Knowing their own customer has been Chanel’s most successful code. Alongside the iconic camellia, pearls, bicolor shoes, tweed, the classic flap bag and so many more, there’s Virginie Viard, the French designer who preceded Karl Lagerfeld, and until this day has kept the house’s legacy alive and untouchable.
If it’s numbers we want, Chanel is now a $20 billion business. Increasing their revenue 16% in the last couple of months, this all thanks to beauty products mostly, Chanel N5, Bleu, leather goods and astonishing Ready To Wear, a category that has grown 23% in the last five years.
Virginie Viard took the helm back in 2019 after legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld died, who named her his “right and left hand”, and since then has been delivering Haute Couture collections, RTW, Leather Goods and all Fashion related products that had helped Chanel to keep its place as the second largest luxury brand in the world, just after Louis Vuitton.
The French designer has faced social media criticism since the very beginning, alongside rumors of a replacement where names such as Hedi Slimane or Alessandro Michele were an option; all of this denied by both Chanel’s Bruno Pavlosky, Fashion Director and CEO Leena Nair, who praised and defended Virginie’s work and vision.
Chanel is not only fashion. It’s a whole world where the aesthetic rules in all divisions including High Jewelry, a successful skincare line, the Mètiers d’Art collections, Haute Couture, philanthropy, and sales led by Asia, followed by Europe and the Americas.
The strategy might seem ‘simple’, but those steps might include their price increases two times a year (March and September), their luxurious experiencers offered at the boutiques worldwide, most specially in Paris HQ – Rue Cambon 31, and of course, being the only Fashion Luxury brand that doesn’t sell RTW, leather goods and iconic pieces online.
Virginie Viard started to work at Chanel as an intern back in 1987, and now as Creative Director of the powerful legacy Coco Chanel left behind, there’s more to come, more to desire, because definitely, she’s not going anywhere.
Written by
Juan José Jaimes