Images of Carl Legerfeld, Fashion Icon Designer

Legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director of Chanel and Fendi who was known for his evolving creativity, modern influences and personal style and wit, has died. He was 85.

Lagerfeld had been in sick health. He was noticeably absent-minded from Chanel's spring 2019 haute couture show, held Jan. 22 at the M Palais in Paris; an announcement was fabricated later on the models' final walk that Lagerfeld had been feeling tired and was unable to nourish.

Chanel confirmed to the Associated Press that Lagerfeld died early Tuesday in Paris after diverse French media outlets and The Guardian reported the same. A cause of death wasn't immediately announced.

"An boggling creative private, Lagerfeld reinvented the make'southward codes created by Gabrielle Chanel: the Chanel jacket and adapt, the piffling black dress, the precious tweeds, the ii-tone shoes, the quilted handbags, the pearls and costume jewelry," the brand said in a statement.

Chanel caput Alain Wertheimer added, "Cheers to his creative genius, generosity and exceptional intuition, Karl Lagerfeld was ahead of his time, which widely contributed to the House of Chanel's success throughout the world. Today, non only take I lost a friend, simply we accept all lost an boggling creative heed to whom I gave carte blanche in the early 1980s to reinvent the make."

Chanel said Virginie Viard, director of Chanel'due south mode cosmos studio and Lagerfeld's closest collaborator for more than 30 years, will create upcoming collections. It's not clear whether that motility is permanent.

Lagerfeld's verified Instagram and Twitter accounts besides confirmed his death, posting a black-and-white photo of the designer, accompanied by the post-obit caption on Instagram: "He was one of the most influential and celebrated designers of the 21st century and an iconic, universal symbol of way. Driven past a phenomenal sense of inventiveness, Karl was passionate, powerful and intensely curious. He leaves behind an boggling legacy as one of the greatest designers of our time, and at that place are no words to express how much he volition be missed."

And Fendi mourned Lagerfeld in a series of statements, calling the late designer "pioneering" and someone who, from his start with the company in 1965, "would soon revolutionize the very essence of fur and atomic number 82 Fendi through five decades of pure, unwavering innovation, giving life to creations that have stretched the boundaries of fashion."

"From his commencement days at Fendi, the longest human relationship in the fashion globe between a designer and a manner house, Karl Lagerfeld was a true visionary in everything he conjured upward, from the ad campaigns to his set-to-wear and couture collections," the brand said in a statement. "He dared to push boundaries, a modern twenty-four hour period genius with a unique sense of aesthetic fearlessness, who influenced a whole generation of designers. Thanks to the unparalleled creativity of Karl Lagerfeld, in collaboration with Silvia Venturini Fendi, Fendi is today synonymous with timeless quality, strong tradition, relentless experimentation and daring creativity. His passing marks an unimaginable loss at Fendi."

The designer and photographer — recognizable for his signature manner of a white-collared shirt, white ponytail, fingerless gloves and black sunglasses — joined Fendi in 1967 (when he collaborated with Silvia Fendi on women's ready-to-wear) and became artistic managing director of Chanel in 1983 (overseeing haute couture and prepare-to-wearable). The next year, Lagerfeld started his ain eponymous fashion brand to sell Parisian and rock-themed ready-to-habiliment pieces for men and women while continuing his work with Fendi and Chanel until his death.

The Germany-born designer has been hailed as "the chief of reinvention" by Faddy and as "an ever-changing French Renaissance Man." Lagerfeld "endlessly" reinvented the tweed jackets, quilted bags and pearls made popular by Coco Chanel, the founder of the French firm, to such an extent thatWWD wrote, "Karl Lagerfeld is nearly equally synonymous with Chanel as Coco Chanel herself."

In 2017, he was awarded Paris' highest honor, La Medaille Thou Vermeil de la Ville, on tiptop of many other accolades, including the Outstanding Achievement Accolade at the British Fashion Awards in 2015 and the Couture Council Manner Visionary Award in 2010.

"I design like I breathe," Lagerfeld said. "You don't inquire to breathe — it just happens."

Lagerfeld photographed the embrace ofThe Hollywood Reporter'due south stylist issue in 2015, a glamorous portrait of stylist-turned-designer Brandon Maxwell with and so-client Lady Gaga, who said at the shoot, "We don't brand a movement today without Karl." Lagerfeld personally selected Gaga's comprehend await from the house's archives — a blush-hued gown and quilted leather motorbike jacket from Peter Lindbergh's iconic 1991 Wild at MiddleVogue shoot. Carine Roitfeld, Stephen Gan and Ingrid Sischy (editor of Andy Warhol's Interview mag), all trusted Lagerfeld confidants, stopped by the shoot.

