Stella Tennant has died suddenly aged 50, her family has confirmed. While no further information regarding her death has yet been shared, her family issued the following statement: ‘It is with great sadness we announce the sudden death of Stella Tennant on 22nd December 2020. Stella was a wonderful woman and an inspiration to us all. She will be greatly missed. Her family ask for their privacy to be respected. Arrangements for a memorial service will be announced at a later date.’
The sad news comes just five days after the model’s 50th birthday. She lived in Duns, a town on the Scottish border and, according to Sky News, a Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘Officers were called to an address in Duns around 11.30am on Tuesday 22 December following the sudden death of a 50-year-old woman. Her next of kin have been made aware. There are no suspicious circumstances and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.’
Tennant rose to fame in the 90s, modelling for everyone from Burberry to Alexander McQueen and Chanel, where she became Karl Lagerfeld’s muse. In 1998, she announced she was retiring from modelling as she was pregnant with her first child with David Lasnet, a photographer. They married in 1999 and went on to have three more children together. Tennant did return to modelling, however, albeit sporadically, from 2001 onwards, most notably appearing in the closing ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012. She appeared alongside fellow British models including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, all wearing the creations of British designers.
Tennant was also the granddaughter of Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, and The Hon. Deborah Mitford, one of the famous Mitford sisters. Her most recent catwalk appearance was for Valentino Haute Couture in January of this year.
SEE: Karl Lagerfeld's Most Iconic Chanel Moments.
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Chanel, Paris-Bombay Métiers D'Art, 2011/12Lagerfeld transformed the Grand Palais in Paris into the most opulent feast for this show, which was inspired by Coco Chanel's vision of 1950s and '60s India. Stella Tennant was, of course, leading the model line-up, having just been crowned Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards
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Chanel, SS94 runway. Naomi Campbell walking the Chanel runway in 1994 in tweed and a chain belt showed Karl Lagerfeld flexing his sartorial muscles as he pushed the house codes to their extreme edge.
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Chanel, SS94 runway. In 1993, Karl Lagerfeld was already keenly aware of mixing creating commercially viable pieces, like swimsuits. The high-low appeal was amplified by the use of muses like supermodel Naomi Campbell.
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Chanel, Haute Couture 1995 runway.And the bride (Claudia Schiffer) wore white. As soon as Karl Lagerfeld took the reigns of Chanel he began modernising the sartorial language Coco Chanel created for her eponymous label, including the use of tweed and cardigan jackets.
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Kiera Knightly at the Golden Globes 2015.The British actress Kiera Knightly has enjoyed a long and fruitful partnership with Chanel, which included Karl Lagerfeld designing her wedding dress - a short white mini with a cross-body Chanel bag.
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Khloe Kardashian carrying Chanel's world traveller backpack.As Khloe Kardashian entered LAX airport in 2014 she swung Chanel's scribbled-over backpack onto her arm. This item was a token from the brand's collection that captured 'Gap Yah' culture.
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Chanel, SS16 runway. Karl Lagerfeld explored ideas around sustainability within fashion in Chanel's SS16 runway.
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Chanel, AW18 runway. Chanel's sets are notoriously lavish, including the AW18 catwalk that saw a branded spaceship lift off.
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Prince William with Princess Diana in a Chanel suit, 1997.Princess Diana wore Chanel time and again until reportedly she felt no longer comfortable sporting the double 'C' logo as it resembled the initials of Charles and Camila too closely.
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Chanel, SS13 runway.Who can forget the hula hoop bag from 2012? This enormous bag, which was later purchased by Kris Jenner, is a prime example of Kaiser Karl's ability to create a 'fashion moment' in other words grab the front page of newspapers with a fun reimagining of a classic Chanel item.
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Rihanna at the AW14 runway. Rihanna at the AW14 Chanel fashion show wearing trainers and a belt bag is just a small insight into how far ahead of the trends Karl Lagerfeld was.
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Chanel, AW14 runway.For Karl Lagerfeld the world was his muse. He was able to turn the mundane, like supermarket shopping and consumption culture, into esoteric, humourful accessories that became instantly collectable. For instance, in March 2014, he transformed the Grand Palais into a Stepford Wives supermarket where models, like Cara Delevigne, shopped for 'Chanel' branded groceries and wore bags wrapped in cellophane.
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Chanel, SS96 runway.Eva Herzigova's Chanel swimsuit was just as iconic in the 90s as when Kim Kardashian wore it in 2018.
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Chanel, SS96 runway.Kate Moss at the height of her 'waif' appeal in the mid-90s wearing a blue tweed suit typifies how Karl Largerfeld was able to constantly transform and update this iconic house fabric.
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Chanel, SS94 runway.Karl Lagerfeld was quick to spot the power of the supers and was a firm supporter of Claudia Schiffer's career from the get-go.
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Chanel, SS17 runway.With his finger on the pulse, Karl Largerfeld took inspiration from AI, high-tech robots by showcasing the Chanel show in a makebelieve data centre within the Grand Palais.
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Chanel, Haute Couture 2017.Alongside anointing trends, Karl Lagerfeld was a maker or models, including Lily-Rose Depp.
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Chanel, Haute Couture 2018 runway. The Chanel bride has a very hallowed place in history, something that Sundanese model Adut Akech Bior came to realise in July 2018 when she was the second WoC model to hold this position.
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Chanel, Cruise 2018 runway. As creative director of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld oversaw the enermous output of spring-summer, autumn-winter, cruse, resort and two couture collections a year. Each show's set was almost as important at setting the mood of the collection as the clothes and handpicked models.
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Chanel, SS19 runway. For Chanel's last runway collection with Karl Largerfeld present the brand transformed the Grand Palais into a beach, on which Kaia Gerber walked barefoot.
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Chanel, SS15 runway.As the conversation around feminism heated up around the world, Karl Largefeld turned the Chanel SS15 runway into a pro-women and equality protest.