Chantal Thomass steps down as creative director of namesake brand

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Dec 18, 2018

Her fetish stylings and iconic fringe are at the core of the Chantal Thomass brand's DNA but the time has come for the label's eponymous designer to hand over the reins to someone else. Thomass, who founded the lingerie label that bears her name in 1975 and has embodied its aesthetic for decades – despite its changes of owner –, announced on 17 December that she is retiring from her role as creative director. 

Since the acquisition of the Chantal Thomass brand by Dim in 1998, and then by the Chantelle group in 2011, the designer has once again been involved in shaping her label's destiny. In the past, she went through more difficult periods, such as when she lost the rights to her own name in the 90s, a situation she described in her 2017 autobiography.

Moving forward, her lingerie brand will continue to operate under a new creative director, while Thomass will go on to pursue a variety of different artistic projects. This is something the designer's been doing for many years, having already dabbled in luxury hospitality, entertainment, design and decoration.  

"Although, since I started out 40 years ago, I've been known above all for lingerie and fashion, in reality, my activities have always been diversified," explained Chantal Thomass when commenting on her decision to step away from her brand. 

"The future of the Chantal Thomass lingerie brand will be in good hands, as its next few collections will still be conceived by the great French fashion house specialised in lingerie that is Chantelle", she concluded. 

So now it's up to the Chantelle group to continue to develop the brand by following the codes laid out by its founder. The label is currently distributed by a Parisian flagship on rue Saint-Honoré, a number of concessions in department stores and a range of multibrand boutiques owned by the Chantelle group, as well as by a large network of retailers both in France and internationally.