Karl Lagerfeld

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

In 1954, Lagerfeld submitted a dress design to the International Wool Secretariat's design competition.[16] His submitted entry presaged the chemise dresses which would be introduced by Givenchy and Balenciaga three years later.[16] In 1955, Lagerfeld entered another IWS competition and won in the coat category.[17] He also befriended another winner, Yves Saint Laurent, and was soon after hired by Pierre Balmain who was a judge for the competition.[18] He worked as Balmain's assistant, and later apprentice, for three years.[18]

In 1957, Lagerfeld became the artistic director for Jean Patou.[19] He left Jean Patou in 1962, to become a freelance designer,[20] one of the first designers to do so.[21] In the 1960s, he freelanced for brands including Charles Jourdan, Chloé, Krizia, Valentino,[19] and for the Rome-based fashion house Tiziani.[22] 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.[23] Lagerfeld remained with Fendi Rome until his death.[19]

In 1966, Lagerfeld became a designer for Chloé, working alongside Gaby Aghion, and in 1974 he became the sole designer for the brand.[24] He was known in part during this period for expanding the use of crêpe de chine,[25] a focus other designers would adopt in the 1970s,[26] a decade when Lagerfeld's work for Chloé would make him one of the most prominent designers in the world,[27][28][29] often vying with Yves Saint Laurent for most influential.[30][31] After a period in the early seventies when he toyed with styles from the 1920s,[32][33] '30s,[34][35] '40s,[36] and '50s,[37][38] in 1974 he contributed to the burgeoning Big Look or Soft Look by eliminating linings,[39] padding, and even hemming from voluminous, thin-fabric garments,[40][41] even from fur in his work for Fendi at the time,[42][43] to enable an unencumbered, comfortable, layered style which would dominate the high fashion of the middle of the decade.[44][45][46]

After refining this style and saying that to go back to linings and stiff structure would be regressive,[47][48] he did a complete about-face in 1978[49][50] and joined other designers in showing the heavily constructed, huge-shouldered, more restrictive looks[51] that would dominate the 1980s.[52][53][54] He presented such an exaggerated retro 1940s–50s silhouette[55] – immense shoulder pads;[56][57] severe, stiffly constructed suits[58] with padded lampshade peplums;[59] padded busts and hips;[60] impractically tight skirts;[61] awkwardly high spike heels;[62] hats;[63][64] gloves; even boned corsets[65][66] – that his work did not look out of place alongside similar retro fare from Thierry Mugler of the period.[67] His 50s-revival strapless, boned bodices were made more comfortable with foam padding and given the name bustier by the designer, a contribution that would become very popular during the following decade.[68]

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.[69][70][71] 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,[72][73][74] while his Fall 1979 collection, one of the most influential of the early years of the big-shoulder era,[75] contained millinery that recalled Napoleonic bicornes, along with button-sided spats/leggings that looked somewhat like military accoutrements from the same period.[76]

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,[77] though his hemlines could also range as low as the ankle.[78] 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[79][80] and Lagerfeld touted the gossamer weightlessness he had perfected in the seventies,[81] although he did like to place corsets and girdles over it by that time.[82][83][84] The variety of lengths and trouser shapes he presented during this period kept him in line with modern women's needs.[85][86]

International fame with Chanel (1982–2000)

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[88] by revamping its ready-to-wear fashion line.[89][18] Lagerfeld integrated the interlocked CC monogram of Coco Chanel into a style pattern for the House of Chanel.[87][90]

Lagerfeld also changed the Chanel silhouette[91] that had prevailed since the early 1960s, making it more eighties by padding the shoulder,[92] shortening and tightening the skirt,[93][94][95][96] raising the heel,[97][98][99] and enlarging or miniaturizing the jewelry and purses,[100][101][102][103] all controversial moves,[104][105][106] especially the short skirts,[107] as Mlle. Chanel had always disapproved of above-the-knee skirts.[108] 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.[109][110][111]

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.[112] The brand was established to channel "intellectual sexiness".[89] Lagerfeld had signed an agreement with Bidermann Industries USA, giving them ownership and licensing rights to fashion labels he produced.[113] Lagerfeld ended the agreement with Bidermann in 1989.[114] That same year, Lagerfeld launched two Karl Lagerfeld brand menswear lines.[115] The Lagerfeld label was then purchased by the Cora Revillon Group,[116] which had previously reached an agreement to manufacture and market Karl Lagerfeld-branded products.[117]

In 1992, Dunhill Holdings—part of the Vendôme Luxury Group—acquired the Karl Lagerfeld brand from Cora-Revillon for an estimated $30 million.[118][114] The acquisition was part of the agreement the company made with Lagerfeld for him to return to designing for the fashion house Chloé.[114] 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.[119] Lagerfeld stated that Vendôme "had not hired the right people to manage it."[119]

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.[120] 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.[121][122]

Later career (2001–2019)

Fashion

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.[123] 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.[124] In November 2010, Lagerfeld and Swedish crystal manufacturer Orrefors announced a collaboration to design a crystal art collection.[125] The first collection was launched in spring 2011, called Orrefors by Karl Lagerfeld.[126]

