Chanel Names New Head of Fragrance and Beauty

PARIS — Chanel has named Simona Cattaneo as president of Chanel Fragrance and Beauty, starting in January.

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The executive will join the house in October to start onboarding beside Anne Kirby, who — as previously announced — is to retire from the position at year-end, Chanel said in a statement on Monday.

Cattaneo is a seasoned beauty executive. She has been general manager at Tod’s Group since 2021. Prior to that, the executive was at Coty Inc., which she joined in 2016 as chief marketing officer. Cattaneo then became president of Coty’s luxury division, where she managed more than 20 brands.

She has also served as senior vice president of Burberry beauty and head of makeup at Parfums Christian Dior from 2008 to 2012. She began her career at L’Oréal.

“As a seasoned global business leader, Simona brings over 30 years of experience in the luxury beauty industry,” Chanel said. “She has managed prestige brands, built new businesses across product categories and led large transformations within complex global organizations based around the world.”

Chanel also commended the executive for consistently developing high-performing teams.

“She is also passionate about championing inclusion, diverse voices, gender equality and women’s empowerment,” it said.

Cattaneo’s nomination is part of an ongoing changing of the guard at the house.

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Kirby has been with Chanel for 35 years and held her current position since September 2018.

“Under her leadership, the Fragrance and Beauty business has achieved strong business performance, while reinforcing a culture of creation and innovation, particularly through the development of product offerings and distribution around the world,” Chanel said in late July.

“All of these activities have strengthened Chanel’s brand equity and built further desirability among new and existing customers,” it continued. “In recent years, she has overseen building our authority in the fragrance market. In makeup, through the innovative Comètes Collective , she has driven creative potential in uniting different perspectives to generate fresh concepts.”

The Comètes Collective is a collective of makeup artists revealed in October 2022, starting with three, who are tasked with accelerating the creative momentum of the Chanel Makeup Creation Studio and taking a pluralistic vision of beauty through a collaborative effort.

Chanel said that in parallel, Kirby’s strong innovation strategy bolstered with expert research has resulted in the brand’s skin care generating “significant” growth around the world.

News of Kirby’s impending departure followed the exit of Virginie Viard, artistic director of fashion collections at Chanel, in June, and came amid global executive changes that saw a number of veteran executives depart after long careers at the house.

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