Chanel Won't Cut Number Of Collections

Chanel will resume its usual schedule of collections and runway shows, once the Covid-19 pandemic is over.

Although Gucci's Alessandro Michele recently revealed that the Italian brand will reduce its shows to just twice a year and urged other labels to follow suit, French fashion house Chanel plans to return to its usual calendar of events, starting with the cruise collection, which will drop in stores on November 15.

Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS, told WWD: ''We want to reintroduce the spring collections that we didn't have time to sell in season. The cruise collection will allow us to re-energise those pieces.

''This cruise collection has been a way to get everyone back into the life of the company and we will continue with couture. I was with Virginie [Chanel's designer Virginie Viard] when she brought the first 25 sketches to the heads of the couture workshops, and I can tell you, everyone was smiling from ear to ear. Life goes on.''

Speaking about Chanel's decision not to cut back on the number of collections, Bruno explained: ''We prefer to have six more focused collections rather than two endless collections. We chose this rhythm and we like it and we believe it's what our customers want to see in our stores. So we are sticking to this schedule, and in parallel, the fashion show remains the best way to express the brand's creativity and know-how.''

However, he revealed that the lavish fashion week shows at the Grand Palais in Paris that late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld was famous for, may give way presentations on a smaller scale.

He said: ''We are entering into a slightly different period, probably more intimate.

''It will necessarily be on a smaller scale. It was great with Karl - it was an extraordinary period, but now it no longer makes sense. But I do want to go back to fashion shows. It's such fun. At the end of the day, fashion is about fun, the models, the fittings, all of that will be back as soon as they can travel again.''