The designer dominated the creative side of two of fashion’s best-known names for decades. Now they must confront a post-Lagerfeld future at a time of heightened flux in the global luxury market.
Karl Lagerfeld ’s death leaves a void atop two of fashion’s biggest names, Chanel and Fendi, and signals a potentially seismic shift on the industry’s creative side at a time of heightened flux in the global luxury market.
Chanel has already named Virginie Viard, a relatively unknown company insider based in Paris, to continue Mr. Lagerfeld’s work. Ms. Viard was the director of the Chanel fashion creation studio and Mr. Lagerfeld’s right-hand woman for more than 30 years.
At Fendi, where Mr. Lagerfeld was named creative director in 1965, the question of succession has not yet been addressed beyond a company statement that a decision on the issue would come “later.” Nor has there been any word about Mr. Lagerfeld’s own brand, which he started in 1984 and which is now partly owned by the private equity firm Apax Partners.
“Today, not only have I lost a friend, but we have all lost an extraordinary creative mind,” Alain Wertheimer, Chanel’s chief executive, said in a statement confirming the German designer’s death. “Thanks to his creative genius, generosity and exceptional intuition, Karl Lagerfeld was ahead of his time, which widely contributed to the house of Chanel’s success throughout the world.”
Mr. Lagerfeld, who joined the house of Chanel in 1983, had long been credited with transforming the company into one of the world’s biggest luxury brands, synonymous with blockbuster runway shows and distinctive products like its No. 5 perfume, black bouclé jackets, two-tone ballet pumps and array of quilted handbags.
Just what a powerful industry force the privately held Chanel had become was clear last year, when, for the first time in its 108-year history, it published its annual financial results. Total sales for 2017 were $9.62 billion, 11 percent higher than the previous year on a constant-currency basis, the company reported.
