Posted on : 26-Aug-2009 | By : dre elmore | In : fashion
Haute Couture is arguably the most complicated and indescribable pop culture meme on earth. It ranks right up there with politics, religion and sex.
Fashion is as fashion does, as Forrest Gump might say, and while most designers are known for their enigmatic eccentricities, one stands head and shoulders above the rest: Karl Otto Lagerfeld.
Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1933 (though Karl will insist it was 1938), Lagerfeld is head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel.
Karl’s Quirks
- Karl is the only fashion designer to make an appearance in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
- Karl Lagerfeld owns several hundred iPods. He keeps them all over the world, in his various houses and apartments, so that he always has music at the ready whenever he stops in.
- Karl designed a limited-edition Steiff teddy bear in his likeness, complete with sunglasses, black suit, white shirt, and tie.
- Karl caused US Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to walk out of his runway show when he employed strippers and Italian adult film star Moana Pozzi to model his black-and-white collection for Fendi.
- Karl likes to wear white paper collars.
- Karl has engaged in a bitter feud with supermodel Heidi Klum. In 2009, the quote – “Heidi Klum is no runway model. She is simply too heavy and has too big a bust. And she always grins so stupidly. That is not avant-garde – that is commercial!” is mistakenly attributed to Lagerfeld when it was, in fact, spoken by Wolfgang Joop. Lagerfeld remarked that neither he nor Claudia Schiffer knew Klum as she has never worked in Paris.
- Karl has launched into a bitter battle with animal rights activists after defending the use of fur in fashion. The 70-year-old German boss of fashion house Chanel claims anti-fur protesters are “childish” and argues hunted animals would kill their human predators if they could.
- Karl was the target of a pieing by PETA in 2001 at a fashion premiere at Lincoln Center in New York City. This was in protest at his use of fur and leather within his collections. The tofu pies hurled by the protestors went astray, however, and hit Calvin Klein (described by PETA as ‘friendly fire’).
- Karl lost weight to wear boy clothes: “I suddenly wanted to dress differently, to wear clothes designed by Hedi Slimane,” he said. “But these fashions, modeled by very, very slim boys—and not men my age—required me to lose at least 40 kg. It took me exactly thirteen months.”
Lagerfeld is my new hero. Watch the videos linked below. His Spring/Summer line is gorgeous, and while some of the designs may border on the outré expected of runway fashion, the majority are quite nice. I especially love the paper hats!
