The women behind Chanel on how the ghost of Gabrielle influences their work
If behind every great man is a great woman, Karl Lagerfeld’s status as the most powerful man in fashion is secure. Because behind, beside and around him is a team of women who keep the Chanel powerhouse running smoothly. And none more so than fashion studio director Virginie Viard, who, over the course of a 30-year career at his side, has earned herself the title "Karl’s right-hand woman".
Looking at her kohl-rimmed eyes, porcelain complexion and skinny jeans, it’s hard to believe that Viard has racked up three decades in the industry. She joined Chanel as an intern in haute-couture embroidery in 1987 – four years after Lagerfeld – on the recommendation of a neighbour of her parents who happened to be Prince Rainier of Monaco’s chamberlain.
Since then, bar a five-year stint in the mid-1990s when Lagerfeld took her with him to Chloé, she has charted the house’s return to the peak of high fashion, and now oversees eight collections a year, including ready-to-wear, cruise, Métiers d’Art and couture.
"I make the collections come to life with the ateliers and the Métiers d’Art houses, based on Karl’s sketches," she explains in the run-up to the spring/summer 2018 show, held in Paris’s Grand Palais last month. "I coordinate the teams, liaise with suppliers and choose fabrics. Then, of course, I do fittings with Karl. As soon as I receive his sketches, the process begins. I try to please him, but I like to surprise him too."
With such a vast output (a single ready-to-wear show can comprise 100 looks, while the hours required to hand-craft one haute-couture creation can run into the thousands), the process has to operate like clockwork. "We speak all the time – he calls me and sends me sketches via his phone – and we see each other every day," Viard says. "The complicity is total."
In turn, Lagerfeld offers a similarly glowing assessment of his co-conspirator: "Our relationship is fundamental – one of profound affection and a true friendship."
While Viard was discreetly establishing herself as a behind-the-scenes force at the house, its watchmaking department was building its own reputation, albeit more publicly. This year marks 30 years since the launch of Chanel’s first timepiece, the Première, and since then, it has confounded the horological elitists, who were all too keen to dismiss it as a mere fashion brand whose watches weren’t to be taken seriously.
In 2000 came the landmark J12, the first timepiece by a luxury fashion house to be made entirely from now-ubiquitous ceramic; in 2012, Chanel introduced the Mademoiselle Privé range, bringing Métiers d’Art couture craftsmanship to the watchmaking realm; 2015 saw the elegantly masculine Boy.Friend become an instant classic; and, in 2016, came the first in-house movement, for the Monsieur de Chanel.
Now, to celebrate the 30th anniversary, comes Code Coco: a women’s watch that merges fashion, fine jewellery and horology, encapsulating everything the house represents while offering something completely fresh.
"I like to think of Code Coco as a piece of jewellery that embodies Chanel’s values," says Viard. And who better to model it than the women who know those values inside out?
Viard and two of her colleagues – Kim Young-Seong, artistic director of textiles and ready-to-wear for the fashion studio, and Lucia Pica, global creative designer for make-up and colour – were photographed wearing the watch in Coco Chanel’s Paris apartment, alongside some of the more familiar faces who have represented the house, including Stella Tennant and Alice Dellal.
"Watches in general tend to be very conservative in terms of design, but the Code Coco is unconventional," says Young-Seong. Its supple steel bracelet echoes the quilting and clasp of Chanel’s famous 2.55 handbag, designed by Mademoiselle herself in 1955.
Like Chanel’s first timepiece, the Première, with its chain-like strap, Code Coco is more bracelet than watch. And like the Première, which was designed to be a women’s fashion accessory, rather than a miniaturised version of a man’s watch, it’s a break from the norm.
Instead of fastening on the inside of the wrist, it wraps all the way round, slotting back into itself with a satisfying click, and locking in place with a clasp that’s identical to that of the 2.55 bag. When ‘open’, with the clasp turned horizontally, the watch reveals a discreet, numberless dial, but turn it through 90 degrees to vertical and it’s hidden. Above the clasp there sits a single white diamond: very minimalist, very effortless, very Chanel.
"The mechanism is so clever," says Pica, who joined Chanel in 2015 and oversees the creation of six or seven make-up collections a year. "Usually I wear the Boy.Friend, because I don’t like overly girlie things, but this combines the two: the bracelet is heavy and strong, while the diamonds are more feminine. It brings together toughness and elegance – the two expressions of femininity."
It’s an approach in keeping with the legacy of the house’s founder, the nightclub singer turned couturier who appropriated men’s sportswear and tweeds to change forever the way women would dress. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel’s presence still looms large over the house and those who work there.
"I often say that Mademoiselle Chanel is almost a living person," says Viard. "I’m really inspired by her history and the strong legacy she left us. And, of course, I’m inspired by Karl too."
In Pica’s hands, Chanel’s legacy even seeps into our make-up bags. "She was a forward-thinking, pioneering woman," she says. "There are so many things to be inspired by – not only what she created, but also what she said and how she thought. Sometimes, I’ll use a Chanel signature such as the five colours of the house in my work, but at other times, it’ll be more abstract, like the travel diary I created that speaks to Mademoiselle’s love of travel. She’s always there in some way."
The ghost of Coco Chanel is tangible in the Rue Cambon apartment, which has been left virtually untouched since she died, in 1971. It was the obvious location for the Code Coco campaign shoot.
"Sitting on the stairs of the apartment felt surreal because this place is so iconic," says Pica. "But the shoot itself was incredibly comfortable and not intimidating at all – they were a lovely group of people, and I was happy to take part."
In drawing back the curtain on those who have helped make it what it is, the house of Chanel has allowed the light to fall on a trio of ambitious women with impressive careers in an intriguing company. As Pica says, "Working at Chanel isn’t what you might expect – it’s such a legendary brand, you’d think it would be scary. But it’s not – it’s a real family environment." And the latest member to join that family is Code Coco.
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