Kristen Stewart Opens Up About Her Close Relationship With Karl Lagerfeld in New Vanity Fair Profile

In Vanity Fair’s August cover story, actor Kristen Stewart opens up about what it was like to know Karl Lagerfield, Chanel’s longtime creative director, who passed away earlier this year. Since 2013, Kristen has been an ambassador for Chanel, adding a punk component to the brand’s twee reputation. And in 2017, Kristen was named the face of Chanel's fragrance Gabrielle, iconically dancing to Beyoncé in the fragrance’s first campaign film.

It’s not unusual to see Kristen rocking the brand’s famous tweed jackets with nothing underneath to Chanel events and runway shows. In May, Kristen wore a sequined Chanel trousers-and-shirt combo to the Met Gala with bleached eyebrows and orange ombré hair, “bringing to mind Katharine Hepburn had she collided in some faraway star system with David Bowie,” writer Durga Chew-Bose writes in the Vanity Fair profile.

Lagerfeld left behind a complicated legacy: His collections were some of the most influential designs of the 21st century, but there was also ample criticism of his tone-deafness, apparent in non-body-positive remarks and a dismissiveness of sexual harassment. Despite these criticisms, Kristen sheds light on another side of the mogul, one not often publicly seen, speaking tenderly about their relationship.

“It’s funny how he presents — so austere and so scary. He wasn’t, though,” she told Vanity Fair. “He was incredibly inviting—insanely, shockingly unpretentious. He liked what he liked because he liked it. He was a fancy motherfucker, but it was true to him. It’s almost like he sensed he was intimidating, so he was like, ‘No. To have a creative heart is daunting, but let’s get it beating faster and harder.’ He was always touching you while speaking to you. He never talked at you — if he was talking to you, he was usually holding your hand.”

Hearing Kristen speak about Karl, it’s clear the two shared a special bond — one that not many people were privy to. In this way, Kristen gives insight into the more private side of Karl, which is a beautiful way to pay tribute to him. “Luckily he knew how to leave a trace. There’s just a feeling that he gave me, an encouraging attaboy thing that shapes you in really profound ways,” Kristen says.

You can read the full profile here.