Over a decade ago, Kristen Stewart became close with Karl Lagerfeld who adopted her as one of his muses and ultimately appointed her as a Chanel ambassador—a role she’s held since 2013. It’s this relationship that made the 2023 Met Gala, held in honor of the late designer, so much more than just another red carpet event for the Oscar-nominated actress.
In order to pay tribute to Lagerfeld, Stewart opted for a suit that she’d been thinking about ever since it first hit the Chanel cruise show runway in Cuba in 2016. Working with her stylist Tara Swennen, the star completed the menswear-inspired look which consisted of a cotton drill jacket, black tie, and black gabardine pants with two-tone loafers and a belt featuring the maison’s famous interlocking C’s. For her beauty look, she collaborated with makeup artist Jillian Dempsey and hairstylist Adir Abergel on androgynous styling that honored Lagerfeld beyond the sartorial level.
“We were discussing his influence on us as a work family and the residue he left on our lives,” Abergel said of how Lagerfeld’s impact informed her short tousled hair. “The takeaway was how straight to the quick he was. How without artifice his work was. We wanted to depict a moment in time. The world feels ready to open its eyes and take its mask off. Doing less today felt like a fuller story.”
Here, in her own words, Stewart discusses how she arrived at her ensemble for fashion’s biggest night and shares her memories of Lagerfeld.
What three adjectives would you use to describe Karl Lagerfeld?
Sweetheart. Erudite. Virtuoso.
Can you tell us about your first meeting with him?
I met him in a picture, in a cafe in Paris, shooting with Mario Testino. I remember his strong hands and gentle voice in my ear, discreetly needling everyone else around us. Creating a bubble around us. For someone of his caliber and esteem, I was so struck by his easy humanity. He let me in. His world, when shared, is an unexpectedly warm one. His…
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