Transgender model Teddy Quinlivan is making fashion history with Chanel

Chanel hired first openly transgender model for a campaign. Teddy Quinlivan announced on Instagram Monday. 

"My whole life has been a fight," she wrote on Instagram. "From being bullied at school consistently, kids threatening to kill me and going into graphic detail how they were going to do it, my own father beating me and calling me a fagot, to receiving industry blowback after speaking publicly about being sexually assaulted on the job... This was a victory that made all of that s*** worth it."

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💄CHANEL BEAUTY💄 -I find I don’t cry anymore when things are sad, but isn’t it interesting when we shed tears in moments of triumph. This was one of those triumphant cry moments for me. My whole life has been a fight. From being bullied at school consistently, kids threatening to kill me and going into graphic detail how they were going to do it, my own father beating me and calling me a fagot, to receiving industry blowback after speaking publicly about being sexually assaulted on the job... This was a victory that made all of that shit worth it. I had walked 2 shows for Chanel while I was living in stealth ( stealth meaning I hadn’t made my trans identity public yet) and when I came out I knew I’d stop working with some brands, I thought I’d never work with the iconic house of Chanel ever again. But here I am in Chanel Beauty Advertising. I am the first openly trans person to work for the house of Chanel, and I am deeply humbled and proud to represent my community. The world will kick you down, spit on you, and tell you you’re worthless. It’s your job to have the strength to stand up and push on, to keep fighting, Because if you give up then you will never experience the tears of triumph. Thank you to everyone who made this dream a reality! @nicolaskantor @shazmakeup @sebastienrichard1 @casadevallbelen

A post shared by Theodora Quinlivan (@teddy_quinlivan) on Aug 26, 2019 at 9:20am PDT

The 25-year-old walked runway shows for Chanel before coming out as transgender in 2017. She assumed she would no longer be able to work with the design house after coming out. "But here I am in Chanel Beauty Advertising," she wrote. "I am the first openly trans person to work for the house of Chanel, and I am deeply humbled and proud to represent my community."

Chanel and Farfetch in tie-up to reshape luxury retail experience

Bruno Pavlovsky

Global e-commerce platform Farfetch and  French luxury house Chanel has teamed up  to develop  a branded app and plan to create a personalized in-store experience and to target better millennials as reported by Financial Times.

“To be clear, Chanel will not be selling on Farfetch, nor are we launching ecommerce,” Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, told the Financial Times. “This deal is about accelerating and enriching the experience of the client before and after their visit the boutique.”

 Mr Pavlovsky described 2017 as the brand’s “best year ever”. The company was founded by the Portugal-born entrepreneur José Neves in 2008. The collaboration for the company’s reputation means partnership to luxury brands and their commitment to improving bricks-and mortar services.

Jose Neves

“It’s an innovation deal,” said Mr Neves. “We’re hoping to change the shape of retail, and improve a customer experience which is currently stuck in the nineties.”
The app described by Mr.Neves will do the following:
“It will mean a client from Shanghai, who spends $2m a year in a boutique there, will be able to go into a store in Los Angeles and have the staff know who they are, what they want, and the sizes they need. It might mean also, if they are a high net client, they can arrange, if they want, to have a fitting arranged.”  But it can also mean, “The app will also offer a ‘do not disturb’ feature, which ensures clients are left alone.”

“Fashion cannot be totally digitized,” he said. “Between 75-80 per cent of fashion sales are still undertaken in bricks-and-mortar stores. And that won’t change. The store still offers an experience you cannot get online: the relationship with the staff; the story; the touch and feel of the products. But what needs to change is the way stores interact with clients.”

Chanel, which has never shared customer details with outside sources, is being extremely cautious about overstepping the bounds of consumer trust. “I want to be very clear,” said Mr Pavlovsky. “This is not about changing the posture of Chanel. We will only do what the client wants to do. And we will only move at their pace. This is not Big Brother. This is Chanel.”