Kiera Knightley, British film star, is set to play the Chanel creator in a film directed by Karl Lagerfeld. The film celebrates fashion designer Chanel’s 100th anniversary. In what is perhaps her most stylish role to date, Keira Knightley has shunned her 'uniform' of period clothing to play renowned fashion designer Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel.
In a trailer released by the French fashion house today, Knightley, the face of the brand's Coco Mademoiselle fragrance, is shown conniving with French actress Clotilde Hesme, who plays Adrienne, her aunt. Although to be exact, she was Coco's aunt, Adrienne was near the same age as the fashion designer and the two had a strong friendship. She and Coco's sister, Antoinette, would stroll through the town wearing Chanel creations to promote the top fashion designer’s boutique. Lindsey Wixson, top American teenage model, stars as one of the immaculately -dressed women sauntering around the town's boulevard.
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The title, Once Upon a Time, is set in 1913 in Deauville, the alluring holiday destination in Normandy, in northern France. It was here that Chanel opened her first store with the backing of her lover at the time, Arthur 'Boy' Capel.
The film also stars models Caroline de Maigret , Stella Tennant, Jamie Bochert, together with Lagerfeld's muse Lady Amanda Harlech and her daughter Tallulah, as well as male Chanel favourites Brad Kroenig and his son Hudson (who also happens to be Lagerfeld's godson), Jake Davis, Sébastien Jondeau, and Baptiste Giabiconi.
It will premiere on May 8, when the brand displays the next Cruise collection in Singapore, and shot on location later this week. The town is now peppered with neon signs, and billboards, leaving Lagerfeld and his team to reconstruct detailed, retro sets to show the town as it were 100 years ago.
This is one of the latest films with top fashion designers clothing the stars. Prada envelopes Leonard DiCaprio in Brooks Brothers, while Catherine Martin creates flapper dresses and other era-appropriate pieces in the movie “The Great Gatsby”. Tom Ford created hand-made suits tailored to fit Daniel Craig like a glove in Quantum of Solace (2008), and Skyfall (2012).