Coco Chanel was an ambitious woman, but even she could not have imagined the scale on which the house she founded now operates. This time last year, four blocks of Manchester’s Northern Quarter became a Chanel catwalk. For its final show of 2024, Chanel built a black wooden catwalk spanning the West Lake in Hangzhou, China, to parade this season’s tweed suits with the kiss-curl roof of a pagoda sitting atop a crescent moon bridge over glassy water as a dramatic backdrop.
The 6,000-mile journey from Manchester to Hangzhou reflects the global expansion of Chanel, the second-largest luxury brand in the world. With global revenue reaching $19.7bn in 2023, a rise of 16% on the previous year, Chanel is closing the gap on leaders Louis Vuitton.
