Today, on Karl Lagerfeld's birthday, we have compiled the TOP 5 attributes without which Lagerfeld would not be the same as we know him.

High collar.

A high collar is the first thing that artists draw when trying to portray Karl. No one will probably remember Karl without a white collar. This summer, Karl created an exclusive collar model, decorating it with diamonds and a huge emerald. The approximate cost of the product is 37.5 thousand dollars.

“I didn’t sit and rack my brains over what image I should appear in. I really have become something of an image, but I don’t mind because I think it’s funny.”

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Glasses.

Glasses, as Karl admitted, protect him from the outside world. Now catching Lagerfeld without glasses is a practically impossible task. However, those who have seen Karl without glasses say that he has beautiful blue eyes.

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Gloves

Karl never goes without black gloves. He usually prefers gloves with stub fingers, which look very aristocratic, but are actually part of the uniform of Parisian roasted chestnut sellers (as Karl himself admits). Karl himself is not happy with his hands - perhaps it’s all because of his mother, who told him from childhood about his ugly hands.

I even tried smoking, but my mother said, “You don’t need to smoke, your hands are ugly and it becomes noticeable when you smoke.” My hands aren't ugly, but she didn't think they were good enough.

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Baptiste Giabiconi

Another attribute of Karl Lagerfeld can be safely called Batista Giabiconi, since it is he who accompanies the Kaiser at all his shows and meetings. Previously, Karl and Baptiste were absolutely inseparable, but recently Baptiste has become interested in his own musical career, so he has much less time for his mentor. Baptiste Giabiconi's modeling career began even before he met Lagerfeld, but it was his meeting with him that made the young man the most famous fashion model of our time. In 2009, Giabiconi became the face of Chanel, Fendi, and Karl Lagerfeld. In the spring, she participates in the Chanel cruise collection show in Venice, then in the summer Chanel accessories campaign, led by Karl Lagerfeld.

“One day I approached Carl and asked, ‘Why me?’” Baptiste says. – What do you see in me? Why do you only work with me? He replied: “Because I saw in you something that is not in other people, both a man and a woman.”

Giabiconi is the male version of Gisele Bundchen: with a thin, thin but athletic figure that looks good in clothes, but is beautiful without it.”

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Choupette

“Choupette is an unusually beautiful cat, and our “collaboration” with her became a very unusual and interesting experience for me. The rumors that a separate hairdresser did her hair are nonsense, but she is represented by the same modeling agency that represents me. And I'm sure her career will be incredible! Model cats today are trained from the very cradle. They bask in everyone's attention from infancy and spend their entire lives on film sets. This has its own specifics: different types of cat “faces” are good for different purposes: a “flattened” muzzle is popular at cat shows, and a long nose is popular at fashion shoots because it looks more good-natured.”, — Laetitia Casta.

I am jealous, so I hope that she has no one but me. True, Choupette is being courted by several girls, and she spends too much time with one of them. Her name is Francoise. She brushes it and plays with it. Françoise also keeps Choupette's diary so I can keep up to date with her life.

Karl Lagerfeld is a world-famous fashion designer, famous for his collaboration with the fashion houses Chanel, Chloe, and Fendi.

Karl Otto Lagerfeld was born in September 1933 in Hamburg. But the couturier himself claims that his date of birth was 1938, and Karl can document this. The boy's father, Otto Lagerfeld, was a wealthy bank employee. At the time of the birth of the son, the mother, who was of German origin, was 42 years old, and the father, who had Swedish roots, was 60 years old. The boy turned out to be the only son in the family, but he has two half-sisters.

When Karl Lagerfeld was 14 years old, his parents moved to Paris. With their consent, the son went to study at a high fashion school: the young man’s talent for fashion design showed up in Hamburg. In this educational institution for young fashion designers, Karl met and became friends with.

Karl Lagerfeld's first creative victory dates back to 1954. Then the International Wool Secretariat organized a competition, as a result of which the 21-year-old (according to Lagerfeld - 14-year-old) guy received the first prize, awarded for the best sketch of a coat. After this, Karl was invited to the famous Pierre Balmain fashion house, where the young man gained experience for 4 years.

Fashion

In 1958, Karl Lagerfeld was invited to the Jean Patou House, where the designer remained as art director for 4 years. Disillusioned with the world of high fashion, the young couturier left Paris and went to Italy, where he began studying art history. But there Lagerfeld suddenly realized that he had left the fashion world early: in fact, he was not disappointed in it, but was simply fed up with the monotony.

