Chanel names Yana Peel International Arts and Culture Director

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by

Nicola Mira

Published

Mar 9, 2020

In the last few years, the fashion and luxury sectors have fostered countless collaborations with artists, forging increasingly close links with the art world, and now has introduced an ad-hoc corporate role to manage this kind of activity. In a ground-breaking move, the French luxury label announced in a press release that it has appointed to the role of International Arts and Culture Director the former CEO of London’s Serpentine Galleries, Yana Peel.

Yana Peel – Chanel

Peel is a well-known figure with a reputation for her contemporary art expertise. Her mission, on a global basis, is “to enhance the position and influence of Chanel as a brand and corporation. Yana Peel will broaden our collaborations with the arts and with the culture sector, and will lead new, inspirational projects. She will also design the label’s future culture-related programmes, drawing on those already developed by our staff,” stated Chanel.

Peel was born in St Petersburg, Russia, and studied art at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, before taking a post-graduate degree in economics at the London School of Economics. In 1997, she began her business career by joining . In 2003, she co-founded the Outset Contemporary Art Fund, a philanthropic organisation offering innovative funding solutions for cultural projects. She is also a board member for the Tate International Council, the and the American Ballet Theatre.

In 2012, she became CEO of the Intelligence Squared Group, a leading live debate and events company, a position she held until 2015, when she took charge of the Serpentine Galleries in London, one of the contemporary art world’s most influential institutions, which she led from 2016 to 2019.

Chanel expects Peel’s experience to be an asset for the label, notably her “well-established managerial expertise in the arts and cultural patronage world.” Peel will be based in London and will report to the group’s CEO, Alain Wertheimer.