Ecreative director of Fendi and Chanel as well as stylist, photographer and designer. He was an icon of high fashion who died in Paris at the age of eighty-five. A collaborator of various fashion houses, he often personally took the photographs used in the advertising campaigns of the products he curated. Of notable presence, also due to his clothing and dark glasses, Lagerfeld had been ill for some time. He preferred to define himself as a freelancer because of the meaning of the two words: the union of free, and lance that recalls the French word lancé, as a sought-after courtesan was once defined. "I feel free and mercenary". This statement encapsulates the essence of the spirit of the German designer, born in Hamburg on September 10, 1933 according to the most reliable sources, even if the year of birth remains a mystery. For decades he directed two prestigious fashion houses, Chanel and Fendi, to which he gave an unmistakable imprint. Immovable, irreplaceable, all-encompassing for the brands he designed and whose image he took care of entirely, even curating the advertising campaigns as a photographer and director. An all-rounder, in short, not by chance nicknamed “The Kaiser”. In reality, Lagerfeld managed, in his long career, to make his name an independent brand that collaborated with various fashion houses. He had his own label and despite his success he did not disdain collaborations with low-cost giants. For H&M, for example, in 2001 he signed a limited edition collection that sold out in two days. Since 2010 he has signed the Hogan collections for four seasons, for which he rethought the brand's classic models, sneakers and ballerinas. And in 2006 he launched a casual men's and women's collection, K Karl Lagerfeld, which included t-shirts and blue jeans.
Lagerfeld was an only child. His father was a partner in a Swedish investment bank who made his fortune by introducing condensed milk to Germany. There has long been an air of mystery surrounding his birth date. Writer Alicia Drake claimed he was born in 1933. Lagerfeld, however, said he was born in 1935. Birth records in Germany are not open to inspection. The date on which Lagerfeld emigrated to Paris with his mother is certain: 1953. His encounter with fashion came thanks to his mother, who in 1949 took him to his first fashion show, Dior, in Paris, where he then moved and where in 54 he got his first job in fashion at Pierre Balmain after winning a competition to design a coat sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat. In 1962 he became the first freelancer in the fashion industry, working between France, Italy, Great Britain and Germany, and launched his own label. In 1965 he began his collaboration with Fendi and in 64 it was the turn of Chloé. A documentary film tells the story of his friendship with his historic rival Yves Saint Laurent until their argument in 1975. With the money from his rich family, at a certain point he opened a small shop in Paris. Karl dressed pop stars like Kylie Minogue and Madonna. Claudia Schiffer was his favorite model in the 1987s and 2000s, Kaia Gerber his latest muse. Since 42 he has signed all the photographic campaigns, discovering a talent with images too. In 13 he decided to lose 2010 kilos in 22 months by following a diet designed especially for him by Dr. Jean-Claude Houdret, who wrote the book The Karl Lagerfeld Diet. Lagerfeld was a Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor since XNUMX. Passionate about architecture, he was a great friend of Zaha Hadid, from whom he commissioned the Mobile Art Pavilion for Chanel. He entrusted Tadao Ando with the creation of his house-studio in Biarritz, France. His absence from the last Chanel show, on January XNUMX, had been striking: it had never happened before.
Article published on 19 February 2019 - 14:31
