Vogue’s May 2023 Cover Casts Karl Lagerfeld’s Legacy into the Future

[man in distance] Hello. Where are you?

Oh there you are. Hello.

This is incredible.

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I met Karl many years ago.

It was like early 90s.

I was invited to an after shoot party,

and he said, come, come, come. Karl wants to meet you.

And I was like blown away that I would even be on his radar.

Gianni wasn t the kind of person with so many friends.

And Karl either, you know? Very few friends.

But the two of them connect.

[Chitose speaking foreign language]

He saw me and he just looked at me.

He s like, oh, you re the bombing boy, right?

I was a bombing boy, too.

And he started laughing and he said, Welcome to fashion.

I don t remember exactly which collection it was

that I saw of Karl s.

I was so new to this world that I thought,

well, I guess if you do a show, this is what you do.

One of my favorite collections actually is

Chanel Fall 2006 Couture, I think.

[Jun speaking foreign language]

Anna text me one day.

She invited me to create a look, my interpretation of Karl.

[Designer] I was asked by Anna to create a look

a message tribute to Karl inspired by his extensive work

at one of the houses where he was once Creative Director.

[sewing machine stitching]

He was really generous.

When Anna asked would I contribute like this,

I was like, yeah, I d be absolutely delighted.

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The inspiration was kind of the idea of fur

which is a little bit out of fashion right now.

The really impressive techniques that can go

into making fur pieces, especially in Tarja ones.

So I kind of was looking at the inside of vintage fur coats

and sort of all of the seaming that can go

into something that looks quite simple.

There s like over 250 pieces of organza,

there s silk faille, there s an underskirt,

a bone-like cage.

It s like over six pages of a cutter s must.

[camera shutter snaps]

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When I approached the design for Karl,

I thought about his opulence.

I thought about the opposite attracts.

I thought about his way to protect himself.

I was very inspired from the work he did at Fendi.

So I work on this ball gown. Very, very big volume.

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Then I put the bustier, a leather black bustier,

because Karl always wore black.

You know, he never wore another color.

So this is a tribute to Karl, to his personality.

[camera shutter snaps]

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His work is about volumes, shapes, silhouettes, modernity.

Never reverential or not nostalgic for the past.

Always trying to depict the contemporaneity.

Everything, to me, is about being contemporary

and witnessing the moment that he was living.

I was with Fendi for eight years with Karl.

Every show, every fitting.

Fendi, for me, are kind of family.

They were kind of punk.

I think there s also this little punkness

in the look I wanted to create.

I wanted to create this little black dress

that he made many times in Fendi with different necklines.

But made in neoprene, because he was, I remember very well,

he was always searching for new materials,

new way to give the same kind of attitude and elegance,

but with the twisted touch.

[camera shutter snaps]

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[Chitose speaking foreign language]

[Chitose continues speaking foreign language]

[Chitose continues speaking foreign language]

[camera shutter snaps]

I wanted to see it through Maison Margiela eyes.

I think he would ve loved that.

And this idea of having a dialogue with him.

[music]

I haven t played with polka dots for a long, long time.

The kids have done like this kind of like computer rendition

of the polka dots to see how they work.

And I was like, let s project it.

Cause I love the idea that when we project the dots,

they would turn into ellipses and things,

which at the end of the day is going to inform

where I place these little polka dots that have cutter

and their shape happen to have a whole lot of, you know,

Karl s love of surrealism.

[camera shutter snaps]

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The look that I have created that is,

I would say the tribute, it s the shape of the jackets.

Because what I saw that he was doing at Balmain,

he was a really tiny waist, kind of emphasizing

a bigger shoulder, playing with buttons.

[sewing machine stitching]

And there was always this thing

about playing with men s coat and women s coat, you know.

I think what makes Karl special is that you almost create

uniform of everyday life, you know.

[camera shutter snaps]

[Jun speaking foreign language]

[Jun continues speaking foreign language]

[camera shutter snaps]

[music]

When I was looking back at the archives,

there were a few pieces that really jumped out to me.

One was a wash silk dress, which had a lace interpiece.

But it was very kind of flou.

And I kind of loved the idea of the lace in that.

So I ve used like a corded lace

and what I ve done is I ve kind of looked

at the construction of the Chloé flou

but I ve kind of wanted to bring it a little bit

into my world and I ve brought in some harnessing

and a bit of hardness to it.

So the whole look

it kind of almost becomes this kind of armor.

Cause I think there was a lot of strength to his work.

And it felt really special actually.

And it felt really beautiful, but also quite real.

And yeah, I m really excited.

I d like to think he would like it.

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[camera shutter snaps]

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I wanted to play with the ideas

of the fabrications of the house of Chanel.

So it s all in black and white tweed.

Of course, black and white, I always think of,

when I think of Karl.

Playing with the tweeds,

the idea of the camellia coming into intarsia

intarsia in the camellia into the piece.

And then the marriage of what I do,

which I d like to deconstruct.

The jacket, the pleated skirt, the trouser,

and draping them on the body that will be enveloped

in this oversized outerwear piece.

[music]

Indirectly, he did influence me and inspire me so much.

He did actually play with proportions

in a very, very unique way.

When I started, I had an idea where it was gonna be shot.

So I wanted it to feel like it fit within the Grand Palais.

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[people chatting]

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