Meet Karl Lagerfeld's Secret Weapon
Chanel’s nautical-inspired cruise collection makes landfall with a quartet of star models: Joan Smalls, Natasha Poly, Yasmin Wijnaldum, and Hannah Ferguson.
Karl's Secret Weapon
I hate being in the spotlight,” admits Chanel fashion studio director Virginie Viard, who’s worked alongside Karl Lagerfeld since (nearly) the beginning. Her tenure at Chanel started in 1987 when a family friend Prince Rainier’s chamberlain, recommended Viard to the designer for an internship. The two creatives have been inseparable ever since. She followed him to Chloe? in 1992, and back to Chanel in 1997. At October’s show at the Grand Palais, she even joined him for his bow.
Viard says their process begins when Lagerfeld completes one of his famous colored-pencil-and-pastel sketches, which he still does by hand. “I immediately dispatch each sketch to each premie?re d’atelier, according to her skills and capabilities. I visualize the show, get things ready for him, decide on materials, coordinate the teams, and liaise with suppliers,” she says. “I like to think of myself as the one who helps his vision come alive.”
Lagerfeld describes their partnership thusly: “She is my right rector Virginie Viard, hand and my left hand,” he says. “Our relationship is essential, doubled by a very real friendship and affection.” Adds Viard, “I try to-to anticipate what he would like. I love to please him but also surprise him.” Over the years, she has gotten to know the private Lagerfeld. “He is very sensitive, like all creative people, but very faithful, generous-which might not be what people would guess.”
For the cruise collection shown here, “Karl had this amazing idea to actually take people on a cruise,” Viard says. When no ship was available, Lagerfeld, Viard, and team made do by having a life-size cruise ship constructed within the Grand Palais.
On December 4, the house will present its Me?tiers d’art collection at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. What wonders Lagerfeld has in store is anyone’s guess. What’s for certain: Viard will be there, transforming his dreams into reality.
Who's That Guy?
His name is Charlie Siem, and that violin is not a mere prop.The 32-year-old has been playing for nearly three decades and has performed alongsideLady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and theWho. (His current instrument isa Guarneri from 1735.) Siem has been, as he puts it, “adoptedby the fashion world,” after Lagerfeld plucked him from symphonic obscurity to appear in his Little Black Jacket series.The two men bonded over a love of classical music and sharp dressing. “I remember sitting with Karl once at the Cafe? de Flore in Paris. He said, ‘You and
I are the only people wearing ties.’ ” Though their friendship has afforded Siem a seat at Chanel shows, his next stop is far from the fashion capitals: He’ll be heading to Kazakhstan this month for a concert.
This article originally appeared in the November 2018 issue of ELLE.
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