"I see designing, running a company, like a high-level athletic activity. I don’t want to hear anything about the fragility or any of those things. If an athlete is too fragile to run, he cannot run. And this is exactly the same. You don’t accept this kind of business if you’re too much of an artist."


Karl Lagerfeld

Behind the Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2011 collection

Karl Lagerfeld explains his inspirations for one of the most beautifully modern haute couture collections: the pale elegant palette done in modern silhouettes was accented by delicate shimmers of embroidery- genius!

Karl Lagerfeld in His Own Words

Chanel's Eco Fashion

In a bold move, Karl Lagerfeld based the Chanel Fall 2010 collection around the image of melting polar ice caps- even the show invites featured a drawing of an endangered polar bear done by Lagerfeld. The collection was teeming with fur: fur-covered boots, boleros and even head-to-toe fur suits made it confusing as to why a collection meant to draw attention to climate change featured copious amounts of fur. Lagerfeld explained after the show that the fur was not real and added that, "Fake is not chic — but fake fur is." This concern about the environment is not new for Karl Lagerfeld, who in the past has advocated incorporating more natural fabrics into fashion.

Runway shows are usually brief escapes into fanciful worlds filled with gorgeous clothes, but Lagerfeld has strayed from that this season and chosen instead to bring his audience face-to-face with an ugly reality which will have an impact on us all. This show really speaks to Karl Lagerfeld's status as an artist and visionary; that he can pair finely-crafted pieces of beautiful clothing with raising awareness about a controversial issue so seamlessly.

photo: Chanel

And if there was any doubt as to whether the massive glaciers on the runway were real, the  thermal video of the runway show confirms that the massive white structure in the middle of the runway was actually made of 240 tons ice and fits in nicely with the show's theme, "Hot and Cold."

Karl Lagerfeld...the Pop Star

SomethingALaMode - RondoParisiano feat. Karl Lagerfeld 

from SomethingALaMode on Vimeo.

Eco Karl

"It’s Coco Ecolo, ecology can be chic. No? One can use natural fabrics and learn from nature."

Karl Lagerfeld

Photos of the Moment | Karl Lagerfeld

By Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello, from The Moment blog

Because Karl Never Disappoints

The Genius behind Chanel

Since we're talking about Karl Lagerfeld...

Kanye West paid tribute to the greatness of Mr. Lagerfeld on his blog this week. Here are some of the images, including a rare shot of Karl in his youth and B.S. (Before Sunglasses):






For more images of Karl in his youth check the Fashion Television site: fashiontelevision.com
(Love the one of him in his lederhosen- so cute!)

You can see the full posting here:

kanYe West : Blog : FASHION DESIGNER: KARL LAGERFELD

The Enigma of Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld has earned his reputation as one of fashion's most mysterious characters by being eternally elusive with the media, so I was quite surprised to find that in 2006 cameras were allowed behind-the-scenes access to the offices and atelier at the House of Chanel. Not surprisingly, the first few frames of the first episode shows Karl waving a skinny ring-clad finger at the camera shouting, "No! No!"- there was clearly a period of adjustment.
I'm hoping that the resulting TV mini-series "Signe Chanel," available on Youtube, will answer some of my burning questions, such as "How does Karl design 20 collections a year?" and most importantly, "Does he ever take off those sunglasses?" The first episode ends with one of the assistants at Chanel dialing an endless list of phone numbers, hoping to get in touch with Karl. It's somewhat comforting to know that it's not just the media that Karl is avoiding: seems that he is a master of both style and stealth.