Who is lagerfeld

Pierre Balmain then offered the young Lagerfeld a job working in his couture house. He took the coveted position, staying there three years, secretly learning all the tricks of the "rag" trade. In , at 20 years old, he became chief designer for the house of Jean Patou, where he worked until , designing two collections each year.

But he grew bored and needed more challenges for his frenzied fashion creativity. The idea of working for several houses appealed to him. So in , as a freelancer, he began working for French and Italian design houses, designing fur collections and ready-to-wear for the Fendi sisters. In he also began designing for the French House of Chloe and in created their first fragrance, "Chloe. In Lagerfeld, his reputation firmly established as a fashion force, became the creative director and head designer for Chanel, where it was hoped he would breathe new life into the once important but now staid and stagnant house.

Coco Chanel had died in , and the name had fallen from fashion favor in the following years. Only a year after joining Chanel, Lagerfeld startled the fashion world by again branching out and creating his own ready-to-wear line called "Karl Lagerfeld" and a lower-priced sporty line, "KL. In the kind of atmosphere I live in, nobody rapes anybody.

In Lagerfeld was drawn back to the House of Chloe, and his first collection was a huge critical success. It's like being four people in one.

Perhaps I have no personality at all, or perhaps I have more than one. Lagerfeld was the worthiest of successors. He cut an indelible figure with his omnipresent sunglasses, black leather gloves, Chrome Hearts rings, and powdered white ponytail. In the early s, he shed nearly pounds in order to wear the narrow-cut suits designed by Hedi Slimane for Dior Homme, and wrote a book about the process with his doctor called The Karl Lagerfeld Diet.

This much is inarguable: His name has been in lights from the very earliest moments of his fashion career. In , at barely 21, Lagerfeld won the International Wool Secretariat in the coat category, sharing the stage with a man who would become his rival in fashion and in love , Yves Saint Laurent, who won for his dress design.

The recognition landed Lagerfeld a job with the couturier Pierre Balmain, where he designed for films and dressed stars including Sophia Loren, after which he became head designer at Jean Patou. Lagerfeld shared that spotlight with Yves Saint Laurent, who is similarly credited with introducing the concept of ready-to-wear to the world with his Rive Gauche line, launched in Lagerfeld obliged in spectacular fashion.

Capitalizing on the burgeoning post-modernism of the s, he quoted Coco-isms with such verve his Chanel became the paragon of heritage brand revivals.

And he delivered the goods off the runway, too. But it wasn't until his teen years, after his family had returned to Hamburg, that Lagerfeld immersed himself in the world of high fashion. Sensing his future lay elsewhere, year-old Lagerfeld made the bold decision, with the blessing of his parents, to move to Paris. He'd been there just two years when he submitted a series of sketches and fabric samples to a design competition. He ended up taking first place in the coat category and meeting another winner, Yves Saint Laurent , who would become a close friend.

Soon, Lagerfeld had full-time work with French designer Pierre Balmain, first as a junior assistant, and later as an apprentice. It was a demanding position, and the young designer remained in it for three years. He took work as a creative director with another fashion house before finally, in , striking out on his own.

Good work soon followed, with Lagerfeld designing collections for Chloe, Fendi where he was brought on to oversee the company's fur line and others. Lagerfeld became known in the fashion industry for his innovative, in-the-moment styles. But Lagerfeld also had an appreciation for the past, and he often shopped in flea markets, finding old wedding dresses to deconstruct and reimagine.

By the s, Karl Lagerfeld was a major star in the fashion world. He was a favorite among the press, who loved to chronicle his changing tastes and social life. Lagerfeld kept company with other major stars, including his good friend Andy Warhol. During his career he developed a sort of hired gun reputation for jumping from one label to the next, and also put together a track record of success that few designers can match.

At Chanel in the early s he did what few thought possible: He returned what was perceived to be a near-dead brand back to life with a revamped ready-to-wear fashion line. Around that time Lagerfeld launched his own label, in , which he built around the idea of what he described as "intellectual sexiness. In Lagerfeld sold the label to Tommy Hilfiger. Lagerfeld, whose work crossed over into film and photography, continued to maintain a busy schedule.