Fashion buzz: After Karl Lagerfeld, what's next for Chanel and Fendi?
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Fashion buzz: After Karl Lagerfeld, what'southward next for Chanel and Fendi?
While Chanel has a successor, who will take on Fendi's mantle and Lagerfeld's eponymous make?
Karl Lagerfeld's death leaves a void atop two of manner's biggest names, Chanel and Fendi, and signals a potentially seismic shift on the industry'southward creative side at a time of heightened flux in the global luxury market.
Chanel has already named Virginie Viard, a relatively unknown company insider based in Paris, to go on Lagerfeld'south piece of work. Viard was the director of the Chanel fashion creation studio and Lagerfeld'south right-hand woman for more than 30 years.
At Fendi, where Lagerfeld was named artistic manager in 1965, the question of succession has not yet been addressed across a company statement that a decision on the issue would come "later on". Nor has in that location been any word about Lagerfeld'due south own brand, which he started in 1984, and is now partly owned past private equity firm Apax Partners.
"Today, not only have I lost a friend, but we have all lost an boggling creative heed," Alain Wertheimer, Chanel's chief executive, said in a statement confirming the German designer'southward decease Tuesday (Feb 19) at age 85.
"Thanks to his artistic genius, generosity and exceptional intuition, Karl Lagerfeld was ahead of his time, which widely contributed to the house of Chanel's success throughout the globe."
Lagerfeld, who joined the business firm of Chanel in 1983, had long been credited with transforming the company into one of the world's biggest luxury brands, synonymous with blockbuster rail shows and distinctive products similar its No. 5 perfume, black boucle jackets, two-tone ballet pumps and array of quilted handbags.
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Just what a powerful manufacture force the privately held Chanel had become was clear terminal yr when, for the first fourth dimension in its 108-year history, it published its annual financial results. Full sales for 2022 were US$9.62 billion, 11 per cent higher than the previous year on a constant-currency basis, the company reported.
Although Lagerfeld famously had a lifetime contract with Chanel, he was known to be in poor health in recent years, and information technology was something of a way-show parlour game to speculate nearly who might ultimately take his place at the company.
His chore was widely regarded as the all-time in the business, in office because Chanel's status as a individual company with a hugely successful dazzler segmentation gave Lagerfeld a level of creative freedom seemingly unmatched among his peers. Many people privately dreamed of inheriting the mantle.
Among those often mentioned over the years as favourites for the chore included star designers like Marc Jacobs (when he left Louis Vuitton), Alber Elbaz (a former creative director of Lanvin), Hedi Slimane (known to be a favourite of Lagerfeld'south) and most recently, Phoebe Philo, who was rumoured to be waiting in the wings in London subsequently leaving Celine.
In the stop, the billionaire Wertheimer family that controls Chanel appears to have opted for continuity over celebrity by picking Viard, a visitor stalwart without a global profile or social media presence. According to a statement from the visitor, the pick will ensure that "the legacy of Gabrielle Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld" can live on. Viard is both the safest and virtually respectful choice.
Lagerfeld seemed to have been laying the groundwork for the decision for some time, increasingly bringing Viard onto the rails at the terminate of shows to take a bow at his side. In Jan, after Lagerfeld failed to make his customary appearance at the end of Chanel'southward most recent couture show, the company said in a argument that he was "feeling tired" and had asked that Viard "represent him and greet the guests".
All eyes volition at present be on her to see whether she can extend what has been one of the modernistic luxury industry's longest bull runs ever, and whether she will cull to make her own mark on the brand or remain a easygoing, behind-the-scenes presence.
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Moves to secure Chanel's long-term financial futurity accept also been afoot in the boardroom in recent months. Last yr, the visitor announced information technology had established a new holding visitor based in London, Chanel Limited, as part of an effort to bring all its businesses and 20,000 employees under ane roof and to simplify a legal and organisational structure in place since the 1950s. As a outcome, while the luxury industry is in mourning this calendar week, many observers were confident Chanel would withstand Lagerfeld's death.
"We saw last yr that the Chanel business concern is formidably strong and benefits from its huge marketing investments," said Luca Solca, senior luxury analyst at Usa analytics firm Bernstein. "It is also a more balanced business concern than near, commanding appeal both at the high finish, for example, with its couture business, and at the entry-cost points with its beauty lines, giving it a broad base."
"Karl is leaving huge shoes to fill," he added. "Merely Chanel is a formidable brand with a meaning talent puddle internally and a huge appeal in the market."
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As for the other companies affected by Lagerfeld's death, from his own fashion line to Fendi, which is owned past LVMH Moet Hennessy, the globe'southward largest luxury goods company, what happens side by side remains to be seen. On Tuesday, a statement from Fendi, a house based in Rome that is a fast-growing star of the LVMH portfolio, called his death "an unimaginable loss".
"Karl Lagerfeld has been my mentor and my indicate of reference," said Silvia Fendi, artistic manager of menswear, accessories and children'due south wear. "A glimmer of an eye was enough to empathize each other.
"For Fendi and myself," she added, "the creative genius of Karl has been and will always exist our guiding calorie-free, moulding the maison's Deoxyribonucleic acid."
Lagerfeld'southward last collection for the brand will be shown Th in Milan.
Past Elizabeth Paton and Vanessa Friedman © The New York Times
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