

Residing at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, she still maintained an apartment above her couture house. During the War she engaged in an affair with Hans Gunter von Dincklage, a German military intelligence office. With the code name Westminster, she became a Nazi intelligence operative. Chanel moved to Switzerland in 1945 before eventually returning to Paris in 1954.

Upon return Chanel re-established her couture house. Her collections didn’t receive the commercial success they had previously. Everyone was excited about Christian Dior ‘s ‘New Look. Chanel’s classic suit with male influences didn’t fit in with the new style.

The French public were also disapproving of her past involvement with the Nazis during the war. Continuing to design her classic collections, Coco Chanel died in 1971 aged 87. After her death Yvonne Dudel, Jean Cazaubon and Phlippe Guibourge took over the house. This was followed by Pierre Wetheimer acquiring the company.

His grandson Alain Wetheimer took over in 1974. Trying to restore the label’s prestige, Wetheimer persuaded Karl Lagerfeld to end his contract at Chloé and become Chanel’s chief designer in 1983. Lagerfeld’s ability to exploit, amuse and surprise took the label back to its former glory.

Directly adopting a men’s style, Coco Chanel was the Twentieth Centuries most influential designer.
Wearing masculine clothes, sporting a cropped hair cut and flaunting a sun-tan when it was considered working class, Chanel never conformed to what people wanted.
Continuingly criticizing her contemporaries she was dismissive of Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga,

Revolutionising the use of jersey, Chanel’s classic suits were simply cut, collarless and trimmed with braid. Often accessorised with her signature pieces such as the quilted shoulder bag or strands of pearls, Chanel knew how to make costume jewellery chic.

Who owns Chanel and Dior?

LVMH French multinational luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Headquarters in Paris LVMHType ( ) : IndustryPredecessors

Founded3 June 1987 ; 35 years ago ( 1987-06-03 ) FoundersBernard Arnault Alain Chevalier Henry RacamierHeadquarters Global: 22, FranceOverseas: 19,, U.S. Area served Worldwide Key people ( and ) (director) Antonio Belloni (MD, Deputy CEO) Andrew Lovell (MD) Products

ServicesRevenue 64.215 billion (2021) €17.155 billion (2021) €12.036 billion (2021) €125.311 billion (2021) €48.909 billion (2021) Number of employees 150,000 (2021) (41.1%)Website LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton ( French: ), commonly known as LVMH, is a French and specializing in, headquartered in,

The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of (founded in 1854) with Moët Hennessy, which was established following the 1971 between the producer (founded in 1743) and the producer (founded in 1765). In 2021, with a valuation of $329 billion, LVMH became the most valuable company in Europe. LVMH controls around 60 that manage 75 prestigious brands.

These include,,,,,,,,,,,,, and, The subsidiaries are often managed independently, under the umbrellas of six branches: Fashion Group, Wines and Spirits, Perfumes and Cosmetics, Watches and Jewelry, Selective Distribution, and Other Activities.

What does Arnault own?

Bernard Arnault & family About Bernard Arnault & family

Bernard Arnault oversees the LVMH empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.LVMH acquired American jeweler Tiffany & Co in 2021 for $15.8 billion, believed to be the biggest luxury brand acquisition ever.Arnault’s holding company Agache backs venture capital firm Aglaé Ventures, which has investments in businesses such as Netflix and TikTok parent company ByteDance.His father made a small fortune in construction; Arnault got his start by putting up $15 million from that business to buy Christian Dior in 1984.Arnault’s five children all work at LVMH; in July 2022, he proposed a reorganization of his holding company Agache to give them equal stakes.

Wealth History HOVER TO REVEAL NET WORTH BY YEAR

Personal Stats Age 74 Source of Wealth LVMH Residence Paris, France Citizenship France Marital Status Married Children 5 Education Bachelor of Arts/Science, Ecole Polytechnique de Paris

Did you know Arnault apparently wooed his wife, Helene Mercier, a concert pianist, by playing Chopin and other classical composers on the piano. Arnault and LVMH own a 40% stake in private equity firm L Catterton, which has $30 billion in assets, including investments in Birkenstock and Equinox.

How did Bernard Arnault get rich?

Bernard Arnault French business magnate (born 1949) Bernard Arnault Arnault in 2017 Born Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault ( 1949-03-05 ) 5 March 1949 (age 74), France Alma mater Occupations

Business magnate
Media proprietor
Art collector

Known for

Founding
richest person in the world

Title

Chairman and CEO, LVMH
Chairman,

Spouses

Anne Dewavrin ( m.1973; div.1990)
Hélène Mercier ( m.1991)

Children5, including and Relatives (daughter-in-law) Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault ( French: ; born 5 March 1949) is a French business magnate, investor, and art collector. He is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of, the world’s largest luxury goods company.

Is it cheaper to buy Chanel in Paris?

