Video: Kristen on Chanel's creative director Virginie Viard

Aside from being the creative head of one of the biggest luxury brands, who is Virginie Viard really? Who is the woman behind the title? Only those in the close-knit confines at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris, Chanel’s headquarters, are privy to those answers—one of whom is Kristen Stewart. “She’s so creative and she’s so herself that there has to be a certain layer of protection,” she said in a just-released video for the spring 2020 ready-to-wear campaign.

The actress has been a part of Chanel’s coterie since 2013, when she was picked by Lagerfeld and the marketing team at the company to be a brand ambassador, starring in numerous advertisements and attending runway shows regularly. For seven years, Stewart worked alongside Viard to make Lagerfeld’s vision a reality. “Virginie is someone that I’ve sort of grown up looking up to,” she said. “I’ve been a part of this creative umbrella, family for a really long time. And to know that she was going to be fully unbridled made me nervous and excited.”

Stewart, to be sure, is one of the few people who can pinpoint the slight variations between Lagerfeld and Viard, shining a light on her own unique attributes outside of her mentor’s shadow. And for Stewart, it is the ease Viard brings to every piece she designs, the light touch she imbues in the selection of frilly blouses, tiered skirts, and printed coats that sets them apart. “It feels impulsive and sporadic, and honest, and colorful,” she said. “It doesn’t seem rehearsed or performed. It seems very lived-in.”

Where Lagerfeld put forward a pristine, unadulterated Chanel look, Viard, in a considered way, untethered the uniform, vitalizing her collections with a more laid-back, on-the-go quality. “Virginie is a punk rocker,” Stewart said. “I genuinely feel kind of ignited by the clothes that she makes. The way that they’re worn allows for a sort of individualized experience. There is an originality and a sort of unique thing that she brings to just a room that she walks into [and] I feel that her clothes do the same thing.”

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Replacing Karl Lagerfeld is no mean feat, but Virginie Viard stepped up to the challenge in 2019 after the legendary designer passed away in February last year. Having worked at Chanel since 1987 when she joined as an intern, Viard is part of the brand's family - and was instrumental in making Kristen Stewart feel at home when the star was first enlisted as a brand ambassador.

Today, in an exclusive interview, the actress talks about how she grew up looking up to Viard and couldn't wait to see what she would create "unbridled". She describes the results as a "gasping breath" that exude a weightlessness that enables women - herself included - to feel confident.

"Not to get serious, but we really do need to feel light," says Stewart. "We really need to feel like we can run right now as women. And these clothes make that feel possible... the tone of this is levity. I could run around the block in them. You're meant to do something in them, not just sit and look pretty. Those clothes are meant to be worn. To feel like that is not typical in clothing as beautiful as hers."

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