Here's why Kendrick Lamar has joined Chanel as an ambassador
Is menswear on the cards at the esteemed French fashion house? We investigate
STRAIGHT OFF THE BACK of Easter weekend, Chanel drops some news that proves there’s no rest for the fashion industry. Nor Kendrick Lamar, whose explosive start to the year continues with the announcement that he’ll be fronting the French maison as a new brand ambassador. His first gig: the spring/summer ’25 eyewear campaign .
Still, this alliance is by no means a new one. Lamar was first seen endorsing the famed double-C moniker at the 2023 Met Gala, sporting a custom look by the then creative director Virginie Viard. He then rocked up to their July couture show in Paris, on one of the hottest days of the year, in a tweed jacket and monogrammed jeans.
Last year, he created the score for Chanel’s short film The Button – which happens to feature fellow campaign co-star, The Substance’s Margaret Qualley – then, a pair of the brand’s black frames (shocking!) appeared in the music video for his single with SZA, ‘Luther’.
“Chanel has a timeless legacy and that is always something I can get behind,” said the rapper in a statement. “Since they don’t make clothes for men, I knew it would have to be glasses.”
Writer and editor of StyleZeitgeist, Eugene Rabkin, thinks the choice to have Kendrick fronting a sunglasses campaign is down to two reasons. Firstly, the US is the second largest luxury goods market in the world, positioned behind China, which is “dropping off significantly” in size.
“Also, it makes sense because he’s promoting basically an entry-level product, which I imagine now luxury brands will be prioritising since they’ve priced the middle class out of everything else, pretty much,” Rabkin continues. “People will still want to treat themselves, but they’ll likely go for a pair of sunglasses.”
While it’s not new that a man is fronting a Chanel campaign – Pharrell Williams did so for nine years before joining Louis Vuitton as their men’s artistic director, and Timothée Chalamet is currently the face of Bleu de Chanel – this appointment comes at an interesting time. One that potentially(!) signals menswear in Chanel’s future.
To start, in December of last year, confirmation of Viard’s successor came with the announcement of Matthieu Blazy, who previously was at the helm of Bottega Veneta.
For industry folk, this was exciting news. Blazy’s BV collections were repeatedly a success with critics, editors and buyers alike, known for honouring heritage techniques intrinsic to the brand while reworking them for a 2025 customer.
“He is quite known for being at the forefront of culture in that way,” says Odunayo (Ayo) Ojo of @fashionroadman fame, of Blazy. “If you think of when he was at Bottega, you think of who was wearing Bottega. He used to invite a lot of hip-hop artists” – e.g. A$AP Rocky – “to the shows, he used to dress a lot of them. I think [this news] was to be expected, especially because Kendrick Lamar has already aligned himself with Chanel.”
Blazy designed menswear as well as womenswear in this role – and did an excellent job of it, may I add – meaning that it’s by no means something he’s incapable of. (In 2017, rumours started speculating that Hedi Slimane would be leading Chanel’s menswear line, which the brand quickly denied. Now more male celebrities have been sporting their garms in the eight years since, it doesn’t seem like such a ludicrous idea.)
The brand is also bringing new life to its watches department – a product category historically rife with male customers, yet one Chanel has always focused on its female counterparts.
Publicity was brought upon their J12 model – The new J12 Bleu launches this month with a strong male focus – when it was announced that Chanel would become the official sponsor and timekeeper of the UK’s famed Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge. It marks the first sports sponsorship for the brand.
“I am sure it’s perceived as unexpected,” says Frédéric Grangié, the president of Chanel watches and fine jewellery, of the long-term partnership to the Financial Times. “I had been thinking for years about timekeeping and synchronicity and how you express that.”
Now, you have Kendrick Lamar, potentially the world’s buzziest male rapper and current style icon – lest we forget, those bootcut jeans – starring in a Chanel campaign.
“If I think of Kendrick’s audience, a lot of them will be men that are really into hip hop. So, anything that’s even a little bit tied to womenswear they’ll assume is for women,” says Ojo. “Kendrick is the kind of person that could help dispel those kind of things.”
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I doubt they’ll be following in LV’s footsteps by appointing Lamar as creative director, if there’s even a menswear line that require’s one. But I suspect that with the Met Gala and his and SZA’s upcoming tour imminent, there will be more collaborative looks this year. Maybe their virality will result in strengthened argument.
This story originally appeared on Esquire UK
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