Vogue Australia — December 2017

DECEMBER 2017 69

head of the studio and he didn’t like visiting the embroidery, so I worked
closely then with the embroidery houses of Lesage and Montex.”
A close connection with Lagerfeld was forged early on, Viard says.
“Karl is very nice, and if he has a good feeling about you, then it’s easy. In
many ways, Chanel is like a family, but then,” she shrugs, “I don’t know
another way.” She followed Karl to Chloé for his second tenure at the
ready-to-wear house in the early 1990s and remained there as the head of
the studio, simultaneously juggling a career on the side as a costume
designer for film. Most famously, she worked on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s
films Bleu and Blanc (from the Three Colours trilogy) at the behest of Bleu
star Juliette Binoche. “Doing costumes for a film was more difficult than
a collection: models are easier than actresses, fashion is cooler than film,
and Karl is easier than a director,” she says of her former side gig.
As if on queue, the shill ring of the landline sounds and she gestures to
it apologetically. “It’s Karl ... allo,” she answers in a singsong voice. “Oui,
everything is grand, I’m just doing an interview ... No, don’t leave me!”
she pleads with him jokingly, before they hang up. I remark that there’s no
ceremony or formality when he calls. “With Karl nothing is private or
difficult; there is no secretary or anything,” she shrugs. When he arrives
later today, they will review the looks for the spring/summer ’18 collection
on the models. It might be said that they are two halves of one brain:
theshowman couturier and his faithful partner. “The best part of the job
is the fittings. When we see the collection on the models and I am thinking
about how to improve something,” she says of their working dynamic,
“then Karl will give me something that makes it all click into place.” ■

“Doing

costumes for a

film was more

difficult than

a collection:

models are

easier than

actresses,

fashion is

cooler than

film, and Karl

is easier than

a director”

Chanel creative studio

director Virginie Viard.