Pharrell Williams Is the First Man to Star in a Chanel Handbag Campaign
Pharrell Williams, Chanel’s rare male muse, models the new Gabrielle bag in the French house’s latest campaign. Though he’s appeared in ads and walked in shows for the brand before, this the first time he—or any man—has starred in a Chanel handbag campaign.
Karl Lagerfeld told WWD that the purse can be worn in “many different circumstances”—even by a man. (It is 2017, after all.) Williams is a fitting choice for the role, as a fashion star who’s experimented with women’s accessories, such as Chanel necklaces à la Lagerfeld.
“[Although] there’s mostly the perception that it’s for women, I just started to see, OK, as a man I can wear some of this,” he said. “So I would wear sunglasses here, or a jacket there.”
Williams has even started wearing the Gabrielle in real life—in the crocodile leather, no less. But he was initially conflicted on what to put in it: “When I first started wearing it I didn’t have anything in it. I was just so excited to have it. But now I use it to carry my phone, and — you know — essential personal things.”
Kristen Stewart, Cara Delevingne and Caroline de Maigret also star in the campaign, which debuts worldwide on April 3.
