It goes without saying that Karl Lagerfeld is a one of the contemporary fashion industry’s most iconic players, and now fans — or those of us who are just plain curious — will be able to get a glimpse into his day-to-day world with a new Netflix documentary. Airing this Friday 21 December, the first episode of 7 Days Out – which follows visionaries across various fields for a week in the lead-up to a big event — will follow the fashion powerhouse as he prepares for the SS18 Haute Couture show in Paris. Directed by American documentarian Andrew Rossi, the man behind The First Monday in May which captured the creation of the 2015 Met Gala and simultaneous exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass, the series kicks off with unprecedented insight in the Parisian fashion house.
7 Days out marks the next instalment in Netflix’s latest deep dive documentary trend. “Sometimes it’s fun to watch a… show like that [Project Runway],” Rossi told Vogue earlier this week. “But I can’t ever imagine Karl and the petites mains and the premieres in a format like that. It’s cool that there is a place for their story in television too.” And this story is of particular interest, as Chanel fanatics will remember that this ’60s-inspired collection was showcased against the most incredible backdrop — a naturalistic rendition of a magnificent French 17th century garden brought to life in the Grand Palais. At the time many queried the significance of this aesthetic choice, and maybe now, with Rossi’s hour-long documentary, we’ll finally receive some answers.
But you don’t have to be a fashion aficionado to enjoy this haute couture offering. Athough he has just come off producing The Gospel According to André — a film about the life of fashion journalist André Leon Talley — Rossi himself admitted to Vogue that he wasn’t well versed in the process of the métiers. “It was an education for me, but sometimes that’s good. If I am on the ground trying to understand the world, I hope that open eye translates for the viewer too.”