Lagerfeld's creative biography continued in the mid-1960s. Karl has worked as an independent designer for four fashion houses - Chloé, Krizia, Charles Jourdan and Fendi. The uniqueness of the fashion designer was that Karl created exclusive models for each brand, different from each other. In 1974, the designer released his first line of clothing for men and immediately received an invitation to become a professor at the Vienna School of Applied Arts.

In 1980, Lagerfeld invented the fashion for skorts and miniskirts. But fame fell on the designer 3 years later, when Karl became the art director of the House of Chanel. During that period, the fashion designer created a ready-to-wear line. A little later, new clothing lines appeared - “KL” and “KL by Karl Lagerfeld”. The talented fashion designer managed to make the outdated Chanel style dynamic and modern. In 1986, Karl Lagerfeld received an honorary award – the “Golden Thimble” – for a new collection for this brand.

In the late 1990s, Lagerfeld's style became closer to the famous one. Suits and evening dresses cut in the Belle Epoque style are gaining worldwide fame. At the same time, the individual style of Lagerfeld himself was finally formed, which the designer remained with until his last days - dark glasses, a classic men's three-piece suit in black or gray and leather gloves.

In his own collections, the fashion designer loved to use leather and fur, which repeatedly provoked angry protests from animal rights activists. In 2001, there was a scandal involving PETA activists. Since then, the couturier produces only one sable fur coat per year, whereas in previous times the number of fur products was one hundred pieces. The range of products produced by Karl Lagerfeld also includes accessories. The designer annually updated his collections of bags for women, releasing small, medium and large items, photographs of which were then posted on the official website.

The designer's favorite top models were Stella Tennant. The girls, each in their time, became central figures at the maestro's shows. Ines De la Fressange also took part in the designer's photo shoots.

In addition to his design popularity, the fashion designer became famous for his talent as a photographer. For this, Karl was awarded the “Lucky Strike Designer Award” and an honorary prize from the German Society of Art Photography Lovers “Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Fotographie”. After these victories, the Karl Lagerfeld Gallery opened in the fashion capital.

Another gallery called “Studio 7L” appeared a little later. It became famous for the fact that at least 10 new clothing collections were born there per year. The tireless designer admitted that at that time sleep took 4 hours a day.

Karl Lagerfeld is a great connoisseur of books. There are 300 copies in the designer's personal library. In his own name, the fashion designer founded the 7L publishing house, which operates a bookstore. In 2000, Karl put up for auction part of his own collection of publications on the art of France of the 18th century.

Another passion of the maestro is creating exquisite perfumes. Since 1975, Karl Lagerfeld has produced perfumes from the brands Chloé, KL, and Jako. The fashion designer's favorite eau de toilette was the scent of a book.

Many contemporaries call Karl Lagerfeld the emperor of fashion. In his old age, the designer was tireless and refused to retire honorably. For the last quarter of a century, the fashion designer remained the creative director of the Chanel house. Lagerfeld dressed Hollywood stars and did not forget about his second hobby - photography.

In 2007, the film “The Secrets of Lagerfeld” was released, dedicated to the designer, directed by Rodolphe Marconi. The first screening of the film took place at the international film festival in Berlin. Seven years later, the premiere of the full-length film “Yves Saint Laurent” followed, where Nikolai Kinski appeared in the role of the young Lagerfeld. Also, two documentaries are dedicated to the designer’s work.

Throughout 2017, under the patronage of Karl Lagerfeld, Sebastien Jondeau, a former fashion model who has been serving as the designer’s personal security guard, worked on his own fashion collection. The presentation of the clothing line of Lagerfeld's student took place in the spring of 2018.

On the eve of his 85th birthday in 2018, Karl Lagerfeld, together with the Australian cosmetics brand ModelCo, launched his own line of decorative cosmetics, which included transparent lip gloss, eye shadow, blush, powder and mascara.

Personal life

Karl Lagerfeld's personal life is an affair with his best friend Jacques de Bascher, who died in 1989. In an interview, Karl admitted that the relationship between them was exclusively platonic. After 12 years, the union broke up, and Jacques went to Yves Saint Laurent. Six years later, de Basher died of AIDS.

After Jacques' death, the designer no longer connected his life with anyone. To questions of a personal nature, the fashion designer answered that his love had died, and “that’s all over.”

