Karl Lagerfeld

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Karl Otto Lagerfeld (Template:IPA; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, photographer, and creative director.

Lagerfeld began his career in fashion in the 1950s, working for several top fashion houses including Balmain, Patou, and Chloé before joining Chanel in 1983. As the creative director of Chanel from 1983 until his death, he oversaw every aspect of the fashion house's creative output, from designing collections to photographing advertising campaigns and arranging store displays. He was instrumental in revitalizing the Chanel brand, helping it regain its position as one of the top fashion houses in the world. He was also creative director of the Italian fur and leather goods fashion house Fendi, as well as his own eponymous fashion label. Throughout his career, he collaborated on numerous fashion, design, and art-related projects, and his photography was exhibited in galleries and collected in published volumes.

Lagerfeld was recognised for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high-starched detachable collars.

Early life

Karl Otto Lagerfeld<ref name="birthname" >Template:Cite web</ref> was born in Hamburg on 10 September 1933 to Elisabeth (née Bahlmann) and Otto Lagerfeld. His father, coming from a family of wealthy wine-merchants, was a prosperous businessman and polyglot, speaking nine languages;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="welt-birth">Template:Cite news</ref> and owned an import company (Lagerfeld & Co.) specialising in evaporated milk, leading him to work with the American dairy company Carnation. During his travels, his father was present during the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, escaping unharmed.<ref>Horyn, Cathy (6 October 2013). "Why Fashion Films Are Usually Cartoons". The New York Times. p. 13</ref> A fluent speaker of Russian, his father had even attempted to gain citizenship into the country at the start of World War I, leading to an accusation of espionage and a three-year prison term in Vladivostok, eventually returning to Germany after the Russian Revolution in 1917. His maternal grandfather, Karl Bahlmann, was a local politician for the Catholic Centre Party.<ref name="welt-birth"/> His family belonged to the Old Catholic Church. When Lagerfeld's mother met his father, she was a lingerie saleswoman from Berlin. His parents married in 1930.<ref name="NDB">Otto Lagerfeld Template:Webarchive, in Neue Deutsche Biographie</ref>

Lagerfeld was known to misrepresent his birth year, claiming to be younger than his actual age and misrepresenting his parents' background. For example, he claimed that he was born in 1938 to "Elisabeth of Germany" and Otto Ludwig Lagerfeldt from Sweden.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> These claims have been conclusively proven to be false, as his father was from Hamburg and spent his entire life in Germany, with no Swedish connection.<ref name="welt-birth" /><ref name="NDB" /> There is also no evidence his mother, Elisabeth Bahlmann, the daughter of a middle-class local politician, called herself "Elisabeth of Germany".<ref name="NDB" /> He was known to insist that no one knew his real birthdate. In an interview on French television in February 2009, Lagerfeld said he was "born neither in 1933 nor 1938".<ref>Interview on On n'est pas couché, France2, 21 February 2009</ref>

In April 2013, he finally declared he was born in 1935.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A birth announcement was, however, published by his parents in 1933, and the baptismal register in Hamburg also lists him as born in that year, showing he was born on 10 September 1933.<ref>Der grosse Karl wird schon 80 Template:Webarchive Die Welt, 7 July 2013 Template:In lang
biography at Munzinger-Archiv Template:In lang</ref> Bild am Sonntag published his baptismal records in 2008 and interviewed his teacher and a classmate, who both confirmed he actually was born in 1933. Later, his death record confirmed the same.<ref>« born on 10 September 1933 in Hamburg (Germany) - Neuilly sur Seine City Civil Status Registry, entry No. 2019/171»</ref> Despite that, Karl Lagerfeld announced publicly he was celebrating his "70th birthday" on 10 September 2008, despite actually turning 75.<ref>„Der Modedesigner und seine Geburtstags-Mogelei: Der große Karl macht sich ein klein wenig jünger" Template:Webarchive, Bild.de, 10 September 2008</ref><ref>„Karl Lagerfeld wohl fünf Jahre älter als angegeben" Template:Webarchive, ORF, 6 September 2008</ref><ref>FAZ Template:Webarchive, 4 September 2008</ref>

