51 Facts About Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld was instrumental in revitalizing the Chanel brand, helping it regain its position as one of the top fashion houses in the world.

Karl Lagerfeld was creative director of the Italian fur and leather goods fashion house Fendi, as well as his own eponymous fashion label.

Karl Lagerfeld was recognised for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high-starched detachable collars.

Karl Otto Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg on 10 September 1933 to Elisabeth and Otto Lagerfeld.

Karl Lagerfeld's maternal grandfather, Karl Bahlmann, was a local politician for the Catholic Centre Party.

When Karl Lagerfeld's mother met his father, she was a lingerie saleswoman from Berlin.

Karl Lagerfeld was known to misrepresent his birth year, claiming to be younger than his actual age and misrepresenting his parents' background.

Karl Lagerfeld was known to insist that no one knew his real birthdate.

Karl Lagerfeld's older sister, Martha Christiane "Christel", was born in 1931.

Karl Lagerfeld had an older half-sister, Theodora Dorothea "Thea", from his father's first marriage.

Karl Lagerfeld's family was mainly shielded from the deprivations of World War II due to his father being a member of the Nazi party and his business interests in Germany through the firm Glucksklee-Milch GmbH.

Karl Lagerfeld told interviewers he learned much more by constantly visiting the Kunsthalle Hamburg museum than he ever did in school.

In 1954, Karl Lagerfeld submitted a dress design to the International Wool Secretariat's design competition.

Karl Lagerfeld's submitted entry presaged the chemise dresses which would be introduced by Givenchy and Balenciaga three years later.

In 1955, Karl Lagerfeld entered another IWS competition and won in the coat category.

Karl Lagerfeld befriended another winner, Yves Saint Laurent, and was after hired by Pierre Balmain who was a judge for the competition.

Karl Lagerfeld worked as Balmain's assistant, and later apprentice, for three years.

In 1957, Karl Lagerfeld became the artistic director for Jean Patou.

Karl Lagerfeld left Jean Patou in 1962, to become a freelance designer, one of the first designers to do so.

In 1966, Karl Lagerfeld became a designer for Chloe working alongside Gaby Aghion, and in 1974 he became the sole designer for the brand.

Karl Lagerfeld continued producing outfits in the shoulder pads-tight skirts-stiletto heels direction into the eighties, joining other similar designers in shortening the skirts of the look even as high as mini length, though his hemlines could range as low as the ankle.

Karl Lagerfeld integrated the interlocked CC monogram of Coco Chanel into a style pattern for the House of Chanel.

Karl Lagerfeld changed the Chanel silhouette that had prevailed since the early 1960s, making it more eighties by padding the shoulder, shortening and tightening the skirt, raising the heel, and enlarging or miniaturizing the jewelry and purses, all controversial moves, especially the short skirts, as Mlle.

Karl Lagerfeld had signed an agreement with Bidermann Industries USA, giving them ownership and licensing rights to fashion labels he produced.

Karl Lagerfeld participated in it all, for both his namesake line and Chanel.

In December 2006, Lagerfeld announced the launch of a new collection for men and women dubbed K Karl Lagerfeld, which included fitted T-shirts and a wide range of jeans.

In 2012 Karl Lagerfeld released his photo-book The Little Black Jacket which featured entertainers, models, and friends of his.

In November 2015, Karl Lagerfeld was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards.

Karl Lagerfeld was well known for his collaborations with brands and individuals.

In November 2015, Karl Lagerfeld was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards.

Karl Lagerfeld took up photography in 1987 after being frustrated with images done for Chanel press kits.

Karl Lagerfeld went on to shoot commercial fashion campaigns, editorial shots for magazines like Harper's Bazaar, as well as architectural and landscape work.

In 1999, Karl Lagerfeld opened 7L, a bookshop in Paris that specializes in photography collections and visual arts books.

Later in life, Karl Lagerfeld realized one of his boyhood ambitions by becoming a professional caricaturist; from 2013, his political cartoons were regularly published in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Karl Lagerfeld was recognized for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high, starched detachable collars.

From 2007, Karl Lagerfeld owned an 1820s house in Paris in Quai Voltaire decorated in modern and Art Deco style.

Karl Lagerfeld revealed his vast collection of Suzanne Belperron's pins and brooches.

Karl Lagerfeld owned a red point Birman cat named Choupette, which, in June 2013, he indicated he would marry, if it were legal.

Karl Lagerfeld promoted it on Larry King Live and other television shows.

Karl Lagerfeld was a passionate book collector and amassed one of the largest personal libraries in the world.

Karl Lagerfeld died there the following morning from complications of prostate cancer.

Karl Lagerfeld requested no formal funeral, with plans for cremation and ashes spread at secret locations alongside his mother as well as his late partner, Jacques de Bascher.

In July 2019 the house of Karl Lagerfeld announced the development of "The White Shirt Project".

Karl Lagerfeld was a supporter of the use of fur in fashion, although he himself did not wear fur and hardly ate meat.

Karl Lagerfeld commented that neither he nor Claudia Schiffer knew Klum, as she had never worked in Paris, and that she was insignificant in the world of high fashion, being "more bling bling and glamorous than current fashion".

Karl Lagerfeld created an international furore on 9 February 2012, when he called the singer Adele "a little too fat".

Karl Lagerfeld later caused another controversy, on 31 July 2012, when he criticised Pippa Middleton, the sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales, for her looks.

Karl Lagerfeld's caricature drawing Harvey Schweinstein, that shows film producer Harvey Weinstein as a pig, was criticised as antisemitic and dehumanizing.

In May 2018, during an interview with French newspaper Le Point, Karl Lagerfeld mentioned that he was contemplating giving up his German citizenship due to the one million Muslim immigrants that had been accepted into Germany by Merkel, a decision to which he attributed the increase in neo-Nazism in the country.

Karl Lagerfeld criticized newly instated regulations in photo studios and modeling agencies enacted to protect young models, stating that they were "too much" and as a designer, "you can't do anything".

Karl Lagerfeld said in 2007 that his controversial persona was an act.