Fortunately, both brands have stores in Paris, France – and yes, Chanel and Louis Vuitton bags are much cheaper there than they are in the US. That’s because of the VAT (Value Added Tax) refund that you can get when you shop in Paris.

Did Karl Lagerfeld buy Chanel?

Karl Lagerfeld: Coco Chanel’s Contemporary Successor – When Karl Lagerfeld took the reins of Maison Chanel in 1983, Coco had been gone for 12 years, and the brand was struggling. The death of its founder had left a vast void, and Chanel was in desperate need of a new iconic persona.

Lagerfeld, like Coco, understood what it took to transform fashion for the modern woman. Instead of abandoning her legacy for his own, Karl Lagerfeld considered himself the “channeler” of Coco. As such, he would reinterpret and rejuvenate the iconic designs of Coco Chanel, inserting ready-to-wear into popular culture and restoring Haute Couture to its former glory.

With his regular uniform of a black suit, dark shades, a powdered white ponytail, and fingerless leather gloves, Karl Lagerfeld molded himself into a distinctive caricature who kept alive the myth and legacy of Coco Chanel.

Who is the face of Chanel?

To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here, Chanel has named Ugandan-Canadian actress Whitney Peak as its first Black fragrance ambassador. The 20-year-old is the new face of Coco Mademoiselle, following on from previous ambassadors Kate Moss and Keira Knightley.

A star of the 2021 reboot of Gossip Girl and Hocus Pocus 2, Peak first became a US brand ambassador for Chanel in 2021 and served as the muse for its 2022 handbag campaign.
In a statement, Chanel described the actress as “the embodiment of today’s youth”, adding that her “curiosity, confidence, appetite for experiences and lack of preconceptions echo the temperament of the young Coco Chanel”.

Coco Mademoiselle is youthful and fresh, and as such, the maison has often chosen a young celebrity to represent it — Knightley was 21 when she debuted as ambassador. Younger fragrance consumers are more likely to be driven by a feeling of individuality and self-expression, experts say, though the heritage of a luxury brand and craftsmanship found in the fine fragrance market remain alluring.

Premium fragrances have been strong performers in the beauty sector, with market research firm NPD Group noting that sales of women’s prestige perfume formats rose 137 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2022, “I never dreamed I’d get the attention of such a reputable house, let alone the pleasure of working with and representing them.

I’m looking forward to showing how versatile and timeless Chanel is,” Peak said in a statement. Chanel is also unveiling a new product in the Coco Mademoiselle line — a hair perfume. These lighter, and often more affordable kinds of perfumes are popular with young consumers interested in fragrance layering to create a bespoke scent.

Why is Chanel so expensive?

Conclusion: Top Reasons Why Chanel Is So Expensive – We hope we answered your question of “why is Chanel so expensive”. Here is a quick recap of the top reasons why the brand is so pricey:

The brand’s rich history and heritage is one of the reasons why its bags are so expensive.
They manufacture high-quality products made from high quality materials
Their bags have a high resale value which encourages people to buy more and encourages Chanel to charge even more for their bags
Chanel’s popularity is one of the reasons why their bags are very expensive. Celebrities, socialites and Chanel die-hard fans love the brand and will continue buying despite price increases
All of their products come with a five-year warranty. They also have highly trained artisans who do repairs.
Their bags are manufactured in France and Italy. The two countries are renowned for their high-quality leather products and craftsmanship.
The high prices can also be attributed to the brand’s exclusivity. Usually the more expensive Chanel bags are, the more exclusive they feel.

Who is the ambassador for Chanel?

NewJeans’ Minji becomes Chanel’s newest global ambassador.

Is Chanel made in China?

Chanel items are never made in China. They are also not exported from China to the rest of the world. But that doesn’t mean Chanel items aren’t available in China. There are Chanel stores in China, where the brand is popular.

Who makes Chanel bags?

Why is Chanel successful? According to BNP Exane Paribas consumer surveys in 2018, Chanel is the most desirable luxury fashion brand in the world. Chanel is a master of category segregation. This strategy involves confining iconic, core category products to high-end price ranges like the brand’s now iconic quilted handbags, while positioning other product categories (lipsticks, for example) at lower price points to target aspirational customers.

When was Chanel founded? Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel founded her eponymous brand in 1910. The French designer opened her first shop, “Chanel Modes,” on Rue Cambon in Paris on January 1, 1910. It was a millinery establishment. Her lover, Boy Capel, purchased her a boutique in Deauville in 1913, where she introduced her first collection: a sportswear line.

In 1915, Chanel opened her first atelier in Biarritz, France. The brand’s design atelier is famously still headquartered on the Rue Cambon, and the Coco Chanel’s apartment remains open to select individuals. Where are Chanel bags made? Chanel purses, bags and handbags are made in specialist factories located across France, in artisanal areas of Italy like Tuscany, and reportedly in remote regions of Spain, such as the town of Ubrique.

