Leena Nair: Focused on Bringing Chanel into the 21st Century

On a crisp November day in oxfordshire, leena nair, the statuesque 54-wouldra-ce ce uber of the uber luxury fashion brand chanel, sat inconspicuously in the second to bof voices, a present-bof voice Conference Organized by Business of Fashion, The Fashion Focused Digital Media Company. Wearing a Gold Buttoned Red Chanel Jacket, with Leather Pants and Short Black Boots, Nair Was Speaking at the Conference, Her First Such Such Public Engagement After Assuming The Top Job at Chanel, The French Luxury fashion house, in January 2022. Fashion industry as well.

Chanel Ceo Leena Nair

Indian-Origin Ceos Have Broken Glass Ceilings in Tech, Finance, and Consumer Goods, but the Global Luxury Fashion Sector is Stubbornly White and Male. Nair is the first Indian, First Non-WHITE and Only the second woman to assume the ceo role in chanel’s 114-yar-history. It is now the only Major Fashion Company with Both a Female Ceo and A Female Creative Director (Virginie Viarrard).

“Gobsmacked,” is how nair described her initial reaction when she got the call from chanel. “I Hadn’T Seen It Coming,” She Told Imran Amed, Bof’s Founder, Who Interviewed Her at the Conference. “To be honest, I was in tears if I love unilever so much. I was like, ‘No, i’m not going to leave unilever.’ And, you know, my husband said, ‘honey, you’re not getting a divorce.

Chanel, which is owned by the weartheimer family, is one of the last private help luxury fashion companies, with annual reviews of more than more than $ 17 billing, from the salary of clothing, leather villages, beauty, Skincare, perfumes and cosmetics, jewelery, watches and eyewear, Sold Across ITS 310 Boutiques (The Brand’s Iconic Maxi 2.55 Handbag, For Instruction, Retails FOR $ 11,500 While a classic tweed Jacket starts at $ 6,000). Its charitable outlay is about $ 100 Million annually. In a freeheling and candid chat with amen, nair said she deceded to take the plunge to join chanel trust of fashion’s enormous impact and influence, influence, and trust Globally. She received 7,000 emails and letters from women’s Around the World When Her Chanel Job Was Announced.

“Leena Nair’s Appointment as Global Ceo of Chanel was a WaterShed Moment in Fashion. Whereas most luxury megabrands hunt for execuvenes from within the industry, chanel made the decision to hire SomeOone Whiche Fashion Industry Experience – Someone Who Came Through the HR Function and Someone Who is a Woman and South Asian. All of these make leane a unique leader. Clear Communicator Who has been listening, learning and crafting a vision and strategy for chanel. Might even say secretive – OrganizationImran AmedFounder and Ceo, Business of Fashion

Meeting Challenges Head on

Nair has spent the past year and a half on touring and Visiting 100 Chanel Retail Outlets, Factories and Offices, from Panama to Pacific Palisades (in Los Angeles), Interacating with Peeple on the Shop Floor, Taking Executives to Meet Innovators at Google and Disney, and Pushing Fondation Chanel, The Company’s Charitable Arm. She has spokeen of supported men who indra nooyi and nigel highgins of barclays; Her Deep Experience in HR Has Made Her Hone in on the Importance of Human Capital.

She has taken a cautious approach to the pressure, giving very few interviews. INTEAD, She has focused on how to brings chanel, which has a reputation for being conservative and somewhat store-it doeson’T have an e-commerce presence except in beaury-into the 21st cento. Nair’s AIM, She Said at Voices, is to concentrate on innovation, by investment in 30 Startups tied to Accademic Institutions, and in Pushing Sustainability and Philanthropy.

Leena Nair and Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Fashion at Chanel, with King Charles III during a visit to the 19M campus in paris. , Photo Credit: Getty Images

These days nair finds herself Hobnobbing with King Charles and Queen Camilla, French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, A World Away from the Industry In Ins White Her TieThe: Mass, fast moving consumer Goods. Not one to shy away from a challenge – She describes herself as having decompled many ‘firsts’; She was educated in kolhapur’s first school for girls and hers the first batch to graduate. She was constantly told ‘girls can’t do this “, She said at voices.” After a point, I had to stop listening. I Remember My Mother Saying, ‘Oh, My God, You’re So Ambitious. Who’s Going to Marry You? ‘ This is such a problem. And, you know, the sort of comments I would get is ‘you’re so talented, you should have ben a boy.’

Queen Camilla and French President’s Wife Brigitte Macron with Leena Nair at Chanel’s 19MS 19M Campus. , Photo Credit: Getty Images

She Did, In Fact, Get Married, Through an Arred Marriage, to Kumar Nair, A Financial Services Entrepreneur. The couple have two sons and live in wimbledon. During the Pandemic, Nair Lost Her Mother to Covid; Her Father, who has dementia, lives with the couple.

‘I have the princess of running a business’

Despite the Barbs Growing Up, Nair Studied Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering at Walchand College of Engineering in Sangli, Maharashtra, and Received An Mba from Xlri, JAMSHEDPUR, JAMSHEDPUR, JAMSHEDPUR, JAMSHEDPUR, JAMSHEDPUR, JAMSHEDPUR, Gold Medal. She Joined Hindustan Unilever as an intern and in 1992, as a management traine. Nair Says She was often the only woman on the factory floor of hul’s Industrial Estates Around the Country. “Every morning, as the buses came in with the works, there would be a pause at the gates of our factory so everybody could look out, peep at me and then go through I was succuuse,” She was founded in putting in bathrooms for women on the factory floors – jokingly referred to as ‘Leena’s Loos’ – And Quickly Rose Through the ranks.

Although trained as an engineer, nair worked in human Resources, Not the Sexiest Division in Any Organization, Yet She Managed to Shine, Using Her Analytical Skills to Approach Thorny Personnel ISSUs. Under Her Tenure Unilever Went from 38% REPRESENTION OCE WOMEN In Managerial Roles to 50%.

Leena Nair and Bruno Pavlovsky Arrive at a State Banquet at the Palace of Versailles. , Photo Credit: Getty Images

Anil Chopra, The Former Head of Lakmé, which hul acqured in 1998, worked closely with nair for over a decade. He recalls meeting her initially when she was a junior manager helping oversee “She was open, undertanding and very frank to say ‘I don’t know too many things and i have to learn,” Chopra says. He also notes that nair had an innate curiosity and was altar to soak in different aspects of the business rapidly. He Remembers That She was made a mentor to her own boss, who had a prickly management style. Pradeep Bnerjee, Who Headed Supply Chains at Hul and Also Worked Closely With Nair, Describes Her as Someone “Driven by Unwaveering Passion” – Especially Around Inclusion.

These days, nair is in head-to-to-to-to-chanel, but when lakmé fashion week first started, she used to joke with chopra that she would be attend but deedn Bollywood how to dress! She would be at every fashion show and i could see that Slowly her dress sense at work underwent a change. churidar kurtaIt then Moved to Trendier, Up to Date Indian Fashion. “

As for being Viewed as the ultimate outsider in a notoriously insular industry, nair has a befitting reply. She Told Amed: “To be honest, I know global sales, scale, size, and how to manage 150,000 people. I have the princess of running a business, the principles of brings of brings, of being a lefter who can Followership that is transferal across industrys. ” Perhaps the adept, subtle sum steel nair is preachisely what a 21st century fashion brand needs.

The writer is a Mumbai-based journalist and author.