Having become a true icon of pop culture, Karl Lagerfeld is represented everywhere. Between the Met Gala and a film with Jared Leto, the German creator, who died almost four years ago, will be celebrated in 2023.

It's in a biopic co-produced by Jared Leto himself and the brand Karl Lagerfeld , that all the details of the life of the thousand-talented creator will be revealed.

This film will be made from the confidences of the people closest to the German couturier: Pier Paolo Righi, Caroline Lebar , and Sebastien Jondeau . It is therefore in full in the intimacy of his career and his personal life that the spectators will be able to immerse themselves. Who was Karl Lagerfeld, one of the world's most exposed personalities, yet so mysterious to most of us? Caroline Lebar, one of his close collaborators who advised him on his brand, Pier Paolo Righi the CEO of his company and Sebastien Jondeau, his personal assistant and bodyguard, will answer your questions. Jared Leto concludes by confiding in the magazine Deadline : 'Karl has always been an inspiration to me. He was a true polymath, an artist, an innovator, a leader and, above all, a kind man. When we got together with the Karl Lagerfeld team, we We immediately shared a creative vision: to make a respectful ode to Karl while pushing the artistic boundaries of what a biopic can be. I'm so grateful to Caro, Pier and Seb for allowing us to take this journey together.' The role couldn't find a better actor!

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But this is not the only token of respect due to Karl Lagerfeld in recent times since: the 1 ^is May 2023 will take place the prestigious with Gala to Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, organized in order to finance the fashion department of the museum, the Costume Institute . And to pay homage to Karl Lagerfeld , who died in February 2019, the cultural institution has chosen to carry out a retrospective on the work of the German couturier, from the 1950s to his last collection in 2019. This is the first exhibition organized since his death and will take place from May 5 to July 16, 2023 . It will present around 150 pieces designed by Karl Lagerfeld, each associated with a sketch drawn by the designer himself. And that's not all. To finalize this tribute to the man who revolutionized the world of fashion, the Metropolitan Museum of Art also announced that the designer's work would be the 2023 Met Gala theme , Karl Lagerfeld : A Line of Beauty . Chloe, Fendi, Chanel , Balmain, Patou... So many houses through which the couturier has passed and which should allow the international stars invited to the event to wear particularly precious vintage pieces. So look forward to the month of May to discover the exceptional looks that this theme will have inspired them!

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How did Karl Lagerfeld start his career?

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 in the morning, Karl Lagerfeld passed away in Paris at the age of 85. The famous German designer, artistic director of Chanel , but also the Italian label Fendi and its own ready-to-wear brand, has revolutionized fashion for more than 60 years. Never has a couturier been able to live so much with the times, adapting to younger generations while brilliantly exploiting new technologies in addition to his own image, establishing for the first time in history the status of 'couturier-star '. At the same time designer, photographer, editor, director and above all a talented businessman, this 360° creator has been able to impose his mark and his name in many artistic fields. Also known for his immense general and literary knowledge, his scathing humour, his provocative 'punchlines' and his great self-mockery, Karl Lagerfeld, who was nicknamed the Kaiser ( for 'emperor' in German ) was loved or hated but left no one indifferent.

Son of a Swedish businessman and a Prussian mother, his vrai nom Karl Otto Lagerfeldt was born on September 10, 1933, in Hamburg, Germany. From his youngest age, Karl Lagerfeld shows an interest in fashion. In 1952, he moved to Paris with his mother. He was a student at Lycée Montaigne then became a fashion illustrator and shared, in 1954, the first prize in the renowned competition 'International Wool Secretariat' of Woolmark, with a certain Yves Saint Laurent, to whom he will remain very close. Member of the Jury, Pierre Balmain notice it. He hired him as an assistant until 1962.

Simultaneously, from 1959, he was in charge of the artistic direction of John Patou . The cap of independent stylist allows him to work with the greatest couturiers in France and abroad. From 1963, he held the post of artistic director of the house Chloé , where he designed ready-to-wear and accessories collections for nearly fifteen years. Thanks to him, the brand is gaining popularity. A year later, he began a collaboration with the Italian brand Fendi - whose logo he signs - and breathes with Silvia Fendi a wind of modernity on the famous furs of the brand. In 1991, he was called back to Chloé to give new impetus to the French fashion house, then in full decline.