His older sister, Martha Christiane "Christel", was born in 1931. Lagerfeld had an older half-sister, Theodora Dorothea "Thea", from his father's first marriage. His family name has been spelled both Lagerfeldt (with a "t") and Lagerfeld. Like his father, he used the spelling Lagerfeld, considering it to "sound more commercial".<ref name="The Karl Lagerfeld Diet">Template:Cite book</ref>

His family was mainly shielded from the deprivations of World War II due to his father being a member of the Nazi party and his business interests in Germany through the firm Glücksklee-Milch GmbH.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

As a child, he showed great interest in the visual arts, and former schoolmates recalled he was always making sketches "no matter what we were doing in class".<ref>DW Documentary (2014), 14:00.</ref> Lagerfeld told interviewers he learned much more by constantly visiting the Kunsthalle Hamburg museum than he ever did in school.<ref name="DW1650">DW Documentary (2014), 16:50.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Career

Early career, Chloé, and Fendi (1954–1982)

In 1954, Lagerfeld submitted a dress design to the International Wool Secretariat's design competition.<ref name="Mulvagh">Template:Cite book</ref> His submitted entry presaged the chemise dresses which would be introduced by Givenchy and Balenciaga three years later.<ref name="Mulvagh" /> In 1955, Lagerfeld entered another IWS competition and won in the coat category.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also befriended another winner, Yves Saint Laurent, and was soon after hired by Pierre Balmain who was a judge for the competition.<ref name="Biog">Template:Cite web</ref> He worked as Balmain's assistant, and later apprentice, for three years.<ref name="Biog" />

In 1957, Lagerfeld became the artistic director for Jean Patou.<ref name=Harpers19>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He left Jean Patou in 1962, to become a freelance designer,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> one of the first designers to do so.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 1960s, he freelanced for brands including Charles Jourdan, Chloé, Krizia, Valentino,<ref name=Harpers19/> and for the Rome-based fashion house Tiziani.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1965, he was hired by Fendi to modernize their fur line. The fashion editor of The Independent, Alexander Fury, wrote in 2015 that Lagerfeld's designs for Fendi were innovative and proved groundbreaking within the industry. These included the introduction of less expensive furs such as rabbit and squirrel pelts into high fashion, and launching a ready-to-wear line. He also designed the brand's double F logo.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lagerfeld remained with Fendi Rome until his death.<ref name=Harpers19/>

In 1966, Lagerfeld became a designer for Chloé working alongside Gaby Aghion, and in 1974 he became the sole designer for the brand.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 1970s, Lagerfeld's work for Chloé made him one of the most prominent designers in the world,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> often vying with Yves Saint Laurent for most influential.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> After a period in the early seventies when he toyed with styles from the 1930s,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> '40s,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and '50s,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in 1974 he contributed to the burgeoning Big Look or Soft Look by eliminating linings, padding, and even hemming from voluminous, thin-fabric garments, even from fur in his work for Fendi at the time,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> to enable an unencumbered, comfortable, layered style which would dominate the high fashion of the middle of the decade.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After refining this style and saying that to go back to linings and stiff structure would be regressive,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> he did a complete about-face in 1978<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and joined other designers in showing the heavily constructed, huge-shouldered, more restrictive looks<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> that would dominate the 1980s.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He presented such an exaggerated retro 1940s–50s silhouette<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> – immense shoulder pads;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> severe, stiffly constructed suits<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with padded lampshade peplums;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> padded busts<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and hips;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> impractically tight skirts;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> awkwardly high spike heels;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> hats;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> gloves; even boned corsets<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> – that his work did not look out of place alongside similar retro fare from Thierry Mugler of the period.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

