It’s always wise to promote from within, and surely that’s one reason why Karl Lagerfeld hired his own bodyguard and employee of fourteen years, Sébastien Jondeau, to front the new menswear campaign for his namesake label. The other reason is that Jondeau is really hot. But Karl doesn’t mess around with ugly people, so chances are anyone on his staff could saddle up for a campaign in a pinch.
More on Jondeau, since you’re obviously dying to know: the Paris-born 38-year-old started working for the designer when he was 24. A boxing enthusiast, he is now Lagerfeld’s most trusted personal assistant. “I spend all my time with him,” Jondeau says of his employer in a video that accompanies the campaign, set to air on Lagerfeld’s website today. “He’s my boss and I respect him.” From WWD:
Asked if he would go to any length protecting the designer in the event of danger, Jondeau looks right in the camera and says, “Of course, to the end. I have no limits, to protect him at least.”
Jondeau has modeled for Karl before: he sulked around with Brad Kroenig in the background of the spring 2012 Fendi campaign, walked in Chanel’s most recent cruise show, and gazed upon Lara Stone’s armored vagina in the 2011 Pirelli calendar. Of course, there are the obligatory rumors of a “workplace” romance, but that just comes with the territory. We all know where Karl’s heart really belongs.
