Cara Delevingne, Pharrell Williams, Tilda Swinton and Helen Mirren pay tribute at Karl Lagerfeld’s memorial 'Karl For Ever'

The designer's star-studded memorial was as spectacular as his shows
1/22
Sabrina Carder21 June 2019

On Thursday evening celebrities streamed into the Grand Palais in Paris to pay tribute to renowned designer, Karl Lagerfeld.

The tribute, named “Karl For Ever,” was organised by the houses of Chanel, Fendi and Karl Lagerfeld and conceived by theatre and opera director Robert Carsen.

The 90-minute celebration of Lagerfeld's life took place four months after his death in February when he passed away aged 85.

And it was an evening as spectacular and as stylish as the fashion shows the designer had created each season in the Parisian space.

Karl Lagerfeld's best ever Chanel runway sets - in pictures

1/52

Actress Tilda Swinton and model Cara Delevingne stood out in bold gowns as they took to the stage to read excerpts from some of Lagerfeld's favourite authors.

Swinton recited an extract from the Virginia Woolf novel Orlando, while Delevigne, wearing a pink feathered cocktail dress, paid tribute to Lagerfeld's beloved Choupette with a poem about cats written by Colette.

Lang Lang, Cara Delevingne, Lil Buck, Robert Carsen, Tilda Swinton, Pharell Williams, Helen Mirren and Charlie Siem pose on stage during the Karl Lagerfeld Homage
Getty Images

Helen Mirren wore a sleek black suit as she read out snippets of The World According to Karl, a book described as "the ultimate repertoire of wit and wisdom from fashion's sharpest pin Karl Lagerfeld."

Helen Mirren and Charlie Siem are seen on stage during Karl For Ever 
Getty Images

The star-studded show was attended by the designers closest friends including Gigi Hadid, Carla Bruni Sarkozy, Claudia Schiffer, Anna Wintour and Stella McCartney, all of whom took their seats on alternating black and white chairs, a nod to Lagerfeld's love of a monochrome palette.

Pharrell Williams performs during the Karl Lagerfeld homage
Getty Images

The energetic evening, which also saw a group of dancers flown in from Argentina especially to perform the Por Una Cabeza, ended on a high as Pharrell Williams took to the stage to get everyone on their feet with a rendition of his song Gust of Wind.

Scroll through the gallery above to get an inside look at Karl For Ever

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in