Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld – The Brand

This brand is known for its combination of a rock-chic attitude, tailored silhouettes and classics from Paris and has become the renowned signature of Karl Lagerfeld.

Who is Karl Lagerfeld

Born on the 10th September 1933 in Hamburg, Germany, Karl Otto Lagerfeld grew to be interested in the visual arts, always sketching and visiting the Kunsthalle Hamburg museum.

Karl’s parents were Elisabeth and Otto Ludwig Lagerfeld, his father owned a company that produced and imported evaporated milk, whilst his mother was a lingerie saleswoman from Berlin. Karl had an older sister, Martha Christiane ‘Christel’ and an older half-sister called Theodora Dorothea ‘Thea’.

Karl was well known to misrepresent his age by claiming his year of birth to be earlier than it was and insisting no one knew his real date of birth. He often claimed to be born in 1938, however this has been disputed and subsequently proven to be false, even publicly celebrating his ‘70th birthday’ in 2008, when he was actually turning 75. Finally, in April 2013 Karl declared that he was born in 1935, however a birth announcement published by his parents in 1933 along with the baptismal register in Hamburg shows his birth date as the 10th September 1933. In 2008 the German Sunday Newspaper published the baptismal records along with an interview with Karl’s teacher and classmate who both confirmed that he was in fact born in 1933.

Humble beginnings to Fashion Icon – how it all began

In 1954 Karl submitted a dress design to the International Wool Secretariat Design competition. The design he submitted, a chemise dress, would later on, in 1957, be introduced by luxury fashion houses Givenchy and Balenciaga.

The following year, after Karl had been living in Paris for a few years he entered and won a coat design competition, this competition was also the place where he became friends with Yves Saint Laurent who had won the dress category. It was not long after this competition Karl was offered a position as Pierre Balmain’s assistant, and later became his apprentice. From here he went on to become Artistic Director for Jean Patou, travelling to Rome to study art history and work for Tiziani, but soon began designing for well known fashion houses including Chloe and Valentino.

In 1967 Karl moved to Fendi to work on their fur line and it was here that his ground breaking designs were recognised because of the use of mole, squirrel and rabbit pelts in high fashion. Although his work was innovative it was his work with French luxury fashion house, Chloe that launched him into the industry as one of the most prominent designers across the globe bringing voluminous, thin-fabric clothing which offered a comfortable, layered style. By 1978 Karl had moved his styles in the opposite direction showing more heavily constructed, padded shoulders and more restrictive clothes which would become synonyms of the 1980’s.

In 1983 Karl became the Creative Director of the French Fashion House, Chanel. He held this esteemed position until his death.

By the time Karl died from Pancreatic Cancer on the 19th February 2019 he was renowned worldwide for being a fashion icon with a cutting edge approach to style, a strong personality who had an original outlook on pop culture and fashion. Fashion was not Karl’s only talent, he also collaborated on a variety of fashion and art-related projects using his gift for illustration, styling, publishing and photography.

Karl Lagerfeld Products

The Karl Lagerfeld brand offers an eclectic collection of products from ready to wear clothing for women, men and children to exclusive handbags with celestial silhouettes and modern sunglasses with geometric designs. Other accessories include watches, footwear, candles, fashion jewellery and men’s fragrances and women’s perfumes.

There are a number of Karl Lagerfeld stores worldwide based in key fashion cities including Paris, London and New York. The brand is also available to purchase through a premium wholesale distribution network across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Men and Women’s Perfumes and Fragrances

Since 1978 perfumes and fragrances have been blended and made available for purchase. The first fragrance for men created for the prestigious Karl Lagerfeld house was made by the perfumer Ron Winnegrad. The Lagerfeld Classic was an oriental-woodsy fragrance. It was followed by the fragrance Sun, Moon and Stars which became one of the most iconic fragrances of the 1990s. In today’s fragrance base there are thirty six perfumes affiliated to the Karl Lagerfeld brand which are in collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger.

Website: www.karl.com Founder: Karl Lagerfeld Founded: 1984 Headquarters: Amsterdam, Holland