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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 20 February 2019
Chanel: Iconic couturier Karl Lagerfeld has died

By THOMAS ADAMSON as diverse as French poli- gaze riveted toward the launch the careers of su- to Paris with his parents and
Associated Press tics and celebrity waistlines future. Well into his 70s, he permodels including Clau- went to school in the City
PARIS (AP) — Chanel’s won him the nickname was quick to embrace new dia Schiffer, Ines de la Fres- of Light. His fashion career
iconic couturier, Karl Lager- “Kaiser Karl” in the fashion technology: He famously sange and Stella Tennant. got off to a precocious
feld, whose accomplished media. Among the most had a collection of hun- In a move that helped start when, in 1954, a coat
designs as well as trade- he designed won a contest
mark white ponytail, high by the International Wool
starched collars and dark Secretariat. His rival, Yves
enigmatic glasses dominat- Saint Laurent, won that
ed high fashion for the past year’s contest in the dress
50 years, has died. He was category.
around 85 years old. Lagerfeld apprenticed at
Such was the enigma sur- Balmain and in 1959 was
rounding the German-born hired at another Paris-
designer that even his age based house, Patou, where
was a point of mystery for he spent four years as artis-
decades, with reports he tic director. After a series of
had two birth certificates, freelance jobs with labels
one dated 1933 and the including Rome-based Fen-
other 1938. In 2013, Lager- di, Lagerfeld took over the
feld told French magazine reins at Chloe, known for its
“Paris Match” he was born romantic Parisian style.
in 1935, but in 2019 his as- Lagerfeld also started his
sistant still didn’t know the own label, Karl Lagerfeld,
truth — telling AP he liked which though less commer-
“to scramble the tracks on cially successful than his
his year of birth — that’s other ventures, was widely
part of the character.” seen as a sort of sketchpad
Chanel confirmed that La- where the designer worked
gerfeld died early Tuesday. In this Tuesday, Oct.2, 2018 file photo, fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld poses after the presentation through his audacious
Lagerfeld was of the most of Chanel Spring/Summer 2019 ready-to-wear fashion collection in Paris, Tuesday, Oct.2, 2018. ideas.
hardworking figures in the Associated Press In 1982, he took over at
fashion world holding down over Chanel, which had
the top design jobs at acid comments included dreds of iPods. make his a household been dormant since the
LVMH-owned luxury label calling President Francois A photographer who shot name, Lagerfeld designed death of its founder, Coco
Fendi from 1977, and Paris’ Hollande an “imbecile” ad campaigns for Chanel a capsule collection for Chanel, more than a de-
family-owned power-house who would be “disastrous” and his own eponymous Swedish fast-fashion com- cade earlier.
Chanel in 1983. Indeed, his for France in Marie-Claire, label, Lagerfeld also col- pany H&M in 2004 and re- “When I took on Chanel, it
indefatigable energy was and telling UK’s The Sun lected art books and had a leased a CD of his favorite was a sleeping beauty —
notable: he lost around 90 that he didn’t like the face massive library and a book- music shortly after. not even a beautiful one,”
pounds in his late 60s to fit of Pippa Middleton, the store as well as his own A weight-loss book he pub- he said in the 2007 docu-
into the latest slimline fash- Duchess of Cambridge’s publishing house. He was lished in 2005 — “The Karl mentary “Lagerfeld Confi-
ions. sister. also an impressive linguist Lagerfeld Diet” — consoli- dential.” ‘’She snored.”
Though he spent virtually “She should only show her switching between perfect dated his status as a pop For his debut collection for
his entire career at luxury back,” he advised. French, English, Italian and culture icon. In the book, the house, Lagerfeld in-
labels catering to the very Lagerfeld was also heavily his native German during Lagerfeld, said that it was jected a dose of raciness,
wealthy — including all of criticized for sending out a interviews at post-catwalk his desire to fit into the slim- sending out a translucent
20 years at Chloe — Lager- negative message to wom- celebrity media scrums. cut suits by then-Dior Hom- navy chiffon number that
feld’s designs quickly trick- en when he told France’s Although he spent much of me designer Hedi Slimane prompted scandalized
led down to low-end retail- Metro newspaper that his life in the public eye, La- that had motivated his dra- headlines.
ers, giving him an almost signer Adele was “a little gerfeld remained a largely matic transformation. He never ceased to shake
unprecedented impact on too fat.” elusive figure. Even as he The son of an industrial- up the storied house, send-
the entire fashion industry. Despite this, he did have an courted the spotlight, he ist who made a fortune in ing out a logo-embla-
At Chanel, he served up under-reported soft side. made an apparently de- condensed milk and his zoned bikini so small the
youthful designs that were He was known to be very liberate effort to hide what violinist wife, Lagerfeld was top looked like pasties on
always of the moment and kind to his staff at Chanel was going on behind his born into an affluent family a string and another col-
sent out almost infinite vari- and was famous for ac- trademark dark shades. in Hamburg, Germany. lection that dispensed en-
ations on the house’s clas- cording journalists gener- “I am like a caricature of Lagerfeld had artistic ambi- tirely with bottoms, with
sic skirt suit, ratcheting up ously long interviews after myself, and I like that,” Brit- tions early on. In interviews, the models wearing little
the hemlines or smothering each fashion show. He also ish Vogue quoted Lager- he variously said he want- jackets over opaque tights
it in golden chains, stings of shared his unmarried life in feld as saying. “It is like a ed to become a cartoonist, instead.
pearls or pricey accesso- his Parisian mansion with a mask. And for me the Car- a portraitist, an illustrator or Lagerfeld was open about
ries. They were always de- Siamese cat called Chou- nival of Venice lasts all year a musician. his homosexuality — he
livered with wit. pette. long.” “My mother tried to instruct once said he announced
“Each season, they tell me “She is spoilt, much more After cutting his teeth at me on the piano. One day, it to his parents at age 13
(the Chanel designs) look than a child could be,” he Paris-based label Chloe, she slammed the piano — but kept his private life
younger. One day we’ll told AP in 2013, revealing Lagerfeld consolidated cover closed on my fingers under wraps. Following his
all turn up like babies,” he also that he would take her his reputation in the 1980s and said, ‘draw, it makes widely known relationship
once told The Associated to the vet every 10 days when he revived the flag- less noise,” he was quoted with a French aristocrat
Press. overcautiously. ging fortunes of the storied as saying in the book “The who died of AIDS in 1989,
His outspoken and often Lagerfeld had little use Paris haute couture label World According to Karl.” Lagerfeld insisted he prized
stinging remarks on things for nostalgia and kept his Chanel. There, he helped At age 14, Lagerfeld came his solitude above all.q