When was Chanel No.5 created? Chanel introduced her first fragrance, Chanel No.5, in 1921.
The scent was created by perfumer Ernst Beaux and was the fifth perfume sample Beaux presented to Chanel.
Many of the ingredients that go into the perfume continue to be supplied by the same farm in Grasse, France, since 1921.

The Chanel No.5 bottle was designed to resemble a whiskey decanter. It has never altered in its near 100-year history. Where did Chanel originate from? Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was born in Saumur, a town in the Maine-et-Loire region of western France. Chanel was illegitimate and entered the world in a house hospice in 1883.

She was one of five children and the family struggled financially. Chanel’s mother died when she was 12 and her father abandoned his three daughters in the grounds of an orphanage run by Catholic nuns. After her time at the nunnery, Chanel moved to Moulins to work as a seamstress. She earned a wage singing at a bar, where she was nicknamed Coco.

Her professional life began when a French textile heir set her up as a milliner in 1906. Where are Chanel clothes made? Chanel’s haute couture ateliers are based in Paris, France, and its ready-to-wear collections are also largely manufactured in Paris.

Additionally, the label has eleven savoir faire maisons — Desrues, Michel, Lemarié, Lesage, Massaro, Goossens, Guillet, Montex, Causse, Barrie and Atelier Gérard Lognon — five are based in a specialist complex in Pantin, a Parisian suburb. The remaining seven savoir faire maisons are based around Paris.

To create its haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, the company employs teams of specialists known by their traditional titles of premieres, secondes and les petites mains, as well as façonniers, the ready-to-wear manufacturers. Chanel eyewear is produced through a license with Luxottica.

Where is Chanel sold? Chanel operates a vertically integrated exclusive distribution model, which means its clothing and accessories are only sold through its own boutiques and department store concessions worldwide. Although the brand’s makeup and fragrance lines are also produced in-house, they are sold through a much broader distribution network.

Fragrances, makeup and eyewear are some of the few products sold online. Unveiling its financials for the first time in 2018, Chanel posted revenue in excess of $9 billion in 2017, of which Chanel’s beauty and fragrance lines are heavyweight contributors.

Why do Chanel prices increase? Chanel increased prices by 6 percent on several popular handbags on November 1, including the Timeless Classic, 2.55 and Boy Chanel.
The increases reflect rising production costs and strong demand, but also sends the message that its brand is, if anything, still undervalued.

Chanel may feel its size and reputation grant some immunity from the ups and downs of the global business cycle. Why doesn’t Chanel sell online? Chanel does not currently sell accessories or ready-to-wear online due to a “strategic choice” and the importance of physical interaction with the product and the importance of the in-store experience to the Chanel brand.

Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel SAS, told BoF : “To be able to wear Chanel clothes, you need to try them on.
You need to be in the fitting room.
You need to have a tailor who alters the clothes to fit exactly to your body.
It’s part of our differentiation to have ready-to-wear that is perfect for our customers.” The brand also chooses not to sell online in order to protect the exclusivity of the brand.

Pavlovsky said at a Vogue conference in Paris: “If you give everything to everyone straight away, I think you lose that exclusivity.” Chanel does however sell cosmetics, fragrances and eyewear online. Why does Chanel never go on sale? Product from Chanel remains at full price as a strategy to maintain brand desirability and inherent product value.

Why is Chanel different from other brands?

Coco Chanel saw the need for simplistic and practical fashion for women. These items are crafted with the utmost care, to ensure they last just as long as the fashion does. Overtime they have become exclusive, desired and rare which are the reasons why Chanel’s items are both popular and expensive Who Owns Chanel Cosmetics Chanel – Flap Bag Many that do not own any Chanel branded piece (and maybe some who do!) often wonder why Chanel is so popular and expensive. There are many answers, but they all are centered on Coco Chanel herself. Her upbringing, taste and legacy are all part of why Chanel has maintained its popularity for so many years.

Coco Chanel was brought up in a poverty stricken household, until the age of 12 when she became an orphan. Her mother died and her father abandoned the family. She was taken to an orphanage and then a boarding school for Catholic girls. This upbringing can be said to have influenced Coco’s fashion taste.

She loved simple, yet practical pieces. Her items are meant to last and meant to be worn through many decades. For this reason, Chanel’s products are made with the highest quality materials and by the best craftsmen in the industry based Europe only, All of the purse references including the 2 :55, the Boy or the Flap are part handcrafted part machine made, with the highest quality materials following the house’s guidelines.

Most Chanel leather goods are made with lambskin or caviar leather, which are both considered top quality leathers.
These items are machine stitched under a careful watch, but the material is hand cut and molded to fit to perfection.
Chanel chooses to manufacture their items where the best craftsmen are located, in areas such as Paris, Spain and Italy.

