Françoise Montenay is lost in translation. “Le retouche. Alors! Comment en dit en Anglais? How do you say?” The president of Chanel is rummaging her English vocabulary for a word that is evidently of profound importance to her. I hazard a guess. “Alteration?” The instant flicker of recognition in the deep brown eyes accompanies an excited whoop of approval. “Mais oui, Alteration!” I’ve said something right. She repeats the word softly, almost reverently. Indeed, what could be more remarkable to the head of the world’s most famed couture house than the miracle of a perfect fit. “Alteration is very important to Chanel. We have some of the best people for it at our boutiques. Even if it’s ready-to-wear, it has to be perfect on the body.”

We are sitting in the coffee shop of Delhi’s Imperial Hotel, home to India’s only Chanel boutique. After showing me around the elegant shop with general manager, Xavier Bertrand, Montenay has been describing the pleasures of shopping at Chanel in India. “Our store manager used to run the biggest boutique in Paris. She caters to Indian clients exactly the same way as she took care of our Parisian customers. If there is a change to be done in an outfit or something to be delivered in a special way, we will do that. There are very few Indian stores that offer this service.” The range of products in the boutique – current pret lines, cosmetics, accessories, skincare and of course, the famed Chanel perfumes – is the same as in Paris, she tells me. The shop was designed by the same designer who worked on their boutiques in Paris, Tokyo and New York. “I can guarantee that anyone who shops at Chanel in Delhi will have the identical experience as elsewhere in the world.”

Chanel has been in India since 2005. The Indian market was a far from perfect fit for the brand’s retail expectations requiring more than its share of nips and tucks. With no existing high-street culture or luxury retail environment to speak of, the renowned Parisian label had little option but to set up shop in a five-star hotel. “Distribution continues to be a major challenge in India. Unlike China where people understand retail, we have worked hard to create a luxury set-up here. We had to convince the owner of Imperial to give us a part of the lobby. It required a huge investment on our part.” The other major roadblock in India, says Montenay, is the exorbitant taxes and import duties on luxury items, which far surpass those in other new markets like Russia and China.

While optimistic about the upcoming trend of luxury malls in Indian metros, Chanel plans to expand gradually. “At Chanel we go at the rhythm we think is right for us.” Following the launch of the Delhi store, the brand opened some points of sale for fragrance and beauty at malls in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. More boutiques and points of sale are in the offing. But Montenay says the brand wants to focus on educating their staff and customers first. “Our biggest challenge is to convince Indian customers to come to Chanel and let them know that our complete range of products is available here,” she says. “As for our secret plans, I’m not telling you,” she adds tongue in cheek.

Long professional stints at L’Oréal and Jean Patou preceded Montenay’s two-decade career at Chanel. Interestingly, she started her work life in the financial department of Mobil Oil. Her second job was as a marketing executive for Procter & Gamble. But she was “too independent” for P&G and went on to join L’Oréal, which gave her solid experience of the beauty mass market. Jean Patou followed and initiated her into the business of fashion and perfumes. “I had the good fortune of first being in a smaller company like Patou and learning about fashion before joining Chanel.” The job offer of Chanel’s fashion manager came to her in 1987. “I thought about it over the weekend and said yes.”

As head of fashion, Montenay spent 10 eventful years – till she became president of the brand in 1998 – with the eccentrically brilliant designer of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld. “When Mr Lagerfeld had an idea, my job was to make it happen somehow.” Montenay recalls an instance in 1991 when they were preparing for a show for the ready-to–wear-line. Lagerfeld suddenly decided to take all the skirts out and replace them with leggings to make the collection more modern. At that time, leggings were revolutionary, says Montenay. Only very young girls would put them on, certainly not Chanel customers. Besides, leggings were tricky to execute because they had to be exactly fitted. “It seems obvious now but 10 years ago, it was not that easy to make the right leggings.” Finally Montenay and her team did pull off the best pair in the market by working with a specialist and putting a special thread in the leggings which made them perfectly comfortable.

Transforming the humble leggings from their dowdy, utilitarian avatar to the hottest fashion rage in the 90s is just another example of Lagerfeld’s astonishing grasp of the zeitgeist, stresses Montenay. “Mr Lagerfeld’s great gift is being able to come up with an idea at the exact moment when the customer is ready to accept it. He is also a genius in being able to imagine so many different things at the same time. He is very Chanel when he is at Chanel, very Lagerfeld when he is at Lagerfeld and very Fendi when he is at Fendi.”

Every year Chanel does two shows each for their ready-to-wear and couture lines. “When Lagerfeld designs, he already knows what the décor and feeling will be like. We have done haute couture shows in our salon several times because it has to be very intimate.” Will Indians have access to Chanel’s famed haute couture? “Couture is our roots. But it’s done only in Paris. We launched in India with a haute couture show in 2005. The head of our atelier was flown in and several Indian women became couture customers. But we require all our customers to come to Paris at least twice for trials.”

From its modernist roots going back to the times of Coco Chanel to its current interpretation by Lagerfeld, Chanel has always put women’s comfort first, offering fashion that allows the body to move freely, Montenay says. “When you are wearing a Chanel fashion product, the world belongs to you. You are ready to make it.” Indeed, this was the personal experience of Chanel founder Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel herself, who came from very humble origins and was educated in an orphanage but became the queen of the world of fashion and art. “This is also the kind of woman Mr Lagerfeld designs for. Looking good is not enough. He wants her to feel like the queen of the world. Feeling is very important. And how can you feel good when your jacket is too tight for you? Mr Lagerfeld is always with the times. But he is also thinking about the woman he designs for.”

Casually chic in a textured Chanel jacket over a black tee and a skirt, Montenay says she is fascinated by fashion as a social and cultural fact. Fashion is a sign of the times for her. “When Mademoiselle Chanel got rid of the corset and decided women had to be free to cut their hair, it was part of the social evolution of women. Skincare is also very interesting because you get women to really think about keeping their skin beautiful.” Youth is often the only thing we associate with skincare. But this distinction doesn’t exist at Chanel, she emphasises. “The skin of a 30-year-old person is not the same as a 50-year-old but both are stages in the life cycle of a woman.” Interestingly, Chanel has created a panel of women consumers whom they have been monitoring since 1987 to study the difference lifestyle habits — smoking, drinking, exposure to the sun — make to the skin over the years. Montenay reiterates Chanel’s commitment to addressing women’s changing needs through such experiments.

There’s life beyond work for 64-year-old Montenay, who revels in her family roles of wife, mother and grandmother. The Frenchwoman also professes a deep love for opera rooted in her childhood. Her father, though not a professional musician, played the piano. So did her grandmother. “Opera has always been part of my life and moves me. When my sister and cousins and I were on vacation with my grandmother, she would tell us stories from the opera, play the piano and sing for us. I guess I got used to the human voice from a very early age.” Lucia di Lammermoor is her favourite singer.

Chanel’s expansion in the Indian market will bring Montenay to India on work more often. She isn’t complaining. “I love Indian people and culture. I should say ‘cultures’ because it is so diverse.” Interestingly, she sees an affinity between the Indian and French traditions of luxury and service. “We talk about our luxury but you have yours. Indian people love beautiful things. Your jewellery is very different from ours but it’s very beautifully done. Perfectly done.”