BY IKENNA OBIOHA
Following the demise of Chanel and Fendi’s Creative Director Karl Lagerfeld today, Virginie Viard has been announced to carry on in his footsteps as creative director for the Chanel brand. The news was made by Creative Executive of Chanel, Alain Wertheimer through an Instagram post that eulogised the deceased.
Viard is a longtime collaboration and close friend of Lagerfeld.
“She (Virginie Viard) is my right hand and my left hand, our relationship is essential, doubled by very real friendship and affection.” Lagerfeld remarked in a 2018 interview with Elle.
She hopes to mirror the true vision Lagerfeld is known and respected for.
“I love to please him but also surprise him,” Viard said. “He is very sensitive, like all creative people, but very faithful and generous which might not be what people would guess.”
Viard started working closely with Lagerfeld in 1987, four years after he earned the position of an artistic director for chanel in 1983.
Lagerfeld who died today after battling with pancreatic cancer joined Chanel in 1955 as an assistant to Pierre Balmain, making it 64 years of creative service for the brand.
The fashion creative mind who mostly appeared in his signature white ponytail and sunglasses passed away in an American hospital located on the outskirts of Paris. He was aged 85.
Rumours about his health started making rounds in tabloid after his absence at the end of the Chanel spring/summer haute couture show in Paris. This marked his first absenteeism, although his aides remarked that he was too tired to attend the show out of stress.
The iconic fashion icon after his death garnered a lot of love from fans praising his adaptability in the ever changing trends of the fashion industry. Other celebrities who reacted to his death include Bella and Gigi Hadid, Victoria Beckham, Diane Kruger, fellow creative director Donatella Versace and First Lady of United States of America, Melania Trump.