It is said that Chanel does a durability test on every bag they sell, to ensure that each bag will last for years! Apparently they can withstand damage from water and heat. Not only do their products last, so does the style. For example, they still produce the classic Flap Bag, but also more contemporary designs made of metallic material, tweed and patterned designs.

These bags come in many sizes, colors and materials.
Not many brands are able to maintain this type of popularity for one item.
Coco Chanel revolutionized the way women dressed and even felt.
She is credited with the invention of the Little Black Dress (LBD), a fashion statement that is still current and likely will be for decades.

Inspired by her Catholic upbringing, Coco wanted to create something simple and practical. Now, she understood simple wasn’t for everyone, so her pieces are meant to be built off of, for those who wish. Her LBDs could be dressed up with her famous Costume Jewelry or hats.

There is always room for the personality of the wearer to come forward, in any of Chanel’s items.
No longer were women forced to wear corsets, but instead they could wear something practical, and functional.
Speaking of functional, Coco was a smoker who she loved putting casually her hands in her pockets which is why she added a chain to her classic handbags.

Women were no longer stuck carrying just a purse, they were able to push it up on their shoulders to free their hands in doing other things. Coco added masculine colors to the female attire, adding simple colors such as grey, black and navy. These colors allowed a backdrop for other accessories to take precedence.

This notion of a backdrop can also be seen in her iconic Chanel N°5 perfume. At the time, many fragrance companies were selling floral, ‘feminine’ fragrances, but Coco felt women should smell like women. She created something crisp and elegant, allowing other accessories to stand out, should the woman desire.

This scent is so classic and simple, that still to this day it is one of the most popular fragrances. Both of these components, the quality and the popularity are why Chanel’s items are so expensive. You are investing in an item that will last your lifetime and even longer.

Vintage Chanel sells daily and for great prices. There are often waitlists for current styles, so many people will look to Vintage to get something similar, yet quicker. You’ll be able to pass down your Chanel item to the next generations to come. Coco Chanel inspired a dream in women; a dream where they could be independent, successful and look good doing it.

This dream is here to last (and become reality!), as are Chanel’s many popular items. The price of a Chanel piece is the price of a legacy. Who Owns Chanel Cosmetics

Was Coco Chanel’s family rich or poor?

Coco Chanel was born into an impoverished family. Her father abandoned her and her two sisters to an orphanage and her two brothers to a local family after their mother died.

Why did Chanel go by Coco?

Where Did Coco Chanel Get Her Name From? – Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. She acquired the nickname ‘Coco’ during her brief stint as a cabaret singer. One theory is that Chanel was dubbed ‘Coco’ after the songs she sang (“Ko Ko Ri Ko” and “Qui qu’a vu Coco dans l’Trocadéro?”), but according to an article published in The Atlantic, Chanel claimed “Coco” was short for “‘cocotte,’ the French word for ‘kept woman.'” Either way, it stuck.

Who replaced Coco Chanel?

Virginie Viard, the Woman Behind Chanel’s New Chapter To listen to Hamish Bowles read this profile of Virginie Viard, click the play button below:, the quiet, creative force behind a stealthy reimagining of, may be a woman of few words, but she doesn’t mince them.

Her conversation, as her friend the model and music producer says, “is the opposite of small talk. She doesn’t know how to fake it.” Viard vividly remembers her first Chanel show, a campy haute couture extravaganza staged in the late 1980s that she was taken to as a treat by the father of a family friend.

The collection was all hats and gloves and models, including Inès de la Fressange and Marpessa Hennink, vamping for the runway photographers. What did Viard make of the collection? “Horrible!” she says now, matter-of-factly. “So old.” Viard’s trajectory has taken her from Lagerfeld’s invaluable Chanel studio director—he famously described her as “my right armand my left arm”—to, following his death in, the creative director for the brand, in a transition of such seamless elegance that it might have been constructed in the house’s fabled haute couture workrooms.

If fashion’s chattering classes were expecting the famously private Wertheimer family, who own Chanel, to install another boldface name to replace Lagerfeld, there were plenty of clues to indicate that they would opt for continuity and reward experience and expertise instead—not least that Lagerfeld himself brought Viard, who had worked for him since 1987, out to share the applause at the last two collections where he took a bow.

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, the house’s vaunted founder, altering one of her signature tweeds in the 1960s. Photo: Hatami/Shutterstock Standing in the long shadows cast by Lagerfeld and Gabrielle “” Chanel—two of the most formidable creative forces of the 20th and 21st centuries—Viard, 58, who might be the least famous designer in fashion at its most famous house, is shy and almost self-effacing in comparison.

“She’s action versus talk,” says the actress and Chanel brand ambassador, who adds that Viard “embraces otherness—she herself is quite strange in a beautiful way.” Born in Lyon, France’s storied textile center, to parents who were both doctors, Viard moved to the small regional city of Dijon when her father was appointed to the city’s hospital.

