Connect with us

Fashion

Virginie Viard, the Woman Behind Chanel’s New Chapter

She wants her work to be in the light, rather than her,” the model and music producer Caroline de Maigret says of Viard. “I find it so modern….

Paris eventually beckoned, where—through her well-connected Lyonnais roommate—Viard found an internship with Jacqueline de Ribes, the city’s queen-bee socialite, who had recently decided to parlay her consummate taste and flair for fashion into a brand of her own. “We were working in her house,” Viard recalls, “all the fabrics were laid out on the bed, and the photocopy machine was in the bathroom. I was the assistant to three people—we were four in total.”

Soon she moved on to become an assistant to the costume designer Dominique Borg, acclaimed for her work on such movies as Bruno Nuytten’s Camille Claudel and Claude Lelouch’s Les Misérables, and discovered what she felt was her true calling. Her family, meanwhile, had long since moved to a country house in Burgundy, where their neighbor—the aide de camp of Monaco’s Prince Rainier—soon met Karl Lagerfeld, a Monegasque resident and intime of Princess Caroline, the prince’s daughter, and boldly asked him whether he needed an intern. Fatefully, he did. Viard duly went to rue Cambon to meet Lagerfeld’s aide de camp, the patrician Gilles Dufour, who hired her on the spot.

“Immediately Karl was asking me, ‘What do you think of this?’ ‘What do you think of that color?’ I was so embarrassed,” Viard recalls. Her internship soon morphed into a full-time job. “Karl clicked with Virginie immediately,” says Eric Wright, another pillar of Lagerfeld’s design team. “There’s always been this calmness to Virginie that’s very, very discreet, but her presence and her energy are very, very strong and very influential.”

At the time, the team was small: Besides Dufour and Wright, there was a ready-to-wear assistant, an accessories designer with an assistant, and Victoire de Castellane, Dufour’s high-spirited niece, then responsible for Chanel’s larger-than-life costume jewelry. Viard soon saw an opportunity that appealed to her training in costume design and her meticulous organizational skills.

“My chance was that nobody was in charge of the embroidery,” she says, and so she would be dispatched to work with the formidable François Lesage of the storied embroidery workshop. “He and Karl were two egos,” Viard recalls. “Ooh-la-la! I had to be diplomatic!”

Viard relished her interactions with the extraordinary characters who provided Chanel with a treasury of handcraft. The button-maker Monsieur Desrues, for instance, who would arrive every day at twelve, bringing his suitcase, which might be empty but for one jewellike example of his art, wrapped in a piece of paper, or Madame Pouzieux, who wove extraordinary braids for the Chanel suits in her atelier above her farmhouse stables in the depths of the French countryside. “I would receive her samples,” says Viard, “and they would smell of her horses…. Luckily, I love horses.” (In recent years, Chanel has acquired 38 of these endangered Maisons d’Art, or craft workshops—including feather- and artificial-flower-makers, custom milliners, glove-makers, pleaters, and textile and footwear designers—and 11 of them will soon be consolidated in 19M, a vast dedicated hub in the north of Paris scheduled to be unveiled next year.)

Advertisement
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

Nike Zoom Hyperflight “Safari” Official Images Reveal Bold Print Ahead of Holiday Release

nike-hyperflight

The Nike Zoom Hyperflight is getting a bold new look, with the “Safari” colorway coming soon. We have official photos of the unique design for a closer look. The sneaker sports bright orange accents and a translucent outsold, and is expected to arrive during the holiday season at a retail price of $190.

The new version is inspired by the Safari print that is familiar from the Air Safari. That pattern covers most of the Hyperflight’s soft, molded upper, giving the basketball shoe a unique look compared with some of the model’s other recent colorways. Together, the unusual texture and pattern make the silhouette feel especially suited to the adventurous design.

The primary contrast across the shoe is orange, used in the trim and other details. The bright color pops against the speckled base without being overwhelming. Black is also present in the design, on the glossy support structure around the midfoot and the soft leather collar. The look is topped off with a see-through outsole that adds another visual element to the overall color scheme.

