Leveridged

Gabrielle, Karl, Virginie, Matthieu

Karl Lagerfeld brought a distinctive creative flair to Chanel, responsible for reviving the brand after Gabrielle Chanel’s passing, bringing it to global success in the years that followed. Between her passing and Karls appointment Chanel was the responsibility of the design team where Gabrielle’s assistants Yvonne Dudel and Jean Cazaubon held the reins until a new official creative director was appointed. Karl in 1983. He sat as head of designs for many years, where he worked tirelessly to produce nuanced collections season after season.

He popularised and designed some of Chanel’s most famous motifs, the instant identity markers of Maison Chanel.

Karl’s eye for design within the house is what we have come to know as Chanel, where he honoured and revitalised the design legacy of Gabrielle. He executed season after season with exquisite precision and always brought Chanel to new places, environments, eras, and occasions. Lagerfeld was known to transport clientele, a treat many looked forward to, wondering where Chanel would be this season. Impressively, the runway garments were never lost in these imaginative sets but perfectly articulated the world Lagerfeld envisioned, allowing us to imagine ourselves within it.

He loved the glamour of fashion and guarded the feminine form beautifully by adorning it with mesmerising jewels and sumptuous materials. Year after year, he would rework the motifs of the house, the house codes, building and rebuilding upon the fantasy CoCo left behind.

The years allowed him to perfect his craft and legacy, one shared with his team, for he knew the importance of his talent and its success amongst his clientele. That spirit lived on and beautifully evolved once Virginie stepped in after Karl’s passing.

The Legacy & The Heritage

Virginie Viard worked alongside Karl Lagerfeld and understood the intricate workings of his mind, making her a fine fit to succeed him.

She was able to bend his talent, making it pliable to her vision, creating a masterful fusion of ideologies. Virginie understood what women wanted and produced a Chanel which was wearable and relevant to the time. Revenue increased under Virginie as she met the requirements of the new era.

Chanel under Viard was quite sweet, soft and inviting, spirited in a feminine way.

The formula Virginie provided had great success in her years leading the Chanel design team. Her focus was on the clothes, and the bodies in the clothes, and the movement of such bodies in the clothes. It was comprehensive, precise and very much Chanel. The familiar motifs were there, yet the brand managed to appeal to those wanting something fresh, common with creative director changes. Over time, Virginie Viard carved out a distinct lane for herself, synthesising a special Chanel aesthetic that stood apart from her predecessors. Having left her mark on the maison, she brought her time as lead to an end, stepping down after cementing her legacy at Chanel.

As history would have it, Gabrielle made way for Karl, who then welcomed Virginie, who has now minted Matthieu. 

How to please the longtime lovers of the brand and new persons of interest?

Undergo reinvention. Gabrielles vision for her label was to modernise dress for women with uncompromising detail, comfort and design. She nourished a legacy of care which has stood the test of time. The questions have always been what do women want and what do women want to wear? With only a talented few understanding the depth of such questions. Only a few have understood that such an answer is ever evolving .

The Heritage & The Legacy

Matthieu Blazy debuted at Chanel with their Spring-Summer 26 collection to an audience waiting to see Chanel through his eyes, and what was given was beautiful.

Chanel, the Blazy years are currently unfolding, petal by petal, giving us a taste of his talents.

His approach to Chanel is tender and romantic, that of a longing lover returning home. He injects a level of delicacy that brings the collections to life, shifting the perspective of what we call Chanel. The brand is modern, wearable, and practical, perfectly complementing today’s sartorial landscape.

He has paid homage to the founder herself, Gabrielle Chanel, through design and craftsmanship of his works, using her as his guide and muse. Paying respect to her original vision in an original way, by sharing his intimate understanding of the brand with all of us, exciting those of us applauding at the end of the runways. 

Chanel through the years, reinterpreted and reimagined through the minds that sit at the head shows their unique and individual depictions of beauty and the ways in which they tell the same story. That of the Chanel woman, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, revolving around the questions of, what do women want and, what do women want to wear? Each answering in their own unique way giving us Chanel through the years.

Gabrielle, Karl, Virginie, Matthieu

Be transported by the beautiful depictions of Matthieu Blazy’s creative director debut and runway review here. Read more.