Stars like Pharrell Williams and Tilda Swinton come together for Chanel and Fendi’s Karl Lagerfeld tribute
Amid colossal portraits and clean lines of black, white and red, Chanel, Fendi and a host of stars paid homage to the fashion titan and Kaiser of mode Karl Lagerfeld in Paris on Thursday.
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The mythic kingpin of the cutting edge died in February, aged 85, devastating the industry after his decades as head of Fendi and Chanel, as well as his eponymous brand.
Stars, including Pharrell Williams, Tilda Swinton, Helen Mirren and Cara Delevingne, paid homage to Lagerfeld on the stage during a tribute entitled “Karl For Ever”.
Blurring the lines of haute couture, theatre and film, much as Lagerfeld was known to do, the event consisted of live performances and dramatic readings montaged with a short documentary.
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Featuring Alain Wertheimer, the ever reticent co-owner of Chanel, the film was narrated by Lagerfeld himself, sewn together from dozens of clips before his death.
Looking on, the celebrity-studded crowd featured Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, singer-songwriter and supermodel Carla Bruni, Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, Valentino himself, model Gigi Hadid, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, and Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France.
The show, conceived by the Canadian opera director, Robert Carsen, was held in the glass-domed Grand Palais – the same quintessentially stylish structure that housed some of Lagerfeld’s most sensational shows, which included elements as spectacular as a 265-tonne iceberg and a replica Eiffel Tower.
“Karl For Ever” sought to highlight Lagerfeld’s long list of achievements as grand couturier, photographer and publisher, as well as the man behind the sunglasses.
The celebration explored his personal passions such as tango, literature and music, and included anecdotes from those who knew him well.
Lagerfeld created iconoclastic, spectacle-driven fashion. In this Lagerfeldian world, to be boring was a cardinal sin.
He also brought Chanel back from death’s door, reinvigorating the wilting couture house with the modern moxie that has since kept Chanel a lucrative and industry-defining fashion house – a job that required constant reinvention.
“It’s up to us to adjust to our times,” Lagerfeld said in one video.
“Evolution can’t be stopped, and will not be stopped tomorrow.”
The tribute punctuated Paris’ men’s fashion week for spring/summer, which ends on Sunday.
- ‘Karl For Ever’ event, during Paris men’s fashion week, honours German fashion designer who died in February, aged 85