At the Chanel boutique on Toronto's tony
Bloor Street West, the couches are covered in café-au-lait ultra-suede,
refreshments are served on an elegant silver trolley, and on a large-screen
television the world's top models strut down a Paris catwalk in the season's
latest offerings from the fabled couturier.
In this rarefied atmosphere, clothing is "an
investment" and any reference to how much a garment costs is considered
déclassé.
And there is no such thing as a salesgirl.
Rather, the women dressed in identical charcoal
Chanel pantsuits and pale-pink knit T-shirts are "merchants of
happiness" in Chanel corporate-speak. They are quietly elegant
vendeuses, who show their clients to dressing rooms and conduct discreet
financial transactions behind closed mirrored doors. And, while selling you
an $8,000 bouclé suit, they can also recommend the city's best restaurants
and chat knowledgeably about the opera and fine art.
"You have to be really well-rounded to work
for Chanel," says Anny Kazanjian, executive director of public
relations and fashion promotion at Chanel's Canadian head office in
Montreal. "There is a certain image of a Chanel girl, but there is no
cookie-cutter look."
Naruemol Panthong is a case in point. The 33-year-old jewellery
designer from Thailand is the latest addition to the Toronto boutique. An
accomplished pianist and equestrienne who has studied fashion design in
Paris and lived in Tokyo and New York, Ms. Panthong is the kind of sales
associate that Chanel is famous for recruiting.
"I have to say that I have always been
inspired by the image of Coco Chanel," says Ms. Panthong, referring to
the company's founder and one of France's most renowned fashion icons.
"She had her own style and her own character, and inspired women around
the world with her designs."
Studying the work and legacy of Coco Chanel is de
rigueur for new sales associates hired for the company's four Canadian
boutiques -- in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver -- and its
enterprises worldwide. Knowledge of each season's line of fashion and
cosmetics is also extremely important. But Chanel management also looks for
a certain poise and refinement that cannot be learned from a manual.
"Our clients travel the globe and anyone who
works for us has to be extremely well trained before they even arrive,"
says Ms. Kazanjian. "They have to have a good read on people."
How does the company find the perfect Chanel girl?
Not, it seems, through anything so mundane as a newspaper classified ad.
"People gravitate to us, and we gravitate to
people we have heard about," says Ms. Kazanjian. "We obviously
look for well-rounded people who bring a real panache to the job."
Ms. Panthong, who says she had always dreamed of
working in a Chanel boutique, approached the company when she arrived in
Toronto a few months ago.
"I love being there, surrounded by so much
beauty," says Ms. Panthong, who is thin and delicate and speaks in a
soft and calming voice.
On a recent day off, Ms. Panthong was beautifully
dressed in a black Issey Miyake pleated suit and black Gucci jacket. She
took small, careful steps in her high-heeled mules, balancing a plate of
French pastries and takeout café au laits in the conference room of her
Yorkville condominium.
"This is a new experience for my life, to
please the client," says Ms. Panthong, who is from an aristocratic
Bangkok family and has spent most of her life surrounded by servants. Which
is probably why she burst into tears her first day on the job at Chanel two
months ago, when she had to bend down and help a client try on a pair of
shoes.
"I never had to do that in Thailand because
you don't touch people's feet," says Ms. Panthong, adding that she has
now adjusted to her new job. "But it is a great learning experience for
me, and a challenge."
Ms. Panthong does not seem to be the type of
person who needs to work at all, but she says she is determined to learn
about the fashion industry, and for her Chanel is a "great
opportunity" to do so.
"It's not like a job," she says.
"It's more like being in a special club where some clients come in
daily and stop to say 'Hi.' "
Olina Moryoussef agrees. Ms. Moryoussef, 47, also
works in the Toronto boutique and, like Ms. Panthong, is fluent in several
languages. She too has lived around the world.
"Anyone who works here has to love beauty,
and anyone who is buying Chanel has a truly artistic appeal," says Ms.
Moryoussef, who has a degree in fine art. "There is no typical Chanel
customer. They are all simply women who understand the beauty of detail, and
who are very cosmopolitan."
Ms. Moryoussef says the boutique's clients range
from high-powered executives to fundraisers and university students, who
come into the store a few times a year to buy Chanel accessories.
"We are not aggressive," says Ms.
Moryoussef. "Our aim is to have a truly satisfied customer and we treat
everyone the same way, whether they are buying a suit or just
accessories."
When asked how much her clients typically spend,
Ms. Moryoussef politely declined to answer, which is in keeping with the
company philosophy, carefully controlled from its headquarters in Paris.
"We find it rather crass to talk about
money," says Ms. Kazanjian. "Paris has a vision and we follow that
vision. We follow Karl's [Lagerfeld's] vision."
Chanel is a tightly controlled corporate entity,
owned by the publicity-shy Wertheimer brothers, Alain and Gérard. The
family never gives interviews, and keeps a low profile, preferring to shine
the spotlight on long-time Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and the company's
cosmetics, fragrance and fashion line, which generates more than
US$2-billion in annual sales around the world, according to a recent
estimate by Women's Wear Daily.
The company's tight focus on Mr. Lagerfeld, who
has been its designer for 19 years, and its rigorous control on publicity
seems to extend down the corporate ladder to its sales associates, who are
not allowed to speak to the press about company policy, the spending habits
of their clients or about the type of training that is involved in creating
the perfect Chanel girl.
"Let's just say that we have a lot invested
in our sales staff and it can often take years to bring them up to
speed," says Ms. Kazanjian.
Ms. Moryoussef, who is considered the very model
of a Chanel sales associate by the Canadian Chanel executives, agrees.
"You have to understand that this is not just
a job for us," she says. "It's a career, and a way of life." -
by Isabel Vincent National
Post 23 May 2002
