Karl Lagerfeld the Man, Karl Lagerfeld the Icon. Is there a break between the two or are you one fantastic whole?
I am the only person that has nothing to say or declare about it.
Your long tenure at Chanel displays your capacity for constant reinvention. Is there one point at which you could declare perfection/resolution of the Chanel question?
I am never satisfied In my work I never have the feeling that I have done enough. I have this attitude: I always think I could do more, I could do better. Therefore I have to start again.
You have previously stated your passion for the future and a disinterest in the past. Does the history that surrounds you at Chanel, and indeed in Paris, serve as fuel, inspiration or counterpoint?
There are no rules for inspiration, you have to have a quality view on things and my curiosity helps me to find inspiration in the most unconnected of strange situations. But there is no rule, or only one: Keep your eyes open.
You have long been a Paris resident. Has your view of the city changed over the years? Do you ever intend to depart?
You know, Chanel, it’s Paris. I love Paris! But now I can’t walk in the streets, they are so dirty! I do not intend to depart, but I like also Monte Carlo, New York, I love NY, I have an apartment there.
Your role as an auteur is clear. Art, architecture and fashion have distinct boundaries that you seem to enjoy bending. Is this provocation or a real belief?
A real belief. We need houses as we need clothes, on the other hand, architecture stimulates fashion.
Is your role as designer for Chanel compromised by your many other activities? Or do you find that the multitude of projects that you constantly work on feed each other - can you give us an example?
Architecture stimulates fashion, there is a symbiosis between fashion and photography. There is a real overlap between all my activities, and I have the good fortune of being able to work in fashion, photography, architecture. All areas are so different that you can’t compare them. It’s like hunger and thirst. You need both.
So do you prefer the beauty within detail, or the grand gesture?
I love classic beauty. It’s an idea of beauty with no standard.
You have a voracious appetite for all things contemporary as exhibited by your favorite songs CD (2007). How do you stay abreast?
I want to know everything, I want to see everything!
Amongst the many things that have been said about you, it has been said that you are a man of many parts. Which, in your opinion, is the most important part?
One could not exist without the other.
At what time do you:
a) Put on your sunglasses.
b) Remove your sunglasses
It depends!
Tomorrow Karl Lagerfeld will be?
Let’s see first what happens today!
