Virginie Viard, Chanel’s creative director

Chanel Haute Couture Fall Winter 2011-2012 – Picture by Creative Commons Attribution.

Maison Chanel has announced that studio director Virginie Viard was appointed successor to the recently deceased and much celebrated designer Karl Lagerfeld. 

Viard will be in charge of the creative work for the collections, from ready-to-wear, to haute couture. Selected by Alain Wertheimer, CEO of Chanel, Virginie Viard has worked in close collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld since 1987 and shall continue the legacy that both he and the founder of the fashion house, Gabrielle Chanel, have left behind.

Virginie Viard becomes the first woman since Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel to be in charge of the brand’s creativity. 

Viard began as an intern at Chanel in 1987, and left the latter maison with Lagerfeld to join Chloé in 1992, where the pair worked together for five years. When Lagerfeld returned to the French fashion house in 1997, she took on the role of coordinator for haute couture, and then ready-to-wear in 2000.

For further information 
https://www.chanel.com/us/fashion/handbags/c/1x1x1/