On the front cover of Vanity Fair’s September 2019 issue, you’ll find Kristen Stewart staring back at you. She’s decked out Chanel: a bright, embroidered fuchsia blazer with silver embellishments and a ruffled white Chanel blouse underneath. As the actress begins the next chapter of her career in Benedict Andrews’s Seberg, she pauses to reflect on her career and accomplishments thus far — and her relationship with Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld.
Stewart speaks to her strong relationship with the brand, for which she’s been an ambassador since 2013: “With Chanel, I’ve never been made to feel like I was telling a story that wasn’t being pulled out of me in a really honest way.” Vanity Fair notes that the actress showed up to the Met Gala in “white sequined Chanel trousers, a black top, and orange ombré hair.” She’s unafraid to represent the design house in authentic way that feels like her own — and the reason for that might just be credited to Lagerfeld.
As a Chanel ambassador, Stewart has been the face of Chanel fragrance, makeup and eyewear. During this time, she developed a relationship with controversial designer and Chanel creative director Lagerfeld, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in February 2019. He had a tendency to cause controversy with insensitive remarks, but Kristen suggests that these comments shouldn’t define him entirely.
“It’s funny how he presents — so austere and so scary,” Stewart explains. “He wasn’t, though. He was incredibly inviting—insanely, shockingly unpretentious. He liked what he liked because he liked it. He was a fancy motherf–ker, but it was true to him.”
The actress reflects on her conversations with Lagerfeld: “It’s almost like he sensed he was intimidating, so he was like, ‘No. To have a creative heart is daunting, but let’s get it beating faster and harder.’ He was always touching you while speaking to you. He never talked at you — if he was talking to you, he was usually holding your hand.”
“Luckily he knew how to leave a trace,” Kristen finishes. “There’s just a feeling that he gave me, an encouraging attaboy thing that shapes you in really profound ways.”
