Source:
https://scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-luxury/article/1922602/willow-smith-15-becomes-next-new-face-chanel
Lifestyle/ Fashion & Beauty

Willow Smith, 15, becomes next new face of Chanel

Daughter of actors Will and Jada Pinkett Smith joins Johnny Depp’s child as ambassador for the French fashion label

Willow Smith (centre) with her mother Jada Pinkett Smith (left) at the Chanel autumn-winter 2016/2017 women's ready-to-wear show. Photo: Reuters

Willow Smith, the 15-year-old daughter of the US actor Will Smith, was named as an ambassador for French fashion house Chanel.

The actress and singer, who made her screen debut aged seven in the 2007 film I Am Legend which starred her father, was on the Paris front row to see Chanel’s autumn-winter catwalk show with her mother Jada Pinkett Smith.

Willow Smith before Chanel's autumn-winter 2016-2017 ready-to-wear collection. Photo: AP
Willow Smith before Chanel's autumn-winter 2016-2017 ready-to-wear collection. Photo: AP

She posed for the cameras in a black and silver mesh-effect Chanel catsuit before the show outside the Grand Palais in the French capital.

She is the luxury brand’s youngest “trendsetter”, following Johnny Depp’s 16-year-old daughter Lily-Rose who was named a Chanel ambassador in July.

Chanel’s designer Karl Lagerfeld said last year that Violette d’Urso, the 15-year-old daughter of his former inspiration Ines de la Fressange, was his latest “muse”.

After Tuesday’s catwalk show Lagerfeld reappeared to take his bow holding the hand of his seven-year-old godson Hudson Kroenig – son of the model Brad Kroenig.

Willow Smith at the premiere of Imagine That in 2009. Photo: Reuters
Willow Smith at the premiere of Imagine That in 2009. Photo: Reuters
Chanel says Willow has been wearing its clothes for “public appearances since 2013 and her first encounter with Karl Lagerfeld was in 2014 when he photographed her for the American magazine V.

Smith recorded her first album at the age of 10 and supported Justin Bieber the following year on a part of his European tour.

Her rapper and actor brother Jaden Smith appeared in a skirt earlier this year in a photoshoot to promote the Louis Vuitton spring-summer collection.

Paris Fashion Week has been more diverse than ever in terms of age and race of those on the catwalk, although there was a row over Kanye West’s favourite designer Demna Gvasalia only casting white models for his two shows.