Arie L. Kopelman | |
---|---|
Born | Boston, Massachusetts | September 23, 1938
Education | Johns Hopkins, BA Columbia Business School, MBA |
Occupation(s) | President and COO of Chanel Inc. (1986-2004) Vice Chairman of Board (2004-present) |
Spouse | Coco Kopelman |
Children | Jill Kargman, Will Kopelman |
Arie L. Kopelman (born September 23, 1938) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He served as the President and COO of Chanel from 1986 until 2004, when he retired and was succeeded by former Banana Republic President Maureen Chiquet. [1] [2] [3] Kopelman remains at Chanel as Vice Chairman of the Board. [3]
Kopelman was born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Jewish parents, Frank and Ruth Kopelman. Frank Kopelman, a Harvard Law School graduate, practiced law and was a professor at Boston University. When he was appointed to a judgeship in Boston, he was the youngest judge appointed in the state's history. [4] Kopelman has a twin brother, David Kopelman, who followed in the footsteps of their father, attended Harvard for his undergraduate and law degrees, and went on to become a judge. [5]
After attending The Boston Latin School and the Williston Northampton School, Kopelman completed his undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University [6] and received an MBA from Columbia Business School. [7] His first job after business school was working in the training program at Procter & Gamble, at their headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. [8] After three years at the company, he became an account executive at the advertising firm Doyle Dane Bernbach (also called DDB Worldwide), [9] where over the next 20 years he ascended the ranks to become Vice Chairman and then the General Manager. During his tenure at DDB Worldwide, Kopelman worked with clients including JB Liquors, Heinz Ketchup, and Chanel, which was one of his largest accounts.
In 1985, the owners of Chanel, Alain Wertheimer and Gérard Wertheimer, hired Kopelman as Chanel Inc.’s president and chief operating officer at their headquarters in New York City. At that point, Kopelman already had a 14-year-long working relationship with Chanel through DDB, where he had crafted advertising campaigns for the brand. Over the next 19 years at Chanel, Kopelman grew the brand to expand its core retail, fragrance, cosmetics, skin care, eyewear, and accessories businesses, transforming Chanel into a company earning multi-billion dollar revenues. At the outset of Kopelman’s career with Chanel, the brand had two standalone boutiques and its annual revenue was reported at $357 million. By the time of his retirement, there were 17 brick-and-mortar boutiques just in the United States and in 2014, Chanel reported annual sales in the area of $7 billion. [10]
During his tenure as president, the company released the fragrances Coco, Coco Mademoiselle, Chance, Allure, Allure for Men, Cristalle, Egoiste, and Egoiste Platinum. Coco Mademoiselle is often ranked among the world’s best-selling fragrances. [11] [12] Kopelman was in charge of brand strategy for Chanel No. 5. As such, he put together its five-year multi-platform endorsement deal with Nicole Kidman as the face of the perfume, for which the director Baz Luhrmann created television advertisements. [13]
Kopelman is a member of several civic and charitable organizations in New York and the United States.
In January 1989, Kopelman was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. [14]
Kopelman was the recipient of the Fragrance Foundation (FiFi) Hall of Fame Award in 2005, and has been awarded three CFDA awards. [15] In 2000, he was awarded the "Living Landmark" award by the New York Landmarks Conservancy. [16]
From 1994 through 2017, Kopelman held the position of chairman of the Winter Antiques Show in New York City. He is credited with turning the show around by adding new leadership and infrastructure, and bringing new dealers into the fold. [17] [18]
Additionally, Kopelman has served on the Board of Overseers for Columbia Business School, [19] as well as on the board of the St. Bernard's School for Boys in New York, the Municipal Arts Society, and East Side Settlement House. [20] He was the president of the board of the Nantucket Historical Association. [20] He is a founding board member of the Upper East Side Historic District, the president of admissions of the Century Country Club, served on the board of directors of the Heinz Awards, [21] and on the board of The New York City School of American Ballet. [22] Kopelman's wife attended the school as a child, and there is now a studio there named after Kopelman. [23]
Kopelman is married to Corinne "Coco" Franco. [24] [25] [26] Coco is from a Sephardic Jewish family. [27] Her father was a business man of Greek descent, and her mother was French. The couple have two children, New York Times bestselling author, actress, and creator of the show Odd Mom Out, Jill Kargman (married to American businessman Harry Kargman [28] ), and Will Kopelman, who is a private art advisor and married to Vogue editor Alexandra Michler Kopelman. He is the former husband of actress Drew Barrymore. [26] Kopelman and Franco have six grandchildren. They reside on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City and additionally have a home in Nantucket. [29] [30]
Chanel is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by the Wertheimer family and has been headquartered in London since 2018.