During both these phases, his mid-seventies Soft Look phase and his late seventies-eighties big-shoulders phase, his love of the eighteenth century was frequently on display.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> For instance, his Fall 1977 collection, one of the most celebrated of the seventies Soft Look era, included lace trim, headwear, and thigh-high boots in styles from the 1700s,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> while his Fall 1979 collection, one of the most influential of the early years of the big-shoulder era,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> contained millinery that recalled Napoleonic bicornes, along with button-sided spats/leggings that looked somewhat like military accoutrements from the same period.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Lagerfeld continued producing outfits in the shoulder pads-tight skirts-stiletto heels direction into the eighties, joining other similar designers in shortening the skirts of the look even as high as mini length,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> though his hemlines could also range as low as the ankle.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Alongside these styles, he also showed softer, more comfortable clothing, particularly in 1981–'82, when a brief revival of somewhat mid-seventies-looking long dirndl skirts and shawls appeared on runways<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Lagerfeld touted the gossamer weightlessness he had perfected in the seventies,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> although he did like to place corsets and girdles over it by that time.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The variety of lengths and trouser shapes he presented during this period kept him in line with modern women's needs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

International fame with Chanel (1982–2000)

File:Chanel logo interlocking cs.svg

Lagerfeld is credited with making great use of Chanel's "CC" logo during the 1980s.<ref name="Brit">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

In the 1980s, Lagerfeld was hired by Chanel, which was considered a "near-dead brand" at the time since the death of designer Coco Chanel a decade prior. Taking over the couture there in 1983, Lagerfeld brought life back into the company, making it a huge success<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> by revamping its ready-to-wear fashion line.<ref name="Vogue">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Biog"/> Lagerfeld integrated the interlocked CC monogram of Coco Chanel into a style pattern for the House of Chanel.<ref name="Brit" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lagerfeld also changed the Chanel silhouette<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> that had prevailed since the early 1960s, making it more eighties by padding the shoulder,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> shortening and tightening the skirt,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> raising the heel,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and enlarging or miniaturizing the jewelry and purses,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> all controversial moves,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> especially the short skirts,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as Mlle. Chanel had always disapproved of above-the-knee skirts.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> This new direction was actually initiated the year before Lagerfeld took the helm, 1982, when a design team led by Hervé Léger, a Lagerfeld protegé, operated at the house. Lagerfeld is suspected of having influenced Léger's changes.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1984, a year after his start at Chanel, Lagerfeld began his own eponymous "Karl Lagerfeld" brand with a focus on ready-to-wear clothing.<ref name=VogueBiz19>Template:Cite news</ref> The brand was established to channel "intellectual sexiness".<ref name="Vogue" /> Lagerfeld had signed an agreement with Bidermann Industries USA, giving them ownership and licensing rights to fashion labels he produced.<ref name=NYT83>Template:Cite news</ref> Lagerfeld ended the agreement with Bidermann in 1989.<ref name="WWD19">Template:Cite news</ref> That same year, Lagerfeld launched two Karl Lagerfeld brand menswear lines.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Lagerfeld label was then purchased by the Cora Revillon Group,<ref name=NYT1992>Template:Cite news</ref> which had previously reached an agreement to manufacture and market Karl Lagerfeld-branded products.<ref name=Sones1987>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1992, Dunhill Holdings—part of the Vendôme Luxury Group—acquired the Karl Lagerfeld brand from Cora-Revillon for an estimated $30 million.<ref name=Redburn>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="WWD19"/> The acquisition was part of the agreement the company made with Lagerfeld for him to return to designing for the fashion house Chloé.<ref name=WWD19/> Vendôme retained ownership of the brand for five years, until 1997, when it sold the brand back to Lagerfeld for a "symbolic one franc", following the end of his contract with Chloé.<ref name=Fallon>Template:Cite news</ref> Lagerfeld stated that Vendôme "had not hired the right people to manage it."<ref name=Fallon/>

Lagerfeld flourished in the plethora of historical revivals of the eighties, from the shoulder-padded 1940s–50s revivals beginning in 1978 and continuing through the eighties, to the 1950s pouf skirts, 1860s crinolines, and hoops of the mid-eighties, now often showgirl-short.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Lagerfeld participated in it all, for both his namesake line and Chanel. In 1986, he marked the move away from broad shoulders by removing pads from the shoulders and placing them visibly on the outside of the hips.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Later career (2001–2019)

