The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Bruno Pavlovsky: "Hollywood is part of Chanel's history"

2023-05-11T12:56:40.924Z

Highlights: Bruno Pavlovsky is the president of Chanel's fashion activities. He explains the reasons for this Cruise show in Los Angeles, the stakes of the new store on Rodeo Drive, the historical relationship with the actresses. The Met in New York opened its exhibition devoted to the work of Karl Lagerfeld a week before this parade wanted by Virginie Viard. The last time you walked here was in 2007 with a landmark Lagerfield show as models were coming out of private jets in a Santa Monica warehouse.


INTERVIEW - The reasons for this Cruise show in Los Angeles, the stakes of the new store on Rodeo Drive, the historical relationship with the actresses... Meeting with the president of Chanel's fashion activities.


THEFIGARO. - A week before this parade wanted by Virginie Viard in Los Angeles, the Met in New York opened its exhibition devoted to the work of Karl Lagerfeld. Is it in a symbolic way, a handover and validation of the direction that the house has taken?

Bruno Pavlovsky. - This magnificent exhibition in New York is indeed as if we were gently pushing the door on the Karl period four years after his death and allowing Virginie to be completely free. We were strongly encouraged to organize this cruise show in New York but for us it was essential to go somewhere else, where Virginie is herself with the people she loves, in this case in Los Angeles whose energy feeds her as she feeds the brand as a whole. It is certainly a city of paradox, with the best and unfortunately the worst, but it is one of the few places like Paris and Seoul that embody contemporary creation.

Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel's fashion activities. Chanel

And then, you have a historical connection with Hollywood.

Indeed, Hollywood is part of Chanel's history. Coco came there in 1931 at the request of Samuel Goldwyn to make costumes for United Artists films. This also echoes with Virginie who herself began her career as a film costume designer (with, among others, in 1993-1994, Three Colors: Blue and White by Kieslowski, Editor's note). More than ever, Chanel cultivates strong relationships with cinema, through many cultural events and of course, the actresses with whom we collaborate, from Margot Robbie to Marion Cotillard and Kristen Stewart. Virginie, who loves nothing so much as dressing women and those in particular, wanted to come to their territory in some way.

The last time you walked here was in 2007 with a landmark Karl Lagerfeld show as models were coming out of private jets in a Santa Monica warehouse. What has changed since then?

I remember very well that moment and the plane arriving in the hangar in a noise of hell (laughs)... I was reminded that 2007 was the creation of the iPhone. So yes, our lives have changed profoundly since that year through access to information in the broadest sense, in particular. In our case, it's more deeply the way we think Chanel and this change of approach has accelerated with Covid. For example, with regard to fashion shows abroad, in the past, we arrived with our codes that were quite rigid. Today, we are a global brand and it is up to us to create the connection with the place and the people where we present our collections. I think a brand like ours has to travel to feed itself. We are a deeply French brand, but we need to capture the energy of the different places where our customers and teams are.

Virginie Viard comes to greet at the end of the parade on the catwalk designed as a basketball court with its BOBY scoreboard

You have also just opened your largest store on Rodeo Drive in the United States. What are the first returns?

We opened the first 2 days with the spring-summer collection that was already sold in the temporary shop. However, we achieved 48% of the turnover in ready-to-wear, which is extraordinary.

You are of all the luxury brands the one that sells the most ready-to-wear, the others making the vast majority of their turnover on accessories.

Absolutely, what distinguishes us is our ability to sell ready-to-wear, to preserve this identity between creation and luxury. We have always been very careful not to become an accessories brand. With us, bags like shoes play their role which is to complete the silhouette. Given our long history since Coco Chanel, our ready-to-wear is what best embodies the brand, which creates the strongest and long-term relationship with customers. This fashion power, which can be seen in the numbers, started with Karl but has accelerated incredibly in recent seasons with Virginie.

Supermodel Vittoria Ceretti Chanel

Chanel is ten collections a year. Why so much?

This is a question we are often asked. When we look at our businesses from afar, it is difficult to understand why we need so many collections, but it is obvious when we are interested in it from the point of view of our stores that need to renew themselves to meet the expectations of our customers. You should know that a fashion show is about 70 looks, which is about double the number of different products. Knowing that the more "strong" a piece is, the less it is produced in quantity to preserve a form of exclusivity that our customers logically demand. Moreover, currently in our stores, we already have many spring-summer products out of stock.

It is much more complex to sell ready-to-wear than bags. What's your secret?

Everything lies in our relationships with customers, in the in-store experience of course but also through the services we can offer them such as alterations for example. Or the question of dry-cleaning: given the sophistication of our products and the fact that they are designed to be really worn and not enthroned in a dressing room, there are few maintenance and cleaning services in the world, able to take care of them properly, so that some of our customers brought their pieces back to Paris to entrust them to specialized dry cleaners. In addition, conventional techniques are often very polluting. That's why we have developed a chemical-free dry cleaner, based on sophisticated American technology. Everyone can bring their Chanel pieces but also other labels to La Sirène Paris - Pressing eco-responsible luxury, which we opened rue Duphot. And it's true that this technology brings clothes back to life in an incredible way.

The finale of the cruise show with in the background, the giant screen where images of Los Angeles Chanel are broadcast

To return to leather goods, many models are out of stock.

Indeed, today, the demand for Chanel bags is much stronger than what we are able to offer our customers and our boutiques. The reason is that our products are complex to manufacture and require quality raw materials that are scarce. However, there is no question of degrading our quality. We manage moderate growth because more important than growth is still and always our customer experience. That's why we don't sell online. When a customer has one or two hours to devote to us once or twice a year, this moment usually takes place in the shop but we optimize this appointment thanks to digital tools with her, upstream in particular so that we have available the desired pieces in the right size etc. In recent weeks, I have traveled to Hong Kong, I was in China, Korea, and you can see that the customer experience is not the same, depending on the cultures, climate, habits, etc. We cannot rationalize, we must offer a tailor-made service.

The famous think globally, act locally... What are Californians looking for at Chanel today?

Unlike the France, the Asian clientele has not yet returned, especially the Japanese from Hawaii. So the customers are local, they particularly like everything that is collector's item, so the more sophisticated pieces, and rather colorful pieces, which correspond well to the Californian aesthetic. They constantly demand novelty, which confirms that we need our 10 collections more than ever.

Look of the 2023-2024 Chanel cruise show

Why like many of your competitors, don't you launch a lifestyle or design line?

We were asked here the question with the opening of the shop. It is true that the decoration and furnishing work done by Peter Marino is fabulous. He has this unique talent to highlight the identity of the brand and the collections of Virginie, to find the right objects, the right furniture, but also to find works, or to make artists work. As is the case with Jean-Michel Othoniel who created for the entrance of the shop an incredible pearl sculpture. But to answer your question, our business is fashion. And I don't think anyone wants to eat from a Chanel plate... If?

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-05-11

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.