EXCLUSIVE: Kaia Gerber Designs Capsule Collection With Karl Lagerfeld
PARIS — Move over, Gigi — there’s a new “It” girl in town.
Only three months after her stellar debut catwalk season, Kaia Gerber has inked her first big design collaboration, with Karl Lagerfeld, no less. The 16-year-old daughter of Cindy Crawford has worked on a capsule collection that will hit stores in September, WWD has learned exclusively.
Consisting of ready-to-wear and accessories, including footwear, sunglasses and jewelry, the line is described as blending Lagerfeld’s Parisian chic aesthetic and Gerber’s signature West Coast casual style, which has garnered her 2.7 million followers on Instagram.
The Karl Lagerfeld x Kaia collection will launch globally in Karl Lagerfeld stores, online at Karl.com and with select wholesale partners.
Lagerfeld singled out Gerber as a rising talent months before her breakout season in September, which saw her walk the catwalk for 18 brands, including Calvin Klein, Prada, Saint Laurent and Versace.
She ended it with an honor most seasoned models would die for: Opening the Chanel show for Lagerfeld, who in addition to heading his own label is creative director of Chanel and Italian fur specialist Fendi.
“When Karl first told us his idea to collaborate with Kaia, we were all excited by the incredible potential and power of bringing their two worlds together,” Pier Paolo Righi, chief executive officer of Karl Lagerfeld, said in a statement Tuesday.
“We have been working intensely over the last months with Kaia in L.A. and at our studio in Paris. It was exciting to see her clear vision, passion and engagement, and the collection will definitely inspire many young women,” he added.
Though the brand only provided a preview of the collection — in the shape of the elbow-length studded leather gloves Gerber can be seen inspecting in a behind-the-scenes shot from one of her meetings with Lagerfeld’s design team — early reports indicate it will be a round-the-clock offering with a mix of California cool for day and French sophistication for after dark.
It is set to be launched with a series of events in Los Angeles, New York and Paris in the fall.
Lagerfeld is no doubt betting that the collection will have an effect similar to the one Tommy Hilfiger has enjoyed with the launch of his collaboration with Gigi Hadid. When the Tommy x Gigi line debuted as Hilfiger’s first see-now-buy-now show in September 2016, it generated 900 percent increased traffic to tommy.com in the 48 hours following the show. Hilfiger has continued the collaboration with Hadid for the last two seasons and will do so again in February, in Milan.
Gerber’s fashion month dominance in September and October dramatically overshadowed the usually clickbait-y Kendall Jenner and Gigi and Bella Hadid phenomenon, which has ruled on the runway in recent years. For last season, at least, she effectively eclipsed her older — and much more followed — peers.
Earlier this year, Jenner told Love magazine of Gerber: “Listen, we’re all trying to get all our work in now before she hits the scene. When that happens, we’ll all go broke!”
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