Karl Lagerfeld: The genius who never did the same thing twice

Fashion world mourns loss of the legendary designer, the original multitasker who defined many brands. Of dying, he said: ‘I just want to disappear like the animals in the virgin forest’

PARIS—The fashion world was plunged into mourning on Tuesday by the death of legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld, the rapierwitted dandy who ruled over the industry for half a century.

Chanel, the iconic French fashion house he led for nearly four decades, confirmed his passing at the age of 85, prompting an unprecedented outpouring of emotion from designers and celebrities.

Speculation about the state of health of the man they called the “Kaiser” had been rife since he missed Chanel’s Paris haute couture week show last month, with the brand saying he “was tired.”

Lagerfeld left many younger creators in the dust well into his 80s, turning out collections season after season for Fendi and his own label, as well as Chanel.

With his powdered white ponytail, black sunglasses and starched high-collared white shirts, Lagerfeld was as instantly recognizable as his celebrity clients.

In recent years the prolific German had visibly weakened, even if his extraordinary creative stamina showed little sign of flagging on the catwalk for the three brands he led.

Friends had always said that the creator would die with a pencil in his hand, and just last week, his own fashion line Karl Lagerfeld was still announcing new design collaborations.

Virginie Viard

Chanel said the reins of the $20billion empire had been handed to Lagerfeld’s right-hand woman, his head of studio Virginie Viard.

The designer invited Viard on to the podium with him at the end of two Chanel shows last year to acknowledge how much he relied on a woman he called “my right and left hand” to transform his sketches into glittering reality.

In a statement on Tuesday, Chanel said Lagerfeld was “an extraordinary creative individual... a prolific creative mind with endless imagination.”

His longtime muse, Ines de La Fressange, one of the world’s first supermodels, told AFP that he “never rested on his laurels, never doing the same thing twice.

“I saw him draw surrounded by 15 people. He was the opposite of the great couturier who had to suffer to create. He did nothing but work yet he refused to make it look like work,” she added.

Italian designer Donatella Versace led the tributes among fashion’s leading players as news of Lagerfeld’s death broke.

Creative genius

“Karl, your genius touched the lives of so many, especially Gianni and I,” she wrote on Instagram, referring to her murdered brother who founded her brand. “We will never forget your incredible talent and endless inspiration. We were always learning from you.”

Bernard Arnault, the most powerful man in fashion and owner of the luxury giant LVMH, said he was “infinitely saddened” by the loss of a “very dear friend” and a “creative genius.” “Fashion and culture have lost a major inspiration. He contributed to making Paris the fashion capital of the world,” the billionaire said.

United States First Lady Melania Trump, a former model, paid tribute to Lagerfeld on Twitter, saying “today the world lost a creative genius.”

The singer and former French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who had worked as a model for Lagerfeld, wrote a touching tribute to her former mentor on Instagram: “Thank you for bringing beauty and lightness in our world, so much color in the darkness, so much wit in our dull days... The whole world and I will miss you.”

In an equally emotional tribute, actress and model Diane Kruger said she was not able to

get to his bedside in time. “I cannot tell you how much you meant to me and how much I will miss you,” the German star wrote on Instagram.

Razor wit

But while the Hamburgborn creator’s razor wit won him many fans, it also landed him in trouble.

Donning sunglasses and gloves, he evolved into “Kaiser Karl”—a nickname that referred to his demanding character, put-downs and uncompromising standards.

“Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants,” he once declared. Another time, he dismissed his contemporary, Yves Saint Laurent, as “provincial.”

The sheer ambition of his fashion shows was legendary, and they became especially influential in an age in which images are beamed around the world at the click of a button.

His Chanel collections were invariably the biggest on the Paris Fashion Week calendar. Chanel, it was said, put the “show” in “fashion show.”

Defied political correctness

Lagerfeld was also an anachronism, dressing in a punk, baroque style and defying political correctness—almost proudly.

He got into hot water for calling singer Adele “a little too fat” and said he didn’t like the face of Pippa Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister.

“She should only show her back,” he advised.

Despite formerly being overweight himself, Lagerfeld caused a furor for lashing “fat women sitting in front of televisions with their pack of crisps” for “saying slim models are hideous.”

And he provoked even more outrage in 2017 by attacking German Chancellor Angela Merkel for opening the coun- try’s borders to migrants. “One cannot kill millions of Jews so you can bring millions of their worst enemies in their place,” he told a French TV show.

The controversies were drowned out, however, in a wave of tributes, with British pop starturned-fashion designer Victoria Beckham praising Lagerfeld’s “genius” and generosity.

“Thanks for the dry sham- poo tip. Will always think of you as I powder my wig,” joked British designer, writer and model Alexa Chung on Instagram, echoing the designer’s love of repartee.

Lagerfeld had long declared that he didn’t want to be mourned at a grandiose funeral like the one France granted its rock legend Johnny Hallyday.

“What a horror!” he cried. “There will be no burial. I’d rather die... I’ve asked to be cremated and for my ashes to be dispersed with those of my mother and those of Choupette (his cat), if she dies before me,” he said. “I just want to disappear like the animals in the virgin forest,” Lagerfeld added.

‘Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants’ Karl Lagerfeld

—AP Instantly recognizable: Lagerfeld in his signature look of powdered white ponytail, black sunglasses, starched highcollared white shirt, and fingerless gloves.

—REUTERS Lagerfeld with British model Stella Tennant at the finale of the India-inspired Metiers D’Art show for Chanel in December 2011.

—AFP Chanel under Lagerfeld put the “show” in “fashion show.” For Fall-Winter 2017-18 women’s ready-to-wear collection, the fashion house launched a “rocket ship” at Paris’ Grand Palais.

–AFP For one of his last shows for Chanel—Spring-Summer 2019 ready-to-wear in October 2018— Lagerfeld created a beach, complete with an “ocean,” at the Grand Palais in Paris.

—REUTERS Nothing is too extravagant at Chanel. For Fall-Winter 2010-11 women’s ready-to-wear show, a 30-ft, 265-ton iceberg was transported from Sweden to Paris’ Grand Palais. It took six days and 35 ice sculptors to bring Lagerfeld’s vision to life.

—AP Lagerfeld flanked by models including Linda Evangelista (left) and Naomi Campbell at the Chanel Fall-Winter 1996-97 haute couture collection.

AFP Lagerfeld with Virginie Viard, his longtime “left and right hand” at Chanel, at the end of the Spring-Summer 2019 ready-to-wear show. Chanel has named Viard as Lagerfeld’s successor.

–CONTRIBUTED Lagerfeld with Rustan’s founders Bienvenido and Gliceria Tantoco in a photo from the ’80s, on one of the couple’s trips abroad as they forged links with European fashion houses.