Chanel reshuffles leadership as fashion chief Bruno Pavlovsky leaves the board
The 63-year-old remains president of fashion but gives up his board seat. Chanel says this completes the shift to a board of independent directors.
Archive image · Photo: ashton / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel's longtime head of fashion, has left the board of Chanel Limited. According to a UK filing, the 63-year-old stepped down on 8 October; the move became public on 15 October through reports by WWD and Bloomberg. He keeps his operating roles as president of the fashion division and of Chanel SAS. Chanel said the change completes the board's transition to independent directors, with management still represented by the executive chairman and the global CEO.
Pavlovsky worked with Karl Lagerfeld until the designer's death in 2019 and was key to appointing Matthieu Blazy as creative director in 2024. He has also been president of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode since 2022. Recent non-executive appointments to the board include Simone Bagel-Trah and Teresa Ko.
There is also change in finance: CFO Philippe Blondiaux will retire at the end of the year after more than 15 years, to be replaced by Hélène de Tissot, formerly the top financial executive at Pernod Ricard. Chanel, owned by brothers Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, returned to growth in 2025 on demand in Europe and the Americas, lifting revenue by 3 percent to $19.3 billion.