As a child, Viard would sometimes dress up as a nurse or doctor and accompany him to the hospital to cheer up some of his patients, but she never intended to follow her parents into medicine. “I love meeting doctors; I love speaking with them,” she says now, but she long ago decided that “fashion is easier!” At 20, Viard, who was taught to sew by her mother, established a label, Nirvana, with a friend, making clothing using fabrics produced in her grandfather’s textile factory.

Like the young Gabrielle Chanel, Viard preferred working with jersey “because you don’t need a special cut—the body gives it the shape” but later honed her pattern-cutting game at a local fashion school.
She also worked as a Saturday girl at a local costume-jewelry store, though “I was never actually selling anything,” Viard recalls.

“I was afraid of the customers! But I was redoing the shop and the windows all the time—red one week, green the next.”) Paris eventually beckoned, where—through her well-connected Lyonnais roommate—Viard found an internship with Jacqueline de Ribes, the city’s queen-bee socialite, who had recently decided to parlay her consummate taste and flair for fashion into a brand of her own.

We were working in her house,” Viard recalls, “all the fabrics were laid out on the bed, and the photocopy machine was in the bathroom.
I was the assistant to three people—we were four in total.” Soon she moved on to become an assistant to the costume designer Dominique Borg, acclaimed for her work on such movies as Bruno Nuytten’s Camille Claudel and Claude Lelouch’s Les Misérables, and discovered what she felt was her true calling.

Her family, meanwhile, had long since moved to a country house in Burgundy, where their neighbor—the aide de camp of Monaco’s Prince Rainier—soon met Karl Lagerfeld, a Monegasque resident and intime of Princess Caroline, the prince’s daughter, and boldly asked him whether he needed an intern.

Fatefully, he did.
Viard duly went to rue Cambon to meet Lagerfeld’s aide de camp, the patrician Gilles Dufour, who hired her on the spot.
Immediately Karl was asking me, ‘What do you think of this?’ ‘What do you think of that color?’ I was so embarrassed,” Viard recalls.
Her internship soon morphed into a full-time job.

“Karl clicked with Virginie immediately,” says Eric Wright, another pillar of Lagerfeld’s design team. “There’s always been this calmness to Virginie that’s very, very discreet, but her presence and her energy are very, very strong and very influential.” At the time, the team was small: Besides Dufour and Wright, there was a ready-to-wear assistant, an accessories designer with an assistant, and Victoire de Castellane, Dufour’s high-spirited niece, then responsible for Chanel’s larger-than-life costume jewelry.

Viard soon saw an opportunity that appealed to her training in costume design and her meticulous organizational skills. “My chance was that nobody was in charge of the embroidery,” she says, and so she would be dispatched to work with the formidable François Lesage of the storied embroidery workshop.

“He and Karl were two egos,” Viard recalls. “Ooh-la- la ! I had to be diplomatic!” Viard relished her interactions with the extraordinary characters who provided Chanel with a treasury of handcraft. The button-maker Monsieur Desrues, for instance, who would arrive every day at twelve, bringing his suitcase, which might be empty but for one jewellike example of his art, wrapped in a piece of paper, or Madame Pouzieux, who wove extraordinary braids for the Chanel suits in her atelier above her farmhouse stables in the depths of the French countryside.

I would receive her samples,” says Viard, “and they would smell of her horses. Luckily, I love horses.” (In recent years, Chanel has acquired 38 of these endangered Maisons d’Art, or craft workshops—including feather- and artificial-flower-makers, custom milliners, glove-makers, pleaters, and textile and footwear designers—and 11 of them will soon be consolidated in 19M, a vast dedicated hub in the north of Paris scheduled to be unveiled next year.) Viard, fitting model Malika Louback in a look from Chanel’s spring 2021 collection.

Photo: Benoit Peverelli, Courtesy of CHANEL. “Virginie loves luxury in clothing—the craftsmanship, the beauty,” Wright says. “But she’s always been incredibly practical” IN 1992, Karl Lagerfeld returned to Chloé, the house whose romantic and poetically retro style he had defined from 1964 until he left to join Chanel in 1982, and he brought Viard with him.”Whatever you do, just surround yourself with tons of women,” the pragmatic Lagerfeld advised Wright, “different personalities of women: That way, you feed off one another.” In 1993, Vogue profiled Viard as an It girl who exemplified the spirit of Lagerfeld’s newborn Chloé.

I adore dopey things!” she told the writer Charla Carter, who noted the collection of snow domes, the green plastic frog telephone, and the papier-mâché cactus in her eclectic red-and yellow-striped decor, which was painted by Stefan Lubrina (who is now responsible for the epic Chanel sets) to evoke the work of the Bloomsbury artists.

