Karl For Ever 2019 -a tribute to the exceptional designer; @chanel.com
Fendi, Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld payed tribute to Karl Lagerfeld in all facets of his personality, by devoting an exceptional moment at the Grand Palais in his honor. Over 2,000 guests took turn celebrating the aesthete, man of culture, photographer and designer who passed away last February.
Karl For Ever 2019; @ Gabriel de La Chapelle / LVMHKarl For Ever 2019; @chanel.com
CHANEL hosted a memorial celebration in Karl Lagerfeld’shonour with FENDI and KARL LAGERFELD at the Grand Palais in Paris on June 20th, 2019.
Fendi, Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld paid tribute to Karl Lagerfeld’s legacy and his unprecedented creativity, which expanded beyond fashion to include design, photography, publishing, illustration, and architecture. The event was conceived, directed and designed by Robert Carsen, the acclaimed theater, opera, and artistic director.
The artists and the 2,500 guests present at the Grand Palais to celebrate Karl Lagerfeld were immersed in a spectacular exhibition of 56 towering portraits of the designer taken throughout his life, including by some of the world’s most celebrated photographers, against the backdrop of a décor inspired by his favorite colors – black and white, set off by a touch of red.
Karl For Ever 2019; @chanel.comKarl For Ever 2019; @chanel.comPharrell Williams – Karl For Ever 2019 -a tribute to the exceptional designer June 2019; @chanel.com
Video clips retracing the couturier’s life were punctuated by testimonials from personalities who were close to him, along with performances by actors, musicians and dancers whose work he admired, interpreting pieces that he loved.
Actresses Tilda Swinton, Fanny Ardant, Cara Delevingne and Helen Mirren read excerpts from works by Karl Lagerfeld’s favorite writers, including Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Edith Sitwell and Colette, along with some of his most inspiring quotes and brilliant prefaces.
The performances included dancer Lil Buck; violinist Charlie Siem (who played Paganini, a favorite composer of Karl Lagerfeld’s mother Elizabeth, who played the violin); Argentine choreographer German Cornejo, accompanied by his troupe of 17 tango dancers and seven musicians from Buenos Aires (Carlos Gardel was Karl’s favorite singer and the tango his favorite dance). Chinese pianist Lang Lang and singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams took the stage to pay tribute through their art to an exceptional figure who many of the talents present considered a dear friend, and someone who was a great inspiration to them.
From designer labels to key children’s clothing brands, to brand new products, here are the names launching special projects, presenting premieres, making their debut or returning to 2019 Pitti Bimbo Fashion Fair (20-22 June 2019, Florence, Italy): The Emporio Armani junior collection at Pitti Bimbo The Gruppo Armani will be present for the … Read more
Rare Karl Lagerfeld Fashion Drawings Auction. The remaining sketches are precious, as Chanel creative director was known to frequently throw his sketches away.
@Palm Beach Modern Auctions’ new division, Urban Culture Auctions; urbancultureauctions.com
Unique archive of original sketches and portfolios has been privately owned since the 1960s; many sketches are hand- colored with fabric swatches attached.
Prior to joining Chanel in 1983, Lagerfeld’s storied career included a series of design positions at other European houses favored by the rich and famous, among them Fendi, Chloe, Patou, and Balmain. But it was not until January 2014, when Palm Beach Modern Auctions hosted its high-profile “Lagerfeld + Liz” sale, that fashionistas learned of Lagerfeld’s early days with the House of Tiziani in Rome. That auction included a number of original Lagerfeld sketches from the Tiziani archive and was 100% sold.
Many of the sketches are hand-colored and have penciled notes at the sides or bottom – a testament to Lagerfeld’s intensely personal design process. Additionally, many have original fabric swatches attached. Of particular importance are the seven Lagerfeld portfolios, each containing between 22 and 44 original sketches. Each prized portfolio is estimated at $2,000-$4,000. Individual sketches are estimated at $1,000-$1,500, while two that were special designs for Elizabeth Taylor could sell for up to $3,000 each.
The drawings collection is special – beyond the obvious – for several reasons, Baca said. “Aside from the fact that these sketches are the work of one of the most brilliant couturiers of the last half century, they are also very rare and might not have survived had they remained in Lagerfeld’s possession.” In 2007 the designer told The New Yorker, “I throw everything away,” with a nod to a nearby wastebasket filled with discarded sketches.
Also, some would question describing Lagerfeld’s beautifully detailed concept images as mere “sketches.” Bill Hamilton, who designed for Carolina Herrera for 17 years and now maintains a private clientele, observed, “These are more like works of art. I don’t think [designers] put that much effort into the sketches of today.”
