EXCLUSIVE: Karl Lagerfeld Taps Olivia Palermo to Style Fall Looks
PARIS — Karl Lagerfeld is adding a dash of New York glamour to his Paris-based line: the contemporary brand has recruited Olivia Palermo to collaborate on its fall collection.
The influencer will style pieces from the line and cocreate five bespoke designs as part of the partnership, which will run parallel to the brand’s previously announced collaboration with fashion editor Carine Roitfeld, who will also select an edit of fall pieces.
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Palermo, whose polished style has made her a regular of international best-dressed lists, brings with her an Instagram following of 5.8 million. A fan of bold prints, bright colors and relaxed suiting, she has previously worked with brands including Piaget, Banana Republic, Pretty Ballerinas, Aquazzura and Nordstrom.
“Being able to collaborate with the visionary and iconic Karl Lagerfeld is truly incredible,” Palermo, the founder and chief creative officer of her own group, said in a statement. “I am so proud to bring our shared vision to life on this project and infuse my own eclectic perspective to Karl’s fall 2019 collection.”
The brand, in turn, described her as “a champion of confidence, entrepreneurship and creativity.” Her selection, under the label Karl Lagerfeld Styled by Olivia Palermo, will launch at Karl Lagerfeld stores, online and with select wholesale partners in June.
A pioneer in freewheeling collaborations throughout his fashion career, Lagerfeld only recently began inviting outside contributors to his brand. Most recently, Cindy Crawford’s teenage daughter and doppelg?nger Kaia Gerber signed a capsule collection for fall 2018 retailing. Last year, Lagerfeld also did a capsule collection with Sébastien Jondeau, his longtime personal assistant and bodyguard.
Since repositioning his signature fashion house in the masstige zone in 2010, Lagerfeld’s brand has expanded rapidly to more than 100 freestanding stores worldwide, plus online sales in 96 countries.
The affordable luxury label has been growing at a double-digit clip, which its chief executive officer Pier Paolo Righi attributed in an interview last year to the fact that Lagerfeld “just genuinely lives and works the DNA and the attributes of the brand, and I think the consumer realizes that very well, and that has made it very successful in recent years.”
In addition to heading his own label, Lagerfeld is creative director of Chanel and the fur and ready-to-wear designer at Fendi.
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