Have been you capable of see him earlier than he handed away?
I noticed him on the Met, at his final Chanel present in New York [in December 2018]. He was frail, however he was strolling. And I by no means go to the afterparties, however I went this time. It was darkish and also you couldn’t see so effectively, however all of the sudden Karl sees me and begins flipping out, and so I climb over my pal to see him and he’s like, “Oh my God,” and he’s scrambling for his telephone, attempting to indicate me footage of his cat, after which he says, “Your son, your son,” and he’s grabbing my telephone: “Present me your son.” And so I present him my son, and he’s simply squeezing me. That was the final time I noticed him. I’m simply so glad I acquired to inform him that I like him.
It seems like he opened up this entire new world to you.
He truly is the rationale why I’ve a really secure place to stay in Miami, as a result of he wrote me a verify a very long time in the past, and I used to be in a position to make use of that as a down cost on the place the place I stay now. And due to Karl, I’ve so many superb reminiscences and style friendships, and actual household like Jean Touitou from APC, Camille Bidault-Waddington, Catherine Baba, the Sorrentis, Olivier Zahm, Mark Borthwick. Again within the ’90s, we have been all, for higher or much less, simply artists in several methods. I used to be singing songs and so they have been taking footage, styling footage, creating content material; they have been journalists. After which all of us grew up. I noticed Pharrell lately at Chanel’s Métier d’arts present, the place I additionally noticed [Chanel creative director] Virginie [Viard] with the entire superb handworked items. Within the olden instances in Miami I’d have brunches in my previous house, and Pharrell’s spouse would come over; then Pharrell acquired enormous with the Neptunes and I’d by no means see him anymore, however now he’s doing one thing so cool for Louis Vuitton, after Virgil. I’m so comfortable for him, as a result of he’s Southern, too.
I preserve forgetting that—he looks like he comes from one other planet, however yeah, he’s from Virginia Seaside. How did you meet him?
Sooner or later about 20 years in the past I acquired a telephone name from my pal who was launching that shoe that Pharrell had made—Ice Lotions. He stated, “Hey, Lauryn Hill simply canceled her efficiency at Pharrell’s shoe launch. Are you able to be right here in 45 minutes and sing some songs? All people’s ready.” And I used to be like: “You wager your fucking ass I can.” I wore my high-top, creamy-colored Adidas and my Marc Jacobs Louis Vuitton gown, however the one working guitar I had on the time was this Fifties Silvertone acoustic—cream-colored with this stunning blue, like a light-weight petrol blue—with F-hole cutaways. Anyway, I ran, and I sat down on this huge white throne, however the motion on my guitar was so excessive that it was onerous to even play, a lot much less do something summary or experimental. I had no results, no reverb—so all I did was play Hank Williams covers, which is the weirdest fucking shit on this planet to be enjoying at an all-hip-hop state of affairs, proper?! I imply, I attempted to soul them up, however I performed seven songs and acquired off. I used to be so embarrassed—I simply wished to get out of there, however then my pal introduced me over to see Pharrell. He’s an Aries, so he was being form of cool, and everybody’s taking footage of him, however he’s like, “You’ve acquired an ideal voice,” and I used to be like, “Thanks,” however he’s like, “No—I imply, you’ve a nice voice.” After which we turned pleasant by means of that.
