Even if high fashion is not in your area of interest, you still know the name of this legendary fashion designer. His image is probably the most recognizable in the fashion world — an elegant man in dark glasses, a snow-white shirt and a black jacket, with gray hair pulled back in a ponytail. The life of the emperor of high fashion has long turned into a legend, where it is impossible to distinguish truth from fiction.
A fashion designer once said: “I’ve played too much for people to know the real me, I prefer to be a ghost – to appear and disappear. For people like me, loneliness is a victory.” Karl Lagerfeld died on February 19, 2019.
Let’s see what the young Karl Lagerfeld looked like and how he changed after. Let’s compare the photos then and now.
Plastic surgery
Famous for his categorical and sometimes rather rude statements, couturier Karl Lagerfeld has severely criticized people who decide to rejuvenate with the help of plastic surgery. Curiously, the head of the Chanel fashion house himself was more than once suspected of trying to rejuvenate himself with the help of cosmetic procedures.
The outstanding couturier Karl Lagerfeld never missed an opportunity to criticize the stars – sometimes kindly, but sometimes very caustically. Probably, everyone has already heard his statements about Pippa Middleton, singer Adele and Lana Del Rey.
The queue has reached people who visit plastic surgery clinics for rejuvenation. Karl Lagerfeld, as it turned out, deeply despises anyone who tries to stop age-related processes with the help of operations, like the famous victim of plastic surgery, Joscelin Wildenstein.
Lagerfeld spoke rudely about cosmetic procedures:
“As a result of futile efforts to keep young, many people only look older. The most terrible thing is lip surgery. With them, the faces of the stars become as if they had been flying through the windshield for a couple of hours during a car accident. I personally know people who have gone through similar operations, whom it was simply impossible to recognize later. Nothing makes a person as old as his attempts to appear young,” Lagerfeld said without choosing expressions.
It turns out that Karl despised celebrities who decided on plastic surgery so much that, upon learning about the fact of cosmetic procedures, he immediately cut off all contacts with this or that person. Lagerfeld not only kept stars with enlarged lips away from Chanel shows, but also cut them out of his life altogether. Indeed, Courtney Stodden and Lindsay Lohan once often appeared in Karl’s company. But after they injected fillers into their lips, they immediately lost his favor.
“Many people of my generation are trying to keep young, and they look just terrifying. I try not to communicate with them, preferring the company of young people,” Karl said.
In fairness, we note that young girls with still natural looks also got from the designer. It turns out that Cara Delevingne, with whom Lagerfeld seems to have had a warm relationship, he did not consider beautiful at all and publicly stated this. We can guess that she wasn’t very pleased to hear that. Do you agree with Lagerfeld?
The designer himself did not feel old. He communicated with much younger people. Karl Lagerfeld shuns his peers. “I do not know a single person from my generation. They all seem monstrous to me,” he once said.
Teeth
Karl Lagerfeld is known for literally paranoid self-care. The fashion designer has repeatedly admitted in interviews that he does not go to bed until he has applied dozens of tonics and creams to his face. But Lagerfeldrarely smiled. Paparazzi lenses have repeatedly seen his crooked and unkempt teeth.
To think that this man has been dressing stars and ordinary people for decades, defining the canons of beauty — and he himself has a smile that will terrify any dentist. The lower and upper teeth of the designer are crooked. What can we say about the color and condition of the gums.
What is the reason for Karl Lagerfeld’s unsightly smile is unknown. The designer had enough money to make his teeth perfect. Why didn’t he try to wear braces at a younger age? Well, braces probably didn’t seem aesthetic enough to him.
Then and now
The most interesting question for many is when was Karl Lagerfeld born? Despite the simplicity of the question, probably no one knows the answer to it. The documents record the date September 10, 1938. Journalists found out that the couturier was born five years earlier. The designer himself says he doesn’t know for sure, but it’s somewhere between 1933 and 1938. Whether the maestro was lying or telling the truth, no one will ever know now.
How Karl Lagerfeld got into the fashion world
According to some reports, when Karl turned 14, his parents decided to leave their native Hamburg and moved to Paris, the capital of France. There he enrolled in a high fashion school. In the mid-1950s, an international company organized a competition where a very young Karl received his first prize in his life. The designer created a sketch of the coat. After that, Lagerfeld was invited to work at the Pierre Balmain fashion house. The maestro worked there for the next four years.
The rise of a career
After this job, Karl was offered the position of art director by Jean Patou. He also worked there for 4 years. It’s hard to believe, but Lagerfeld then became disillusioned with high fashion and left Paris. The future legend went to Italy. There, the young man actively engaged in the study of art history. After graduating, Lagerfeld became an independent designer and collaborated with the world’s leading fashion houses.
In 1974, Karl’s first men’s clothing collection was released under his personal brand. Later, the fashion designer was even offered to give lectures on art at one of the universities in Vienna.
Worldwide fame came to him after he became the art director of the Chanel fashion house. At the same time, he was engaged in the development of his clothing lines. The designer completely changed the image and style of Chanel, he attracted new customers and returned the fashion house to its former glory. Everyone, without exception, said that Lagerfeld’s style reflected the style of Coco Chanel herself.
Modeling clothes is not Lagerfeld’s only talent. Karl’s field of interest was not limited to fashion. The master was extremely fascinated by professional photography. His pictures were even awarded with an award. Later, he opened his own gallery in Paris. The couturier was engaged in publishing books, releasing perfumes, designing glasses, and produced more than a dozen collections a year. Most Hollywood stars preferred to dress at Lagerfeld’s, he was often approached to design costumes for theater and cinema. He also designed buildings.
What is known about Karl’s personal life
Lagerfeld never said anything about this. This is a mystery that has generated a lot of rumors. Some claim that the couturier is non-traditional. The gossip started after Jacques de Basher died. He was the fashion designer’s best friend and, as some believe, his love. After that, the designer closed himself off from everyone.
Karl Lagerfeld and Jacques de Basher.
There are those who are absolutely sure that this is not true. The designer adored women, because his creative talent is entirely directed at them. Lagerfeld often talked with famous actresses and beautiful models. They inspired him to create with their beauty. For example, it was Lagerfeld who revealed Claudia Schiffer to the world.
Karl always answered all questions more than evasively. In one of his many interviews, when he was almost 80 years old, he said: “My love is in the grave, that’s it. Besides, I’m already at the age when it’s just beyond the bounds of decency to ask me such personal questions.”