Exclusive: Chanel Signs Kendrick Lamar as Brand Ambassador

Kendrick Lamar has signed on as Chanel’s latest ambassador. The French brand is launching its partnership with the American musician — the first and only rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize — by featuring him in its new eyewear campaign, set to be rolled out tomorrow.

Lamar, aged 37, has achieved massive critical, commercial and cultural success since his 2012 breakout album “good kid, m.A.A.d city.” He has since won 22 Grammys as well as the Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album “DAMN.” His creative studio with Dave Free, PGlang, has won 6 Cannes Lions awards.

The Compton, California-born musician’s work has long vacillated between hard-edged rap, jazzier, reflective tracks and major pop hits — earning institutional recognition, commercial success and cultural clout. Over the past year, he leaned into his penchant for brash provocation with “Not Like Us,” a diss track rooted in an insider rap beef which grew into a chart-topping anthem and worldwide cultural sensation, culminating with Lamar performing it at the Superbowl halftime show in February.

Tying up with Chanel — one the world’s most carefully controlled, risk-averse brands — could signal that Lamar is opening a new chapter and putting a year of controversy behind him.

Lamar has been a friend of the house since attending the 2023 Met Gala celebrating its Karl Lagerfeld retrospective — wearing a custom quilted leather bomber by then-creative director Virginie Viard. The brand then tapped Lamar and Free to work on its January 2024 haute couture show — designing its set featuring an enormous, illuminated Chanel medallion and directing an accompanying short film, “The Button.”

Prior to designing the couture partnership, Lamar says he “spent a week in Paris with their team and explored the brand history.”

More recently, “I visited the Chanel ateliers and saw the process of how something goes from design to execution. Seeing the people who work hard and bring these visions to life resonates with me,” Lamar said by email.

While Chanel has rarely incorporated menswear looks in its fashion offer, its roster of celebrity ambassadors has long included a handful of male stars, who help to enhance the brand’s reach and activate its handful of products targeting men (as well as highlighting the unisex potential of its broader offer). Korean singer G-Dragon has been an ambassador for the brand since 2016, regularly attending shows and wearing the brand’s collections. Actor Timothée Chalamet is the face of its “Bleu de Chanel” men’s perfume range, while previous eyewear campaigns featured Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams.

Lamar appears alongside several other star ambassadors in Chanel’s latest eyewear campaign shot by photographer Karim Sadli, which the brand is set to roll out Tuesday.

“Chanel has a timeless legacy and that is always something I can get behind. Since they don’t make clothes for men, I knew it would have to be glasses,” Lamar said. Lamar wore Chanel glasses in the music video for his song “Luther” featuring SZA.

The push on eyewear comes as luxury companies battle a global downturn in demand, fuelled by slowing economic growth and stubborn inflation as well as steep price hikes by brands that caused many shoppers to disengage from the category. While Chanel’s most popular handbag styles now cost over $10,000, its eyewear line produced in partnership with Luxottica still includes items priced under $500.

The category is also distributed more broadly than the rest of Chanel’s fashion offer — sold on the brand’s e-commerce site as well as through opticians and Luxottica-backed retail chains like Sunglass Hut.

“We strongly believe in eyewear and its potential,” Chanel fashion president Bruno Pavlovsky said. “More than a simple fashion accessory, eyewear is part of the Chanel allure and is regularly seen on the runway. Its versatile style, playing with the house codes, brings a finishing touch to the silhouette. Through the ‘Chanel & moi’ program, we developed various services for this category, in order to offer a perfect fit and the best experience to our clients.”