Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Otto Lagerfeldis a German fashion designer, artist, and photographer based in Paris. He is the head designer and creative director of the fashion house Chanel as well as the Italian house Fendi and his own fashion label. Over the decades, he has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art-related projects. He is well recognized around the world for his trademark white hair, black glasses, and high starched collars...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionFashion Designer
Date of Birth10 September 1933
CityHamburg, Germany
CountryGermany
I hated the company of other children. I wanted to be a grownup person, to be taken seriously. I hated the idea of childhood; I thought it was a moment of endless stupidity.
There's no Chanel collection without black. (It) will never exist. Who can live without some black clothes.
Tell me, why do former young designers who are now in their middle 40s have to redo the 1960s and 70s. Why they cannot invent fashion for today?
The clothes don’t have to suit you; you have to suit the clothes.
The only love that I really believe in is a mother’s love for her children.
Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.
Life is not a beauty contest, some [ugly people] are great. What I hate is nasty, ugly people... the worst is ugly, short men. Women can be short, but for men it is impossible. It is something that they will not forgive in life... they are mean and they want to kill you.
When I was a child I asked my mother what homosexuality was about and she said - and this was 100 years ago in Germany and she was very open-minded - 'It's like hair color. It's nothing. Some people are blond and some people have dark hair. It's not a subject.' This was a very healthy attitude.
Elegance has nothing to do with fashion.
I do my job like I breathe — so if I can’t breathe I’m in trouble.
Chic is a kind of mayonnaise, either it tastes, or it doesn't.
Don't dress to kill, dress to survive.
Reinvent new combinations of what you already own. Improvise. Become more creative. Not because you have to, but because you want to. Evolution is the secret for the next step.
If you want respect for your past, it means that you have a problem with your present and even more with your future.