Fashion

File:Karl Lagerfeld Cannes.jpg

Lagerfeld at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival

In December 2006, Lagerfeld announced the launch of a new collection for men and women dubbed K Karl Lagerfeld, which included fitted T-shirts and a wide range of jeans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2010, the Couture Council of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology presented Lagerfeld with an award created for him, The Couture Council Fashion Visionary Award, at a benefit luncheon at Avery Fisher Hall, in New York City.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref> In November 2010, Lagerfeld and Swedish crystal manufacturer Orrefors announced a collaboration to design a crystal art collection.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first collection was launched in spring 2011, called Orrefors by Karl Lagerfeld.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2012 Lagerfeld released his photo-book The Little Black Jacket which featured entertainers, models, and friends of his.<ref name="Pitcher Thompson Brammer Ware 2012">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, Palm Beach Modern Auctions announced that many of Lagerfeld's early sketches for the House of Tiziani in Rome would be sold.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Because his designs changed depending on which fashion house he was working for, designers such as Anna Sui and Clare Waight Keller praised his "chameleon-like versatility".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In November 2015, Karl Lagerfeld was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards. Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of American Vogue, presented the award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Collaborations

Karl Lagerfeld was well known for his collaborations with brands and individuals.<ref name=Coscarelli>Template:Cite news</ref> Some of his notable collaborations during the 2000s and 2010s include the following:

• In 2002, Lagerfeld asked Renzo Rosso, the founder of Diesel, to collaborate with him on a special denim collection for the Lagerfeld Gallery brand.<ref>Tungate, Mark: "Fifty". Gestalten Verlag; 2005. Template:ISBN</ref> The collection, Lagerfeld Gallery by Diesel, was designed by Lagerfeld and produced by Diesel<ref name="pop">Template:Cite web</ref> and then sold in highly limited editions at the Lagerfeld Galleries in Paris and Monaco and at the Diesel Denim Galleries in New York and Tokyo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• In 2004, Lagerfeld designed a capsule collection for Swedish fashion chain H&M,<ref name=WMD2004>Template:Cite news</ref> marking the first time a designer had collaborated with the brand.<ref name=Burney>Template:Cite news</ref> Women's Wear Daily wrote that the collaboration "had a seismic effect on the entire fashion system: breaking down barriers between luxury and mass; democratizing design in a new way, and foreshadowing an era of rampant collaborations, drops and pop-up concepts."<ref name=Socha2004WWD>Template:Cite news</ref>
• In 2010, Lagerfeld collaborated with Coca-Cola on a limited-edition collection of Coca-Cola Light bottles in France. Lagerfeld also shot an ad campaign for the company featuring Coco Rocha and Baptiste Giabiconi.<ref name=Vesilind>Template:Cite news</ref> The redesigned bottles featured a vivid pink cap and a black graphic of Lagerfeld's silhouette.<ref name=Mocha2010>Template:Cite news</ref> Coca-Cola released another set of Lagerfeld-designed bottles in 2011.<ref name=Tatler>Template:Cite news</ref>
• In 2012, Lagerfeld collaborated with Japanese cosmetics brand Shu Uemura on a holiday makeup collection. Lagerfeld worked closely with the brand's shu artistic director, Kakuyasu Uchiide, to develop the line.<ref name=Stenell>Template:Cite news</ref>
• In 2014, Lagerfeld collaborated with Mattel on a "Barbie Lagerfeld" doll that included fingerless gloves and a tailored black jacket.<ref name=Harper>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• In 2016, Lagerfeld collaborated with Faber-Castell on the "Karlbox", a collection of fine artist tools.<ref name=Ward>Template:Cite news</ref>
• In 2017, Lagerfeld collaborated with the shoe brand Vans on a collection that included sneakers, jackets, hats, and backpacks.<ref name=Garcia>Template:Cite news</ref> The next year he created a similar capsule collection for Puma.<ref name=Foreman>Template:Cite news</ref> The line included Suede sneakers inspired by Lagerfeld's personal style.<ref name=Foreman/>
• Lagerfeld was a collector of Christofle silverware,<ref name=LockwoodMay2023>Template:Cite news</ref> and in 2018 he collaborated with the brand on a limited-edition cutlery set.<ref name=JoelleDiderich2018>Template:Cite news</ref> Lagerfeld had previously collaborated on a collection of crystal glasses with Orrefors.<ref name=JoelleDiderich2018/>

