Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 193319 February 2019) was a German fashion designer. Lagerfeld began his career in fashion in the 1950s, working for several top fashion houses including Balmain, Patou, and Chloé before joining Chanel in 1983. As the creative director of Chanel from 1983 until his death, he oversaw every aspect of the fashion house's creative output, from designing collections to overseeing advertising campaigns and store displays. He was instrumental in revitalizing the Chanel brand, helping it regain its position as one of the top fashion houses in the world. He was also creative director of the Italian fur and leather goods fashion house Fendi, as well as his own eponymous fashion label. Throughout his career, he collaborated on a variety of fashion and art-related projects. Lagerfeld was recognised for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high-starched detachable collars. Early life Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg on September 10, 1933, to Elisabeth (née Bahlmann) and Otto Lagerfeldt (spelled with a ‘T’). His father, coming from a well-off family of wealthy wine-merchants, was an illustrious businessman and polyglot, speaking nine languages; his father owned an import company (Lagerfeldt & Co.) specialising in evaporated milk, leading him to work with the American dairy company Carnation. During his travels, his father was present during the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, escaping unharmed. A fluent speaker of Russian, his father had even attempted to gain citizenship to the country at the start of World War I, leading to an accusation of espionage and a three-year prison term in Vladivostok, eventually returning to Germany after the Russian Revolution in 1917. His maternal grandfather, Karl Bahlmann, was a local politician for the Catholic Centre Party. His family belonged to the Old Catholic Church. When Lagerfeld's mother met his father, she was a lingerie saleswoman from Berlin. His parents married in 1930.