Goodbye, Karl Lagerfeld

GOODBYE, KARL LAGERFELD: A Tribute to the one of the greatest artist of all time.

Hello Fashionistas,

It has been more than 3 years since I posted an article on this blog. I am sorry for that. I was busy with my job and other priorities. Hopefully, this will not be the last blog post I will do. 

The main reason I wrote this article is we lost an artist that most fashionistas love. I do not have the right to say I love Chanel if I will not write about Karl Lagerfeld. I feel quite bad because the day of his death is also my mother’s birthday on February 19, 2019. He will understand it since he does not know me at all.

Karl Lagerfeld was a German creative director, fashion designer, artist, photographer, and caricaturist who lived in Paris, an artist as we speak. He was popularly known as the creative director of the French fashion brand Chanel, a creative director of fur and women’s ready-to-wear collection for the Italian brand Fendi, and his own fashion label. His signature look is composed of his white ponytail, black sunnies, fingerless gloves, and suit-and-tie combinations. He died at the age of 85. 

He started his career in 1955 when he won first place to a design competition sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat in the coat category then became Pierre Balmain’s assistant for three years. In 1958, he started working in Jean Patou as their artistic director. In 1964, he went to Rome to study and work for Tiziano but later on, he started to freelance for multiple fashion brands like Chloé, Charles Jourdan, Krizia, and Valentino. He was hired by Fendi to revamp their fur line and stayed with them until his death.

In 1982, he took the challenge of taking the offer of the chairman of Chanel, Alain Wertheimer to design for the house in its adversity which they consider as a “near-dead brand”. He brought life back to brand as he modernized its ready-to-wear fashion line. He designed for the brand ever since.

 

He decided to launch his own label in 1984. The concept of his brand is "intellectual sexiness". He stayed with the brand for a few years until he sold it to Tommy Hilfiger in 2005. He continued to be its creative director and was mostly involved in the design process.

In addition to his artistic eye for fashion, he was also a photographer and filmmaker. He shot and directed all of Chanel’s advertisement. Also, he tirelessly laid out Chanel’s legacy through film and imagery which you can watch on their YouTube channel. In 2013, he directed the short film Once Upon a Time featuring Keira Knightley playing the role of Coco Chanel. In 2016, he designed the two residential lobbies of the Estates at Acqualina in Sunny Isles Beach. He did a collaboration with Carpenters Workshop Gallery for an art collection of functional sculptures titled Architectures. 

 

He started showing signs of health complications in January 2019 as people noticed his absence in the recent fashion show. He was admitted to the American Hospital of Paris on 18 February. He died in the following morning from complications of pancreatic cancer. 

It’s sad that he passed away too soon. He inspired so many people who look up to him to follow their passion and dreams. Some people want to be like him. Everyone in the fashion world was not expecting it.

I personally want to meet him and talk to him about his experiences and achievements. I was also planning to ask him to design a men’s Chanel jacket customized for me and a selfie with him, of course. I am one of those people who look up to him to follow my passion and dreams. Even though I never get to meet him, he will always be one of my inspirations to do things my way. 

I do not own the images above. If you want me to remove those, I will gladly comply with your request.

What do you think of my tribute to Karl Lagerfeld? I want to know your thoughts about it. What topic should I post next? Just leave a comment below.

Fashionably yours,

Charles