The sneaker will drop with style code IZ2573-010 and is expected in men’s sizing. With a retail price tag of $190, Nike, Foot Locker, and Sheikh are among the expected retailers. As for when you can expect it, it’s likely to be the holiday season, though we don’t have a solid release date.

The “Safari” colorway comes amid a busy period for the Zoom Hyperflight. This year, Nike has revived the model in several colors, bringing a new wave of attention to the silhouette through a series of releases. Another forthcoming option is the vibrant “Green Apple” pair, also scheduled for a holiday season release.

Advertisement

The Hyperflight’s history also provides context for the latest return. Jason Williams wore the model in the early 2000s, linking it to a memorable era for the sneaker. That association also helps explain why new colorways can generate excitement beyond the shoe’s look, especially for those who remember it from its previous run.

The Safari design is a definitive statement that does not change the characteristic shape of the Hyperflight. Instead, it uses the familiar silhouette as a canvas for a pattern that has already become recognizable through another Nike model. The orange accents provide a bright contrast, while the black midfoot structure and collar balance it out.

Now that official images have surfaced, sneaker fans have a clearer idea of what to expect from the holiday release. The $190 price, style code, and expected retail partners have also been identified, but a specific launch date has not been confirmed.

For Nike, the “Safari” is another way to bring attention back to the Zoom Hyperflight. One of its more distinctive new looks is this returning model, featuring speckled print, orange trim, black support details, and an icy-looking translucent outsole.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Lil Yachty Previews Another Nike Air Force 1 Mid, This Time With Blue and Orange Stitching

lil-yachty

Lil Yachty has added another eye-catching design to his ever-growing collection of Nike US Force 1 Mids, this time going for a cleaner white look accented by blue and orange stitching. The rapper’s latest take on the shoe keeps the familiar silhouette. Still, it uses contrasting details to give the shoe its own identity, something the artist is known for, showing off a steady run of variations on the silhouette.

 

Dubbed the “White Contrast Stitch,” the pair features white leather across most of the upper. Rather than altering the classic Air Force 1 Mid profile or incorporating a strange material, the design uses stitching to separate the design visually. Blue stitching embellishes the leather panels, and each side of the shoe’s Swoosh is lined with orange.

 

The combo adds a subtle but noticeable splash of color to the mostly white sneaker. It’s a more muted take than some of the more adventurous pairs Yachty has shown recently, so this version feels like the more no-nonsense option in his growing collection.

Advertisement

 

The new design adds to the long list of Air Force 1 Mid looks associated with the rapper this year. Earlier previews have featured a stars-and-stripes pair, an orange version with black stars, and a yellow colorway tied to ComplexCon. Each has put a different spin on the familiar silhouette, helping make Yachty’s run of designs a continuing talking point among sneaker watchers.

 

Earlier this year, another pair of the shoes, this time with blue and red detailing and thick white stitching, was also teased. That version is expected to launch around the holidays, but the details provided don’t confirm whether it will launch alongside the recently unveiled white one.

 

Advertisement

Some questions remain unanswered about the “White Contrast Stitch” design. Nike has not confirmed any price, style code, or even whether the sneaker will be released to the public. The design has drawn attention through its online appearance and Yachty’s preview, but neither sets a launch date nor guarantees consumers can buy it.

 

That anticipation makes the latest reveal more of a first look than a proper release announcement. The white leather upper and blue-and-orange stitching are on display, but key retail details remain unknown. For now, there is no confirmed timeline for when the pair might hit stores, or if it will be offered beyond the preview.

 

Still, the design adds another variation to a collection that has featured a wide variety of colors and details. The white base makes this one more subtle, while the contrast stitching keeps it from being a straight-up all-white release.

Advertisement

 

Yachty’s latest preview continues his ongoing relationship with the silhouette, with several other Air Force 1 Mid designs already shown this year. It’s not clear if the “White Contrast Stitch” pair will ever make it to the light of day, but it’s definitely added another distinct look to his growing collection.

Continue Reading

Video Of The Week

Trending