Karl Lagerfeld recently sat down for an interview with WSJ Magazine; here are some of the fabulous highlights:
On his iconic look making him too recognizable:
“It’s all my fault. I became too cartoonish and easy to recognize. I don’t want to arrive somewhere sloppy in an old sweatshirt. I know I look different from other people, but I don’t feel different, because I think I’m the most normal thing in the world.”
On his career longevity (52 years with Fendi, 40+ years with Chanel):
“I think nobody has [been at] a company as long as I have. I’m ready for the Guinness Book. I’m sorry, there is nobody.”
On the pace of the fashion industry:
“The other designers say, ‘We are burned out….’ Ooh. You will get burned out—if you take the job only for the check, you’d better do something else. People want the money but they don’t want to work. And they might be a little bit younger than I am, so they need their ‘private life.’ I add collections and it makes them furious.”
On his natural instinct for marketing:
“I’m a total improvisation. And the most unprofessional person in the world. But very trained in the business. The whole thing is done in a light approach because I know the backbones of all that. So for me it’s easier to play with it.”
On how he works:
“I do everything by instinct. Ninety percent goes into the garbage can, and the rest is maybe OK. I am never pleased—I always think I could do better, that I am lazy. Some people have one idea and do the same thing for the rest of their life. I do nothing but destroy what I did.”
On generosity (Lagerfeld regularly buys a bag of the latest iPhone model to give to his friends):
“The people who are with me get the same thing I buy, nearly. But that’s normal, eh? My line in life is, ‘[He] pays who has the money.’ ”
On Coco Chanel:
“I want Chanel to keep the identity of Chanel. But the Chanel I do had nothing to do with what she did.”
On why his mother never attended any of his fashion shows:
“She said, ‘I don’t go to see a show of my son, because he works for other people.’ ”
On preferring to work for others (Fendi, Chanel, etc):
“I’m someone who doesn’t want any responsibility. I don’t want to own anything—even Lagerfeld doesn’t belong to me. In the days of Armani and Valentino, there were couples who built a business. But I had no one to build a business with, and I never wanted a business. I have no contract of exclusivity. I can do what I want whenever I want. If I have restrictions I am sterile.”
On holding grudges:
“But (former YSL designer) Hedi [Slimane] made [this blazer] for me without the labels. I don’t wear Saint Laurent. Pierre Bergé was such a pain in the ass all these years that I don’t want to have that name on my back ever.”
Read the full interview at WSJ.
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