The Life and Times of Karl Lagerfeld - Report Example

Introduction Karl Lagerfeld is a fashion designer from Germany but based in Paris. Apart from the fact that he is a fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld is also a photographer and an artist. Currently, Karl Lagerfeld heads Chanel, a fashion house, where he is holding the position of a creative director. Apart from that, he also heads Fendi, an Italian house, including his own fashion label Lagerfeld (Manlow 199). All his achievements are a result of his boldness and creativity in the fashion industry, where the majority of the people consider him as somebody who is diverse and creative. Lagerfeld enjoys what he does as a career, he says, “what I enjoy most is doing something I’ve never done before” (Polan 2) His early life Born in Hamburg, Germany, Karl Lagerfeld, whose exact date of birth is not clear grew up to become one of the most respected fashion designers in the world. Nevertheless, it is alleged that he was born in 10th September, 1933. He grew in a religious family with his father, a Christian, his big sister and half sister, Martha and Thea, and his mother Elizabeth, who was a violinist (The Best American Magazine Writing 12). Most of the topics of discussions as a family were religious. His father made his wealth mainly from condensed milk that he was bringing into Germany. He had to move with his family to a rural area in northern Germany in the 1930s after Hitler rose to power. In their new home, Lagerfeld was cut off from what was happening, which made him less aware of the Nazis, who were dominant in Germany during this period. His interest in fashion developed at an early age, which was evident from his behavior as a child because he was collecting pictures that he cut off from fashion magazines. Apart from cutting off the pictures, he was very critical and keen on looking at the dressing of his fellow students in school. During his years as a teenager, he became keener to fashion mainly after getting back to Hamburg. From then on, he threw himself fully into the world of fashion, and he has grown to be one of the top designers in the fashion industry. The genesis of his career At the age of fourteen, Lagerfeld moved to Paris in pursuit of his career. This was one of the bold moves that he made at a young age, with the intention developing his career as a fashion designer. He moved to Paris after receiving blessings from his parents, who were encouraging him and giving him the support necessary for his development. For the first two years of his stay in Paris, Lagerfeld was actively looking for the avenues that could lead to the development of his career. He was submitting some of his sketches and fabric samples to various competitions for consideration. He ended up making it to the first place in a competition of the coat category, where he also met one of the winners, Yves Saint Laurent, who later became one of his very close friends. After a while, Lagerfeld was able to secure a job on a full time basis with Pierre Balmin, a French designer. He began as a junior assistant in his employment but he later progressed to be an apprentice in the organization. His position in the fashion house was very demanding and decided to move to another fashion house after three years. He was holding the position of a creative director in the new fashion house where he was working. After a while, in 1961, Lagerfeld was able to move and start his own fashion house, after which he was able to design some collections for Fendi and Chloe among others. His pieces were creative and innovative because of his touch with modern fashion and his appreciation of some of the designs from the past. His later years in the industry Twenty years after opening his fashion house, Lagerfeld was famous for his designs, making him one of the major designers in the industry. The media specifically were keen on looking at his social life, and they had an admiration for his taste that was changing every time. During this time, was still running his company with some of the stars in the fashion industry, Andy Warhol being one of them. Andy Warhol was a star in the fashion industry and he was also a close friend to Lagerfeld (The Best American Magazine Writing 12). Lagerfeld has a reputation of working with different labels, where he was developing some designs that are giving some of the other designers a hard time to match. Lagerfeld was able to come up with a new and popular ready-to-wear design in the early 1980s, which was a surprise to many people. He did this while at Chanel. Also during this time, more specifically in 1984, he launched his own label, whose theme was on “intellectual sexiness”. This brand had a reputation of having good quality tailoring with bold pieces that were all ready-to-wear. He sold the label to Tommy Hilfiger (The Best American Magazine Writing 12). In the most recent years, Lagerfeld has been able to work in different industries like photography and film, which has been keeping him busy. Most recently, he was able to design a glassware line for Orrefors, a Swedish company. Still in the same year, he was able to sign for Macy’s to create for them a new clothing line (Tungate 210). Karl Lagerfeld’s accomplishments Some of the accomplishments of Lagerfeld began at a young age when he went to Paris to begin his career. One of his first accomplishments includes the impression he was able to show through his sketches in the fashion competitions that were taking place in Paris. Through the sketches, he was able to win the coats category in a competition. The sponsors of the competition from which he won were The International Wool Secretariat. His friend, Yves Laurent, won the dresses category in the same competition. It was during this year that Lagerfeld worked his way to becoming the assistant to Pierre Balmain (The Best American Magazine Writing 12). During his period as a designer for Chloe, and his work in the company was a success. Also during this period, he collaborated with Fendi, where his creative ability was evident through some of the developments he introduced in the fur line. The following year, after some discouragements from some of his friends, he accepted the invite to design for Chanel since he was up to the challenge. When talking on the subject, he says, “don’t touch it, it’s dead, it will never come back,” referring to what some of his friends were telling. By accepting the challenge, he was able to revive the company to being a very successful fashion house. The success of the company was posing as a challenge to the other fashion giant Saint Laurent. After developing some of his brands to becoming big names in the fashion industry, he was able to sell the brands to Tommy Hilfiger. The two brands that he sold to the company were Lagerfeld Gallery and Lagerfeld. Also during this year Lagerfeld was able to publish “The Karl Lagerfeld Diet,” after losing more than 90 pounds. From this personal achievement, he states that “fashion is the healthiest motivation for losing weight” (Lagerfeld 32). Apart from being a creative individual in the fashion industry his ability to be creative in photography and filming is also exceptional. This ability can be shown in his documentary movie, Lagerfeld confidential, which premiered in the year 2007 (Springsteel 289). Still considering his career in filming, he was able to direct actress Rachel Bilson, when she was doing a commercial for Magnum, which sells ice cream bars. Still after this, he was able to come up with very creative designs for Macy’s where he was able to create a capsule collection. His willingness to face challenges is evident in this case because before this he had never done the kind of clothing for the price range on offer at the time (Tungate 210). Nevertheless, his creation was successful was also price friendly to the consumers. Works Cited Polan, Brenda, and Roger Tredre. The Great Fashion Designers. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2009. Print. Lagerfeld, Karl, Jean-Claude Houdret, and Ingrid Sischy. The Karl Lagerfeld Diet. New York, NY: PowerHouse Books, 2005. Print. Tungate, Mark. Fashion Brands: Branding Style from Armani to Zara. London: Kogan Page, 2012. Print. The Best American Magazine Writing, 2007. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Print. Manlow, Veronica. Designing Clothes: Culture and Organization of the Fashion Industry. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2007. Internet resource. Springsteel, Lisa. Becoming a Fashion Designer. , 2013. Internet resource. Read More