PARIS – Iconic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld haDddied in Paris following a short illness on Tuesday (yesterday). The German designer, who was the creative director for Chanel and Fendi, was one of the industry’s most prolific figures and worked up until his death. His signature ponytail and dark glasses made him an instantly recognizable figure around the world.
Industry heavyweights, including Italian designer Donatella Versace, issued heartfelt tributes. “Today the world lost a giant among men,” said the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour. Lagerfeld’s website says his year of birth was 1938 – though most placed his age at five years older.
Rumors of Lagerfeld’s ill health had swirled for several weeks after he missed a number of events – including Chanel’s spring/summer show last month.
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He died in the morning after being admitted to the hospital the night before, French media report. As a designer, he transformed the fortunes of Chanel, one of the leading names in high fashion, but his work also filtered down to the high street.
Away from his work, Lagerfeld made headlines for a range of provocative, and sometimes offensive, statements.
“Karl doesn’t so much design as reign,” one fashion insider remarked.
Lagerfeld was never in any doubt that he was born to lead, confessing he had asked his Prussian mother for a valet for his fifth birthday. His origins, however, were not quite as aristocratic as he may have liked.
His father ran an evaporated milk company in the northern port city of Hamburg, and although the family was comfortable, he was far from the precocious artist prince of later lore who lived in a castle with a retinue of servants.
RIP!