“I never wore Chanel, even when I worked there!” admitted Viard at the time: Sybilla, Helmut Lang, John Galliano, and Martin Margiela were her designers of choice.”I like the occasional funny wink,” she noted, “but nothing too artificial. I guess you could say I like things that are stylized but real,” Viard’s electric aesthetic, including what she calls “flea market hits,” was exemplified in such looks as the red panne velvet pajama pants she wore with a man’s white cotton undershirt—was soon reflected in Lagerfeld’s boho Chloé collections.

At Chloé, Viard kept nocturnal hours.
Arl was arriving really late,” she recalls, “sometimes eleven o’clock at night, because he had Chanel all day and Lagerfeld.” His design sessions were set to a soundtrack of the Red Hot Chili Peppers or the grunge music that Viard loved.
Music-wise, she’s very rock and roll,” says de Maigret, “and she always likes when people have that side to them, that little extra something.”) Afterward, she and Wright would head for late-night dinners chez Natacha, the fashion world’s eatery of choice at the time.

Wright was impressed by Viard’s network of actor friends, who would often join them. “Vincent Lindon, Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Adjani—they all trusted her advice of what to wear, how to dress,” Wright says. “All of the young actresses and actors that are part of the French film establishment now trust Virginie enormously.” By the late ’90s, Lagerfeld decided to bring Viard back to Chanel.

The only thing I wanted was to stay with Karl,” she says, “because when I came back to Chanel, it was not the best time. I remember a show when Karl wanted just neoprene. I tried to make him love tweeds and all that becauseneoprene at Chanel, the new molded bag? Horrible! We had to go back to the romance!” “You can tell the moment Virginie arrived back,” says Wright, “because things became more pure, more fluid.

She loves luxury in clothing—the craftsmanship, the beauty. But she’s always been incredibly practical.” Viard’s particular brand of French bohemian style soon quietly influenced Lagerfeld to reshape the Chanel aesthetic. “She loves things to fit easily, with this ease and nonchalance.

Virginie was finding a freshness for Chanel.” These qualities now define Viard’s approach as creative director. “I remember one time asking Karl, ‘Oh, can’t you make a classic little shirtdress like this one?’ ” recalls Sofia Coppola, who interned at Chanel herself in the 1980s. “And he’s like, ‘No—we never look back.

We always are going forward.’ Virginie’s into revisiting things, but she always makes them look fresh—it’s her version of it. It doesn’t ever look like a replica.” Coppola art-directed Viard’s pre-fall 2020 Métiers d’Art collection, named Paris-31 rue Cambon, re-creating the Chanel couture salon with its famous staircase and walls of faceted mirrors— installed so that Gabrielle Chanel could spy on the reflected reactions of her audience while remaining unseen—in the Grand Palais.

(The distinguished decorator Jacques Grange is currently renovating the original—transformed for Lagerfeld into a modernist black-and-gray set by Christian Liaigre in the early noughties—to reflect Viard’s taste by evoking the salon’s original 1930s atmosphere.) Coppola suggested that they hold the dinner and after-party at the legendary 1920s restaurant La Coupole, an evening that provided a riotous glimpse into Viard’s rock-chick world when the young Belgian singer Angèle sang and the legendary French crooner Christophe surprised the crowds by performing an impromptu set of his own.

(Christophe succumbed to COVID-19 earlier this year, and Viard opened her spring 2021 collection with one of his songs.) As a prelude to the Paris-31 rue Cambon project, Viard arranged a rendezvous with Coppola at the Patrimoine, on the outskirts of Paris, where the astounding Chanel archives are preserved in museum-like conditions.

Virginie pulled up on a motorcycle messenger, hopped off, took off her helmet, and was like, ‘Okay, let’s go,’ ” Coppola recalls.
Viard took Coppola through the endless avenues of closets, pulling such wonders as Chanel’s silk pajamas, or a 1960s suit with an Op Art tie-dyed silk blouse and matching jacket lining.

“She took so much delight in showing me all these treasures,” says Coppola. “It’s just fun—someone that loves Chanel so much and wanted to share that.” The 1960s suit lining led to a tie-dye section in the collection. When the archive’s director, Odile Prémel, has an important new acquisition, she will bring it to Viard and the premières of the Chanel ateliers so they can study the technique.

It’s like a private lesson,” says Viard.
J’adore, j’adore!” There is more opportunity to explore Coco’s legacy when Viard and I are taken around the exhibition Gabrielle Chanel.
Fashion Manifesto at the Palais Galliera, Paris’s dedicated museum of fashion, emerging from a two-year renovation underwritten by Chanel.

Viard is entranced by the miraculous 1920s dresses that evoke Lagerfeld’s Chloé aesthetic, and by such wonders as a 1934 pewter sequined evening jacket, worn over a pleated crepe skirt, and Chanel’s own ivory silk daytime pajamas. “It’s so modern,” says Viard.

