He loved to provoke, he liked to alternate sophisticated language with hasty, trenchant, even superficial expressions. He changed language easily, going from his mother tongue, German, to French, English or even Italian, which he had learned in the long association with the Fendi family, the maison with which he collaborated since 1965, another record. And Silvia Fendi, daughter of one of the five sisters who founded the company in Rome in 1925, was probably the last person to speak to him on the phone. Lagerfeld died a few days before the Fendi fashion show that was scheduled (and took place) in Milan for February women’s fashion week. A life apparently without unexpected events, because Lagerfeld made the many interconnections between his roles as creative director of three brands at the same time seem natural: Chanel, again breaking yet another record for duration as creative director, Fendi and the brand that bears the his name.
Equally natural could seem interests, acquaintances and activities poised between corporate marketing and promotion. But it would be ungenerous and, once again, simplistic, to say that Karl Lagerfeld had transformed himself, or had wanted to transform himself, into a brand, making everything he did recognizable or in any case attributable to him. It would have been impossible for anyone to say with certainty that the Chanel and Fendi shows, the irreverence bordering on the kitsch of the Karl Lagerfeld branded accessories, were all signed by the same person. Not ex ante, at least.
Imagining seeing the Karl Lagerfeld fashion shows and collections (which have a completely different price positioning from that of the two prêt-à-porter maisons) without obvious logos, perhaps not even Virginie Viard, whom Lagerfeld called her right and left arm at Chanel and who has masterfully collected it as creative director of the maison. Maybe not even Silvia Fendi, whom Lagerfeld always said he saw as a child. Perhaps not even the aforementioned Caroline of Monaco, considered by Lagerfeld to be her friend and muse, as was her daughter Charlotte.
Ex post, of course, it is easy to see a common thread, to find the way in the creative labyrinth that Lagerfeld enjoyed creating, following, imagining, enriching all his life. Lagerfeld was famous for not always healthy rivalries, for himself and for others, with “colleagues” stylists (the one with Yves Saint Laurent is very famous). As he intensely worked, he intensely loved and hated. He had his own idea of betrayal or fidelity, which often bordered on the desire for total flattery and which did not allow for temporal exceptions.
The best example is the relationship with Ines De La Fressange, one of the most charismatic, intelligent, but also independent women, who entered, left and then re-entered Lagerfeld’s life. Model, muse, friend, at a certain point Ines got married and decided to devote time to the family she wanted to build. Time that Karl guiltily and inexplicably considered stolen from him and for years she no longer wanted to see or hear from her. Except for reconciliation: a journey remembered with immense affection and respect by Ines herself, who, if she had a different personality and character, perhaps would have refused the rapprochement (which took place without apparent explanations as if, again, it was the most natural thing in the world, exit and then abruptly re-enter the good graces of the genius).