The Disney+ series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld promises to be as well-dressed as it is controversial

This is a series that promises to be as controversial as it is well-dressed. If it releases on June 7, 2024 on Disney+, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld has already received a long standing ovation during its premiere presentation at the CannesSéries festival on April 7. If we can salute the performance of the actresses, we can already wonder about the portrait that will be created of the great stylist, both recognized for his talent and criticized for his sexist, classist and gross-phobic outbursts.

In the midst of all this, fashion remains. It was Pascaline Chavanne who had the difficult task of dressing the characters, such as Théodore Pellerin who will play the love of the Kaiser’s life, Jacques de Bascher. Arnaud Valois plays his friend and rival Yves Saint Laurent. Alex Lutz plays the role of Pierre Bergé (partner of YSL) and Agnès Jaoui that of Gaby Aghion (founder of the luxury ready-to-wear house Chloé). And it is Daniel Brühl who plays Karl Lagerfeld.

At a time when all platforms want to launch series on top designers such as Cristóbal Balenciaga (in the series of the same name on Disney+), Christian Dior and Gabrielle Chanel (in The new look on Apple TV+) and now Karl Lagerfeld, what are the challenges in dressing such works? To what extent do the interested and illustrated houses agree to collaborate or not?

to miss asked the costume designer Becoming Karl LagerfeldPascaline Chavanne (nominated eleven times for the César du cinéma, winner of the César for best costumes in 2014 for Renoir by Gilles Bourdos, as well as that of 2020 for I accuse by Roman Polanski), to understand the style behind the scenes of such a series.

Interview with Pascaline Chavanne, head costume designer of the Disney+ series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld

To miss. How did you become a costume designer?

Pascalina Chavanne. After studying scenography at the Beaux-Arts I followed training in period costume. Very early on I had the opportunity to meet François Ozon. Working on his films as a costume designer allowed me to earn a living this precise moment in which, in the intimacy of the rehearsal, the character is born, just as the actor steps into his costume. He is very creative and very inspiring. It is in this precise moment that you understand that the dress is the first place where the actor takes refuge, that the dress tells the story.

We know that the monk wears a robe so that his status can be immediately seen, but that it is possible to wear a robe to pass off as a monk. The costume, beyond its protective function, shows or hides, highlights or camouflages… The suit tells. And that’s exactly what I love about my job!

Did you easily agree to design the costumes for Becoming Karl Lagerfeld?

Yes and no. The idea of ​​working on someone like Karl Lagerfeld was exciting and scary at the same time. The emperor of fashion has enough to paralyze you. Knowing that Jérôme Salles was the director and Jean Rabasse the set designer reassured me and made me decide to accept.

What did Karl Lagerfeld mean to you during his life as a costume designer? And Yves Saint Laurent?

Karl Lagerfeld was a black and white icon, an enigma, an omnipresent designer with boundless creativity, constantly renewing silhouettes for the different houses he worked for, overflowing with ideas, even annoying ones…

Yves Saint Laurent told him” fashions pass, style is eternal “. He wanted to escape ephemeral fashion in favor of a style that lasts. Yves Saint Laurent is the trouser suit, the safari jacket and the trench coat. Of Saint Laurent we remember the artist’s work; We remember Lagerfeld as a character, an icon.

Is it a form of dedication, as a costume designer, to work on a series about fashion, or on the contrary, are the margins for maneuver much more limited?

It is neither a consecration nor a constraint. To tell the truth, I have invested a lot in this series as in all the films I work on and in all the topics I deal with. After having researched myself enormously, after having invested in the world of Karl Lagerfeld and the world of Parisian life in the fashion world of the 70s, it was very easy to break free from it to create your own universe of the series. Aiming at a contemporary audience and knowing who you are addressing is very important.

What was your creative process in dressing the characters in this series, since these are real personalities who have been hyper-publicized, so there are a lot of photos? Did you rather try to reproduce archive images or, on the contrary, to get rid of them?

We can believe that when we talk about a personality that existed, we just need to look at the photos and reproduce it identically. But in reality you are forced to emancipate yourself from reality. Daniel Brülh is no more Karl Lagerfeld than Jeanne Damas is Paloma Picasso. It is the meeting between an actor and his character that guides my choices.

What we wanted was to tell the story of Parisian life in the fashion world of the 70s, narrate an atmosphere rather than trying to reproduce it identically. In particular in this series, each silhouette had the importance of him, because all the decoration that surrounded Karl Lagerfeld was a source of inspiration for him, and that’s what we wanted to tell.

My goal is not to copy an existing photo, but to give, through clothing, the right tools to an actor to help him embody his character.. And this within a certain aesthetic.

When we do a period reconstruction, the difficulty is finding the right balance between the fashion of magazines and the street fashion of life. Keep the truth in the surrender so as not to damage history. This is why watching period documentaries is very informative, but knowing who we are talking to today is also essential.

Have you been able to collaborate with some important houses such as Chloé and Chanel, for example to access certain archives?

We had an excellent collaboration with the Maison Chloé and in particular with Géraldine Sommier, heritage director and her team. We have done truly historic work. Very precise research based on photographic archives, descriptions of fashion shows of the time and some authentic pieces.

All this allowed us to develop the color range and patterns and then have the fabrics printed for the show before cutting. Our story ends in 1982, the date on which Karl Lagerfeld was appointed artistic director of the house of Chanel, we did not need to collaborate with the house of Chanel.

Did you have more fun dressing the women in the series like Agnès Jaoui (Gabrielle Aghion) Jeanne Damas (Paloma Picasso), Claire Laffut (Loulou de La Falaise), Sunnyi Melles (Marlene Dietrich) or even Lisa Kreuzer (Elisabeth Lagerfeld)? How would you describe their respective styles?

I like dressing men as much as women.

For the series we set up a workshop with a head seamstress, Francesca Sartori and a head of the flou workshop Justine Vivien. Every costume that comes out of our laboratories is unique, we create truly tailor-made garments!

At the end of the measurement, Francesca created the paper pattern. Then for the creation there is an infinite number of choices of materials, colors and details such as the choice of the shape of the pockets, the stitching of the cuffs… And finally the accessories. It is all these details that define the final silhouette and make the difference.

What was your biggest challenge with this series?

Dressing the Karl Lagerfeld of his early days, the one whose existence we almost didn’t know because he was so far from the icon known to everyone. Imagine the costume created by Karl Lagerfeld for Marlene Dietrich and of which she would say: “ It’s ugly ! »

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