As the global head of arts and culture at Chanel, Yana Peel is uniquely positioned at the intersection of fashion and the intelligentsia. She’s a native of St. Petersburg and current resident of London, and her expertise in contemporary art has informed her mission at Chanel. She has launched the Chanel Culture Fund, which supports a network of creators and innovators as they work to advance the ideas that shape contemporary culture. Chanel Connects, a podcast that amplifies the voices of intriguing talents in all sorts of disciplines, is now in its fourth season. Herewith, she shares her key components to the good life. —Ashley Baker
Alibi: “Never complain. Never explain.”
App: Mubi Go.
Bag: Chanel 2.55.
Bike: Santander Cycles.
Birthday: Gemini.
Children: Max and Lara.
Couple: Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Date: La Loma, followed by an Alvin Ailey performance at Sadler’s Wells.
Diet: … starts tomorrow.
Disguise: A Maison Michel straw fedora until my date with Josh Wood!
Dress: My Tom Ford 1996 keyhole gown.
Drive: From Geneva to Verbier, always singing “Smoke on the Water,” passing Montreux, which caught fire during a Zappa concert in 1971.
Enemy: Distraction.
Escape: Vancouver Island.
Excuse: “There is no excuse. I was traveling … ”
Friend: My mother, Jane.
Hideaway: Sammy’s Beach, in East Hampton.
Hotel: Villa La Coste, in Provence.
Indulgence:
Collecting art.
Jacket: Vollebak’s indestructible style.
Last Meal: Friday night in with my family.
Match: The men’s final at Wimbledon.
Movie: Lost in Translation.
Nonfiction book: Ninth Street Women, by Mary Gabriel.
Novel: Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov.
Pen: Muji Smooth Gel Ink.
Piece of advice: “Work hard. Be kind. Have fun.”
Podcast: Chanel Connects.
Restaurant: The River Cafe, in London.
Saying: “Only connect!” —E. M. Forster.
Second Spouse: Francis Sultana.
Shoes: Nike Vaporfly.
Singer: Sade.
Spouse: The Iron Man to my Burning Man.
Street: Tai Tam Road, in Hong Kong.
Sister I never had: Elizabeth Saltzman.
Summer Day: The Henley Royal Regatta among my blazered brigade.
Theme song to your life: “Family Affair,” by Mary J. Blige.
Toast: “Here’s to great women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”
Vacation: The sun never sets on Japan. Niseko in winter, and Naoshima in summer.
View: From my bedroom window.
Wake-up time: The brutally early club.
Weekend bag: Anya Hindmarch’s I Am a Plastic Bag.
Work of art: Mountains and Sea (1952), by Helen Frankenthaler.
Yana’s Essentials
