One of fashion’s most notorious and celebrated designers, Karl Lagerfeld shows no signs of slowing down.
Renowned for his staggering prolificness, versatility and an insatiable appetite for creation and reinvention, Lagerfeld defies expectations. If helming fashion houses Chanel and Fendi weren’t enough, Lagerfeld can also boast of having a remarkable photography career, being an advertising guru and co-author of a best selling diet book. When he is not designing twelve or so collections a year, Lagerfeld can be found dispensing backhanded compliments to celebrities, throwing shade at rivals and finding the time to stay model skinny. Lagerfeld is a force to be reckoned with and we take a look back on his remarkable career.
Karl Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg, Germany and although one of his many eccentricities include never officially revealing his birthday, it is frequently reported to be September 10, 1933. Lagerfeld spent some time working for several fashion houses as a draftsman before moving on to design couture collections, first for Jean Patou and then as a freelance designer. From 1963 to 1973, Lagerfeld would design couture collections for houses ranging from Tiziani to Chloé and began his ongoing collaboration with Fendi. However, it was not in couture that Lagerfeld truly made his mark, instead he became known as an irreplaceable, ahead of his time stylist, a king of ready-to-wear, long before it was the mainstay of the big fashion houses. By 1977, Vogue had crowned Lagerfeld the “unparalleled interpreter of the mood of the moment”.
Of course, Lagerfeld is a man of astonishing range and this soon led him into different pursuits like designing costumes for theatre or his own line. In 2004 in partnered with H&M for a limited range of Lagerfeld designs which sold out within two days. In 2011 he unveiled a 45 piece collection for Macy’s. Lagerfeld also branched out into photography. His photographic creative output ranged from advertising campaigns for the fashion houses he serves to photographing Mariah Carey for the cover of V magazine in 2005 to featuring in Harper’s Bazaar, Numéro, Russian and German editions of Vogue and even producing his own work for Visionaire edition 23: The Emperor’s New Clothes.
One could hardly mention Lagerfeld and not mention controversy in the same breath. Controversy tends to trail after him like a shadow and as for the suggestion that he deliberately courts it, well only Lagerfeld knows. In 1993, Anna Wintour walked off of his runway show during Milan Fashion Week, upset over Lagerfeld’s decision to employ strippers and adult film star Moana Pozzi. The next year, his choice to use a verse from the Qur’an in his Spring collection for Chanel, caused uproar, with the Indonesian Muslim Scholars Council calling for a boycott of Chanel. In 2001, Lagerfeld became embroiled in a battle with animal rights activists after he was targeted by PETA for ‘pieing’ over his use of fur and leather in his designs. Renowned for his biting commentary and serpent’s tongue, everyone from Yves Saint Laurent to Claudia Schiffer to Adele and to Pippa Middleton has been on the receiving end of a Lagerfeld jibe.
Now days, it is impossible to think of Lagerfeld with out instantly recalling his trademark look. What could be more iconic than Lagerfeld’s stiff white collar, leather fingerless gloves, dark jacket and glasses, rings and white ponytail? Having dropped 42 kilograms to fit into Hedi Slimane’s designs and published a book ‘The Karl Lagerfeld Diet’ in 2001, Lagerfeld’s look is just a notorious as his designs and his devotion to eccentricity. Beyond this, Lagerfeld’s reputation for unprecedented levels of productivity and an insatiable appetite for what is new intertwine with his eccentricities to make up the Lagerfeld legend. What’s next for Karl? We’ll wait on bated breathe.
To read more about the eccentric Lagerfeld head over to FIB’s Masters of Fashion, vol 38 Paris, available from Amazon and all good book stores.
