You’d think the person running the world’s most famous fashion house would have spent their life breathing silk and perfume. Not Leena Nair. Honestly, she didn't even grow up flipping through Vogue. She spent thirty years at Unilever, a place known for soap and soup, not $10,000 handbags. When she was appointed as the global CEO of Chanel in late 2021, the fashion world basically gasped. An outsider? From HR? It felt like a glitch in the simulation.
But if you look closer, it makes total sense.
Chanel is a beast of a company. It's private, fiercely independent, and worth billions. They didn't need another creative director to tell them where to put a zipper; they needed a "human-centric" leader who knew how to scale a global culture without losing its soul. By the time 2026 rolled around, Nair had already started flipping the script on what luxury leadership looks like.
The "Human" Strategy at Chanel
People often mistake her kindness for softness. That’s a mistake. You don't become the first female, first Asian, and youngest-ever CHRO at Unilever by being a pushover. Nair’s whole vibe is "lift as you climb." It's a mantra she’s carried from the factory floors of India to the Rue Cambon in Paris.
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At Chanel, she’s been obsessed with "collective intelligence." She doesn't just want to hear from the loudest person in the room. She actually visits the shops and the factories—over 100 retail locations and dozens of manufacturing sites in her first year alone—to talk to the people making the clothes.
Why the HR Background Matters
Most CEOs come from finance or marketing. They look at spreadsheets first. Nair looks at people. Why? Because in luxury, the "product" is actually the craftsmanship and the service. If the people are unhappy, the brand dies. It's that simple.
- Gender Balance: She didn't just talk about it; she moved the needle. Under her watch, women now hold about 60% of management positions at Chanel.
- Fondation Chanel: She cranked up the funding for the company’s charitable arm from $20 million to $100 million annually. That’s a massive jump.
- The "Seek to Understand" Phase: She spent months just listening. No big pivots. No ego-driven rebrands. Just learning the savoir-faire.
Facing the 2024–2025 Headwinds
It hasn't been all champagne and runways, though. The luxury market hit a massive speed bump recently. In May 2025, Chanel reported that revenues for the 2024 fiscal year dropped about 4.3% to $18.7 billion. Profits took a bigger hit—down 30%.
The world was cooling on high-end spending.
Mainland China, usually a gold mine for Chanel, saw a sharp slowdown. Plus, the brand had been hiking prices so much (the Classic Flap bag crossed the $10,000 mark) that even some "aspirational" shoppers started saying, "Yeah, maybe not today."
But here’s where Nair’s leadership style gets interesting. Instead of panic-firing people or slashing budgets to save the quarterly numbers, she doubled down. Chanel is a 100-year-old brand. They think in decades, not months. While other brands were retreating, Chanel pumped $1.8 billion into capital expenditure in 2024—a 43% increase. They bought prime real estate on Fifth Avenue and opened nearly 50 new stores.
The Big Creative Shift: Matthieu Blazy
One of the biggest questions hanging over her tenure was: Who will lead the fashion side? For a while, the creative seat felt a bit "in-between" after Virginie Viard left.
Then came the announcement that Matthieu Blazy (formerly of Bottega Veneta) would take over as Artistic Director of Fashion Activities starting in 2025. This was a "Nair-era" move. Blazy is known for quiet luxury, incredible craftsmanship, and a lack of ego. It aligns perfectly with Nair’s focus on the "freedom of human creation" and moving away from the "superhero leader" trope.
What Most People Miss About Her
The biggest misconception is that she’s "just a manager."
In reality, she’s a radical.
She’s steering a massive, traditional French house through a digital and environmental revolution. She launched N°1 de Chanel, a beauty line focused heavily on sustainability. She’s also navigating the AI explosion. While everyone else is trying to automate everything, she’s been vocal about keeping AI away from the "creative heart" of the brand. She believes luxury is about human relationships and the "touch" of a seamstress.
Recent Accolades and Impact
- CBE Honor: In 2025, Prince William awarded her the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to retail.
- Expansion into India: Being of Indian origin, she’s finally bringing Chanel "home" in a big way. The brand opened its first dedicated beauty boutique in Mumbai and is scouting for more high-end fashion locations in the country.
Actionable Insights from Nair’s Playbook
If you're looking to apply her "outsider" logic to your own career or business, here are three things she does differently:
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- The "2 Men, 2 Women" Rule: When hiring for a role, she often insists on interviewing an equal number of men and women. It’s a deliberate way to break the "boys' club" cycle without sacrificing talent.
- Psychological Safety: She talks a lot about "bringing people to the party and then asking them to dance." It’s not enough to have a diverse team; you have to make them feel safe enough to challenge you.
- Long-Term Aggression: When the market goes down, invest in yourself. Nair’s decision to spend record amounts on real estate and training during a profit dip is a classic example of "playing the long game."
Leena Nair’s story isn't just about fashion. It's about a girl from Kolhapur, India, who rode her bike barefoot to school and ended up running one of the most exclusive clubs on the planet. She’s proving that you don't need a background in haute couture to understand what women want. You just need to listen to them.
The next few years will be the real test. With Blazy’s first collections hitting the runway and the luxury market slowly stabilizing, all eyes are on whether her "compassionate leadership" can actually keep the brand at the top. So far, the bet seems to be paying off. She's not just running Chanel; she's humanizing it.