A Cold Day in Chanel

leena nair
C.E.O Leena Nair and the Wertheimers appear to know what kind of company they want to be, but who will build it for them? Photo: Jason Alden/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Lauren Sherman
November 4, 2024

It’s restructuring season at Chanel, which is still defining its post-Lagerfeld vision some five years after the Kaiser’s passing. C.E.O. Leena Nair’s effort to impose a consistent strategy across the company’s three divisions—fashion, fragrance and beauty, and watches and fine jewelry—is likely to result in a significant upheaval that will see the old guard offboarded in favor of a new generation of leadership. Finding the right new people, though, is never easy. And while everyone in the industry is focused on whomever the mega-luxury house appoints to replace Virginie Viard as creative director, the people chosen for a number of other open roles will also be critical harbingers of Nair’s vision.