Fendi chairman and CEO Serge Brunschwig said on Tuesday, "Working with Karl Lagerfeld at Fendi allowed me to grab a glimpse of the secret of the continuous renewal of the house. I greatly adore Karl'due south immense civilisation, his ability to rejuvenate at all times, to taste all the arts, to not overlook any manner, forth with a persistent refusal to plough to his past, to look at his piece of work in a mirror. He was restless and his exigent nature would never leave him. The evidence was but ending that Karl would e'er say, 'And now number adjacent!' He leaves u.s.a. an enormous heritage, an inexhaustible source of inspiration to continue. Karl will be immensely missed past myself and all the Fendi people."

Silvia Venturini Fendi, Fendi creative director for menswear, accessories and kidswear, added: "I am profoundly saddened as today we have lost a unique man and an unrivaled designer, who has given so much to Fendi and to myself. I was simply a child when I get-go saw Karl. Our relationship was very special, based on a deep and very genuine affection. We had a lot of common appreciation and countless respect. Karl Lagerfeld has been my mentor and my point of reference. A blink of an middle was enough to empathise each other. For Fendi and myself, the creative genius of Karl has been and will always exist our guiding low-cal, molding the maison'southward Deoxyribonucleic acid. I will miss him securely and always bear with me the memories of our days together."

Karl Otto Lagerfeldt was born in Hamburg, Germany, on Sept. ten, 1933, to a German businessman and Swedish mother; he later changed his surname to sound more "commercial." Lagerfeld moved to Paris when he was xiv, studied history and drawing and finished school at the Lycee Montaigne. He's said of his privileged upbringing: "My begetter…he could never say no, so I got everything I wanted. I had a Bentley when I was 20."

In 1955, Lagerfeld entered the fashion world equally an assistant to Pierre Balmain after he won a prize for a sketch of a coat that was produced by Balmain. He eventually left to design haute couture for Jean Patou as the brand'southward youngest art manager in 1957. "When I was 24, my mother called me and said, 'It's only downhill from now,'" Lagerfeld said.

He was hired by Chloe founder Gaby Aghion in 1965 and worked upwardly to the position of caput designer. At Chloe, he became the first designer to release a fragrance without his own brand, developed the French house's "liberated" spirit and debuted his iconic Angkor dress. "Aghion recruited a then-unknown Karl Lagerfeld to work with her in the '60s, and past the '70s he was heading upward the houses two annual collections," W magazine wrote of how Chloe turned Lagerfeld into a "superstar."

In his more than 30 years at Chanel, Lagerfeld collaborated with several Hollywood stars, designing concert costumes for Madonna, photographing and interviewing Justin Bieber, creating a gender-fluid handbag campaign with Kristen Stewart and Pharrell Williams and featuring Chanel No. v L'Eau fragrance ambassador Lily-Rose Depp at a runway prove. His longtime Hollywood muse, Keira Knightley, joined the house equally the face of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle in 2006.

In 2018, Lagerfeld debuted a capsule collection Kaia 10 Karl "from Paris to L.A." with budding model Kaia Gerber, the daughter of Cindy Crawford, for his own line. The KL brand tapped Roitfeld, the editor and stylist, for its H&Yard collaboration and a collab in 2019 chosen "The Edit past Carine Roitfeld" with her essential picks.

His affinity for female person muses and stars tin exist traced to the 1980s and French fashionista Ines de la Fressange, who became the first brand ambassador for Chanel (and returned two decades later for his spring/summer 2011 show). Other Hollywood favorites of his have included Julianne Moore, Miley Cyrus, Willow Smith, Kendall Jenner, Tilda Swinton and Cara Delevingne.

"Karl has ever, from the very kickoff, made me feel like being myself was the right affair to practise. And in [the way] world, that is a rarity," Stewart told V magazine in 2017. "He's a compulsive and obsessive creative person, and it's contagious. And he's kind. He is who he is for a reason. I feel so lucky to be in his space and so ofttimes."

He started the label Lagerfeld Gallery out of his fine art gallery on the Left Banking company of Paris, showing ready-to-wear collections from 2002-05. That year, Tommy Hilfiger bought the Karl Lagerfeld trademark, including Lagerfeld Gallery and the Karl Lagerfeld brand, for $27.5 meg, co-ordinate to The New York Times. Hilfiger kept him on as creative manager.