Awards

In September 2010, the Couture Council of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology presented Lagerfeld with an award created for him, The Couture Council Fashion Visionary Award, at a benefit luncheon at Avery Fisher Hall, in New York City.<ref name="auto"/>

In November 2015, Karl Lagerfeld was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards. Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of American Vogue, presented the award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017 he received the John B. Fairchild Award from WWD.<ref name=WWDLAT>Template:Cite news</ref>

Final collection

The final Chanel collection completed before his death had an Alpine theme of après-ski clothing. As Lagerfeld requested not to have any type of funeral, the show only included a moment of silence in his honor and chairs emblazoned with his image next to Coco Chanel with the saying "the beat goes on".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Although Lagerfeld shunned any emotional reactions around the idea of his death, some models could be seen crying on the runway, as well as audience members.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Other media

Lagerfeld took up photography in 1987<ref name="Barchfield">Template:Cite news</ref> after being frustrated with images done for Chanel press kits. Chanel's then-image director, Éric Pfrunder, encouraged Lagerfeld to redo them himself,<ref name="Diderich2019WWD">Template:Cite news</ref> and photography became one of the passions of Lagerfeld's life outside of design.<ref name="Binlot">Template:Cite news</ref> He went on to shoot commercial fashion campaigns,<ref name="Barchfield" /> editorial shots for magazines like Harper's Bazaar,<ref name="Algoo">Template:Cite magazine</ref> as well as architectural and landscape work.<ref name="Martinique">Template:Cite news</ref> "I'm an illustrator with a camera", Lagerfeld told Women's Wear Daily at a 2010 exhibition of his work at the Maison européenne de la photographie.<ref name="Socha2010WWD">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1994, German publishing house Steidl published Off the Record, a collection of Lagerfeld's photography.<ref name=KaiserQuote>Template:Cite book</ref> The publishing house went on to release dozens of collections of his work,<ref name=KaiserQuote/> including The Little Black Jacket in 2012, which featured 113 portraits of models and entertainers wearing the book's eponymous article,<ref name=Lynch2012WWD>Template:Cite news</ref> and Karl Lagerfeld: Casa Malaparte in 2015, which documented the Italian Modernist architectural monument.<ref name=Reynolds2015>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lagerfeld and investments enterprise Dubai Infinity Holdings (DIH) signed a deal to design limited edition homes on the island of Isla Moda.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A feature-length documentary film on the designer, Lagerfeld Confidential, was made by Rodolphe Marconi in 2007.<ref name=Holden2007>Template:Cite news</ref> Later that year, Lagerfeld assumed the role of the host of the fictional radio station K109 in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV and its DLCs The Lost & Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2008, he created a teddy bear in his likeness that was produced by Steiff in an edition of 2,500 that sold for $1,500.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and has been immortalized in many forms, which include pins, shirts, dolls, and more. In 2009, Tra Tutti began selling Karl Lagermouse and Karl Lagerfelt, which are mini-Lagerfelds in the forms of mice and finger puppets, respectively.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, he had a guest voice role in the French animated film Totally Spies! The Movie.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1996, the Zürich-based Galerie Gmurzynska began exhibiting Lagerfeld's photography.<ref name=Armstrong>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1999, Lagerfeld opened 7L, a bookshop in Paris that specializes in photography collections and visual arts books.<ref name=Socha2023>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2000, he launched a publishing imprint, Editions 7L, in collaboration with Steidl.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The imprint released books on fashion and photography and also republished rare and out-of-print books.<ref name=WWD19/> The 7L bookshop was reconceptualized after Lagerfeld's death as a space for cultural events.<ref name=Socha2023/>

In 2010, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie assembled the largest-ever exhibit of Lagerfeld's photography. The show featured selections from his commercial work for Chanel, his celebrity portraits for Vogue and other magazines, and his more abstract landscapes and architectural pieces, including a 2007 series titled "Another Side of Versailles."<ref name=AP2010>Template:Cite news</ref>

