May 11, 2011 12:00AM

Lagerfeld's Longest Short Film

The Kaiser's favourite models test their acting skills.

If you were disenchanted by Karl Lagerfeld's series of short films for Magnum ice cream, check out the teaser for his new short film The Tale of a Fairy. Starring a mostly topless Freja Beja Erichsen, the film premiered at the fashion house's 2012 Cruise show in the South of France on Monday night.

Joining Erichsen for this display of captivating cinematography are the Kaiser's favourite stars, including model Bianca Balti, Chanel adviser Lady Amanda Harlech, male model Baptiste Giabiconi, and 46-year-old androgynous icon Kristen McMenamy - who is also currently starring in a Vogue Italia swimsuit shoot and probably hasn't tasted a Magnum in years. The only star with any current acting laurels to feature in the 25-minute film is French actress Anna Mouglalis, who recently played Coco Chanel in a (full-length) feature about the late designer's affair with Igor Stravinsky.

Whether Lagerfeld's longest flick to date will make it to the Cannes Film Festival - which kicks off today - remains to be seen, but even if the dialogue doesn't do justice to the moody mise-en-scene, the Cruise collection sure looks striking. Lagerfeld described the film as a homage to those wealthy women who snap up the key pieces from each collection without any regard to their astronomical price tags. "In the movie, they wear dresses from the [Cruise] collection, so it's kind of a narrative around the kind of women who buy these clothes."

If your invitation to Chanel's Cruise collection was lost in the mail, the film will soon be available in its entirety Chanel.com. The teaser below promises a decadent and melancholic mood alongside highlights such as Freja making out with Mouglalis. But, as with any creative project, what isn't shown is just as important as what is - and, thankfully, those perplexing sandal-boots that were so prevalent on Monday night's catwalk stay well out of the frame.

Words: Hannah Ongley

www.chanel.com

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