Karl Lagerfeld
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Karl (Otto) Lagerfeld (born 10 September 1933 in Hamburg, Germany) is widely recognized as one of the most influential fashion designers of the late 20th century.
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[edit] Biography
A Catholic baptismal record indicates his birth date as 10 September 1933 but Lagerfeld states he was born in 1938. German birth records are not open to public inspection. The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag has quoted his former teacher and classmates as confirming the earlier date.
He made his name as an independent creator who collaborated with a variety of different fashion labels, including Chloé, Fendi and Chanel. In the early 1980s he set up his own label, called Lagerfeld, which launched perfumes and clothing lines. He has also played a role in equipping leading artists.
His father, Christian Lagerfeld, was a member of a Swedish merchant-banking family and made his fortune introducing condensed milk to Germany. His mother, Elizabeth, was German. Lagerfeld was their only child, born 10 years after the couple's marriage, when his mother was 42 and his father 60. He has several half-siblings from his parents' previous marriages.
Together with his mother, Karl Lagerfeld emigrated to Paris in 1953. In 1955, at the age of 22, Lagerfeld was awarded a position at Pierre Balmain, after winning a competition for a coat sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat. Yves Saint Laurent also won the contest for a dress award. "Yves was working for Dior. Other young people I knew were working for Balenciaga, whom they thought was God, but I wasn't so impressed," he recalled in 1976.
After three years he moved to Jean Patou. "I became bored there, too, and I quit and tried to go back to school, but that didn't work, so I spent two years mostly on beaches -- I guess I studied life."
With money from his wealthy family, he set up a small shop in Paris. At this time, he would often consult with Madame Zereakian, Christian Dior's Turkish fortune teller. Lagerfeld later said, "She told me I'd suceed in fashion and perfume."
In the early 1990s he once employed strippers and an Italian adult film star to model his black-and-white collection for Fendi. He has produced legendary pieces like the shower-dress, with beaded water streaming down the front; a car-dress with a radiator grille and fender, and a multitude of outstandingly eccentric hats.
Lagerfeld, along with Calvin Klein, was the target of a pieing by PETA in 2001 at a fashion premiere at Lincoln Center in New York City.[1]
In 2004 he designed some outfits for the international music artist's Madonna Re-Invention Tour, and recently designed outfits for Kylie Minogue's Showgirls Tour.
Recently, Lagerfeld collaborated with the international Swedish fashion brand H&M. On 12 November 2004 H&M offered a limited range of different Lagerfeld clothes in chosen outlets for both women and men. Only two days after having supplied its outlets, H&M announced that almost all the clothes were sold out. Lagerfeld has expressed a lack of fear that working with lower-end brands will taint his image, although in the past he has worked closely with the exclusive hosiery designer Wolford.
Lagerfeld is also a photographer. He produced Visionaire 23: The Emperor's New Clothes, a series of nude pictures of South African model David Miller. Lagerfeld is currently the chief executive of design at the House of Chanel.
The designer was also the subject of a French reality series called "Signé Chanel" in 2005. The show covered the creation of his Fall/Winter 2004-2005 Chanel couture collection. It aired on Sundance Channel in the United States during the fall of 2006.
[edit] Weight loss
Lagerfeld is also famous for a dramatic transformation of his body, when he lost around 80 lbs in one year. “I suddenly wanted to dress differently, to wear clothes designed by Hedi Slimane,” he said. “But these fashions, modeled by very, very slim boys—and not men my age—required me to lose at least eighty pounds. It took me exactly thirteen months.”
The diet was created specially for Lagerfeld by Dr. Jean-Claude Houdret, which led to a book called The Karl Lagerfeld Diet (ISBN 1576872513).
[edit] Trivia
- His original surname was Lagerfeldt (with the "t"), but later changed it to Lagerfeld as it "sounds more commercial".
- Lagerfeld converted his 60,000 CD collection onto his arsenal of iPods. As of December 2004, he owned roughly 70 iPods, scattered around the globe in his various residences.[2]
[edit] Quotes
- "The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that they have forgotten how to design the American Dream. What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now, because cars are not beautiful. That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire." - Karl Lagerfeld, Vanity Fair, Feb. 1992
- "Only the minute and the future are interesting in fashion – it exists to be destroyed. If everybody did everything with respect, you'd go nowhere."
- "I don't like standard beauty – there is no beauty without strangeness."
- "The iPod completely changed the way people approach music."
- "Dieting is the only game where you win when you lose!"
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- American PHOTO Article with some of Karl Lagerfeld's photos of Paris.
- South Beach Magazine Article with photos on Karl Lagerfeld and his designs.
- Delight.com celebrates Karl's birthday Delight.com's Birthday greetings for Karl Lagerfeld along with a list of links for more info on the designer
- [1] Chanel website
- [2] Fendi website
- [3] Karl Lagerfeld site
- [4] Sundance Channel's Signé Chanel site.
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