Karl Lagerfeld Died At Age 85 In Paris

The celebrated designer passed on Tuesday, 19 February after being sick for several weeks

Iconic German fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld passed away today, Tuesday, 9 February. After reportedly being ill for several weeks, a source close to the celebrated designer confirmed with WWD that he died in Paris at the age of 85. No further information has been released about the details of his death.

The designer has reportedly been working on his upcoming autumn/winter 2019 collection with Fendi up until the end. The show is set to take place during Milan Fashion Week on 21 February. After missing Chanel’s haute couture show in Paris back in January, there was speculation around the 85-year-old’s health. The house did, however, make a statement that Lagerfeld had been too tired to attend the show.

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Lagerfeld was one of the most influential fashion designers of all time and was the Creative Director at Fendi, Chanel, and his eponymous label Karl Lagerfeld at the time of his death. With a decades-long career, Lagerfeld became a fashion legend who will forever be known as a cornerstone of Chanel’s legacy, debuting the ready-to-wear collection for Fendi, and his prolific namesake collection.

Born Karl Otto Lagerfeldt in 1933 in pre-war Germany, Karl Lagerfeld (who changed his name so it would sound ‘more commercial’) moved to Paris as a teenager where he started his career as the design assistant for Pierre Balmain. He went on to work at both Fendi and Chloe during the 1960s before moving to Chanel in 1983. He has spent 36 years working at the famous French fashion house.

President of Chanel Bruno Pavlovsky said in a statement today: “Fashion show after fashion show, collection after collection, Karl Lagerfeld left his mark on the legend of Gabrielle Chanel and the history of the House of Chanel. He steadfastly promoted the talent and expertise of Chanel’s ateliers and Métiers d’Art, allowing this exceptional know-how to shine throughout the world. The greatest tribute we can pay today is to continue to follow the path he traced by – to quote Karl – ‘continuing to embrace the present and invent the future’.”

As a pillar of the fashion industry, the community pays tribute to the late designer on social media. From Zuhair Murad to Valentino, there has been an out-pouring of love industry-wide.

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