 "Karl Lagerfeld decoded")
As he celebrates 50 years as the creative director of Fendi, Karl Lagerfeld talks to Priya Kumari Rana about his work with fur, his life as a photographer and how he never lives by the clock
How were you as achild?
I never played with other children. I did nothing else other than sketching and reading. I loved to sketch because at the beginning of my life, I wanted to become a cartoon artist. I had discovered a famous cartoon magazine from the 1900s in the attic of my parents' house and the cartoons were very, very beautifully drawn. It was a miracle my parents let me go to Paris before I finished school. Everybody said, "He will be lost!". But remember, not everybody is born to be lost, and I am part of that group.
It is very pretentious for me to say that I am that creative. Being creative means to have ideas and to work with those ideas together with the right people who can understand and realise them. Creativity with no vision, or developed with people who have no talent to build something, is worthless. It is a mix of possibility of ideas and the possibility to make them modern, right, beautiful, and that's it. Creativity is like breathing to me.
You like mistreating furs, experimenting on them. Why?
I love to create and experiment with new solutions that are beautiful yet functional. I have used a cover gloss in the SS15 collection. A new kind of elastic plastic material that can be removed: you can wear the look with or without it.
Fendi has been able to make fur a full-year item. In which way do summer furs differ from the winter ones?
The summer fur is very pretty, and the interesting thing is you don't immediately know what it is. It looks like velvet… It doesn't have the ostentatious side of the fur.
So what will Haute Fourrure represent during Haute Couture?
There is no better moment than to show our incredible furs in that period because of the level. I am not talking about the price, but of the style and the level of couture. It's for the same women who buy Haute Couture.
When it comes to photography, how did you begin and what is your personal approach?
I started in the 1980s; I had to make a press kit at Chanel and I was unsatisfied by what the photographers proposed. So I hired a camera, I called an assistant, and started by myself. In a very short time I moved on to advertising, editorials, portraits, architecture, and everything. It was a very good idea!
What is the secret of your success as a photographer?
Good people are the secret to my photographic career. More specifically, good people to photograph, and good assistants - I have worked with the same people for nearly 25 years - a good retoucher, a good make-up artist and a good stylist. Then, my job is actually quite simple. I just click the button.
What does fashion mean to you?
Fashion is about the 'moment'. The best thing that can happen to a dress is that it gets worn. Fashion is not about museum exhibits.
How did you change your hat from Fendi to Chanel, and back?
It has to be. Fendi is my Italian version, Chanel my French version, and Lagerfeld is my own version, what I've always wanted. I never mix it up. I never made something that looked like Chanel at Fendi, and never made something that looked like Fendi at Chanel, because both have an identity. Maybe I have none, but at least I have two.
Do you live by the clock?
I am well known for never being punctual. I am late because I do so much and I never look at the clock and say,"I have to go now". I hate being a slave to my diary. Schopenhauer once said that "whenever you buy a book, you should also buy the time to read it". Time is the pinnacle of luxury. Not looking at the clock is my greatest luxury.
You have 'Karlized' the world. Everybody wants to be you. There are sketches of you everywhere. How did you make this happen?
I don't know how it happened; nobody knows. I have no idea because it doesn't happen to other people who do the same
job as I do. It is a very mysterious thing. Maybe the secret is that I'm down to earth. I may design for the clouds, but my feet stay on the ground!
How were you as achild?
I never played with other children. I did nothing else other than sketching and reading. I loved to sketch because at the beginning of my life, I wanted to become a cartoon artist. I had discovered a famous cartoon magazine from the 1900s in the attic of my parents' house and the cartoons were very, very beautifully drawn. It was a miracle my parents let me go to Paris before I finished school. Everybody said, "He will be lost!". But remember, not everybody is born to be lost, and I am part of that group.
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What is creativity for you?
It is very pretentious for me to say that I am that creative. Being creative means to have ideas and to work with those ideas together with the right people who can understand and realise them. Creativity with no vision, or developed with people who have no talent to build something, is worthless. It is a mix of possibility of ideas and the possibility to make them modern, right, beautiful, and that's it. Creativity is like breathing to me.
You like mistreating furs, experimenting on them. Why?
I love to create and experiment with new solutions that are beautiful yet functional. I have used a cover gloss in the SS15 collection. A new kind of elastic plastic material that can be removed: you can wear the look with or without it.
Fendi has been able to make fur a full-year item. In which way do summer furs differ from the winter ones?
The summer fur is very pretty, and the interesting thing is you don't immediately know what it is. It looks like velvet… It doesn't have the ostentatious side of the fur.
So what will Haute Fourrure represent during Haute Couture?
There is no better moment than to show our incredible furs in that period because of the level. I am not talking about the price, but of the style and the level of couture. It's for the same women who buy Haute Couture.
When it comes to photography, how did you begin and what is your personal approach?
I started in the 1980s; I had to make a press kit at Chanel and I was unsatisfied by what the photographers proposed. So I hired a camera, I called an assistant, and started by myself. In a very short time I moved on to advertising, editorials, portraits, architecture, and everything. It was a very good idea!
What is the secret of your success as a photographer?
Good people are the secret to my photographic career. More specifically, good people to photograph, and good assistants - I have worked with the same people for nearly 25 years - a good retoucher, a good make-up artist and a good stylist. Then, my job is actually quite simple. I just click the button.
What does fashion mean to you?
Fashion is about the 'moment'. The best thing that can happen to a dress is that it gets worn. Fashion is not about museum exhibits.
How did you change your hat from Fendi to Chanel, and back?
It has to be. Fendi is my Italian version, Chanel my French version, and Lagerfeld is my own version, what I've always wanted. I never mix it up. I never made something that looked like Chanel at Fendi, and never made something that looked like Fendi at Chanel, because both have an identity. Maybe I have none, but at least I have two.
Do you live by the clock?
I am well known for never being punctual. I am late because I do so much and I never look at the clock and say,"I have to go now". I hate being a slave to my diary. Schopenhauer once said that "whenever you buy a book, you should also buy the time to read it". Time is the pinnacle of luxury. Not looking at the clock is my greatest luxury.
You have 'Karlized' the world. Everybody wants to be you. There are sketches of you everywhere. How did you make this happen?
I don't know how it happened; nobody knows. I have no idea because it doesn't happen to other people who do the same
job as I do. It is a very mysterious thing. Maybe the secret is that I'm down to earth. I may design for the clouds, but my feet stay on the ground!