Chanel Does Not Make Menswear. But It Does Make Kendrick-Wear
Kendrick Lamar is now a Chanel ambassador, and nothing has ever made more sense. See, Lamar isn't just a rap phenom — he is also a bonafide fashion superstar. The Pulitzer Prize-winning musician habitually fuses style and music to shape his genre-bending storytelling, which has earned him five Grammys, a Super Bowl Halftime Show, and a lifetime ban from the OVO estates. Probably.
Lamar's Chanel ambassadorship launched on April 22 with a new eyewear campaign that included fellow Chanel ambassadors Lupita Nyong'o, Margaret Qualley, and Nana Komatsu.
Chanel's storied legacy is something that Lamar can "get behind," he said in a statement. "Since they don't make clothes for men, I knew it would have to be glasses."
Chanel's lack of homme offerings hasn't deterred Lamar's ability to wear Chanel. In fact, the two have become quite intertwined.
Their relationship began in 2023, when Lamar wore a custom quilt bomber designed by Virginie Viard, Chanel's then-creative director, in honor of exalted Chanel overseer Karl Lagerfeld. This was subtly foretold a month prior, when Lamar proclaimed himself as the "best-dressed moving forward," on his surprise-release single "The Hillbillies." Two years later, no one has yet to prove Lamar wrong.
In 2024, Lamar and creative partner Dave Free collaborated with Chanel to create the house's Spring/Summer 2024 set design. Lamar's pgLang agency produced "The Button," a Chanel short film starring his co-ambassador Margaret Qualley and friend of the house Naomi Campbell. The teaser explored themes of "time and transmission," as written on Chanel's Instagram account.
Later that year, Lamar showed us he really does this luxury fashion thing, even if that means wearing womenswear. He is committed to the look on every level. For Chanel's Couture Week fashion show in July, for instance, he wore a Chanel-on-Chanel-on-Chanel fit, including a Chanel tweed jacket, Chanel bandana atop a Chanel dad cap and a pair of flared Chanel trousers.
He is Mr. Put it On and a true leader of the “Boys Just Want Chanel” movement. If that title demands he wears a womenswear jacket every now and then that's just what it is.
Beyond his relationship with Chanel, Lamar also uses fashion to represent larger themes. From custom Tiffany & Co. crowns used to present himself as a Christ-like figure to rocking Maison Margiela Canadian tuxedos, a subtle dig to Drake, to accept the Grammys he won for his not-so-subtle digs at Drake. Then there’s the Wales Bonner and Martine Rose of it all. These collabs have made Lamar such a fashion empresario that he now has the style authority required to ignite the resurgence of bootcut jeans.
But sometimes Lamar's ironic fashion W's manifest all on their own à, la Jacob Elordi rocking a pgLang Dodgers hat while starring in HBO's Euphoria, which counts Drake as an executive producer. Oop.
Perhaps one of the most fortuitous moments of all of this, though, is that Drake dropped "CRYING IN CHANEL" in February, and now, two months later, Lamar has the ultimate Chanel co-sign. Whew.