Later in life, Lagerfeld realized one of his boyhood ambitions by becoming a professional caricaturist; from 2013, his political cartoons were regularly published in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.<ref>DW Documentary (2014), 5:35.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:The Prince and Princess of Monaco with Hermann Bühlbecker and Karl Lagerfeld.jpg

Lagerfeld with Hermann Bühlbecker, Prince Albert II and Charlene, Princess of Monaco (2011)

In 2013, he directed Once Upon a Time..., a short film starring Keira Knightley as Coco Chanel and Clotilde Hesme as her aunt, Adrienne.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2016, it was announced that Lagerfeld would design the two residential lobbies of the Estates at Acqualina, a residential development in Miami's Sunny Isles Beach.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2016, Palazzo Pitti hosted another exhibition of Karl Lagerfeld's photography<ref name=Eckardt>Template:Cite news</ref> that included portraits and photos from fashion shoots, all inspired by classical mythology.<ref name=Fondazione>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2018, Lagerfeld in collaboration with Carpenters Workshop Gallery launched an art collection of functional sculptures titled Architectures. Sculptures were made of Arabescato Fantastico, a rare vibrant white marble with dark gray veins and black Nero Marquina marble with milky veins. Inspired by antiquity and referred to as modern mythology the ensemble consists of gueridons, tables, lamps, consoles, fountains and mirrors.<ref>Karl Lagerfelds first eversculptutal exhibition communicart.fr. Retrieved 19 February 2019 Template:Webarchive</ref>

In 2019, following the news of Lagerfeld's death, Galerie Gmurzynska mounted a retrospective exhibition highlighting the past three decades of his work.<ref name=Armstrong/>

Personal life

Lagerfeld was recognized for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high, starched detachable collars.<ref>Lagerfeld Confidential, 2007.</ref>

He had an 18-year relationship with French aristocrat and socialite Jacques de Bascher (1951–1989), though Lagerfeld said that the relationship never was sexual.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "I infinitely loved that boy", Lagerfeld reportedly said of de Bascher, "but I had no physical contact with him. Of course, I was seduced by his physical charm".<ref name=":0" /> de Bascher had an affair with the couturier Yves Saint Laurent; subsequently, Saint Laurent's business partner and former lover Pierre Bergé accused Lagerfeld of being behind a gambit to destabilize the rival fashion house.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> de Bascher died of AIDS in 1989 while Lagerfeld stayed on a bed at his bedside in his hospital room during the final stages of his illness. After Lagerfeld's death, tabloids reported that he was to be cremated and his ashes mixed with those of de Bascher, which Lagerfeld kept in an urn, or with those of his mother.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lagerfeld lived in numerous homes over the years: an apartment in the Rue de l'Université in Paris, decorated in the Art Deco style (1970s); the 18th-century Chateau de Penhoët in Brittany, decorated in the Rococo style (1970s to 2000); an apartment in Monte Carlo decorated until 2000 in 1980s Memphis style (from the early 1980s); the Villa Jako in Blankenese in Hamburg, decorated in the Art Deco style (mid-1990s to 2000); the Villa La Vigie in France (the 1990s to 2000), a 17th-century mansion (hôtel particulier) in the Rue de l'Université in Paris, decorated in the Rococo and other styles (1980s to the 2000s); an apartment in Manhattan, although he never moved into or decorated it (2006 to 2012); the summer villa El Horria in Biarritz, decorated in the modern style (1990s–2006); and a house dating from the 1840s in Vermont (from the 2000s). From 2007, Lagerfeld owned an 1820s house in Paris in Quai Voltaire decorated in modern and Art Deco style.<ref name="nytimes.com" />

A spread with pictures inside Lagerfeld's apartments in Paris and Monaco was published in Vogue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also revealed his vast collection of Suzanne Belperron's pins and brooches. He used the color of one of her blue chalcedony rings as the starting point for the Chanel spring/summer 2012 collection.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lagerfeld owned a red point Birman cat named Choupette, which, in June 2013, he indicated he would marry, if it were legal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to reports, the designer included the feline in his will from 2015, and designated 1.5 million dollars for its care and maintenance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Weight loss

