Ever since Karl Lagerfeld cast his ‘bodyguard’ Sebastein Jondeau in a Chanel campaign back in 2014, the internet has been justifiably obsessed with the designer’s most chiselled member of staff. The handsome Frenchman (and former boxer) has now turned his hand to design, helping to curate a capsule line for his boss’s eponymous brand, Karl Lagerfeld.
The news emerged as Lagerfeld heads to the Pitti Uomo trade show in Florence next week, with his personal-assistant-turned-collaborator in tow. The Karl Lagerfeld Curated by Sebastien Jondeau collection will feature everything your fashionable security personnel needs: from James Bond-esque tuxedos to sporty sweatshirts, leather shearling jackets to cashmere knits.
Speaking exclusively to WWD, Jondeau said: ‘It’s everything I like to wear, like an ideal version of my wardrobe. My style is very urban, yet it can also be quite strict — strict and chic, since I can go from wearing sweats and a pair of Jordans to a three-piece suit. I was thrilled to be given this opportunity. Who would have thought that a personal assistant, or bodyguard, or whatever you want to call me, would ever get to work on a collection?’
Jondeau started his career with Lagerfeld way back in 1997, when he met him while working for an art-moving company (we can only speculate on which of Lagerfeld’s impressively vast collection he was lugging into a van for him…) at the tender age of 15. He was promoted from bodyguard to personal assistant, and now oversees Lagerfeld’s private staff.
Now he’s got his sights set on more design work, telling WWD: ‘I’d like to see how people react to the line — then I can start talking about that kind of thing. Maybe not a Sébastien Jondeau brand, but if I have the opportunity to design for another brand, or to continue for the Karl Lagerfeld brand, I would love to because it’s fun and it’s opening up a new world to me.