Once again Karl Lagerfeld has imagined an episode from the life of Gabrielle Chanel, and directed a short film for Chanel titled ‘Reincarnation’. For the new short film, Karl Lagerfeld developed an artistic collaboration with Pharrell Williams – a close friend of the House and personal friend of the designer – who also composed and wrote the lyrics to “CC The World”, the original soundtrack for the film. Pharrell plays one of the lead roles alongside Cara Delevingne, the face of the upcoming campaign of the Paris-Salzburg 2014/15 Métiers d’art collection.
Embodied by Geraldine Chaplin, Gabrielle Chanel is holidaying in the suburbs of Salzburg in 1954. At her hotel she meets a young lift-boy played by Pharrell who wears a jacket which would later inspire the iconic Chanel jacket. Reincarnation is also the evocation of another era, that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which Karl Lagerfeld brings to life for one night in the heart of the 1950s.
“It was time to show the origins of the Chanel jacket, inspired by the one worn by the lift attendant in a hotel near Salzburg in the 1950s (…) Reincarnation is the story of a lift attendant’s jacket being reincarnated as a timeless piece of women’s wear,” declared Karl Lagerfeld.
Reincarnation will be screened in Salzburg on December 1, the night before the Paris-Salzburg 2014/15 Métiers d’art show. Watch the trailer below.