Lagerfeld lost Template:Convert in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> He explained: "I suddenly wanted to dress differently, to wear clothes designed by Hedi Slimane. ... But these fashions, modeled by very, very slim boys—and not men my age—required me to lose at least 40 kg. It took me exactly 13 months". The diet was created specially for him by Jean-Claude Houdret, which led to a book called The Karl Lagerfeld Diet. He promoted it on Larry King Live and other television shows.<ref name="The Karl Lagerfeld Diet" />

Book collecting

Lagerfeld was a passionate book collector and amassed one of the largest personal libraries in the world. According to the Rare Book Hub, he was quoted as saying: "Today, I only collect books; there is no room left for something else. If you go to my house, I'll have you walk around the books. I ended up with a library of 300,000. It's a lot for an individual".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Death, tributes, and retrospectives

After health complications in January 2019, Lagerfeld was admitted to the American Hospital of Paris in Parisian suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine on 18 February. He died there the following morning from complications of prostate cancer.<ref name="MilesSochaFeb20232">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He requested no formal funeral, with plans for cremation and ashes spread at secret locations alongside his mother as well as his late partner, Jacques de Bascher.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lagerfeld was memorialized on 20 June 2019 at the Grand Palais with "Karl For Ever", a celebration of the designer's life, which featured a career retrospective highlighting his tenures at Chloé, Fendi, and Chanel, along with his work for his eponymous Karl Lagerfeld brand.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The 90-minute tribute was attended by 2,500 guests. Nearly 60 gigantic portraits were on view within the pavilion, which has hosted many Chanel runway collections.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The ceremony also included readings and musical performances by Tilda Swinton, Cara Delevingne, Helen Mirren, Pharrell Williams, and Lang Lang. The production was staged by theater and opera director Robert Carsen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The exhibition “Lagerfeld: The Chanel Shows” of Simon Procter was shown in London, Paris, Dubai, Boca Raton and Miami.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In February 2020, Eden Gallery honored Lagerfeld with an exhibition which explored sculptures and paintings inspired by his work.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The White Shirt Project

In July 2019, the house of Karl Lagerfeld announced the development of "The White Shirt Project".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In homage to its eponymous founder, the project celebrated the late designer's legacy with a collection of reimagined, iconic white shirts.<ref name="vogue.co.uk2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="farfetch.com2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Lagerfeld once said: "If you ask me what I'd most like to have invented in fashion, I'd say the white shirt. For me, the white shirt is the basis of everything. Everything else comes after."<ref name="Klerk2">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The global project was curated by Karl Lagerfeld's then Style Advisor Carine Roitfeld and featured designs from Cara Delevingne, Kate Moss, Tommy Hilfiger, Diane Kruger, Takashi Murakami, Amber Valletta, and British street artist Endless, amongst others.<ref name="Klerk2" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A White Shirt tribute event at Paris Fashion Week featured Anna Wintour, Kaia Gerber, and Karlie Kloss.<ref name="Paton2019">Template:Cite news</ref>

Seven was Lagerfeld's favorite number, and as such, seven of the final designs were replicated 77 times and sold for €777 each, with proceeds benefiting a French charity affiliated with Paris Descartes University.<ref name="farfetch.com2" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Metropolitan Museum of Art 2023 Costume Institute Exhibition and Met Gala

The Metropolitan Museum of Art honored the designer with a retrospective of his work with Balmain, Patou, Chloe, Fendi, Chanel, and his eponymous line. The posthumous exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty spanned Lagerfeld's six-decade career and included more than 150 objects.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Chanel, Fendi, Condé Nast, and Lagerfeld's own fashion brand provided support for the exhibition and the accompanying 2023 Met Gala.<ref name="Mukherjee">Template:Cite news</ref> The 2023 fête was co-chaired by Michaela Coel, Penélope Cruz, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa, and Condé Nast Global Chief Content Officer, Anna Wintour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando designed the exhibit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Curator Andrew Bolton expounded on the exhibition's inspiration in the April 2023 issue of Architectural Digest. Bolton explained that the tribute would focus largely on Lagerfeld's design process, specifically his sketches, and would showcase both the literal lines of Lagerfeld's drawings as well as the sartorial lines or silhouettes of his works.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Controversies

