Devon Aoki Instagram – The first time I met Karl…. I was new to Paris and relatively new to modeling. I had joined an agency called City in Paris and had done a handful of jobs in London where I lived, mostly editorial that had somehow scored me a ticket to Paris for the shows. I was very young, small by modeling standards, unusual by race standards and had a portfolio that was not exactly full of ads for benchmark brands. I remember getting an appointment for the Chanel show on Rue Cambon and I was sure it would be a short visit. I didn’t actually have anything nice to wear as a young person and the last of 7 children, so I went as myself… a ninth grade punk rock fanatic with green hair, patches on my backpack and Doc Martins. The thing you may not know about Chanel, at least on Rue Cambon, is that it is not full of stuffy people or the sort that stop you at the door if you don’t look the part. French artisans are a different breed of people all together. This was not a corporate office but a hub of creativity, always a celebration of beauty and the play between themes, clothes, makeup, hair, and faces—the raising almost of an army—to fall in together but never be the same—in bringing a collection to life that starts from the mind of the creative director and becomes something more extraordinary than the sum of its parts. There was total freedom in what Karl did and he was not limited in any way by convention. It was natural then for him to see me through a crack in a doorway and rush me in, green hair and all and transform me into something very different than what I ever thought I could be. I was all at once beautiful….maybe? I ended up walking in that show and wondering all the while how in the world did I get there. I was painted in gold, toes and ear lobes. I remember sneaking a smile to Isabella Blow who stood up and started clapping as I walked past. She would become my friend and supporter throughout my career. It was not difficult to understand the genius of Karl. All you had to do was be around him to feel his power, his convictions and also his softness. …Continued…