CNN —Virginie Viard is exiting Chanel after five years serving as the French luxury house’s artistic director of fashion collections. The designer took on the position following Karl Lagerfeld’s death in 2019 after working alongside him at Chanel for decades. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesChanel said that it wanted to thank Viard “for her remarkable contribution to Chanel’s fashion, creativity and vitality.”Just last month, Chanel’s chief executive Leena Nair told The Business of Fashion that “since Virginie took over from Karl… the Chanel fashion business has multiplied by 2.2. The Chanel ready-to-wear business has been multiplied by 2.5, and the ready-to-wear business last year of Chanel grew by 23%.”The brand’s earnings rose 16 percent to $19.7 billion in 2023. Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard walk the runway during the Chanel show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 2, 2018 in Paris, France.

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Persons: Virginie Viard, Karl Lagerfeld’s, fashion’s, Lagerfeld, Gabrielle “ Coco ” Chanel, Chanel, Viard’s, “, ”, Pascal Le Segretain, Viard “, Leena Nair, Virginie, Karl …, Fendi, Karl Lagerfeld, Gabrielle Chanel, Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli, Alessandro Michele, Gucci, Sarah Burton, Alexander McQueen Organizations: CNN, Chanel, Paris Haute Couture Locations: Chanel, Paris, France, British