Fashion career profile
Virginie Viard
Virginie Viard is the French fashion executive and designer who served as Artistic Director of CHANEL’s Fashion Collections from 2019 to 2024. She worked closely with Karl Lagerfeld at CHANEL for decades, including as director of his fashion studio and later as a key collaborator across the house’s fashion work. Her post-Lagerfeld tenure is recorded as a completed creative-director chapter rather than as a current appointment. The directory links it to the earlier Lagerfeld era and to Matthieu Blazy’s subsequent fashion leadership, making the chronology explicit without implying that every Chanel category was within one role. Beauty, watches and jewellery have their own organisational structures, so the profile limits claims to the public fashion remit. This gives readers a clean succession record without replacing documented scope with broad shorthand.
- Role
- Former Artistic Director of Fashion Collections, CHANEL
- Nationality
- French
- Age
- 64
- Career appointments
- 1
- Fashion houses
- 1
- Collections led
- 1
- 'We’ll stop here': Virginie Viard reflects on abrupt dismissal from ChanelFashionNetwork · 2026-10-06
- Must Read: Virginie Viard Reflects on Being Fired From Chanel, Miuccia Prada Talks Succession Plans and Her LegacyFashionista · 2026-10-05
- Virginie Viard Breaks Her Silence For the First Time Since Being Fired By ChanelWWD · 2026-10-03
- Chanel: Joined the House in 1987Contemporary reporting places Viard's first Chanel tenure in 1987; this predates her later artistic-director appointment. · ELLE
- Artistic direction: Appointed Artistic Director of Chanel Fashion Collections in 2019Chanel's chronology specifies the remit as Fashion Collections, distinct from fashion-image direction. · CHANEL
- House tenure: Almost 30 years with ChanelChanel's departure statement credited Viard with nearly three decades at the House and five years as Artistic Director. · Reuters reporting Chanel statement
- Departure: Departed in June 2024Chanel confirmed the departure after five years as Artistic Director of Fashion Collections. · Reuters reporting Chanel statement
- 1987 — Begins career at ChanelCareer reporting dates her first period at Chanel to 1987.
- 1997 — Returns to Chanel with Karl LagerfeldAfter working with Lagerfeld at Chloé, Viard returns to Chanel with him.
- 2019 — Appointed Artistic Director of Fashion CollectionsChanel's chronology identifies her role specifically with the House's fashion collections.
- 2024 — Departs Chanel after five years as artistic directorChanel confirms the departure and distinguishes the five-year leadership tenure from her nearly thirty years at the House.
- 2019–2024 — Artistic Director of Fashion Collections — ChanelHistorical appointment · CHANEL