KARL LAGERFELD, CREATIVE DIRECTOR FOR CHANEL DIES AGE 85
Posted on by Cameron Tewson
Karl Lagerfeld, the prolific fashion designer who turned around the fortunes of Chanel and Fendi, has died.
Lagerfeld worked up until his death as artistic director of fashion houses Chanel and Fendi, as well as producing his own label collections each season.
He was as renowned for his personal style and his cutting comments about those he considered fat or unfashionable, as for the clothes he created, always completing his look with black sunglasses and a pair of white gloves.
Alain Wertheimer, CEO of CHANEL, said: “Thanks to his creative genius, generosity and exceptional intuition, Karl Lagerfeld was ahead of his time, which widely contributed to the House of CHANEL’s success throughout the world. Today, not only have I lost a friend, but we have all lost an extraordinary creative mind to whom I gave carte blanche in the early 1980s to reinvent the brand.”
Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Fashion at CHANEL, said: “Fashion show after fashion show, collection after collection, Karl Lagerfeld left his mark on the legend of Gabrielle Chanel and the history of the House of CHANEL. He steadfastly promoted the talent and expertise of CHANEL’s ateliers and Métiers d’Art, allowing this exceptional know-how to shine throughout the world. The greatest tribute we can pay today is to continue to follow the path he traced by – to quote Karl – ‘continuing to embrace the present and invent the future’.”
Virginie Viard, Director of CHANEL’s Fashion Creation Studio and Karl Lagerfeld’s closest collaborator for more than 30 years, has been entrusted by Alain Wertheimer with the creative work for the collections, so that the legacy of Gabrielle Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld can live on.
He died today, 19 February, in Paris at the age of 85.
More information to follow.
