Karl Lagerfeld's bold opinions made headlines as frequently as his showstopping designs. In 2013, the Kaiser's many idioms were neatly compiled by a crew of French experts in The World According to Karl. Here, we rounded up Lagerfeld's greatest quotes from the book, along with many more, to pay tribute to the late designer.
On Karl
"I am a black diamond, unfaceted. Black diamonds are rare, hard to cut, and therefore uncommercial."
On Designing
"When you hear designers complaining about the challenge of their profession, you have to say: don’t get carried away—it’s only dresses."
On His Work Ethic
"I am a sort of vampire, taking the blood of other people." (The Observer Magazine)
On Nostalgia
"There is nothing worse than bringing up the 'good old days.' To me, that's the ultimate acknowledgment of failure."
On Self-Image
"To think appearances don’t count these days is a lie: it lets you live in harmony with yourself."
On Style
"Summer clothes that are rumpled or relaxed drive me mad. I loathe 'rumplednes,' if I can put it that way. It's okay between the ages of 25 and 30, but unfortunately after that it’s dreadful. I hate people in the street who look like they've raided their grandchildren’s wardrobe."
On Chanel
"What I've done, Coco Chanel would never have done. She would have hated it."
On Branding
"I am a living label. My name is Labelfeld not Lagerfeld."
On Fads
"Trendy is the last stage before tacky."
On His Sunglasses
"They're my burka... I'm a little shortsighted, and people, when they're shortsighted, they remove their glasses and then they look like cute little dogs who want to be adopted." (Vogue)
On Luxury
"You have to live your life according to your ideas. Spend all your money and live life in line with what you are fighting for. I hate it when rich people try to be Communists. I think that's obscene."
On Fashion
"I am a kind of fashion nymphomaniac who never gets an orgasm." (Reuters)
On Men
“I get along with everyone except for men my age, who are bourgeois or retired or boring.” (SFGate)
On Being in Shape
"I worked out a lot before I was 20. I was hard underneath. I had just a little padding. I was quilted. Always Chanel..."
On Solitude
"I live in a set, with the curtains of the stage closed with no audience - but who cares?" (Huffington Post)
On the World
“We live in a dark and romantic and quite tragic world.” (The New Yorker)
On Weddings
"Normally, I don't recommend me for wedding dresses - they all get a divorce." (Vogue)
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