Paris Hilton, the surprise star of Karl Lagerfeld’s last two campaigns, will continue with the fashion house for another year alongside a new digital character who — despite his white hair, ponytail, sunglasses and witty repartee in German-accented English — has been anointed Not-Karl.
The fall 2026 campaign, shot by photographer Matt Easton, depicts Hilton next to stacks of retro TV sets broadcasting Not-Karl wearing a dark suit, tie and white shirt with a high collar. It breaks Tuesday across digital, print, social media and outdoor.
Revealing the contract extension exclusively to WWD, Karl Lagerfeld chief executive officer Pier Paolo Righi said Hilton’s first two campaigns — for fall 2025 and spring 2026 — bolstered its business “in a very tangible way across every region of the world and has helped the brand continue to grow in an environment that has become increasingly challenging.”
He attributed the campaigns’ success to their unexpected front woman.
Paris Hilton and Not-Karl in the Karl Lagerfeld fall 2026 campaign.
Matt Easton/Courtesy of Karl Lagerfeld
“[Hilton] wasn’t an obvious choice — and that was precisely the point. It made people stop and take notice,” he told WWD. “In that sense, it felt very much in Karl’s spirit: unexpected, provocative and culturally relevant.”
He cited a positive response from consumers and brand partners — and described full-throttle enthusiasm and “passionate engagement” from Hilton herself.
“She has made this partnership very personal and loves being an integral part of Karl’s future legacy,” Righi said. “She genuinely loves the brand and was wearing our collections long before our partnership began.”
Indeed, part of the brand lore is a rapturous, still mysterious conversation between Hilton and the late German designer in 2006 at a Dom Pérignon event in Los Angeles.
Both Lagerfeld and Hilton helped define an era where celebrity became synonymous with brand. A pioneering influencer and savvy entrepreneur, Hilton straddles modeling, music, media, beauty, investing and philanthropy.
The centerpiece of the fall 2026 campaign is a short black-and-white video which depicts Hilton sparring with Not-Karl, broadcast on multiple monitors.
Paris Hilton and Not-Karl in Karl Lagerfeld’s fall 2026 campaign.
Matt Easton/Courtesy of Karl Lagerfeld
“But you sound like Karl,” Hilton implores. “You just look a little different.”
“I like to reinvent myself,” the character shoots back.
Asked about the genesis of Not-Karl, Righi replied: “One of the things we consistently hear from people around the world — whether they knew Karl personally or simply observed him from a distance — is how much they loved his wit, intelligence and the way he interacted with people.
“The idea behind Not-Karl was to find a completely new way of bringing some of that spirit back into the conversation, using a tool that is as forward-looking as Karl himself always was.
“We are not trying to recreate Karl,” Righi stressed. “The name itself introduces the irony and playfulness that were so much a part of his personality.”
The precise technology behind the digital character is under wraps, but it nailed Lagerfeld’s accent, intonations and blunt way of speaking.
According to the Lagerfeld company, the voice is synthetically generated specifically for the character, but based on a two-hour recording by a voice-over artist that was later refined by machines and humans.
Hilton certainly got a kick out of it.
“Having Not-Karl on set made this shoot feel so iconic and just unexpected — it brought such a magical energy,” she said.
Kit Butler joins Hilton in some frames to model Karl Lagerfeld menswear. The campaign showcases the Karl Lagerfeld, Karl Lagerfeld Jeans and Karl Lagerfeld Paris lines.
Kit Butler and Paris Hilton in the Karl Lagerfeld campaign.
Matt Easton/Courtesy of Karl Lagerfeld
Righi said he has no “rigid roadmap” for Not-Karl, seeing the character as “another way to interact with our audience that reflects something of the soul, wit and perspective of the man.”
“I can imagine Not-Karl becoming an ongoing way of engaging with our consumers in a witty and entertaining way — commenting on style, offering advice, reacting to culture or simply talking about life,” he added.
The brand plans to celebrate the fall 2026 campaign with an event during Paris Fashion Week.