Happy Birthday to the King Of Couture! Karl turns 85 today. Karl Lagerfeld was born September 10, 1933 in Hamburg, Germany.
Karl Lagerfeld is one of the industry’s truly iconic designers. He currently designs CHANEL’s ready-to-wear and couture lines, designs for his own label, and collaborates with Silvia Fendi to create Fendi’s ready-to-wear collections. Karl is celebrated for his renaissance-like aesthetic that uses cultural and historical reference points.
Karl Lagerfeld’s Career
In 1965, Karl Lagerfeld joined Fendi. In 1972, he joined Chloe.
Then, in 1982, Karl joined CHANEL, a decade after Coco Chanel died. At the time, Lagerfeld told The New York Times, “Everybody said, ‘Don’t touch it (Chanel), it’s dead, it will never come back.’ But by then I thought it was a challenge.” The designer would go on to redefine the house, while paying homage to the Chanel herself, using Coco’s ideas and combining them with his own modern take to create a new vision. While Chanel already had a name and an iconic brand, Karl was the one who brought it into the new century: he made cult items of the house’s bouclé tweed, pearls, the classic flap bag, dual-toned footwear, and interlocking C’s for the new generation.
It was Karl who redesigned the CC Chanel logo and added it to the iconic Chanel flap bag.
Lagerfeld is also a photographer and filmmaker; he shoots and creative directs all of Chanel’s advertising. Lagerfeld lives in Paris with his cat Choupette.
Happy Birthday, King Karl. You are going to live forever.
