Chanel announced today that 15-year-old Willow Smith, daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, will be the brand’s newest ambassador. “The young singer, songwriter, actress and trendsetter has been wearing Chanel for public appearances since 2013 and her first encounter with Karl Lagerfeld was in 2014 when he photographed her for the American magazine V,” the brand said in a statement Tuesday. “She was notably present at the Chanel Fall-Winter 2016/17 Ready-to-Wear show presented this morning at the Grand Palais.”
Willow is no stranger to the fashion industry: At age 9, she became an overnight sensation with the release of the fashion-forward music video for her hit single “Whip My Hair.” Last year she landed a modeling contract and was the face of a campaign for Marc Jacobs, and most recently, she made headlines for her beauty choices from the front row at Paris Fashion Week.
With diversity at the forefront of today’s cultural conversations, Willow’s appointment as the new face of Chanel makes an important statement. The teen acknowledged such in an Instagram post: “Thank you Karl Lagerfeld and the entire team at Chanel for expanding the perceptions of ‘beauty’ by picking me to be the new Chanel ambassador. I am honored.”
