I am a fan of Virginie Viard’s feminine and wearable designs for Chanel — especially her shoes — and am sad to see her go. Pierpaolo Piccioli, recently of Valentino, gets my vote to replace Ms. Viard. After VV, PP to CC, please.
:Featured in:
After 20 years casting models for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and fashion shows, I wanted to spend more time with my daughters. KiC is my way to share my thoughts on fashion and style. I believe style should permeate every aspect of our lives — from home, to family, to where we go, and naturally, what we wear — especially when we're just running around.
— Preston Davis
Agreed! I love her style. She was a Karl disciple and stayed true to his vision. She will be missed.
At first, I loved Ms. Viard’s work. With the exception of her shoe collection, I haven’t seen anything in ready-to-wear that has interested me for years. Her strength seemed to be couture and shoes. I’m sorry she couldn’t interpret some of the couture silhouettes and classics for the ready-to-wear customer.
Paula, I agree. Hedi Slimane would do both must-have RTW and accessories, but I’m sure the Wertheimer family wants a designer who lives in Paris and would sign on for a long tenure.
I loved seeing a woman leading Chanel and I really wanted to like VV’s designs but somehow most of her work just did not excite me. While very wearable, it often came across as dowdy and sexless.
I too would love to see PP there, although it would be another white male at the head of a house. Sarah Burton is a contender too.
I am really going to miss all the beautiful shoes.
I’d enjoying seeing Hedi Slimane’s take on Chanel! We put on Pharrell’s Happy for an impromptu dance today. When we saw that the song had 1.2 billion views on YouTube, I thought, this kind of work is why Pharrell became a LV creative director. He did a great job of writing a genuinely happy song in a world that sometimes thinks just being happy is unsophisticated. He knows how to create a cultural moment. Without meaning at all to comment on any individual, we seem low on voices that create clear cultural moments for clothing. There is a lot of mirroring, in fashion, and somehow less vision is getting through the design houses and editorials. Sometimes I wonder if we know, as design creators and consumers, what we believe in. Can we offer a working definition of beauty? Do we want beauty—or do we suspect that it is unsophisticated? So each season, we increasingly select our own visions out of the fashion offerings, which isn’t all bad. I think this is part of Keep It Chic’s appeal: Preston has a clear perspective. She isn’t afraid of embracing what is beautiful and proportional and timeless.
I’m intrigued with RM’s comments and think a discussion on this should continue in a podcast conversation between RM and Preston. What about that?
To Paula’s comment re: podcast – I have thought several times this past year that it would be interesting to meet/gather with the followers of KIC. As a long-time reader, I feel a familiarity with both Preston and many regular commenters and enjoy ensuing conversations on many aspects of style, fashion, design, etc.. A weekend in-person ‘conference’ has been one recent dream. But, I wonder if a moderated Zoom could be a possibility. However, I respect Preston’s creative vision for KIC and always look forward to what she creates for us!
This is lovely of you, Paula. Preston knows the fashion world inside and out. I was simply thinking aloud, or even speculating aloud, in the comment above. I really can’t offer the familiarity with fashion that Preston and her colleagues offer. 🙂
Hello! I know I’ve been posting less frequently — didn’t help that my hosting server was down yesterday — I am now on two committees that will require less of my time by the end of June. We are not going back to Paris until after the Olympics, so that gives me some breathing room, too. Hope everyone is well!
Warmly,
No worries, Preston! While you were away, some of us have been coming up with new project ideas for you in your ‘free time!’ 🙂
I see that!
You and I, Preston, belong to a different species. These days big global brands don`t want talented creative directors/fashion designers who can envision beautiful clothes and accessoires that women actually want- and love- to wear, but they want to create endless media coverage. See Michele`s move to Valentino.
So let us champion brilliant female designers, like Toteme`s Elin Kling, Rohé, Khaite…they`re out there and designing beautiful clothes and accessoires.