Models walking in Chanel's haute couture fall/winter 2024-2025 show in Paris, on June 25. PARIS - Awkward! Chanel held its haute couture show on June 25 just three weeks after the very abrupt departure of creative director Virginie Viard after almost 30 years with the brand. Viard worked alongside the legendary Karl Lagerfeld for years before taking over at the helm after his death in 2019.
She oversaw record sales of nearly US$20 billion (S$27 billion) in 2023. But a crisis had been brewing for months, with sceptical pouts on the front row and murmurs that her shows were growing repetitive, and she was unceremoniously booted out in early June. Viard, 62, did not even get a swansong on Tuesday.
There was no mention of her in the show notes, which said the latest collection was created by the 150 artisans of its workshop on Rue Cambon. It was a typically sophisticated and theatrical collection, staged in the Opera Garnier, with mediaeval capes, evening dresses with puffed sleeves, matador outfits and a velvet tuxedo alongside the house’s classic tweeds – with a touch of Lagerfeld-ian vinyl thrown in. Viard’s tenure looked doomed in May when a mid-season “cruise” show in Marseille failed to impress fans – not helped by the unseasonably cold weather on the Cote d’Azur.
A month later, her departure was announced in less than elegant form – revealed to the specialist press in the middle of the night. Paris-based designer Lutz Huelle told AFP that replacing “one o.