Lagerfeld did not like questions about his personal life, arguing that it was indecent to talk about it in adulthood. In the last years of his life, there were always three people in the designer’s house - a housekeeper, a cook and a driver.

Scandals

From time to time, Karl Lagerfeld reminded himself of himself with scandalous statements that were discussed for a long time in the press. For example, the couturier was extremely critical of overweight women. The fashion designer argued that no one wants to look at plump representatives of the fairer sex. The only occupation of such people is to sit in front of TV screens with chips and discuss the ugliness of skinny models.

Lagerfeld even had to apologize for some expressions, as happened in 2012 with the British favorite singer. Karl called the girl too fat, although he paid tribute to her “divine voice” and beautiful facial features.

In another interview, Lagerfeld criticized Russian men to smithereens, saying that most of them are “real freaks.” But the couturier called Russian women the most beautiful in the world. To this, the fashion master added that if he were Russian beauties, he would prefer non-traditional sexual orientation.

Another scandalous statement by Karl Lagerfeld concerned children. The designer said that fatherhood is the last thing he would like. And in general he hated children, because “he was not born a family man.” The maestro’s quotes quickly became popular, as they were immediately picked up by glossy publications.

Death

February 19, 2019 Karl Lagerfeld at the age of 86. According to Le Figaro, the couturier has not been feeling well recently.

For the first time, the public was concerned about the designer’s condition when Karl did not take the traditional bow at the end of the collection show in Paris. Since 1983, the couturier has always come out to greet the audience at the finale of the Chanel fashion show.

The official cause of Lagerfeld's death has not yet been announced.

Fashion genius Karl Lagerfeld celebrates his birthday on September 10th. The couturier and photographer turns 85 years old. Despite his rather advanced age, Karl continues to delight his fans with masterpieces in the world of fashion, and also prove that he is an extraordinary and bright personality.

In honor of Lagerfeld's birthday, we invite you to familiarize yourself with the most interesting facts from his biography, as well as statements that caused a lot of noise in society. Is it worth listening to them or is this just another PR for a famous person - judge for yourself!

The public first saw Lagerfeld's creations in 1958, when he presented his debut collection. Unfortunately, it was a fiasco, because many did not understand it at all. Then fashion critics attacked young Karl with statements that he had absolutely no talent. Despite this, the young designer did not give up, but continued to work in the fashion field.

Few people know that Lagerfeld was the first to introduce miniskirts into fashion. In 1960, Karl presented his new collection, in which girls walked the catwalk in ultra short skirts and dresses. These products became not only the beginning of serious changes in the world of fashion, but also in the sexual life of European women. Before Lagerfeld's show, few of them dared to wear a product that barely covered the butt.

Now, looking at Lagerfeld, it’s hard to believe that some 20 years ago Karl weighed 102 kg. He decided to lose weight after he saw men’s suits by fashion designer Hedi Slimane on the catwalk. Despite the fact that they were represented by a young, then not very famous French designer, Karl truly admired his creations. In his interview, Lagerfeld said the following words about this:

“Fashionable and beautiful clothes are a great reason to look great. When I saw Hedi Slimane's suits, I realized that I wanted to look like the model on the catwalk. What needs to be done for this? First of all, lose weight! I lost 42 kg in order to wear Slimane suits!”

Despite the fact that Lagerfeld is a very popular designer, he has a hobby without which a man cannot understand his life. Some time ago it turned out that Karl loves to read. His house has a library containing more than 300 thousand books. However, the couturier’s passion did not end only with the home library. In 2000, Lagerfeld founded a publishing house in Paris called 7L, and opened several bookstores.

It's no secret that Karl is a photographer recognized by the world. Lagerfeld first became interested in photography when he was not yet 20, and this hobby grew into a profession. That is why, working with the Chanel Fashion House, Karl is always present at the shooting of advertising posters. In addition, he quite often picks up a camera and directs the shooting himself. It will also be interesting to know that Legerfeld participated in photography exhibitions some time ago and his work received many awards.

