Karl Lagerfeld – German fashion designer and icon

The German-born designer Karl Lagerfeld died at the age of 85. He was a designer, an artist and a fashion icon. For this sad occasion we recommend a portrait DW made in 2014.
No living fashion designer, let alone a German one, was as celebrated as Karl Lagerfeld. On September 10, 2018 the man with the trademark ponytail and sunglasses celebrated his 85th birthday.
From dawn to late morning, Karl Lagerfeld designs for Chanel, Fendi and his own signature brand – a combined workload of up to 15 collections a year.
A workhorse who never takes breaks or even a vacation, he is also a photographer and filmmaker. His passion for fashion was awakened by a Dior show in Hamburg in 1950. Four years later, at the age of 17, Karl Lagerfeld was hired as an assistant to Pierre Balmain.
Karl Lagerfeld recounts his beginnings in the industry, as well as his upper class background and childhood in Schleswig-Holstein. Karl Lagerfeld was greatly influenced by his mother, whom he describes as his personal style icon.
As an artist, Karl Lagerfeld worked in several media, from pictures and photographs to book illustrations and videos. The documentary of 2015 follows Karl Lagerfeld to exhibition openings, during the hectic preparations for his fashion shows, and at photo shoots in Paris as it seeks to uncover the man behind the mask.