Rebirth of the Fashion King

"Three?"

"Me, Virginia, and him."

Anna Wintour puts down the magazine.

"A photo of the three of you taken together?"

The Empress Dowager nodded with a smile.

"Yes, that's very meaningful."

Anna casually asked, "How long has it been since you took a picture with Virginia?"

"It's been a long time. The last time was in 1996 when we took a work photo in the studio. Back then, we still needed a flash, and I hate flashes."

The old lady's expression turned to one of reminiscence, her tone tinged with a smile.

"So where is that photo now?"

Karl Lagerfeld confirmed, "At Virginia's house."

"So her house is now a museum."

"You think the same way she does." The old lady stood up.

"She said last time that she was a cultural relic rescuer, specializing in rescuing things I was about to throw away. You have a morbid obsession with cultural preservation."

“I’m not here to argue with you about this,” Anna Wintour said.

Karl walked to a low cabinet next to the bookshelf. The cabinet was black lacquered, made in mid-18th century France. The bottom drawer was pulled out, revealing neatly stacked file boxes, each with a label on its side.

Anna recognized those labels.

标籤是卡尔的笔记，白色无酸纸，黑色墨水，写的是地点、季节和人物：「巴黎2006·7高定后台」、「比亚里茨2008·灯塔」、「康朋街2008·李寻·第一次试装」、「维吉妮2008·圣诞」、「面试大厅·2009·5·家人合照」。

Carl took out a commemorative photo album from the bottom box.

In the interview hall, Li Xun and Virginia stood in front of a long table, both wearing sunglasses like him.

"This is the first one. I had Sebastian press the shutter. The camera was positioned to the side; it's not a formal group photo, just a record of our positions. Look how well it's taken, haha..."

Anna Wintour picked it up and looked at it for a while.

"Virginie looked fiercer than usual," she said.

"The effect of sunglasses is that she is the gentlest person in the entire Chanel, but when she puts on sunglasses, it looks like she could fire the entire design department with a single sentence."

"You said it yourself."

  

"I also said that she was too gentle in person and not suitable for the cold and bleak scenes I wanted to shoot."

Anna Wintour took one photo after another.

Virginie's, Li Xun's.

"If this photo were published in Vogue, people would call and ask me who this is," Anna said, pointing to Li Xun's photo.

"You can tell them that Chanel has excellent womenswear designers."

"You said before that you wouldn't groom a successor for yourself."

"I never said I was going to groom a successor. What I said was that if he becomes the next so-and-so sooner or later, it's not my achievement, nor anyone else's achievement."

"What is that?"

"That's the law of nature," the old lady explained with a smile.

"New designers emerge in every era. Some are seen, some are not. He belongs to the category of those who are seen, because he is here with me."

"You're claiming to be an authority again."

"I am the authority."

Anna Wintour rolled her eyes.

She continued flipping through the photo album.

The three of them took various "relaxed" group photos at the end of the interview hall: Li Xun and Carl, Carl and Virginia, Li Xun and Virginia, and the version where the three of them are drunk without sunglasses.

Carl was in the middle, Virginia was on the left, and Li Xun was on the right.

All three of them were laughing.

It wasn't the professional smile for the camera, nor the polite expression for a group photo backstage at a fashion show; it was a genuine smile.

The three of them stood in the exact same spot as in the previous group photo where they were wearing sunglasses, but the atmosphere was completely different.

Once the sunglasses were removed, all the disguise was gone.

Karl Lagerfeld is no longer the fashion emperor who always hides behind sunglasses, Virginie is no longer the aloof director of the Chanel studio, and Li Xun is no longer a designer who looks older than his actual age.

There were three of them, one in the middle and two on the sides, and they were all very happy.

Anna stared at the photograph and remained silent for a long time.

"You've never smiled like that in a group photo, including one with me," Anna Wintour finally said.

"I was laughing so hard."

"Like an ordinary person."

"I'm just an ordinary person."

"You're not," Anna said, turning the photo over.

"This photo is different from all the others. In the others, you are the one taking the picture, recording, and creating. In this photo, all three of you are present. There is no camera, no shutter release cable, no light meter. You are in the frame, not behind it."

What are you trying to say?

"Am I trying to express that I feel envious?"

Anna Wintour closed the photo album.

"I've known you for over thirty years, and I've never seen you smile like that in a group photo."

Vogue has taken countless backstage photos of Chanel, featuring designers and models, designers and editors, designers and celebrities. In every single one, you're smiling, but the smile in each one is different. You're standing on stage surrounded by tall models, everyone is looking at you, but you're looking at your own work. Your smile is for the audience.

The Empress Dowager continued to listen to her.

"Virginie has been with you for a long time, and your relationship has gone beyond that of a boss and employee."

She is one of the people you trust most in the world. She knows how to clean up your mess, how to finish your design at the last minute, how to speak for you when you don't want to, and how to collect your work when you throw it away.

But she never relaxed in your presence, never. She was always ready for your next instruction, always on guard against your next sudden whim.

"But she's relaxed in this photo; you and Rhine made her relax."

"This is one of Rhine's abilities: he can make the people around him relax in a way that doesn't affect others or seem deliberate."

Karl Lagerfeld explained.

"Rhine was the biggest help to Virginie and me when he joined Chanel. After he came, our work pressure was reduced a lot. He could also help Virginie and me relax from time to time. It would be even better if he didn't use that old man Saint Laurent to annoy me."

Anna Wintour sat on the sofa with her arms crossed and her legs crossed.

Her expression right now isn't very pleasant.

As for why this happened, she wasn't quite sure.

A little jealous? No.

As one of the most influential women in the fashion world, she is not jealous of anyone.

"Anna, you don't seem to be in a good mood?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine."

"No, you are. We're old friends, I know you very well. You've put on 'armor' right now; you wouldn't be like this in private."

The Empress Dowager was very confident in her guess. Generally speaking, if a person acts differently than usual, something must have affected them.

Anna would never be so "overbearing" in private.

……