Q&a / Meet Chanel’s Marseille-based model Erin Wasson: the Texas native was front row at the cruise 2024-25 show and fondly remembers the late creative director Karl Lagerfeld – interview

May 21 , 2024

Model Erin Wasson was front row at Chanel’s cruise 2024-25 show in Marseille and reflects with fondness on working with the late, great Karl Lagerfeld. Photo: @erinwasson/Instagram

Among the many creatives who have in recent years decamped from Paris and even farther away to the southern French city of Marseille is American model Erin Wasson. Formerly based in New York and Los Angeles, Texas-born Wasson recently moved to the port city on the country’s Mediterranean coast.

Unsurprisingly, Wasson was a front-row guest at the Chanel cruise 2024-25 show held in Marseille in May. Now 42, she has a long history with the house and with the late Karl Lagerfeld, who helmed the maison for more than three decades before passing away in 2019.

We caught up with her after the show to talk about life in Europe, memories of Lagerfeld, and coming full circle with Chanel.

Erin Wasson at the Chanel cruise 2024-25 show in Marseille, in May. Photo: Handout

What was your reaction when you found out that Chanel would hold a show in Marseille?

I was surprised and not surprised. Given that Chanel is such an important house in French culture, it’s tilting a hat to the amazing place that is Marseille and the amalgamation of cultures here. It’s the largest port city in all of Europe, so it’s natural to want to come down to the south, to a city that for a long time was looked upon in certain ways. People had to lift the veil and show that there is a lot more depth to be had. Everyone thinks it’s so dangerous, but anywhere in the world is dangerous; you just need common sense.

Tell me about your life since you moved here.

I came and started a business; I wanted to be based in Europe. It’s the ease of being between here and Paris. It’s lovely – the life out here and the fact that you’re in the second largest city in France, but you live in a city that is like a village.

How does it feel to be here in Marseille for a Chanel show?

I remember when Chanel showed in Dallas [in 2013], where I was born and raised. I walked in that show so, imagine: I was born and raised in Dallas, and now I’m living in this city. It is full circle.

Erin Wasson on the runway at the Chanel Métiers d’Art 2013-14 show in Dallas. Photo: Handout

Can you share your memories of Karl Lagerfeld?

I have so many memories with Karl [Lagerfeld]. We had such a beautiful relationship. At one of the last shows I did with him, I was the bride. [There were] all the “aha” moments and shows like the glacier [2010], and the rocket ship at the Grand Palais [2017]; and spending time with Karl, at the studio at [publishing house] 7L, doing fittings and talking and hanging out and looking at books and spending time at his house in Biarritz. I loved him.

Karl Lagerfeld and model Erin Wasson walk the runway at the Chanel haute couture autumn/winter 2013-14 show in Paris, in 2013. Photo: WireImage

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m focusing on myself and the amazing design projects I have coming up this year. My goal in life is to continue to challenge myself, and that has always been the most imperative thing for me. We have a lot to do if you’re lucky, and not a lot of time to do it. I am someone who wants to continue to do things and create in different ways and lanes as long as I can.

Does living here in Marseille help with that?

You either have a spirit of wanting to propagate or not, and being in Europe allowed me to view life through a slightly different lens, as the pace of life here is a lot slower and it allows you to digest more in certain ways.

Icons and Influencers

Born and raised in Dallas, Wasson has been based in New York and Los Angeles but now lives on France’s Mediterranean coast – where Chanel just held its cruise 2024-25 show
Her memories of Lagerfeld include famous shows at the Grand Palais, and spending time with him at his publishing house 7L and his house in Biarritz