Life after Karl Lagerfeld

Chanel has named Virginie Viard, Karl Lagerfeld’s closest collaborator for more than 30 years, as its new creative director, the French fashion house said in a statement following the death of the legendary designer. The move muffled speculation over whether Chanel might seek out another big name to replace Lagerfeld, who was 85 years old. Potential successors often cited by industry observers over the years included Hedi Slimane, now ensconced at Celine, as well as Phoebe Philo, the designer he replaced there, and Alber Elbaz, formerly of Lanvin.

Those designers would likely have sought to bring their own vision to one of the world’s biggest luxury brands, with $9.6 billion in sales in 2017. Instead, Chanel’s owners, the billionaire Wertheimer family, emphasised continuity in appointing Viard, who the brand said in a statement had been “entrusted by chief executive Alain Wertheimer with the creative work for the collections, so that the legacy of Gabrielle Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld can live on.” The decision is in character for the Wertheimers, who waited 12 years after Gabrielle Chanel died in 1971 before appointing Lagerfeld in 1983.

Viard, who has been called “Karl’s secret weapon,” joined Chanel as an intern in haute-couture embroidery in 1987, four years after Lagerfeld became creative director of the brand. (She was recommended for the job by a chamberlain of Prince Rainier of Monaco.) After working together at Chanel, Viard joined Lagerfeld at Chloé in 1992 — where he was also the head designer — and worked there for five years before returning to Chanel and working her way up to become director of the company’s fashion design studio.

“Virginie is the most important person, not only for me but also for the atelier, for everything,” Lagerfeld said in a Netflix documentary released in 2018. “She is my right arm and even if I don’t see her, we are on the phone all the time.”