There’s no question that the world could use more empathy. It’s exactly what Pom Klementieff brings to the Marvel universe as Mantis, a wide-eyed character with next-level empathetic abilities. “If I touch someone, I can feel their feelings,” Mantis explains to her superhero counterparts in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Emotional intelligence is clearly a gift that Klementieff shares with her character.
Klementieff was born in Quebec City in 1986, the daughter of a Russian-French diplomat father and a Korean mother. She grew up around the world in Kyoto and the Ivory Coast—places as diverse as can be—before settling in the Vallée de Chevreuse, a beautiful parcel of French countryside southwest of Paris.
It was here that she developed her love for fashion, a passion that she kept to herself. “I was raised by my aunt who’s French. She didn’t like fashion at all and thought it was superficial,” she says. Klementieff scoured magazines like Vogue Paris and L’Officielle, even learning the names of all the photographers she liked. It’s a teenage obsession that paid off.
Today, Klementieff is based in Los Angeles where she stars in films like Spike Lee’s Old Boy and Ingrid Goes West, a 2017 look at the dark side of influencer culture. It’s a city with an aesthetic that at times can be at odds with her sense of style. “I don’t like to be in tight clothes. I don’t feel comfortable,” explains Klementieff, who on her days off sports casual pieces like a blazer and T-shirt with jeans and a pair of dirty sneakers. “Maybe it’s because I’m French and that’s the way we dress.”
The red carpet, however, is another story. Klementieff takes many of her sartorial cues from stylist Petra Flannery, who also works with fellow A-Listers Emma Stone, Carey Mulligan and Zoe Saldana. Both Flannery and Klementieff share a European approach to dress that puts personal expression at the fore. For Klementieff, her most memorable red carpet-moment was at the Los Angeles premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 in April 2017. She wore a CHANEL dress from the Pre-Fall 2017 collection, which Klementieff fell in love with when it made its debut at the Ritz Paris. “It was a runway show but at the same time we were drinking tea and eating French pastries, so it was amazing,” she says.
Seeing the extraordinary craftsmanship that goes into these pieces is something Klementieff appreciates even more than she did studying magazines. “Looking at the dress and seeing all the hours of work spent on that particular dress, the amazing materials and little pearls and things that you see when you touch the dress. When you see a picture from far away, of course, it looks beautiful but when you see it up close, it’s really, really incredible,” she says. It was her first time in CHANEL, a moment that she’ll always remember. “When it’s the first, it’s even more special.” Kind of like love at first touch.
The first time Mademoiselle Chanel laid eyes on a Coromandel screen she screamed “It’s so beautiful!” The designer’s admiration for the lacquered screens is echoed throughout her infamous 31 Rue Cambon apartment, as well as Chanel’s latest high jewellery collection, which takes inspiration from the decadent partitions. Comprised of fifty-nine pieces, the collection explores three important motifs: The mademoiselle’s signature Camelia, animal by way of birds in flight, and mineral, which ties back to her attachment to crystals and gemstones. Each piece is exceptional in its own right—twenty-four that is unique—and exemplifies the outstanding Savoir-faire of the house.
Photography by Laura Marie Cieplik
Styling by Sahar Nooraei
Makeup by Julie Cusson for CHANEL
Hair by Stephane Bodin (The Wall Group)
Manicure by Ashlie Johnson (The Wall Group)
Shot on Location in Paris at Mademoiselle Coco Chanel’s Apartment
