Shirley Yanez / 02 October 2024 / Categories: Product and Brands, Clothes, People, Creative, Entrepreneurs

Karl Lagerfeld

German born Fashion Designer and Icon

Behind the sleek black suit, dark shades, and immaculate hair—behind the global fashion icon—Karl Lagerfeld was a remarkable person, according to all who knew him. Exceptionally insightful. amazingly well-read. a captivating storyteller. His friends recognised him to be sincere, giving, and compassionate. To everyone's surprise, he also possessed a sharp sense of humour. Karl had a quick wit and could always make a joke just so. He was also a very entertaining conversationalist. Even though the general public only had a well-curated impression of him, Karl was much more than what first met the eye.

Karl's life revolved around design; it was an innate necessity for him to exhibit his boundless creativity. His career in fashion, however, came about partially by accident because his primary goal was to become an illustrator. By coincidence, when he entered the 1954 International Woolmark Prize at the age of just 21, he took first prize with his coat sketch, which launched his career right away. Over the next sixty-five years, fashion continued to be the focal point of his work, even as he continued to experiment with other areas of design. An insatiable curiosity and an abundance of inspiration—from people and places to art and pop culture—fuelled this.

He was the creative director for Chanel, reinventing the brand. The Chanel house was a bit of a dead donkey in 1982. Despite the brand's innovative past in the early 20th century, it had grown stale and pretentious. Karl Lagerfeld, who was then employed by both Fendi and Chloe, entered the picture and saw right at once that the business required more than just a facelift. Constantly innovative, Lagerfeld was revolutionising Chanel while also developing a model for the position of creative director that is still in use today. Lagerfeld always said he always preferred to look to the future, never backwards, so he set out to make something old, new again.

He set up his own brand on the back of his time with Chanel, creating an affordable much cheaper fashion range for all, not just the elite that sadly, I believe is not up to the standards today he would be happy to put his name to but that's just my opinion.