Keira Knightley on being the face of Chanel
Keira Knightley has been one of Chanel's biggest boosters for going on a decade now. In multiple campaigns, red carpet turns and a series of film roles – Knightley wore the label's clothing and jewellery in Atonement, Le Misanthope and Anna Karenina – the 32-year-old actor has embodied its relentless push to reinvent itself.
Her latest role for the brand is as the face of its new Gallery Collection of fine jewellery, which debuted on Sept. 29 in a campaign shot by the legendary French photographer Sarah Moon. Made up of 12 pieces that take inspiration from the hardware of the brand's 2.55 bag and Paris' Place Vendôme, the line puts a bohemian spin on luxe pieces set with diamonds, tourmaline, malachite and quartz.
At Chanel's resort show in May, Knightley perched in her usual front row seat wearing a black slip and tweed blazer, next to her husband, British musician James Righton. After the presentation, she moved backstage to speak about her creative connection to the brand, the secret behind designer Karl Lagerfeld's longevity and why, as a mom to a two-year-old, a new bauble might be the most forgiving way to wear something fancy.
Tell me a bit about how you wear Chanel and how that's evolved over your relationship with the brand?
I wear what I like, I guess. I think you can be really playful with it. I'm in a really privileged position where I get to see the catwalk and then I get to take things apart. I think fashion in general is always about trying to make it your own. I mean, I feel quite serious in what I'm wearing today, but I feel like that's because most of the time I'm covered in baby sick. So, actually, I quite like being quite serious and put together. Other times I like being a bit more grungy. But when you're usually covered in baby sick, it's nice to feel a bit sharp.
Have you thought about how you're going to wear the new jewellery with baby sick?
The jewellery is fine with baby sick because it wipes straight off. It's absolutely fine. Why I really like the jewellery is I can still be in the mum-in-the-baby-sick phase and have a really nice ring on and I can just look at it and go, 'it's all okay, it's okay. I can wash the sick off."
Do you approach the process of shooting a campaign like this latest series as an actress?
The one for this collection was [photographed] with the amazing Sarah Moon, who is just such a legend and I've been such a fan of her images for so long. Being on set with her was incredible. She has a very particular vibe that you catch. For an actress on a photo shoot…you know, they're not the most natural places. But what you do is you try and capture the character from the photographer. They always set it and she definitely did. It was really quite ethereal, kind of dreamy, but really quite precise. She's very interesting because she has an amazingly relaxed kind of vibe to her and yet she absolutely knows exactly what she wants.
Do you think about Coco Chanel as a person when you're embodying that person in the campaign?
Sometimes. I mean, if they've said this is what we're going for, then definitely. Coco Chanel represents the ultimate survivor and the ultimate individual, which as far as an artistic life goes is a really interesting, endlessly impressive thing.
What do you think about a brand with the history of Chanel constantly reinventing itself for a younger generation? How do you see yourself fitting into that?
I'm not sure I do. I don't have any social media so I officially don't fit into any of it. I think it's all about individuality. You buy into a particular shape or a particular fiction in your head of what something represents but ultimately you twist it to make it your own. And I think that's what fashion is about with everything, but particularly with Chanel because Karl is always striving forward in such an extraordinary way. He's been here for so long, doing such amazing work with the influences he always has of the past and yet managing to recreate it and spin it. I think that's endlessly fascinating and I'm sure will be fascinating for younger people as they come up.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Andrew Sardone travelled to Paris as a guest of Chanel. The company did not review or approve this article prior to publication.
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