We all know Karl Lagerfeld is a 77-year-old on the cutting edge of cool, a master of design, an artist. But a fun, easy-going guy? Yes, indeed.
Rita Ora is just one of the celebrities he’s photographed for Chanel’s new Little Black Jacket exhibition, and although she confesses to some nerves before meeting Lagerfeld, they were unnecessary, she told tabloid! ahead of the launch party for the show in Dubai on Thursday, where she put in a blistering six-song set to a crowd of Dubai’s most stylish.
“He’s just got so much energy, and to have energy at that age, and to have experienced everything he’s experienced in the fashion world, and have literally have changed the fashion world — and just be Karl. Lagerfeld,” Ora says, emphasising the German designer’s name.
“And still walk into the room and say hello to the lighting man. That’s a big deal. That’s when you know there’s hope in the world. It’s just the nicest thing. He would come into this room and say hello to everybody. And talk to you and remember you. That’s important.”
French actor Gaspard Ulliel, the current face of the brand’s Bleu fragrance and another of Lagerfeld’s subjects, agrees.
“He is really easy-going, really smart and he really knows exactly what he wants, that’s why it’s so fast and easy. The whole process was full of energy because they were shooting this back-to-back within a very short period of time. We shot it within 10 minutes only, maybe less. People were just showing up, putting on the jacket, just doing a few pictures. The idea is a like a snapshot.”
The Little Black Jacket is a collaboration between Lagerfeld and former Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld, and photographs celebrities in one of Coco Chanel’s career-defining black tweed jackets. All the celebrities, male and female, are wearing the same style of jacket (Ulliel says he at first balked at the idea of wearing a woman’s jacket, but came around when he paired it with camouflage trousers and his own combat boots). A total of 113 photographs are displayed at The Venue, in Downtown Dubai, until May 11, in an exhibition that is free to enter and a must-do for any fan of fashion or celebrity.
Ora, the Kosovo-born singer with hits including RIP and How We Do, is at first glance, not your typical Chanel girl — in her videos, she’s all high-topped sneakers and streetwear. Perhaps she brings a fresh youthfulness to a brand that’s defined by elegance.
“This photo was all about being fun,” she says. “We were like, let’s pretend that David Bowie and Marilyn Monroe had a baby, and let’s try and make the kid. I just loved the fact that I was being shot by Karl, it was like, whatever, we do whatever we want. We had fun with it.”
The photo finds the singer in a simple white shirt and the jacket — and nothing else — and the styling was her own idea. “It’s a very glamorous but cool photo. I said let’s just wear a shirt and the black jacket. It was either that or maybe a nice cute pair of high-waisted shorts.”
I don’t know how many 22-year-olds would walk into a fashion shoot with Karl Lagerfeld and tell him what they want to wear, but that says a lot about Ora and her success.
On the day of the shoot, “it was Kiera Knightley, Hilary Swank, a few beautiful models… and then me,” she says with a throaty laugh. “It was incredible. I was a bit nervous. I heard that he’s a very cool guy, but still, it’s Karl. It was in his studio, books everywhere, it was like a make believe place. There was so much creativity going around the room. I love being in a room of energy, I read off energy, that’s how I make my music. I walk around the streets and just people watch. That’s what this shoot was about — everyone has a specific pose, a way of being.”
Quick fire with Rita Ora
What have you been up to?
I was just in Austria at a detox place [Viva Mayr]. It was incredible, it was life-changing. You just live life differently, so simple. It’s all about your health, they check you everywhere from your joints to your bones to your muscles, they feel your abdominals and just kind of restore what your body is missing. They give you a schedule, and you follow it. If you don’t follow it, it’s just for you. But they have yoga every morning, and the lake, and there’s no TV and it’s just so nice.
How do you feel now?
Amazing. This is my first performance now since the retreat. And I need a rest. I was on a big tour. It was incredible and I really recommend it.
Which is your favourite picture in the exhibition?
The twins [Dubai-based sisters Sama and Haya Abu Khadra]. It’s so cool. I love that photo because it’s kind of like a poster, I would love to say of an incredible scary movie, but a glamorous scary movie.
Any new music coming?
After my festival tour, I have a new album coming out. My tour starts in Europe in July, I have a festival run, and in the meantime I have a new single coming out. It’s just an evolution of me. Last album I was 18. I’m 22 now and I’ve just met some incredible faces, and heard and seen some incredible stories. Visiting my country Kosovo and realising what I could do for people literally through a three-minute song, made me look at things differently and I wanted to go back into the studio and make an album based on freedom and characteristics and a voice. And of course my love life.
Are you seeing anyone? (Ora most recently dated Rob Kardashian, and apparently broke his heart.)
I can say that I am happy, and it’s an exciting phase [smiles broadly].