Template:Criticism section There was much controversy from Lagerfeld's use of a verse from the Quran in his spring 1994 couture collection for Chanel, despite apologies from the designer and the fashion house. The controversy erupted after the 1994 couture show in Paris when the Indonesian Muslim Scholars Council in Jakarta called for a boycott of Chanel and threatened to file formal protests with the government of Lagerfeld's homeland, Germany. The designer apologized, explaining that he had taken the design from a book about the Taj Mahal, thinking the words came from a love poem.<ref name="nytimes.com">Template:Cite news</ref>

Lagerfeld was a supporter of the use of fur in fashion, although he himself did not wear fur and hardly ate meat. In a BBC interview in 2009, he claimed that hunters "make a living having learnt nothing else than hunting, killing those beasts who would kill us if they could" and said: "In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish". Spokespersons for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) called Lagerfeld "a fashion dinosaur who is as out of step as his furs are out of style",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and "particularly delusional with his kill-or-be-killed mentality. When was the last time a person's life was threatened by a mink or rabbit?"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2001, he was the target of a pieing at a fashion premiere at Lincoln Center in New York City. However, the tofu pies hurled by animal rights activists in protest against his use of fur within his collections went astray, instead hitting Calvin Klein. A PETA spokesperson described the hit on Klein as "friendly fire", calling Klein, who does not use fur, "a great friend to the animals" and Lagerfeld a "designer dinosaur", who continues to use fur in his collections.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2010, after Lagerfeld used fake fur in his 2010 Chanel collection, PETA's website claimed: "It's the triumph of fake fur ... because fake fur changed so much and became so great now that you can hardly see a difference".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lagerfeld in 2009 joined critics of supermodel Heidi Klum, following German designer Wolfgang Joop's remarks about Klum, who had posed naked on the cover of the German edition of GQ magazine. Joop described Klum as being "no runway model. She is simply too heavy and has too big a bust".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lagerfeld commented that neither he nor Claudia Schiffer knew Klum, as she had never worked in Paris, and that she was insignificant in the world of high fashion, being "more bling bling and glamorous than current fashion".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He created an international furore on 9 February 2012, when he called the singer Adele "a little too fat".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Adele responded that she is like the majority of women, and she is very proud of that fact.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lagerfeld later caused another controversy, on 31 July 2012, when he criticised Pippa Middleton, the sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales, for her looks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

His caricature drawing Harvey Schweinstein, that shows film producer Harvey Weinstein as a pig, was criticised as antisemitic and dehumanizing.<ref>Der Mensch als Schwein. Karl Lagerfelds skandalöse Zeichnung. Die Welt, 11 November 2017. (in German)</ref> He sparked controversy by criticizing German Chancellor Angela Merkel's immigration policy during the European migrant crisis by saying, "You cannot kill millions of Jews and then take in millions of their worst enemies afterwards, even if there are decades [between the events]", and by accusing her to have thereby caused the rise of the party Alternative for Germany (AfD).<ref>Citing Holocaust, Karl Lagerfeld says Germany is taking in Jews' worst enemies. The Times of Israel. 14 November 2017.</ref><ref>Karl Lagerfeld "hasst" die Bundeskanzlerin. Der Spiegel. 10 May 2018. (in German)</ref> In May 2018, during an interview with French newspaper Le Point, Lagerfeld mentioned that he was contemplating giving up his German citizenship due to the one million Muslim immigrants that had been accepted into Germany by Merkel, a decision to which he attributed the increase in neo-Nazism in the country.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In a 2019 interview with French magazine Numéro, Lagerfeld dismissed the #MeToo movement and stated, "If you don't want your pants pulled about, don't become a model. Join a nunnery, there'll always be a place for you in the convent".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He also criticized newly instated regulations in photo studios and modeling agencies enacted to protect young models, stating that they were "too much" and as a designer, "you can't do anything". Lagerfeld also defended stylist Karl Templer, who was accused of sexual misconduct and stated that although he could not stand Harvey Weinstein, his distaste for him was of a professional nature.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lagerfeld said in 2007 that his controversial persona was an act.<ref name="bbc.com">Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Becoming Karl Lagerfeld

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Cite web