Rebirth of the Fashion King

"You still haven't answered me: besides yourself, who do you rely on?"

"It's all thanks to Chanel."

"wrong."

"It's all thanks to you and Ms. Virginia."

"wrong."

Li Xun narrowed his eyes, a habit he had when confused.

Karl Lagerfeld laughed, "It's all thanks to a bunch of half-starved girls."

"Do you think your Himalaya was carried into a high-end department store display case by someone's arm, hung on the inside pages of Vogue by someone's collarbone, or pushed into an auction house exhibition hall by someone's hip bone? Was it that line on your design drawings?"

He did not wait for Li Xun's reply.

"They are those two-dimensional characters you say need to be saved."

Li Xun's expression tightened slightly.

"They don't have to be so thin."

"They don't have to be so thin," Karl Lagerfeld repeated sarcastically, his tone no longer as sharp as before.

"Do you know how much weight a model has to lose to walk in my show?"

"Of course I know."

"How much do you know?"

"Lose at least two kilograms in the six weeks leading up to the show."

"How did you lose weight?"

Li Xun fell silent; he truly didn't know.

"You don't know," Karl Lagerfeld looked at him. "You only see the result; you don't know the process."

"I'm not going to talk to you about morality, health, or the plans in your documents. I'm just going to ask you one question."

Why do you think these girls have to put up with all this?

"Because you want them to be thin."

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"No," Karl Lagerfeld shook his head.

"It's not because I want them to be thin, it's because this industry believes that thinness is beauty. They lose weight not because of my orders, but because of competition."

"Because if 72 girls audition this season, only 50 will get to go on stage. I want the top 50 of them; they must stand at the very top of every standard."

"Then you can change that standard."

"I am that standard."

The tone of this sentence was devoid of any emotion.

"It has taken me so many years to convince Paris that thinness is beauty."

He looked at Li Xun.

"You walk into my office now and tell me, with your lack of experience in organizing a show, that this standard is wrong."

The Empress Dowager suddenly laughed.

Do you know why I'm happy?

"Because you remind me of myself, the same me at twenty-five, exactly the same – just as arrogant, just as naive, just as convinced I could change everything."

"But I'm different. When I was twenty-five, I was still a nobody. I was a real wildcat, and I had to rely on myself. What about you?"

"You have it all, Rhine. You have Chanel, you have me, you have Virginie, you have the best platform in the industry, and you have the career starting point that designers all over the world dream of."

Then you feel that's not enough, you want to prove you know more about fashion than me.

"Who do you think you are, kid?"

"Rhine wouldn't do something so impulsive; we know him."

Virginie Viard quickly tried to smooth things over, genuinely worried that the young Li Xun might not be able to handle the shock.

That old man is really something, arguing with a child.

"Show your hand. Virginia is right, you're definitely not an impulsive fool."

Karl Lagerfeld leaned back in his office chair, watching Li Xun with great interest.

"I think I can handle the Chanel Spring/Summer 2010 ready-to-wear show."

These words, spoken in the office, were like a diamond dropped into ice water—they didn't make a splash, but everyone knew they were there.

Virginie Viard's finger froze in mid-air; she was about to reach for the coffee cup on the coffee table, a movement she had forgotten in time.

At this moment, her eyes held only one thing: disbelief.

Karl Lagerfeld leaned back in his chair and suddenly laughed again.

It wasn't the sarcastic, sharp-edged kind of laughter from before, but a laughter that surged from the depths of the chest, a laughter that had truly been struck by something.

He stared at Li Xun with those blue eyes that had seen half a century of the fashion world.

Say it again.

"I can handle Chanel's Fall/Winter ready-to-wear show at Paris Fashion Week in March 2010," Li Xun said calmly.

"March, the Grand Palais in Paris, the whole package, from the theme to the set design, from the clothing to the accessories, from the model selection to the music production, I have no problem with it."

Karl Lagerfeld did not speak immediately; instead, he turned his gaze to Virginia.

"Did you hear that, Virginia?"

"Of course I heard it," Virginia's voice was a little dry.

Do you think he's crazy?

Virginie Viard took a deep breath. As the head of the Chanel Haute Couture workshop and Karl's assistant for twenty years, she knew all too well the weight of those words.

A Chanel ready-to-wear fashion show is not a college graduation exhibition, it's not about you hanging a few clothes on a rack and waiting for people to come and see.

That was the most important moment on the global fashion calendar, the reason why hundreds of top guests flew in from New York, Dubai, Tokyo and Moscow, the barometer of the global luxury market for the next few months, and the media coverage worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Li Xun, who was sitting in front of her, was still very young.

"I'm not questioning your abilities, Rhine," Virginie said, choosing the gentlest approach.

"But do you know how difficult it is to put on a real big show?"

You need to coordinate with workshops, suppliers, and six global production companies. You need to complete at least sixty full looks in the next nine months, each of which will undergo three fittings and two revisions…

"I know what I'm talking about, Ms. Virginie."

Virginia paused for a moment. In four years, this young man had never interrupted her when she was talking about serious matters.

"This is my debut for Chanel, and also the first time in my entire career. This is the most important moment for me, and I know exactly what I'm talking about."

As a designer surviving in the fashion industry, Li Xun would not have a high status if he didn't even have a major fashion show.

"Do you think you're Yves Saint Laurent? He led Dior to success at twenty-two, do you think you can too? Chanel today isn't the Dior of the last century. Are you really sure?"

The old master confirmed it one last time. Of course, he hoped that Li Xun would be successful, since he was taught by Karl Lagerfeld and Virginia.

But Chanel's Paris Fashion Week ready-to-wear show isn't something for children to play house; it has to succeed, it can't fail.

If anything goes wrong, Karl Lagerfeld will be forced to resign by Maureen's side, and Chanel will become a global spectacle.

"Starting today, I will prepare the runway design drawings and all the ready-to-wear design sketches needed for the show. We'll discuss the next steps then."

Li Xun didn't dwell on this matter; producing a work was the right thing to do.

Karl Lagerfeld applauded, admiring Li Xun's courage.

"Very good, little Rhine. If you can deliver a satisfactory result, I can promise you that, just like those monkeys jumping around in Milan, you'll make every supermodel on the Chanel runway healthier than the last."

"Thanks."

……