This is what makes her really close to us.” (“Gabrielle wanted to be free—she wanted to be able to jump on a horse, and go dancing like crazy, and then go to work,” says de Maigret. “And so she invented comfortable clothes. Virginie is answering the same question of what we want now.”) At the end of the tour, Viard, deeply moved, struggles to express her thoughts.

“It’s two whole lives of creation,” she says. “I remember some sketches of Karl, some collections, that I now realize were inspired by one detail or another that I’ve seen here. It’s her life. It’s his life.” Before she leaves to return to her fittings, Viard stops in the gift shop to buy postcards that she will include with the flowers she will select at Lachaume and send to each of the atelier heads after the collection is finished.

Above her mask, Viard’s eyes twinkle with delight at the thought. Viard and the late Karl Lagerfeld, whom she first joined at Chanel as a studio intern in 1987. Photo: Courtesy of Chaos JUST HOW HAS Viard’s promotion changed her life? “I work more,” Viard deadpans. “I work all the time. It’s as if my grandparents had given me their fabric house and I wanted it to be the best—I wanted them to be happy.

I’m often asking myself, ‘Karl, what do you think? Is it okay?’ ” On the eve of Viard’s spring 2021 ready-to-wear show, the fabled Chanel studio is humming with activity. Almost all the pan-generational assistants are women, and the deeply collaborative Viard is keen to have their input.

Many have been with Chanel for decades.
Photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin have come to show Viard the stills from a series of three short promotional movie teasers they have produced, riffing on an iconic image of Gabrielle Chanel with her arm thrown over the back of a chair.
They are now ensconced in a comfortable high-back sofa that has been placed against the wall at the end of the studio where Lagerfeld once sat sketching furiously away at his desk.

Viard, it seems, rarely sits: She is too busy engaging with and styling the models in the dressing room at the opposite end of the studio, pondering whether to add a veiled 1930s-style hair band or a baby-pink or pearlescent-pink quilted purse to an ensemble.

“Not everything suits everybody,” Viard explains, “and if they don’t feel comfortable in the clothes, I change the clothes.” The models range from Amanda Sanchez, who has been the house model for 19 years, to Louise de Chevigny, who was discovered, as Viard notes, by Chanel alum Inès de la Fressange for her eponymous brand’s catalog.

“I adore her,” says Viard of de Chevigny, noting that she resembles the powerfully chic women who stalked the 1980s fashion runways or Helmut Newton’s photographs of that period. “We have a lot of French this time,” says Viard proudly, delighting in the fact that international travel restrictions have meant that she has had to cast closer to home.

She loves the models,” says van Lamsweerde. “She gets obsessed, and she wants to make them more beautiful, to feel good, look good—there’s a real generosity there. “Virginie’s vision is so much more about a life and what you wear in it, rather than trying to make statements about fashion or change,” adds van Lamsweerde.

“They’re not concerned in this company with, Are we relevant? They’re not torturing themselves. It’s much more about supporting the life of the woman who buys her clothes. It’s a very feminine approach.” For the collection, Viard has tapped into her passion not only for movies but for actresses.

Van Lamsweerde did a deep dive into Romy Schneider in Visconti’s Boccaccio ’70 and Delphine Seyrig in Alain Resnais’s Last Year at Marienbad, both of whom were memorably dressed by Gabrielle Chanel herself. As they soon discovered, however, Viard—whose movie tastes run from French Nouvelle Vague to the 2019 Les Misérables (directed by her friend Ladj Ly, whom she met through Pharrell)—was “drawing her inspiration from today: actresses on the red carpet or going to the airport or for a Starbucks,” as van Lamsweerde says.

“It’s more like a wardrobe for different moments in a woman’s life or in a day. There’s a sense of freedom there—it’s just unapologetic Chanel.” Viard (center, in denim jacket), flanked by her muses and collaborators. From far left: Director Ladj Ly; actor Suzanne Lindon; singer Angèle; musician Sébastien Tellier; Viard’s son, Robinson Fyot; model Mona Tougaard; writer Anne Berest; and model, author, and friend of the house Caroline de Maigret.

Photographed by Anton Corbijn, Vogue, December 2020.
Produced by Kitten Productions.
Although she is now the creative director for a multi-billion-dollar global brand and her workload has changed exponentially, Viard has resisted any effort to adapt her private life.
While Lagerfeld famously surrounded himself by turns with world-class Art Deco treasures, then museum-quality 18th-century decorative arts, then state-of-the-art contemporary design, Viard lives in the same artist’s atelier in the unfashionable 14th arrondissement that she bought 20 years ago and sees no reason to upgrade.

“I love it,” she explains. “Karl was always laughing because I never wanted to change anything: If I bought a new car, it was exactly like the old one!” Viard spent lockdown with her partner, the composer and music producer Jean-Marc Fyot (whom she describes as ” mon fiancé “), and their 25-year-old son, Robinson, in the modest village house in Drôme Provençale that she bought 20 years ago.