Lagerfeld is famous for his tough temper and statements with which many disagree. One of these controversial topics is the attitude of couturiers towards prostitutes and strippers. Once, to one of his shows, which took place in 1993, the fashion designer invited a popular porn actress. The public present at the event was so shocked by Lagerfeld's actions that many began to leave the show. Among them was the famous Anna Wintour. In his interviews, Karl said that there is no need to be ashamed of his work:

“I want to dispel the myth that money, prestigious work and fame are the main components of a happy life. All these are stereotypes imposed on us. Do what brings you pleasure and don't pay attention to what others say. You can work as a stripper or as a salesman in a village store, and at the same time be the happiest person in the world.”

Those fans who follow Lagerfeld's life and work know that the couturier has been wearing the same hairstyle for quite some time - a ponytail tied at the back of his head. The couturier voiced his love for this image as follows:

“In 1976, I began to realize that I was tired of voluminous and curly hair, and that’s what I naturally have. Then I started putting them in a ponytail, because it’s very quick and easy to do, and, you know, I don’t have the talent of a hairdresser. I don’t know much about all these gels and varnishes; the only thing I have for my hair is a special powder.”

8. Karl has no heirs

It is no secret that Lagerfeld never married, and his only companion in life was Jacques de Bascher, who died of AIDS more than 20 years ago. As for children, the couturier purposefully refused to have them. In his interview, Karl spoke about this in the following words:

“I think it takes courage to have a child. This is due to the fact that children grow very quickly, and compared to them, you age much faster. You know, I’m just not ready for this.”

When was Karl Lagerfeld born? Although the birth register records that Karl Lagerfeld was born on September 10, 1933, the couturier himself claims that the date of his birth is somewhere between 1933 and 1938. He once even promised to post documents that no one knows about, confirming his words. As Lagerfeld himself said, “everything was not what everyone thought.”

When he was 14 years old, his family moved from Hamburg to Paris, where the boy studied at the high fashion school at the same time as I. Saint Laurent. In 1954, the International Wool Secretariat organized a competition in which Karl Lagerfeld, as a 21-year-old (16-year-old) young man, received his first prize for a coat sketch and was invited to work at the Pierre Balmain House, where he worked for 4 years. .

Star Trek

After the Balmain Fashion House, Lagerfeld was invited to the position of art director at Jean Patou, where he did not stay for more than 4 years.

Disillusioned with high fashion, Karl Lagerfeld left Paris for Italy to study art history. Then, becoming an independent designer, he designed completely different collections for such fashion houses as Chloe, Krizia, Charles Laurdan and Fendi.

In 1974, he launched his own line of men's clothing, Karl Lagerfeld Impression, and received an invitation to teach at the Vienna Higher School of Applied Arts (Hochschule fur angewalte Kunst) as a professor.

In 1980, it was Karl Lagerfeld who introduced the fashion for miniskirts, and then for short skirts. But real popularity came to him three years later, when the owners of Chanel invited him to become an art director, and then Lagerfeld became the creator of haute couture and ready-to-wear lines. At the same time, he created his own lines - KL and KL by Karl Lagerfeld.

While still in the position of art director of the Chanel Fashion House, Lagerfeld was able not only to change their image, but also to attract new clients, make the Chanel style more modern and, together with C. Lacroix, regained the lost influence of high fashion. In the 80s, the Chanel brand was counterfeited more than any other brand in the history of fashion. For his haute couture collection for Chanel in 1986, Lagerfeld received the Golden Thimble. By the end of the 90s, it was believed that his style had become much closer to the style of Chanel herself, be it suits or romantic evening dresses in the Belle Epoque style.

In addition to creating fashionable clothes, Lagerfeld is also interested in photography and publishes several books of his own photographs. He received the Lucky Strike Designer Award for them, and in 1993 the prize of the German Society of Photography (Deutsche Geselleschaft fur Fotographie). It is not surprising that after such success the Karl Lagerfeld Gallery was opened in Paris.

With the same success, there was an art gallery called Lagerfeld Gallery - Studio 7L, where more than ten collections were born a year. According to Lagerfeld himself, he slept no more than four hours a day.

In the spring of 2000, it opened its own publishing house called 7L, which published a photo album dedicated to the works of makeup artist Stephane Marais, a book about the poet Alan Seeger, who died during the First World War, and the legendary French actress of the turn of the century Gabrielle Reju.

Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is called the emperor of modern fashion with unlimited performance at 78 years old. After all, for the last 25 years he has been the creative director of Chanel; in addition, he dresses Hollywood stars, designs costumes for theater and cinema, and also does professional photography. There are rumors that this is not all the designer can do: Deutsche Welle claims that the designer is currently designing 80 villas in Dubai.

