A wild theory about Chanel.
May I present my thesis.
A few months ago I drafted a video on my Instagram called “Why Jacquemus should take over at Chanel (but won’t)”.
I never posted it because it seemed a bit baseless and premature. At the time I thought the writing seemed to be on the wall for then-creative director of Chanel, Virginie Viard - but then that hunch turned out to be correct.
Now, with the designer officially out at the house, all bets are on for who will take over.
My wildcard is French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus.
I wonder sometimes if his eponymous brand, its utterly flawless execution, is like an ongoing audition. Not that he is trying to replicate what Karl Lagerfeld did in his heyday, or is even interested in that. What Jacquemus does is entirely different and singular.
But more so in that he has created a French luxury brand from scratch - and that’s worth taking note of.
It offers inimitably French, boldly feminine and playful clothes beloved by cool girls and fashion forward society women alike, which is a line Chanel used to… well I was going to say “straddle”, but that just feels like a weird word to use with Chanel. Let’s say it’s a line it used to toe. In a patent ballet flat.
A chance to buy into that covetable Parisian chic, whether through a tiny handbag with an iconic logo or a seriously exy if-you-know-you-know statement jacket.
But since Chanel has fallen out of favour with its - I’m just going to call it - stagnant designs, there’s a gap for another brand to step in and take over that market, to bring French luxury to the masses and become a household name.
The key difference here, and what Viard seemed to lack the vision for in her tenure, is creating an aura of accessibility. Sure, Chanel might want to remain on a pedestal that’s untouchable for most, but it’s important that the brand still feels relevant and like it’s part of setting the agenda, in the way that say Miuccia Prada has managed to do with Miu Miu.
It’s not just a certain je ne sais quoi that has made Jacquemus a viable contender here. It’s a very deliberate marketing strategy. A few years ago the label got its first taste of viral success with the teeny tiny micro bag famously featured in a video by Lizzo and then every fashionable celebrity afterwards.
The bags got bigger and more practical but no less buzzy, and now sit in a sweet spot where they have high end appeal with a price tag many can actually afford. Rather than the steadily climbing prices of the cult Chanel 2.55 which now starts at $8.5k, you can get a Jacquemus bag for $1000 bucks.
Doubling down on the bag as icon, the brand has opened stores in the shape of its bestselling style, and then there was that viral moment of the car-sized handbags driving down the streets of London. You’ve gotta hand it to the PR team, they’re outdoing themselves here.
Celebrities like the Jenner sisters, Gigi Hadid and Em Rata are brand advocates and walk in the shows, which are staged in increasingly grandiose settings like the gardens of Versailles and sun-drenched rooftops in Capri… it’s beginning to look a lot like Lagerfeld, eh? Plus the designer Simon Porte Jacquemus himself is beloved with the in crowd. He also scored a huge coup designing one of Zendaya’s custom looks for her Challengers press tour.
A smart move for Chanel would be hiring Simon to bring some of this cachet over to the heritage label - some fresh, young blood to help restore and re-energise the storied house.
But then with what he’s building independently, why give all that up?
Simon has said that five years ago, Anna Wintour asked him if he wanted to work for a “big house”, to which he replied: “I have a big house. It’s called Jacquemus.”
Could I be onto something here? Watch this space…