(At the time, Fyot described it as “a squat,” although Viard has since made some home improvements.) Fortunately, Viard was between collections when France went into strict quarantine, having recently launched the Métiers d’Art collection and planned the spring 2021 ready-to-wear. In the country, she distracted herself with bicycle rides, swimming in her pool, and cooking and cleaning.

“It de-stresses me to see the results,” she explains. When she returned to Paris and a studio full of masked accomplices, Viard plunged into work on the eclectic spring 2021 collection, which she is now unveiling beneath the writhing Art Nouveau ironwork of the Grand Palais against a set that mimics the iconic hollywood sign but spells chanel.

“It’s a very different season,” said the show’s producer, Etienne Russo, “but we have to adapt.” Fyot is on hand for support, rock-star chic in skinny black leather jeans and a hoodie under his daytime tuxedo, while Viard, dressed to match in a lean black Chanel coat to the ankles, narrow pants, and patent Chelsea boots, is preternaturally calm: She has done this dozens of times before, of course, and the Chanel machine ensures that everything happens like clockwork even while the support teams are all masked and the models have been tested for COVID.

The collection begins cinematically with Christophe’s music, which appropriates some lines from an old movie—Viard thinks it is Max Ophüls’s 1955 Lola Montès —and she is thrilled that the final grouping of Jazz Age black and white ensembles that she sees on the monitor reminds her of the stylized blocking in Marienbad,

Viard, who disdains personal social media and would still rather stay in the shadows, winces before she steps front of stage for the necessary bow.
She wants her work to be in the light, rather than her,” says de Maigret.
I find it so modern.” Backstage, Viard’s friends congratulate her.
It’s glamorous and luxurious,” says the musician Sébastien Tellier, “but it’s a caress—it’s light, it’s super sweet.”As Kristen Stewart, watching across the Atlantic, puts it: “She’s really finding herself and projecting her voice as an artist.

I can hear it loud and clear.” : Virginie Viard, the Woman Behind Chanel’s New Chapter

Who owns Chanel and Dior?

LVMH – Wikipedia French multinational luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Headquarters in Paris LVMHType ( ) : IndustryPredecessors

The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of (founded in 1854) with Moët Hennessy, which was established following the 1971 between the producer (founded in 1743) and the producer (founded in 1765).
In 2021, with a valuation of $329 billion, LVMH became the most valuable company in Europe.
LVMH controls around 60 that manage 75 prestigious brands.

Did Karl Lagerfeld buy Chanel?

Lagerfeld, like Coco, understood what it took to transform fashion for the modern woman.
Instead of abandoning her legacy for his own, Karl Lagerfeld considered himself the “channeler” of Coco.
As such, he would reinterpret and rejuvenate the iconic designs of Coco Chanel, inserting ready-to-wear into popular culture and restoring Haute Couture to its former glory.

Is Karl the owner of Chanel?

Karl Lagerfeld – Wikipedia German fashion designer (1933–2019) Not to be confused with, a Swedish diplomat. Karl Lagerfeld Lagerfeld in 2014 Born Karl Otto Lagerfeld ( 1933-09-10 ) 10 September 1933, Died19 February 2019 (2019-02-19) (aged 85), France EducationLabels

(1965–2019)
(1983–2019)
Karl Lagerfeld (1984–2019)

Other labels

(1958–1963)
(1963–1978, 1992–1997)
(2004)
Hogan (2011)
(2011)
(2017)

Partner (1971–1989, his death)Parent

(father)

Website (in German) Signature Karl Otto Lagerfeld ( German pronunciation: ( ) ; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house, a position held from 1983 until his death, and was also creative director of the fur and leather goods fashion house, and of his own eponymous fashion label.

Who is the new CEO of Chanel fashion?

Chanel announced on Wednesday that Leena Nair would be the company’s new CEO. Nair, Unilever’s former human-resources head, is an outspoken advocate for diversity and inclusion. Her leadership style is defined by empathy and inclusion, she told the World Economic Forum,

Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you’re on the go. Chanel — the iconic brand that made the little black dress a staple for every woman — has a new leader: Leena Nair. The haute-couture house announced on Wednesday that Nair, the former Unilever human-resources chief, would assume the role of CEO in January.

She’s replacing Alain Wertheimer, Chanel’s coowner. Nair is set to become Chanel’s first woman chief and one of the few women of color in the industry’s exclusive leadership ranks. Nair, who is of British Indian descent, is joining an industry rocked by the pandemic as stores shuttered and consumers flocked to e-commerce.

And unlike its competitors — Gucci, Prada, and Versace — Chanel doesn’t sell its famous handbags online, which makes Nair’s job more complicated. Nair may also have the big challenge of helping shape Chanel’s artistic vision, which critics say is still under construction following the 2019 death of Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel’s venerable artistic director. Nair could expand the fashion house’s vision and brand. Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images