In celebration of the opening Chanel's The Little Black Jacket in London, we present an exclusive in conversation between Karl Lagerfeld and French actress and Chanel ambassador Anna Mouglalis...
Almost a decade ago, Karl Lagerfeld invited French actress Anna Mouglalis to act as an ambassador for the house of Chanel. Beautiful, charismatic, intelligent and deeply engaging, it's easy to see why. In 2009, Mouglalis played Coco Chanel in Jan Kounen's film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky and has spent plenty of time at Chanel's Rue Cambon headquarters, revealing previously that she has often taken naps on the same couch that Gabrielle Chanel did. "We may have had the same dreams".
Mouglalis is just one of over a hundred personalities that appear in the travelling exhibition The Little Black Jacket and accompanying book, featuring portraits shot by Lagerfeld and styled by Carine Roitfeld. The female and male personalities, including Tilda Swinton, Claudia Schiffer, Riccardo Tisci and Vanessa Paradis, wear the iconic jacket in various ways. To celebrate the opening of the exhibition in London, AnOther presents an exclusive in conversation between Lagerfeld and Mouglalis. The pair, who are incredibly relaxed in one another's company, speak here about the enduring appeal of the black jacket first created in the fifties by Gabrielle Chanel, Karl's beloved cat Choupette and his thoughts on London...
Anna Mouglalis: So what makes a little black jacket so iconic?
Karl Lagerfeld: The little black jacket became like jeans or T-shirts – a basic item in a woman's wardrobe. The shape and design – four pockets and no collar – is inspired by Austrian menswear. Gabrielle Chanel saw the jacket worn by lift boys in a hotel near Salzburg, run by a man called the Baron Pantz. She translated the design for women and it was hugely successful. I think it's very interesting that it started as a jacket for men. That is why I photographed men in the jacket for the exhibition too.
It’s like what she did with jersey...
Yes, when she did jersey it was shocking. Before then, jersey had only been used for men's underwear. She found the male wardrobe very inspiring.
"Choupette is not a typical Chanel woman. She’s more Jean Harlow"
What is your favourite colour?
I love black and white. And I like touches of other colours on black and white. I’m a black and white person but not today. Today I'm wearing a little olive, I thought it was right to wear some tweed in England. But this evening, I will wear black and white.
Does Choupette have a little black jacket?
Choupette has nothing. Choupette has beautiful fur – she hates to be touched with jewellery, ribbons, she gets mean. She’s not a typical Chanel woman, you see. She’s more Jean Harlow.
What do you like about London?
I like that London is London – it’s not a fake Paris, it’s not a fake Rome. Rome, Paris and London really kept their identities. You know where you are; it's not the same with some other cities. London has remained to be what it once was, but has also moved with the times. A bit like New York. I think that's a great thing. It’s one of the few really exciting cities in the world. I don’t come that often – I have to do collections all the time. I always go to the same hotel and to the same places. I like the Victoria and Albert Museum. But I don’t come to London for social life because I have no time for social life.
Do you remember the first time you saw Chanel's little black jacket?
No. Because I was interested in fashion and at the time, Chanel was nearly out of fashion already. When I took over, the owner said to me, “I’ve got this business, the way it is I’m not proud of it, if you can do something with it…” Everybody said to me, “Don’t touch it, it’s dead, don’t touch it.” You know, everybody revives brands now but then nobody revived brands. I did it because it was a challenge, because I had an idea for them. And here we are 30 years later.
I think that's what's so impressive about the exhibition – it balances your taste with the house of Chanel...
If there were not this kind of strange love/hate with the style, the personality, of Chanel then it wouldn’t work. Because you have to go in that direction and then in the opposite direction. Just going in the direction of respect and flattery doesn’t work; they tried for 10 years, it was a flop. It has to be balanced.
The Little Black Jacket runs at Saatchi Gallery in London until November 4.
Introduction by Laura Bradley
