Chloé appointed Valérie Leberichel as Chief Marketing Officer, effective immediately, filling a role vacant since the maison's autumn 2024 reorganization under Richemont ownership. The Paris-based house confirmed the hire through internal communications Monday, positioning Leberichel to lead brand strategy ahead of Resort 2026 campaign activations scheduled for Q2 2025.
Leberichel joins from roles spanning DTC transformation and brand positioning within European luxury goods, though Chloé declined to specify her most recent employer. The appointment lands as Creative Director Chemena Kamali completes her first twelve months at the house—Kamali's December 2023 hire marked Chloé's pivot from Gabriela Hearst's sustainability-forward tenure toward renewed emphasis on the brand's 1970s bohemian codes. Kamali's Spring 2025 collection, shown September 2024, delivered 18% higher wholesale bookings than the prior year's equivalent season, per industry order-tracking data reviewed by Voyage Edge. The CMO role now carries execution weight for translating that momentum into consumer-facing campaigns.
The timing reflects structural pressure across Richemont's soft luxury division. Chloé, acquired by Richemont in 1985 and operating within the group's Fashion & Accessories vertical, reported flat year-over-year revenue in the six months ending September 2024—this while peer brands Alaïa and AZ Factory (now dormant) saw double-digit growth under similar ownership. Richemont Chairman Johann Rupert noted during the group's November earnings call that "brand-building investment" would increase across fashion holdings through fiscal 2025, without naming specific houses. Leberichel's mandate appears to center on converting Kamali's design reset into quantifiable brand heat, particularly in North American and Asian markets where Chloé's handbag category has ceded share to Loewe and Bottega Veneta since 2022.
Operators should track three near-term indicators. First, whether Leberichel consolidates Chloé's fragmented agency roster—the brand currently splits creative between Paris and New York shops, a structure dating to pre-Kamali leadership. Second, the scale of Chloé's Resort 2026 campaign budget relative to Spring 2025's spend, expected to surface through media-buying patterns by March. Third, any acceleration in Chloé's retail expansion: the house operates 78 directly owned boutiques globally, a modest footprint compared to LVMH or Kering stablemates, and new-store announcements typically follow CMO appointments by six to nine months. Richemont's next earnings release, scheduled for mid-May 2025, will clarify whether increased marketing investment translates to measurable sell-through.
Leberichel's first campaign deliverable, Chloé's Resort 2026 visual identity, enters production within eight weeks of her start date.