In 2012 Lagerfeld released his photo-book The Little Black Jacket which featured entertainers, models, and friends of his.[127] In 2014, Palm Beach Modern Auctions announced that many of Lagerfeld's early sketches for the House of Tiziani in Rome would be sold.[128][129]

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".[130][131] 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.[132]

Collaborations

Karl Lagerfeld was well known for his collaborations with brands and individuals.[133] 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.[134] The collection, Lagerfeld Gallery by Diesel, was designed by Lagerfeld and produced by Diesel[135] 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.[136]
• In 2004, Lagerfeld designed a capsule collection for Swedish fashion chain H&M,[137] marking the first time a designer had collaborated with the brand.[138] 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."[139]
• 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.[140] The redesigned bottles featured a vivid pink cap and a black graphic of Lagerfeld's silhouette.[141] Coca-Cola released another set of Lagerfeld-designed bottles in 2011.[142]
• 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.[143]
• In 2014, Lagerfeld collaborated with Mattel on a "Barbie Lagerfeld" doll that included fingerless gloves and a tailored black jacket.[144]
• In 2016, Lagerfeld collaborated with Faber-Castell on the "Karlbox", a collection of fine artist tools.[145]
• In 2017, Lagerfeld collaborated with the shoe brand Vans on a collection that included sneakers, jackets, hats, and backpacks.[146] The next year he created a similar capsule collection for Puma.[147] The line included Suede sneakers inspired by Lagerfeld's personal style.[147]
• Lagerfeld was a collector of Christofle silverware,[148] and in 2018 he collaborated with the brand on a limited-edition cutlery set.[149] Lagerfeld had previously collaborated on a collection of crystal glasses with Orrefors.[149]

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.[124]

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.[150] In 2017 he received the John B. Fairchild Award from WWD.[151]

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".[152] 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.[153]

Other media

Lagerfeld took up photography in 1987[154] after being frustrated with images done for Chanel press kits. Chanel's then-image director, Éric Pfrunder, encouraged Lagerfeld to redo them himself,[155] and photography became one of the passions of Lagerfeld's life outside of design.[156] He went on to shoot commercial fashion campaigns,[154] editorial shots for magazines like Harper's Bazaar,[157] as well as architectural and landscape work.[158] "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.[159]

In 1994, German publishing house Steidl published Off the Record, a collection of Lagerfeld's photography.[160] The publishing house went on to release dozens of collections of his work,[160] including The Little Black Jacket in 2012, which featured 113 portraits of models and entertainers wearing the book's eponymous article,[161] and Karl Lagerfeld: Casa Malaparte in 2015, which documented the Italian Modernist architectural monument.[162]

Lagerfeld and investments enterprise Dubai Infinity Holdings (DIH) signed a deal to design limited edition homes on the island of Isla Moda.[163][164] A feature-length documentary film on the designer, Lagerfeld Confidential, was made by Rodolphe Marconi in 2007.[165] 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.[166]

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.[167] 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.[168] That same year, he had a guest voice role in the French animated film Totally Spies! The Movie.[169]

In 1996, the Zürich-based Galerie Gmurzynska began exhibiting Lagerfeld's photography.[170] In 1999, Lagerfeld opened 7L, a bookshop in Paris that specializes in photography collections and visual arts books.[171] In 2000, he launched a publishing imprint, Editions 7L, in collaboration with Steidl.[172] The imprint released books on fashion and photography and also republished rare and out-of-print books.[114] The 7L bookshop was reconceptualized after Lagerfeld's death as a space for cultural events.[171]

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."[173]

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.[174][175] In 2013, he directed Once Upon a Time..., a short film starring Keira Knightley as Coco Chanel and Clotilde Hesme as her aunt, Adrienne.[176] 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.[177]

In 2016, Palazzo Pitti hosted another exhibition of Karl Lagerfeld's photography[178] that included portraits and photos from fashion shoots, all inspired by classical mythology.[179]

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.[180]

In 2019, following the news of Lagerfeld's death, Galerie Gmurzynska mounted a retrospective exhibition highlighting the past three decades of his work.[170]

Weight loss

Lagerfeld lost 42 kg in 2001.[204] 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.[10]

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".[205]

Death, tributes, and retrospectives

The White Shirt Project

In July 2019, the house of Karl Lagerfeld announced the development of "The White Shirt Project".[206] In homage to its eponymous founder, the project celebrated the late designer's legacy with a collection of reimagined, iconic white shirts.[207][208]

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."[209][210][211]

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.[209][212][213] A White Shirt tribute event at Paris Fashion Week featured Anna Wintour, Kaia Gerber, and Karlie Kloss.[214]

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.[208][215][216]

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.[217]

Chanel, Fendi, Condé Nast, and Lagerfeld's own fashion brand provided support for the exhibition and the accompanying 2023 Met Gala.[218] The 2023 fête was co-chaired by Michaela Coel, Penélope Cruz, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa, and Condé Nast Global Chief Content Officer, Anna Wintour.[219][220] Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando designed the exhibit.[221] 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.[222]