Lagerfeld was one of the first luxury designers to bring his fashion to the masses. In addition to his collaboration with H&1000 (which was followed by Stella McCartney, Versace and Balmain working with the retailer), Lagerfeld collaborated on sneakers for Vans, dazzler products for Australian brand ModelCo, a photo exhibition for Audi, watches for Fossil, footwear for Italian brand Hogan in 2010, glassware for Swedish company Orrefors in 2011, a limited-edition Diet Coca-Cola boxed prepare in collaboration with the now-defunct Parisian boutique Colette in 2010, a capsule style for Macy's in 2011 and a line with Japanese makeup make Shu Uemura, whose corrective products he used to sketch his fashion drawings. in 2012, Lagerfeld released a holiday collection with Shu Uemera titled Mon Shu Uemera that starred a manga graphic symbol he created named Mon Shu, which he followed up two years later with a beauty line past Lagerfeld's famous feline Choupette, featuring grapheme "Shupette."

His contempo projects demonstrate his versatility with art, including a $two,825 chest of pencils, a Chanel rocket launched in the Chiliad Palais and an international hospitality brand called Karl Lagerfeld Hotel and Resorts. He served every bit co-chair of the 2005 Chanel-themed Met Gala with Anna Wintour and Nicole Kidman, a face up of the brand at the time.

He kept his personal life relatively private, though he opened up well-nigh his late partner of 20 years, Jacques de Bascher, in the 2017 bookJacques de Bascher: Dandy de l'ombre. "I infinitely loved that boy but I had no physical contact with him. Of course, I was seduced by his physical amuse," Lagerfeld said, according toWWD (which also reports that de Bascher had an affair with Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s).

"I was moved because he was talking about that one person that you miss, and I think this man is the person that Karl Lagerfeld misses in his life," the author Marie Ottavi toldWWD of interviewing Lagerfeld for the book.

Although he had one older sis and one one-half-sister, Lagerfeld said, "I have no family at all.… I have a sis in America who I haven't seen for xl years. Her children never even send me a Christmas bill of fare," in a 2015 interview withThe New York Times. On forgoing children, he said, "Having adult children makes you lot wait 100 years one-time. I don't want that."

Lagerfeld also was known for his distinctive personality and wit, including quips like, "I don't exercise Internet," "I hate ugly people," "Sweatpants are a sign of defeat," "I have spies all over the place" and "I am like a caricature of myself." When information technology came to work ethic, Lagerfeld was devoted for life. "I remember I'm pretty lucky that I can practise what I similar best in perfect conditions. I don't have to fight with anybody. Yous know my contracts with Fendi and Chanel are for life?" he toldFaddy. "And I don't experience tired at all."

On top of his mode career, Lagerfeld also was a published photographer, the creator of the bookshop 7L in Paris and writer of several books, including the weight-loss guideThe Karl Lagerfeld Diet (he lost ninety pounds to fit into slimmer clothes), The World Co-ordinate to Karl: The Wit and Wisdom of Karl Lagerfeld andKarl Lagerfeld: Chanel'southward Russian Connection. In 2010, he shot the 38th edition of the Pirelli agenda, photographing models and such actresses every bit Moore every bit Greek and Roman goddesses.

Lagerfeld was involved with several moving picture shorts and television shows, recently starring in Netflix's docuseries7 Days Out in December 2018, which offered a behind-the-scenes look at Lagerfeld and his couture team in the run-up to the spring 2018 bear witness. He appeared in the romantic one-act Lolo as himself in 2015 and is a credited costume designer on many French films since 1971, along with the 2007 documentary Don't Tell My Booker!!! featuring Beyonce and the 1977 criminal offense movie Silvery Bears, starring Michael Caine.

Additionally, Lagerfeld'due south paradigm has starred as an avatar — both in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008 and in Kim Kardashian W's mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood in 2015 — and appears in the Random House bookWhere'south Karl? a fashion-forward riff on classic children's bookWhere'southward Waldo? published in 2015.

"A sense of humor and a little lack of respect: that'due south what you need to make a legend survive," Lagerfeld said.

Survivors include his sister Christiane Johnson, who lives in the U.S.; his beloved, Instagram-famous cat Choupette; and godson Hudson Kroenig, a child model who is the son of model Brad Kroenig and who debuted on the Chanel runway in 2010.