Karl Lagerfeld. Kaiser's Last Show

/ A person /

Another loss this February. Legendary couturier Karl Lagerfeld died today at the age of 86. We recall the most architectural shows of the art director of Chanel, who stood at the helm of the fashion house for 35 years.

Karl Lagerfeld's name has been associated with the Chanel house for many years. He was invited there in 1983 as a designer of ready-to-wear, haute couture and accessories, 12 years after the death of the great Gabrielle, and a year later he became the creative director of Chanel, while also heading the Italian fashion house Fendi. At the same time, he launched a brand under his own name - Karl Lagerfeld - and the risk of lack of time, energy or inspiration did not scare him at all. Karl kept such a tense rhythm of life until the last day.

Karl Lagerfeld poses with the Superleggera by Gio Ponti chair during his own photo shoot for the Italian brand Cassina, 2013. Photo: Karl Lagerfeld

Lagerfeld's creative hypostasis was manifested literally in everything. For example, he has been passionate about photography for many years and has shot many advertising campaigns and many celebrities and models in outrageous series, including nude ones. His pictures were happily published by Harper's Bazaar, Numéro and, of course, Vogue. For example, one of his last photo shoots was with young Kaya Garber, daughter of Cindy Crawford, who became the face of the brand exactly one year ago.

In addition, it turned out that Karl is also a talented illustrator: in 1992, he drew 60 illustrations for the next edition of the fairy tale "The King's New Clothes", and in 2012 he became a permanent cartoonist for the supplement to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In the 90s, he even opened the 7L bookstore in Paris, later turning it into his own publishing house.

"Kaiser", as he was called in the fashion world, had a reputation since the mid-70s as a great connoisseur of architecture, design and a desperate collector of art and furniture, for example, old French masters or art deco. Let's recall at least his Parisian "apartment of the future", furnished with silver furniture from Mark Newson and Amanda Leavitt or the legendary apartments in Monaco, where exclusively the objects of the "Memphis" group were collected. Karl especially loved Sottsass. From time to time he put things from his collections up for auction. By the way, he often shot his interiors himself, and his photo archive also has many shots of architectural and landscape views.

A fragment of the interior of an apartment in Monaco with furniture from the "Memphis" group. Photo: Jacques Schumacher

His passion for interior design and design is closely intertwined with his love for scenography. He never did small shows - it was always a large-scale spectacle. All Chanel shows are traditionally held in the Grand Palais in Paris, which Karl, a famous provocateur, transformed beyond recognition, every time surprising the audience with incredible scope and boldness of ideas. About the most incredible - below.

 

Chanel Couture Fall-Winter 2006 show

A vertical spiral staircase leading to nowhere became the main theme of Lagerfeld's spring-summer 2006 haute couture collection. Photo: Pascal Le Segretain

Fashion show Paris-Bombay Métiers d'Art 2011/12

The podium at the Grand Palais on December 6, 2011, for the Paris-Bombay House themed show, was transformed into palatial rooms with a sumptuous reception table in the center. The food and flowers on it are all real. Photo by Michel Dufour/WireImage

Chanel spring-summer 2013 show

Karl Lagerfeld

This time, Lagerfeld literally blew up the audience, arranging a fashion show between giant "windmills" and making the floor look like solar panels

Chanel fall-winter 2013 show

The main theme of the fall-winter 2013 Chanel collection was an abandoned theater, and the models were given the role of its artists. Near the seats of the "ground floor" are visible fragments of concrete floors that have "collapsed" over time

Chanel fall-winter 2017 show

Lagerfeld's show, where he presented the brand's autumn-winter 2017 collection, was marked by the launch of a Chanel rocket with the signature logo on the fuselage. Photo: Getty Images

Chanel 2018 cruise collection show

This time, Karl took the guests of the Chanel 2018 cruise collection fashion show from Paris to Ancient Greece. / AFP PHOTO / Patrick KOVARIK (Photo credit should read PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images)

Chanel spring-summer 2019 show

Showing the public the Chanel spring-summer 2019 collection, Lagerfeld turned the Grand Palais into a sandy beach with real waves, barefoot models and lifeguards. Photo: Dominique Charriau/Getty Images