Long Live The King

In a tribute to the late designer, Amy Yasmine looks back on Karl Lagerfeld’s most glittering moments at both Chanel and Fendi—golden years, which forevermore encapsulates fashion’s most profound Renaissance man.

- Amy Yasmine

At Chanel’s most recent Autumn/Winter ’19 show in Paris, a staccato voice boomed throughout the Grand Palais, its magical winter wonderland set juxtaposed a bittersweet atmosphere, struck in between the sobering afterthoughts of reality and the fantasy of beauty. “When I was offered it [the role at Chanel], people said, ‘Don’t take that, it’s hopeless, it’s over,’” the voice echoed, distinctively Lagerfeld with its Franco-Germanic-laced accent. “Because today, it’s all about the reanimation of the most absurd brands! But at the time, you didn’t do that. New names were needed. There was another world to build.”