Florence Welch on Karl Lagerfeld

"It was funny because Karl and I were doing a shoot for Japanese Vogue, where I was talking about the underwater themes in my record, and he was saying how he wanted to do an underwater theme for his show. Then he said: 'Wouldn't it be nice if you came down on a big wire like you were floating?' and I was like: 'What?' And he said: 'We can get all these harps together...' and all these ideas were coming to him just really off the cuff… so I thought he was joking and then he put his hand on mine and said: 'Ok, so we'll do it, I'm glad we talked.' It was all really spontaneous! It was great to be a part of the spectacle, it wasn't purely just my performance. It was about the clothes, and the models, and this whole set as well so it was quite nice being a part of something so exquisite and exciting. The clothes were wonderful, they all looked like beautiful, pastel-coloured fish in this underwater landscape with the pearls all over them."

Ahead of the release of her new Florence + the Machinealbum Ceremonials, Florence Welch was invited to Paris by Karl Lagerfeld to perform out of a shimmering oyster shell at Chanel's S/S12 show. Singing her breathtaking new song "What The Water Gave Me", Welch provided the perfect soundtrack to the magical underwater-themed show featuring an overflowing abundance of pearls and delicate gemstones. Working with Lagerfeld before, Welch performed live with only the help of a harp at Blake Lively's handbag launch in Coco Chanel's apartment – cementing her relationship with the Parisian fashion house.

Florence + the Machine, Cermonials is out now on Island Records.

Suggested Reading: Karl Lagerfeld on Chanel's Aquatic Inspirations.

Text by Flora Yin-Wong

Flora Yin-Wong is currently the Junior Editor of Dazed Digital. Besides her own blog Nobody Cares About Kitsune, she has also contributed to the likes of Dazed & Confused, Under/Current, and House Magazine as well as music sites Resident Advisor, Juno Plus, and Slutty Fringe.