Celeb pals pay tribute to Chanel fashion legend Karl
A FINNISH woman’s pet rabbit performed 20 tricks in one minute to earn a Guinness World Record.
Aino Kivikallio’s mixedbreed bunny Taawi performed the stunts at his owner’s Turku home and was awarded the title. KARL Lagerfeld, the white pony-tailed pioneer of modern fashion, is being mourned after dying of cancer at 85.
Known as the Kaiser, the German-born genius made French label Chanel a global super-brand while dressing princesses and showbiz royalty for over four decades.
Reports in France suggested he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was taken to hospital on Monday.
His signature outfit of dark suits and sunglasses were his own logo, and he is credited with transforming catwalks into theatres of walking art, and with popularising daring and elegant couture.
Yesterday fashion designer Victoria Beckham led the tributes, saying: “So incredibly sad to hear. Karl was a genius and always so kind and generous to me both personally and professionally. RIP.”
German model Claudia Schiffer, a longtime collaborator, called Karl her “magic dust”. “He transformed me from a shy German girl into a supermodel,” she added.
“He taught me about fashion, style and survival in the fashion business. What Warhol was to art, he was to fashion; he is irreplaceable. He is the only person who could make black and white colourful! I will be eternally grateful to him.”
Born Karl Otto Lagerfeldt in Hamburg in what is thought to be 1933 (the date is disputed), he later dropped the last “t’ to sound “more commercial”.
Inspired by a trip with his mother to a Dior show, the talented drawer left for Paris and at 17 won the 1954 International Woolmark Prize, for his sketch of a coat
He was snapped up by designer Pierre Balmain as an apprentice then worked for Jean Patou. In the 60s and 70s he worked in top ready-to-wear houses, including Chloe from 1963 and Fendi from 1967.
He grew in wealth and influence, making more money from a perfume in 1975.
But it was his move in 1982 to Chanel as designer that brought him global attention. He was still working there when he died.
Karl said the house, still in the doldrums after Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s death in 1971, was “a sleeping beauty who snored”.
The designer took its trademark looks of tweed, quilted bags and the famous logo and revolutionised the whole range.
He wanted to make Chanel a global