The emergence of the Tiziani archive may well have amused – perhaps delighted – Lagerfeld. In 2014 when there was saturation media coverage of the previous Lagerfeld auction, his beloved cat Choupette posted a story about it on her blog. “We would have to assume that it was Mr. Lagerfeld, and not Choupette, who did the actual blog posting,” Baca said with a laugh, “but either way, it adds a nice bit of indirect authentication to the collection.”
Karl Lagerfeld’s Earliest Fashion Sketches for Tiziani at Auction; @Palm Beach Modern Auctions’ new division, Urban Culture Auctions
From Chanel backstage to a wintry setting — Chanel ambassadors and friends of the luxury French house were gathered at the Grand Palais in Paris to discover Chanel Fall-Winter 2019/20 collection by Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard.
Chanel fall-winter 2019/ 2020 fashion show at Grand Palais in Paris; @chanel
At Paris fashion week, there was only one show in town. Karl Lagerfeld’s final collection, designed shortly before his death last month, was both Chanel catwalk show and a moment at which the fashion world said goodbye to the designer.
There was a painted backdrop of bright blue sky inside the Grand Palais, transformed for this show into Tyrolean village of 12 Alpine chalets. As always with Lagerfeld’s Chanel shows, a set had been realised with movie-location precision. Each chalet had carved shutters, lace curtains and wooden balconies. Smoke drifted from chimneys, and powdery snow banked in drifts against the long rows of wooden benches, settling on the birch and pine trees dotted between.
The picture-perfect scene set a mood that was celebratory rather than mournful. Claudia Schiffer wore a cream blouse embroidered with camellias, the house flower; Anna Wintour a pale pink bouclé suit. Lagerfeld, who never liked to admit to feeling unwell – it was one of the many things he considered common – detested funerals. “I just want to disappear like the animals in the virgin forest. It is awful to encumber people with your remains,” he told French television four years ago.
On each of the 2,658 seats for this show was a gift of Chanel No 19 fragrance, a bottle of classic Rouge Noir nail polish, and a reproduction of Lagerfeld’s sketch of himself walking side by side with Coco Chanel, inscribed “The Beat Goes On”. The house of Chanel intends to hold a memorial event for Lagerfeld, although neither details nor date are known. Meanwhile, the message is that Karl may be gone, but Chanel lives on.
The show began with a minute of silence, brought to an end by a recording of Lagerfeld holding court on the art of the fashion show. The doors of Chalet Gardenia opened, and out strutted Cara Delevingne in wide windowpane-checked wool trousers with matching silk skirt and trilby, under a tweed houndstooth coat. The theme of the collection was chalet chic; the mood was the irrepressibly bumptious power-dressing that Lagerfeld perfected at Chanel in the 1980s and never strayed far from.
There were twinsets with Alpine-themed intarsia design, sheepskin moonboots, ski goggle sunglasses and sporty tweed jackets that zipped to the chin. For a finale, the actor Penelope Cruz, who has attended Chanel shows since 1999 and recently became an ambassador to the brand, wore a snowball dress with an 1980s-style puffball skirt of feather and chiffon, and carried a single white rose.
Cara Delevingne on the catwalk.Photograph: Pixelformula/SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock
Lagerfeld brought to Chanel a run of prestige almost unheard of in fashion. All eyes in the fashion industry will now be focused on discovering whether this can be sustained without him. Virginie Viard, his right-hand woman in the studio, was swiftly handed responsibility for “the creative work of the collections”, but a more formal and detailed statement issued by Chanel last week named not one but two successors. Viard becomes artistic director of fashion collections, while Eric Pfrunder, longtime director of image, is artistic director of fashion image.
The appointments quell – for now, at least – the long running rumours that Lagerfeld’s successor would be an internationally famous name such as Phoebe Philo or Christopher Bailey. But the division of what had been Lagerfeld’s role is significant. Lagerfeld’s success at Chanel was as much about brand image as it was about the clothes themselves, so Pfrunder’s role is key, although Viard seems likely to take over as a front-of-house figurehead.
Viard began her career in fashion as a costume designer before joining Chanel in 1987 as an intern. She was promoted to head of embroidery and then to director of haute couture, and began working on ready to wear in 2000. Her role alongside Lagerfeld was to develop his sketches into samples, which would then be shown to him at fittings. “I try to please him, but I like to surprise him too,” she said in 2017.
Like Lagerfeld, she is known for a strong work ethic and for being a voracious reader. In last year’s Netflix documentary about a Chanel haute couture show, Lagerfeld described Viard as “the most important person, not only for me but also for the atelier, for everything. She is my right arm and even if I don’t see her, we are on the phone all the time.”
