Virginie Viard exits Chanel, leaving top fashion job open

Virginie Viard is leaving Chanel after five years serving as the French luxury house’s artistic director of fashion collections.

Virginie Viard is exiting Chanel after five years serving as the French luxury house’s artistic director of fashion collections. The designer took on the position following Karl Lagerfeld’s death in 2019 after working alongside him at Chanel for decades. She held one of fashion’s most coveted and elite jobs — with only Lagerfeld and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel herself acting as previous artistic directors for the storied brand. In a press statement to CNN, Chanel confirmed Viard’s departure, writing that while the 62-year-old designer was at the helm, “she was able to renew the codes of the house while respecting the creative heritage of Chanel, and almost thirty years within the house.” A successor has yet to be named, but the brand added that an announcement would be made “in due course.” Chanel said that it wanted to thank Viard “for her remarkable contribution to Chanel’s fashion, creativity and vitality.” Just last month, Chanel’s chief executive Leena Nair told The Business of Fashion that “since Virginie took over from Karl… the Chanel fashion business has multiplied by 2.2. The Chanel ready-to-wear business has been multiplied by 2.5, and the ready-to-wear business last year of Chanel grew by 23%.”