Together with her questionable taste. Despite earlier support from her keenly supportive bosses, the embroiderer who succeeded Karl Lagerfeld as the designer steps down

Virginie Viard taking her stroll to acknowledge the guests at the end of the cruise show last month. Screen shot: chanel/YouTube

We woke up early this morning to news that won’t stop giving. Virginie Viard, after five years helming the fashion collections, “has departed”, as per WWD, the house of Chanel. It is not surprising to us that her tenure has come to this, but the suddenness is. Just two weeks ago, Chanel granted WWD an interview, and praised Ms Viard profusely, which led us to believe that she would stay put. The daily wrote that Chanel gave Ms Viard “its vote of confidence”. CEO Leena Nair enthused that “Virginie is an inspiring woman very successfully creating for women everywhere, and the feedback of clients—the comfort, the silhouette, the fit—it’s really positive, it’s landing really well.” Chief financial officer Philippe Blondiaux seconded that assertion: “From a consumer perspective and a brand perspective, Virginie has been a massive contributor.” So what happened, why did they let her go, assuming she chose to leave? And amid the supposed soaring revenues? Forgive us, we’re cynical.

It would be hard to know for sure. Chanel is notoriously tight-lipped about their internal affairs. And Ms Viard, until she speaks to the media, is unlikely going to say anything now. The maison is adamant that the 62-year-old designer was not as terrible as some of us thought, insisting in a statement that she was able to “renew the codes of the house while respecting the creative heritage of Chanel.” Which meant to us Ms Viard took Chanel nowhere. She probably never intended to, but neither did she choose a different itinéraire, even if it was half way through her tenure. Despite intense social media chiding of her lacklustre work (raves were equally strong likely because of the fear of offending Chanel since no expense has been spared to court actresses and influencers not adverse to the painfully dull), she did not budge—as tenacious, she remained, as Chanel buttons are securely stitched. In spite of her supposed effective departure, Chanel said that the haute couture fall 2024 collection will still be staged on June 25 at the Opéra Garnier in Paris. It is not known if she would take the customary end-of-show bow then.

Although social media chiding of her lacklustre work was rife, she did not budge—as tenacious, she remained, as Chanel buttons are securely stitched

From her first collection, Ms Viard consistently revealed that she was not keen on challenging even herself. As the first SOTD reader who texted us this morning in response to her departure wrote, “mediocre from the start”. In all fairness, she is not a totally inept designer, she is just mind-numbingly middling, sensationally so-so, barely adequate. That influencer Bryan “Bryanboy” Yambao idolises Chanel and ardently defends Ms Viard’s work are indicative of all the validation she needed. In 2022, he wrote on Twitter (as it was still known then), in defence of the criticisms levelled at the house: “That’s why they’re CHANEL. And others aren’t. CHANEL customers appreciate CHANEL for what it is. It’s not for everyone, it’s not for you”, gleefully spelling the name in full caps. But, as we opined as early as 2019: “There have been many firsts for Virginie Viard at Chanel: first resort, first couture, first spring, and, now, first Métier D’art. They should have all been her last.”

Chanel may know their customers and cater to them, but that does not mean that, in so doing, they have augmented the currency of the brand, least of all the desirable—but often elusive—forwardness. It is convenient and tempting to frame the aesthetical backwardness as classic, but for how long does Chanel desire to remain this classic, a positioning that Coco Chanel herself took in the ’50s that led to the drastic dethroning of the brand until Mr Lagerfeld came along in 1983? Adorers argue fervidly that Ms Viard has the skill. After all, she worked alongside Mr Lagerfeld in the Chanel atelier (not counting the time she spent with him at Chloé) for some 25 years. But skill is not synonymous with talent. Nor, regrettably, indication of tastefulness. And skill can be acquired, not taste.

Ugliness in prêt-à-porter could be understandable, but in haute couture, they mean only one thing—tragedy. Top row from left: spring 2019, fall 2019, spring 2020, and fall 2020. Middle row from left: spring 2021, fall 2021, spring 2022, fall 2022. Bottom row from left, spring 2023, fall 2023, and spring 2024. Photos: social media and Chanel

Ms Viard is known to be a production specialist, effective in getting the massive number of clothes with their oftentimes superfluous details out for the shows on time. But just because you can churn does not mean you can create. However proficient she has been at renewing those potentially hampering house codes, she was also essentially churning. Renewal is, therefore, arguable. Repetition is more likely. Ms Viard could be constricted, even encumbered, by those very codes that she was likely obligated to popularize. Without them, would the clothes alone hold up to even a cursory glance? The sums of their parts are, in fact, frequently mortifying if you take away those pesky codes. Such drawbacks do not allow her to distinguish the haute couture from the prêt-à-porter. Even Tony Ward’s meretricious couture looks better. Similarly, her Métier D’art collections have been riddled with questions: Were they not a waste of resources, even a case of misuse?

For many fans and actresses posing on red carpets, Chanel offers prettiness. But sans the branding or the incomprehensible raves on, say, Red Carpet Fashion Awards, the prettiness would easily slide into frumpiness. Ms Viard has rather auntie tastes—and when she tries her matronly hand at youthfulness, it comes away looking just that: they are attempts. It has been hard to say that her designs have youthful verve. Let’s not venture into sexy or Gen Z’s favourite—stunning. Ms Viard has also been lauded as being technical, but frequently the cuts, especially of dresses, with their unflattering fits, have raised both eyebrows and (more) questions. Yet, according to Ms Nair, “feedback of clients” on fits and such is “really positive”. Has Chanel customers been fed with so much of the unpalatable that they could not become sensitive to the plain unattractive? Some reader wrote to us to say we must be happy now. No, we are not. We are not happy that a brand as storied as Chanel should be stymied with taste that are, at best, questionable.

Note: Chanel has not announced who will take over Virginie Viard. A statement released to the media stated that “a new creative organization will be announced in due course”. Names now circulating online as possible candidates include Pierpaolo Piccioli and Sarah Burton. Hedi Slimane is, again, back in the list