When did he start working at Chanel?

In 1983, the career of Karl Lagerfeld takes a radical turn when he is appointed artistic director of one of the greatest French haute couture houses: Chanel. A position for which he signs a life contract. Following the death of designer Coco Chanel, the double C brand is in the midst of a crisis and needs to find new life. A challenge that the creator agrees to take up. Winning bet for the house then too often associated with a style 'granny' . Benefiting from the couturier's gift for mixing tradition and modernity, it rose from its ashes and became the institution we know. Endowed with a keen sense of trends, the designer innovates while perpetuating the style of the founder with black and white tones, but also denim and cropped skirts. The Kaiser manages to shake up the codes and gradually restores the French brand's letters of nobility by placing it at the forefront of the world stage.

From haute couture to ready-to-wear, including cruise lines and those showcasing artistic crafts, Karl Lagerfeld kept the house running at a frenetic pace. presenting no less than six shows per year . From the moment he arrived, he never ceased to impress the public with ever more breathtaking parade scenographies under the nave of the Grand Palais, which he has occupied since 2005. For the creator, nothing was impossible. Enchanted forest, Parisian brasserie, luxury supermarket, giant ice floe or majestic lion... I showed him Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld was the unbeatable major event of each Fashion Week, the parade to be seen and where to be seen.

How did Karl Lagerfeld become a fashion brand?

In addition to being a great designer, Karl Lagerfeld was a marketing genius and personal branding. Year after year, he was able to impose his status as a star designer, never stingy with good words, and turned into a talented businessman. By skilfully exploiting his own image, Karl and his famous silhouette have become both ready-to-wear brand, comic book hero, statuettes and flocked logo on a multitude of merchandising products.

First designer to collaborate with a fast fashion brand, the Swedish giant H&M , he demonstrates his desire to reach a wider and popular target, which is not to the taste of some luxury players. That is. But upon its release in 2004, the collection H&M x Karl Lagerfeld  achieves great success. It marks the beginning of a long list of collaborations, each more public than the other, for the couturier with, among others, Coca-Cola, Lenôtre, Dom Pérignon, road safety with the famous yellow vest campaign, and even Barbie. .

But the creator does not stop there and pushes the exercise to the extreme by opening the doors of celebrity to her Choupette pussy . The latter also has her comic book avatar, her statuette but also Twitter and Instagram accounts, a line of cosmetics in her name imagined by the ModelCo brand as well as a book about her lifestyle and her diet. Enough to grow your empire, establish yourself as a brand in its own right and become a figure of pop culture.

What do we know about Karl Lagerfeld's private life?

Modest and mysterious, the creator concealed the details of his private life. Karl Lagerfeld's date of birth , his social origins and a myriad of other hard-to-verify details remain to be taken with a grain of salt. His sentimental life was marked by his love affair, in the 1970s and 1980s, with the eccentric Jacques de Bascher, a notorious dandy and also close to Yves Saint Laurent. Karl Lagerfeld and Jacques de Bascher shared an eighteen-year platonic love that ended abruptly when the latter died of AIDS in 1989. A difficult ordeal for the couturier who supported him until the end by installing a bed for him in his hospital room. Since then, Karl Lagerfeld has shown a healthy existence focused almost exclusively on his work.

How is Karl Lagerfeld breaking into pop culture?

Karl Lagerfeld keep talking about him. The creator, whose career currently inspires a series to Disney + + , is also the subject of a biography published by Robert Laffont. Soberly titled Karl , the book questions those close to the couturier, from Ines de la Fressange, one of his muses, to the American actress Fran Lebowitz, including designers Tom Ford, Alessandro Michele and Valentino Garavani. In writing, Marie Ottavi, journalist for Release and author of a previous biography on Jacques de Bascher. If the writer succeeded in obtaining the confidences of the friends of Kaiser Karl , it's because she had the couturier's absolute confidence. He also granted him, before his death on February 19, 2019 in Paris, two exclusive interviews on which Marie Ottavi's investigation was based. An exciting book available in bookstores since September 16, 2021.

Source journaldesfemmes.fr