NEW DELHI - Luxury fashion house Chanel has chosen Leena Nair, an industry outsider from India and longtime executive at Unilever, to be its new CEO.
Analysts say that her hiring signals that the brand is accounting for changing consumer awareness of the industry's environmental impact and the importance of diverse hires.
Nair was appointed Global Chief Executive Officer of CHANEL, an iconic and admired company, on Twitter. The news made a huge splash on Wednesday in India, Nair's birthplace, where she received scores of congratulations and compliments on her announcement, one calling her a serial glass-ceiling breaker. The appointment is full of historic firsts, said Abhay Gupta, CEO and founder of Luxury Connect in India.
I am elated. This is the first time an Indian has been chosen to lead a global luxury brand, that is an Indian woman, and it's the first time a fashion industry outsider has been picked, he said.
People of Indian origin are at the helm of a number of global tech, finance, and other companies, but the same can't be said for luxury brands. Gupta, who also runs a school for luxury management, said his students would be inspired by the news.
It is very encouraging and motivating, especially since we haven't seen this before. He said that he expects that she will bring fresh perspective, because it is a sign that things are changing.
While Nair, 52, is not a part of the Paris fashion scene, Chanel has a wide range of products in addition to its high fashion designs, including eyeglasses, watches and makeup.
Nair is a billionaire co-owner and chairman of the privately held Chanel, Alain Wertheimer, as CEO. A grandson of the Chanel co-founder Pierre Wertheimer, he remains the global executive chairman of the fashion house.
In a press announcement, Chanel said Nair's hiring would ensure long-term success as a private company. Nair is due to step into her new role in January and she will be based in London.
British consumer goods giant Unilever describes Nair as its first woman, first Asian and youngest chief human resources officer. She joined Unilever in India in 1992 and moved up the ranks, spending time at the company's factories early on.
Nair's appointment is a welcome change from the formulaic model of executives that tend to run major luxury brands, said Imran Amed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion, an influential industry news website.
While it is not uncommon for fashion brands to tap people from consumer goods companies for senior positions, they usually come from marketing departments because of their expertise in managing brands, a luxury fashion company's most important asset.
Amed said that Chanel's decision to hire Nair, with her lengthy background in human resources, underscores the company's efforts to adapt to evolving consumer and workplace attitudes toward sustainability and diversity.
Amed said that Nair has been focused on these kinds of topics during her time at Unilever. I think that is a really important challenge for Chanel as it seeks to modernize its corporate culture. It's a milestone for women because so few of them head up big luxury brands, Amed said.
In her social media posts, Nair described India-born former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi as a friend and mentor. Nair was recently awarded the Great British Businesswoman Role Model of the Year award.
She is not the first woman to be CEO of Chanel. French Maureen Chiquet and American Maureen Chiquet held the role earlier in the day. A woman, the late Gabrielle Coco Chanel, was the co-founder of Maison de Chanel.