I honestly thought Kendrick Lamar was already a Chanel ambassador, but in point of fact, Chanel hired him in the past to make music for their runway shows. Plus, Kendrick was simply a Chanel fan, and in recent years, he’s been seen and photographed in various Chanel pieces. Now it’s official – Kendrick is a Chanel ambassador and he’s the face of Chanel Eyewear.

On Monday, April 21, 2025, Kendrick Lamar was officially named a Chanel ambassador. This marks the beginning of a new chapter for the fashion house’s eyewear line and continues the ongoing mutual admiration between the Parisian house and major figures in contemporary music. From Pharrell Williams to Angèle, recently chosen as the face of Chance Eau Splendide’s fragrance, Chanel skillfully cultivates a dialogue between couture and the music world.

But this alliance didn’t happen overnight. Back in 2023, the rapper appeared at the Met Gala in a quilted jacket designed by Virginie Viard. Then, in January 2024, he turned his attention to the set design and soundtrack of Chanel’s Spring-Summer 2024 haute couture show, working alongside his creative partner Dave Free, an American filmmaker and record producer.

At 37, Kendrick Lamar now joins the elite group of male artists associated with the house, alongside Timothée Chalamet (ambassador for Bleu de Chanel) and G-Dragon, while bringing in a new perspective. “I spent a week in Paris with their teams, diving into the House’s history, visiting the ateliers, and understanding how an idea becomes an object,” Lamar explains. Chanel appears to have found in the Compton-born rapper a rare mirror: an elegance that thinks, that tells stories, and that resists.

[From Numero]

This is cool to me – there are too few celebrity men who actually care about fashion and these kinds of ambassadorships and collaborations. While I’m sure that Kendrick’s Chanel contract isn’t insanely lucrative, it’s clearly a partnership which benefits both sides. Additionally, Kendrick was approached by Gatorade and he appears in the latest Gatorade ad campaign. They also licensed “Peekaboo” for the commercial, as well as hiring Kendrick to narrate it. So many people thought Kendrick was going to go back to his incognito era once last year’s beef was over, but he hasn’t – his Grand National tour just started and he’s racking up major ad campaigns and ambassadorships. It’s awesome.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid, screengrab from Gatorade ad.