Chanel No. 5 was the first perfume launched by French couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in 1921. The scent formula for the fragrance was compounded by French-Russian chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux. The design of its bottle has been an important part of the product's branding. Coco Chanel was the first face of the fragrance, appearing in the advertisement published by Harper's Bazaar in 1937.
Brioni is an Italian menswear luxury fashion house based in Rome and specialised in sartorial ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, eyewear and fragrance, and provides a tailor-made service (Bespoke).
The Fragrance Foundation is a trade group representing the interests of the fragrance industry. It sponsors the annual Fragrance Foundation Awards since 1973.
Pierre Wertheimer was a French businessman, who co-founded Chanel with Coco Chanel.
William Philip Lauder is an American billionaire businessman, and executive chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies, one of the world's leading manufacturers of skin care, make-up, fragrance and hair care products.
Trussardi is an Italian fashion house based in Milan, Italy, and specialized in leather goods, ready-to-wear, perfumes, and accessories.
Ernest Beaux was a Russian-born French perfumer who is best known for creating Chanel No. 5, which is perhaps the world's most famous perfume.
Tommy Hilfiger B.V., formerly known as Tommy Hilfiger Corporation and Tommy Hilfiger Inc., is an American clothing brand that manufactures apparel and licensed products such as footwear, accessories, fragrances and home furnishings. The company was founded in 1985, and the brand's merchandise is sold in department stores and over 2000 free-standing retail stores in 100 countries. In 2006, private equity firm Apax Partners acquired the company for approximately $1.6 billion. In March 2010, PVH Corp. bought the company. Daniel Grieder was appointed CEO in July 2014, while founder Tommy Hilfiger remains the company's principal designer, leading the design teams and overseeing the entire creative process. Global sales in retail through the brand were US$9.1 billion in 2022.
Jacques Polge is a French perfumer, best known for his role as Head Perfumer at Les Parfums Chanel from 1978 to 2015.
Bleu de Chanel is a men's fragrance created by Jacques Polge for French fashion house Chanel in 2010. It was the first men's fragrance released by the brand since Allure Homme Sport in 2004, and the first men's masterbrand introduced since Égoïste in 1990. The original fragrance is an eau de toilette; the 2014 eau de parfum version was also formulated by Jacques Polge, and the 2018 parfum version was formulated by his son Olivier Polge. French actor Gaspard Ulliel was the first ambassador for Bleu de Chanel and remained as the face of the fragrance for twelve years, until his death in January 2022. He was succeeded by actor Timothée Chalamet in May 2023.
Égoïste is a men's perfume produced by French fashion house Chanel. It was created by perfumer Jacques Polge. The perfume was released in 1990. The word is French for "egoist" and "egotistic", which means selfish or self-centered (person).
Maureen Chiquet is an American businesswoman who was CEO of fashion house Chanel from 2007 to 2016.
Angel is a 1992 perfume from Thierry Mugler and the first modern gourmand perfume, with notes of patchouli, praline, red berries, and vanilla. The perfumiers were Olivier Cresp and Yves de Chirin. The design of its bottle is an irregular shaped star.
Jill Kargman is an American author, writer and actress, based in New York City's Upper East Side. A common theme in her works is critical examination of the lives of wealthy women in her city. Her 2007 Momzillas was adapted into the Bravo television show Odd Mom Out, which premiered June 8, 2015.
Harry Kargman is an American entrepreneur. Kargman is founder and CEO of Kargo Global, Inc., a firm that manages mobile brand advertising for many media companies including CBS Interactive, Hearst, The Daily Mail, Meredith, Scripps, Target Corporation, T-Mobile, Vice, and Vox. Kargman holds numerous patents and is a member of Ad Council's Board of Directors.
Virginie Viard is a French fashion designer who was the creative director of Chanel from 2019 to 2024.
Chanel Chance is a line of fragrances for women from Chanel that was introduced in September 2002. It was created by Jacques Polge, who has created every Chanel fragrance launched since 1978, including Coco Mademoiselle, Allure, Bleu de Chanel and Chanel No.5 Eau Premiere.
Olivier Polge is a French perfumer. He is the house perfumer for Chanel and has created fragrances including Misia, Boy, and Chanel's No. 5 L’eau.
Niche perfume is an alternative to mass perfume production. Niche is limited by the clientele and therefore with a limited sale range, thus the goal of niche houses is not to sell as much as possible.
I walked into the apartment on the Upper East Side for the first time during spring. Will and I had been dating only a few months. It was my maiden voyage into his parents' place, which he lived in as a child.