By Aurélie Weber, Year 12
Karl Lagerfeld who passed on the 19th of February was one of the most influential figures in the fashion industry. Karl took the ideas of Gabrielle Chanel (aka Coco Chanel) and turned Chanel into the multi million dollar fashion house it is today. Every season he never failed to bring something new to the brand but not without paying tribute to Gabrielle’s original designs; a love of history mixed with the excitement of the future. For someone who was so influential in la mode Karl never failed to wear the exact same thing every single day. Hearing that someone wears the same thing everyday would be a burden to any everyday fashionista today, however for Karl it simply just worked. One thinks of Karl only to see his white hair pulled back into a tight low ponytail, his dark shades hiding his eyes from the media, his fingerless gloves, his white chemise and his heavy sterling jewelry. Karl, cat in hand took the empire of Fendi, Chanel and his own brand under his wing. Along with continuing his passion for photography to shoot many campaigns for these brands.
At LGB, we have the freedom to express ourselves by being allowed to wear as we please. Walk down the hallway once and you will see at least five girls or boys that are fashion obsessed and have some of the pieces of the new collections of some of the most well-known brands. You can stop any single one of these students and they will tell you that Chanel is definitely the most elite of any of these brands. I can tell you that the well-known Chanel 2.55 is the dream bag for any ecolint girl, or anyone in general. This bag was designed by Coco in February of 1955, hence the name. Karl took these designs and made them into the most popular bag there is today.
Search up Chanel and find millions of results from innovative fashion shows that ranged from a Chanel supermarket to LA surfer girls walking on the beach. Search up Karl Lagerfeld and you’ll find many saying he was a genius and many critiquing him for some decisions he made. Karl was critiqued by many for the things he said: from saying that Heidi Klum was too fat to ever be a model or that he was bored of the #metoo movement. We can say that Karl was never boring himself. He even once had strippers walk on his runway to which Anna Wintour felt shocked and walked out of the show in disgust. Maybe his so-called disrespect and his uniqueness are what gave him his empire. I and many others never knew Karl and cannot claim that these stories are true but what we do know is that he is one of the most inspiring fashion icons there ever will be.
Karl has now left a gap in our industry that seems as if it will never be filled. One asks if haute couture will even survive without Sir Lagerfeld influencing it and beings its icon.
Coco famously said: “In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different” and this Karl was. He will never be replaced so we will hold his legacy dear and remember it. We toast in sadness to the end of a very creative Karl filled era.