Karl Lagerfeld - personal life

Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld practically does not talk about his personal life and carefully protects it. Some argue that he is gay, because after his best friend Jacques de Bascher died 15 years ago, Karl no longer maintains close relationships with anyone. Others claim that he is crazy about women, because he creates precisely for them, and it was Lagerfeld who revealed to the world

Some people don’t treat him very warmly and consider him overrated, others admire him and call him a genius. There are so many people, so many opinions, but one fact is undeniable: Karl Lagerfeld is one of the most influential figures in the world of fashion and in modern culture. Moreover, this is a person who managed to come up with a bright, picturesque and memorable image for himself, familiar even outside of fashion circles.

The designer did not come to him right away, but the fact that in the future Karl would connect his life with clothes was clear even in childhood. As a child, Lagerfeld loved to dress up and took it seriously. Among his classmates, he was the only one who gladly wore a neat, impeccably ironed school uniform. In addition, the national Tyrolean costume aroused his keen interest. One day he asked his mother Elisabeth to buy him a Tyrolean hat, to which she replied to her 8-year-old son: “You look like an old lesbian in it.” After this not very eloquent criticism, Lagerfeld prefers to walk with his head uncovered.

Gloves

Elisabeth Lagerfeld, in principle, was not known for her tact. In many ways, it was her straightforward comments about her son that formed the elements of his iconic image. Minus the hat - plus gloves. When Karl tried to smoke at the age of 14, his mother stopped him, although not in the usual way. Elizabeth rated Karl's hands as not beautiful enough to be seen by everyone with a cigarette. Now the designer always hides them in black fingerless gloves. Without fingers, because otherwise it would be inconvenient for him to sketch. In addition, he believes that the glove makes the arm longer, and in French the phrase “to have a long arm” means the same as “to be influential.” By the way: when Lagerfeld achieved success in the fashion industry, his mother did not attend any of his shows.

Glasses

Another eternal attribute of Lagerfeld is dark glasses, without which he was last seen, perhaps, in the 1980s. The designer explained the meaning of this accessory as follows: “Once I had an interview with some German journalist, a terribly ugly lady. She was wearing a rather sheer yellow sweater and a huge black bra underneath. She said, "Take off your glasses, it's rude." I replied, “Am I asking you to take off your bra?” Glasses are my burqa (Muslim clothing covering the entire body - Ed.). Besides, I’m a little nearsighted, and when nearsighted people take off their glasses, they look like cute little dogs that you want to take home with you.”

Hairstyle

The matte snow-white ponytail became the designer's signature hairstyle in the mid-1970s. When Lagerfeld could no longer see his long curly hair, he began straightening and bleaching his own. “A ponytail is the simplest hairstyle. I absolutely do not know how to style my hair with gels and other means. And a tail powdered with white powder is simple and perfect.” About 40 years have passed since then. The designer himself never said it, but perhaps the white hair was inspired by Andy Warhol's hairstyle. Although Lagerfeld once called the artist “physically disgusting,” so it’s impossible to say for sure.

Suits

Here, against the backdrop of the timeless classics - a white shirt and a black suit - unusual details come to the fore. The designer wears shirts with a crisply starched collar that hides the entire neck, like Oscar Wilde and other dandies of the 19th century. Lagerfeld’s shirts are always made to order, because, as he himself said, “if you are used to hand-sewn Hilditch shirts, then a store-bought item will seem like an instrument of torture.” The suits themselves, which, at first glance, may seem almost identical, actually differ from each other in fabric and cut elements. The story made a lot of noise when, in 2002, Lagerfeld lost 42 kg in 13 months for the tight Dior Homme silhouette (designed by Hedi Slimane, of course). The final touches to each of Karl’s outfits are accessories and jewelry: ties, brooches, chains, and so on. Lagerfeld's favorite jewelry is made by Parisian jeweler Lydia Courtel. In decorations, as in the interior, he adheres to the Art Deco style, which he fell in love with back in the 1970s in the wake of the general passion for vintage.

Refusal of diversity in favor of a monolithic image with a speaking character is not just a quirk, but a smart marketing move. Motifs and images of the designer with a white ponytail and sunglasses have repeatedly appeared as keychains and prints on items from Fendi and Karl by Karl Lagerfeld. And the fact that the designer likes to talk about himself is also quite logical, because an image works even better when there is a great story behind it.