I cannot wait for the estate sale! Yes it is ghoulish of me, but he did have some choice Belperron pieces.
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The only thing ‘high’ about high fashion is that the designers are undoubtedly on a ‘trip’ of some kind. I despise the entire field.
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@Jeffrey Cosloy - Thank you for your contribution to the conversation.
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I would have loved to know him as well. What a loss!! If any MoMA puts together an exhibit about his life, pictures and all and perhaps some of his work from Chanel and Fendi, I would be the first one in line.
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Ms. Friedman's epilogue to her obituary for Mr. Lagerfeld is superb.
Through Ms. Friedman's words, she successfully rounded all the bases of the world of Lagerfeld according to Lagerfeld. I appreciated the pacing of her sentences, a fitting tribute to the many friends of Mr. Lagerfeld who commented on his rapid-fire conversations carried out in several languages.
I re-watched the "Seven Days Out" Netflix segment on Chanel: a beautifully filmed interplay of Lagerfeld, in his own words, and the Chanel staff who adoringly worked to bring his dreams to life. All those staffers, set designers, horticulturists, atelier heads, and that cluster of seamstresses, kneeling side-by-side, attaching extra handmade flowers at the last minute, are the Chanel that Lagerfeld helmed for decades. A team, a family, lead by a leader who knew what he wanted and knew how to inspire a team of employees to happily produce the creations of his dreams.
Thank you NYT for employing Ms. Friedman who so deftly told Mr. Lagerfeld's story, and the story of the people who are Chanel.
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The 'last designer'? Yes, please. No more circus of fabulous wealth and social elitism that somehow came to be called 'art.' And it's all promoted by a media perfectly happy to mystify the 99% with pretty pictures.
The revolution is not coming, clearly, but some hold out hope that the hagiography of haute goes out of fashion and attentiveness to social injustice becomes the new chic.
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@Jensetta
You should note that Lagerfeld himself scoffed at pretentious talk of art and artists everywhere. He had no misconceptions about what he did, neither over-estimating nor under-estimating it. Wasn't his fault that women ran after his clothes.
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Dalma Collado is the model in the photo with KL. One of the greats! Please give her her due.
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@Susan
Right on!
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Mr. Lagerfeld is pictured with Dalma Callado, a supermodel if ever there was one! From back in the day when the sobriquet meant something - what times they were...
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“He had no interest in being politically correct” and “never apologized.” I hope he is not the last of his kind.
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Nicely written.
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Thank you for this piece and for being honest about Lagerfeld’s controversies as well as his design genius. It is an end of an era and elements of his legacy (his erudition, his love of craftsmanship and quality as well as his creativity) are a loss to culture. Let’s hope though that his passing will allow space for fashion itself to change, to abandon the worst of Lagerfeld’s traits - over production, environmental degradation, lack of diversity, misogyny - in response to the realities of the 21st century. In these ways Lagerfeld for all his embrace of technology was firmly a product of a time we should all hope is firmly in the past.
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@Alice Strazzeri
Oh please! Have you seen the hideosities that pass for fashion today? If this is what your "diversity," brings, I'll take Karl Lagerfeld any day.
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In this day and age, where it seems like things are either crumbling or going up in flames all around us, the thought of Karl Lagerfeld creating so much beauty and provoking so much emotion about art is satisfying. I recall as a college student avidly watching his clips on "House of Style" in the early nineties and his proclaiming supermodels to be like the goddesses of the silent screen. A flawed human to be sure, but who isn't? Rest in peace.
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I don't know much about his fashion contributions but it certainly feels like an era is closing as the great minds of his generation - true renaissance people, true geniuses whose minds cut across genres and specialities - die off with no clear replacements on the horizon.
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@HH
We're now living through the rapid decline of human civilization which reached its peak at the end of the 20th century. As the greats of every field die off in the coming years, this sad state of affairs will become increasingly clear. The Golden Age of humanity is over.
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We’re headed for a dark age, and we are being ushered into this era by Trump and Family.
And what’s more: The Revolution is being televised!....in real time.
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Loving Olivier Rousteing at Balmain. His Instagrams are performance art.
1
I am by no means a fashionista. Yet, as an art director I understand thoroughly the creative process for any creative person. Karl had a reservoir of creativity that seemed endless and quite enviable. He invented and then re-invent himself. I loved the way he would handle a digital camera with one hand. He worked at what he loved. To have a contract for life is a testament to the importance he brought to the house Chanel. I recently finished Bill Cunningham's "Fashion Climbing" In a later chapter when Bill was reporting on fashion shows of Paris, he spent time writing about Coco Chanel's return to designing and it to many it was a let out. Karl had no intention of stopping. I love that.
There has been discussion of his own line Lagerfeld not doing well, yet, I am a fan of his "Sun Moon Stars perfume. I noticed the price has gone up.
Thank you for this article.
Rox of Spazhouse, Intuitive Research
3
Like many great artists, he appears to have been creative yet also selfish and self centered. Great that he created beautiful clothing for the elite few. Not sure what real, lasting good he did for the world overall. Maybe a loss for the art world, but not so much for mankind.
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@A.L.
I'm going to have to disagree with you here. Karl Lagerfeld may have been a flawed individual, but the clothes he created, Chanel classics for the modern era, were copied and worn by stylish women of all income levels.
You may not think that a classic suit, or pretty earrings or a quilted handbag makes the world a better place. But for the many millions of women who wore his expensive originals or cheap knockoffs, those clothes brought pleasure and joy to what otherwise might be a dull, dreary life. I know they did for me.
Rest in peace, Kaiser Karl. You will be missed.
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@A.L. Was it somehow his responsibility to do "lasting good for mankind"? I would think that employing thousands of people in creating beauty would fall into that category.
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@A.L. "Maybe a loss for the art world, but not so much for mankind." What a strange statement. We can have differing opinions on his style and his pronouncements, but a loss for the art world is indeed a loss for mankind. Would you prefer that we had no Caravaggio, Joni Mitchell, Slash or John Donne? Any man's death diminishes all of us . . .
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Wow. Wow. And Wow!
What a character, personality and presence.
While the wish previously never existed, reading about this man, how I wish I'd had the good fortune to meet and know him.
6
great article Vanessa. He was one of a kind and even if some objected to his ways-he did his life and his work 110%. He and his team at Chanel created great beauty-not everyone can do that. Yes most people couldn't afford those clothes but part of it was doing the absolute best job and saving small industries that could have easliy been forgotten. Beautiful fabrics, beautiful (and lady-like) silhouettes are always an inspiration. His upbringing did him proud and I enjoyed every Chanel show I saw.
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