Lagerfeld’s “Karlicatures” to be Presented and Published

Karl Lagerfeld was best known as a gifted and dedicated fashion designer, who created collections fo Chanel, Fendi and his eponymous brand until his death in February. He was also a talented photographer, and his photographic career spanning 1987 to 2019 will be presented in Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle in Halle, Germany next year.

But the late designer also enjoyed sketching, and his fashion illustrations became highly popular. A selection of 120 original sketches which had been privately owned since the 1960s were auctioned last month by Palm Beach Modern Auctions for up to $3,000 each.

“My sketches look like the final thing, I am not draping and listening to Verdi,” the German couturier once told Le Figaro.

German art publisher Steidl brings together the late Karl Lagerfeld’s “Karlicatures,” his political sketches published starting in 2012 in the monthly F.A.Z. magazine, a supplement of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. And his creativity was not limited to the fashion world. A newly published book, Karl Lagerfeld – Karlikaturen highlights another one of his talents: he was a brilliant caricaturist. Lagerfeld wanted to be a caricaturist when he was young, and his inclination for this art became apparent later in life when he adopted a uniform – essentially becoming a caricature himself.

The last of such caricatures was published in January 2019, just weeks before Lagerfeld passed away on 19 February. Interestingly, the drawing references Angela Merkel and her CDU successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, but does so through their jackets rather than their faces.

The book offers fans the opportunity to get to know a different side of the celebrated late designer and his often acidic humour away from the glamorous catwalks and fashionable collections. The 160-page hardcover book with texts in German, called “Karlikaturen,” is available in Karl Lagerfeld’s monobrand stores, which number more than 100 worldwide, as well as on Karl.com, on the publisher’s web site and in bookstores, priced at $40.