Karl Lagerfeld

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Lore & Background

Karl Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg on 10 September 1933 to Elisabeth (née Bahlmann) and Otto Lagerfeld. His father, coming from a family of wealthy wine merchants, was a prosperous businessman and polyglot, speaking nine languages, and owned an import company specialising in evaporated milk. His family was mainly shielded from the deprivations of World War II due to his father being a member of the Nazi party and his business interests in Germany through the firm Glücksklee-Milch GmbH. As a child, he showed great interest in the visual arts, and former schoolmates recalled he was always making sketches 'no matter what we were doing in class'. Lagerfeld told interviewers he learned much more by constantly visiting the Kunsthalle Hamburg museum than he did in school. In 1954, he submitted a dress design to the International Wool Secretariat's design competition; his submitted entry presaged the chemise dresses which would be introduced by Givenchy and Balenciaga three years later. In 1955, he entered another IWS competition and won in the coat category, and was soon after hired by Pierre Balmain who was a judge for the competition. He worked as Balmain's assistant, and later apprentice, for three years. In 1957, Lagerfeld became the artistic director for Jean Patou. He left Jean Patou in 1962 to become a freelance designer, one of the first designers to do so. In the 1960s, he freelanced for brands including Charles Jourdan, Chloé, Krizia, Valentino, and for the Rome-based fashion house Tiziani. In 1965, he was hired by Fendi to modernise their fur line. He designed the brand's double F logo and remained with Fendi Rome until his death. In 1966, Lagerfeld became a designer for Chloé, working alongside Gaby Aghion, and in 1974 he became the sole designer for the brand. His work for Chloé would make him one of the most prominent designers in the world, often vying with Yves Saint Laurent for most influential.

Reader's Guide

Karl Lagerfeld's significance lies in his transformative role at Chanel, which was considered a 'near-dead brand' at the time since the death of designer Coco Chanel a decade prior. Taking over the couture there in 1983, Lagerfeld brought life back into the company, making it a huge success by revamping its ready-to-wear fashion line. He integrated the interlocked CC monogram of Coco Chanel into a style pattern for the House of Chanel. He changed the Chanel silhouette that had prevailed since the early 1960s, padding the shoulder, shortening and tightening the skirt, raising the heel, and enlarging or miniaturising the jewellery and purses—all controversial moves, especially the short skirts, as Mlle. Chanel had always disapproved of above-the-knee skirts. In 1984, a year after his start at Chanel, Lagerfeld began his own eponymous 'Karl Lagerfeld' brand with a focus on ready-to-wear clothing, established to channel 'intellectual sexiness'. Beyond Chanel, his decades-long tenure at Fendi modernised fur fashion, introducing less expensive furs such as rabbit and squirrel pelts into high fashion, and launching a ready-to-wear line. In 1992, Dunhill Holdings acquired the Karl Lagerfeld brand from Cora-Revillon for an estimated $30 million; in 1997, Vendôme sold the brand back to Lagerfeld for a 'symbolic one franc'. Lagerfeld was also a photographer whose work was exhibited in galleries and collected in published volumes. His legacy is that of a prolific and influential creative director who shaped late 20th-century fashion through his work at multiple houses, and his distinctive personal style—white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high-starched detachable collars—became iconic.

Did You Know?

• Lagerfeld's father was a polyglot who spoke nine languages and was present during the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, escaping unharmed.
• His father was a member of the Nazi party, which helped shield the family from the deprivations of World War II.
• Lagerfeld submitted a dress design to the International Wool Secretariat's design competition in 1954 that presaged the chemise dresses introduced by Givenchy and Balenciaga three years later.
• He designed the double F logo for Fendi and remained with the brand from 1965 until his death.
• In 1997, the Vendôme Luxury Group sold the Karl Lagerfeld brand back to him for a 'symbolic one franc'.

A Place in Vienna's Creative Lineage

This institution, which has held university status since 1970, traces its origins back to 1863, when it was established as the k. k. What makes Lagerfeld's association with this particular school notable is that it was the first institution of its kind on the European continent. For a young designer or artist in Vienna, being part of this community meant entering a tradition that had been shaping the continent's visual culture for decades.

A Constellation of Creative Minds

What unites these figures is not a single discipline but a shared commitment to applied art and craft, a philosophy that the school has maintained since its founding in 1863. The fact that Lagerfeld moved in the same creative orbit as painters, textile artists, and industrial designers speaks to the interdisciplinary ethos that has always characterized this Viennese institution, where the boundaries between fine art, design, and craft were deliberately kept porous.

Institutional Transformation and Identity

What began in 1863 as a school of arts and crafts was elevated to an institution of higher education in 1941, a period during which it carried the name Reichshochschule fuer angewandte Kunst. After the end of World War II, the Austrian state assumed control in 1948, reorganizing it as an academy. It was not until 1998 that the institution received its current title as a full university. For anyone who was part of the staff or student body during any of these phases, the institution's evolving identity would have shaped the prestige and scope of the work being done within its walls.

A Living, Global Creative Community

The student body is composed of approximately 60 percent Austrians, 25 percent from other European nations, and 15 percent from the rest of the world, supported by around 380 faculty members. The creative output generated within this community is not kept behind closed doors; the institution hosts approximately 200 exhibitions per year, along with a wide range of public events and presentations that bring student and faculty work into direct contact with the broader Viennese public. For a city like Vienna, this steady stream of public exhibitions and interdisciplinary collaboration keeps the applied arts firmly embedded in the cultural life of the capital.