When Carine Roitfeld left Paris Vogue, it was like we were free-falling in a cold, black abyss. To imagine this land without Carine at the helm of the Fashion Bible was like staring into a black crystal ball—or the eyes of Death. Was there to be no more Carine Street Style at the Paris shows? No more Carine-styled covers or editorials to rub against our cheeks? It was a whole new world, and one we didn’t think we wanted to live in.
But we shouldn’t have feared. Paris Vogue didn’t make Carine Roitfeld, and it couldn’t unmake her. After spending a ridiculously short time collecting herself and switching gears, the former editrix jumped right back into it. She started styling up a storm for V, Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy; she started modeling for Barney’s, W, and i-D; she even announced that she was developing her own quarterly fashion magazine. And now, she’s been hired by Karl Lagerfeld to style a second Chanel campaign. Carine Roitfeld is nothing if not in our faces.
She and the Kaiser shot the Spring/Summer 2012 Chanel campaign over the weekend at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France. Karl Lagerfeld might have kept Carine onboard, but he replaced a familiar face: Freja Beha Erichsen shot Chanel’s last five campaigns, but she’ll no longer be fronting the brand. The Spring 2012 ads will star Joan Smalls (left, below) and Saskia de Brauw (right, below). See you on the flipside, Freja! Just follow Carine’s lead.
