Legendary Karl Lagerfeld: From a strange German boy to the king of the fashion world

Karl Lagerfeld was born in 1933 into a well-to-do family in a small village in Germany. Early realizing he was born for design work, from a young age, Lagerfeld often cut his favorite photos in magazines to keep. He also often feels that his classmates dress monotonously, have poor taste. Karl has raised a desire to go to the lavish city, especially France. The intense passion for fashion drove the 14-year-old German boy to Paris, one of the four fashion capitals of the world. Carrying luggage is nothing but love for the aura that fashion brings.

In 1954, Karl moved to Paris. He participated in a fashion design competition in which two designers Pierre Balmain and Hubert de Givenchy were judges. Karl was only 21 years old when he excelled over 200,000 people to win the jacket design segment. A year later, he became Balmain's assistant.

Karl Lagerfeld moved to Jean Patou in 1958, where he produced two consecutive haute couture collections for five years each year. Some newspapers at the time praised it: "Karl's fashion has an underground elegance, simply a level of class that no one on this side of the Atlantic has had since Molyneux and Mainbocher closed their shops.

In 1965, Karl Lagerfeld joined the Fendi house. He signed a lifetime contract with this brand. The 70s were Karl's most glorious period when he was the most respected designer, a true veteran of the fashion world.

The fashion village in general and the Chanel brand in particular suffered a great loss when the legendary Coco Chanel died, in 1971. The departure of the French fashion icon made the Chanel brand stand on the brink of bankruptcy. And then, Karl agreed to become the chief creative and design director of Chanel's Haute Couture designs in 1983.

He made Chanel rise strongly. Instead of the dreamy and romantic features in Coco Chanel's designs, he replaced them with designs with a modern breath, suitable for the tastes of the fashion-loving public. Since then, Chanel has become a favorite brand of many Hollywood stars, proving the growing class of this brand.

Chanel's classic elegant style becomes fresh, youthful, more vibrant but still retains the inherent elegance and class. That is the legacy that Karl has left for this brand. He has absolutely succeeded in bringing Chanel back into the ranks of the world's leading luxury brands and maintaining his unique position in the fashion world.

Chanel stage is not merely a catwalk, it is the art of storytelling that Karl skillfully integrates between fashion, art and life.

Where there is fashion, there are stories about Karl Lagerfeld. Just with his existence, everything becomes more luxurious and beautiful. When asked: “Do you keep the products you designed?”. Karl replied, “No, I don't keep them. I like to destroy things and then rebuild. That's why I like the title of Marguerite Duras' book: Détruire, dit-elle (Destroy, She Said), it's my life motto. I don't care about the past."

At the age of 80, when most of his colleagues retire, Karl Lagerfeld designs an average of 14 new collections a year. He announced backstage before the Fendi show at the age of 83 that he would not retire: “Why should I stop working? If I do that, I will die and everything will be over.” And Karl did so until his last breath, devoting nearly 70 years of his life to the phrase: Fashion.

Image source: Internet.