Karl Lagerfeld gets a little nip/tuck from i-D

You've got to hand it to Karl Lagerfeld. At the age of, officially, 73 - or according to baptism records and one relative, 78 - he is a fashion phenomenon who has not only outlasted and outlived many of his contemporaries, he has more energy, drive and ideas than some half his age. The creative king of Chanel and Fendi and master of a myriad collaborations and startups - which currently include Hogan, Macy's, S.T. Dupont and his new upscale Karl Lagerfeld Paris and 'masstige' Karl lines - Lagerfeld is like an indefatigable fashion Terminator. While his creativity might seem unstoppable, however, unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger's cyborg, Lagerfeld the man is made of flesh. But beyond concealing himself behind his trademark sunglasses and neck-high starched collars, Lagerfeld has made some effort in interviews to distance himself from the subject of cosmetic surgery.

Abbey Lee Kershaw walks Chanel (again), makes world number 6

chanel haute couture FW1011/getty via daylife

The haute couture shows roll on and overnight, to the best of frockwriter’s knowledge, Abbey Lee Kershaw was the first Australian model to pop up therein – at Chanel. This is no surprise, as Kershaw has spent the past eight months forging a powerful alliance with the iconic French couture house and its German creative director, Karl Lagerfeld. Kershaw closed Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2010 haute couture show in January, opened its Fall/Winter 2010/2011 ready to wear show in March and appears in both the Spring/Summer 2010 ad campaigns for Lagerfeld’s own collection and the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 Chanel campaign. Back in December, during an interview for Australian current affairs program Today Tonight (only a fraction of which made it to air) Kershaw told me that she was moving on from Italian luxury goods house Gucci, with which she had booked four campaigns – although in everything other than the Flora by Gucci campaign, as part of a group of bigger name models. But Kershaw’s star is definitely on the rise. Since December, beyond her Chanel coups, she has appeared on ten magazine covers. Today Tonight asked, could she make it to number 1? Well she's getting closer - models.com just upgraded her ranking to world number 6.

Casting clout: Kannon Rajah carves up the show circuit, from Karl to Ksubi

Frockwriter has mentioned Sydney expat Kannon Rajah on several previous occasions. During 2008’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show – on which he has worked in casting and show production since 2006 – and last year’s VS show, which we profiled in a tv story on Today Tonight. We caught up with the casting dynamo yesterday down in Bondi. Rajah, who now lives in New York with his Australian wife and son, returned to work on Ksubi’s show which closed RAFW. It was a bit of a homecoming for Rajah who started his career working for the then Mercedes Australian Fashion Week from 2001-2005, initially as a runner and eventually designer relations director and show producer. Victoria’s Secret isn’t Rajah’s only coup – in February he became the casting director for Italian luxurygoods maker Fendi, the latest in an expanding roster of personal clients, which also includes Gareth Pugh, Pedro Lourenco and Willow.

Anaessia's Sue Vanikiotis gets her mitts on Karl Lagerfeld

Frockwriter told you that promising RAFW newcomer Anaessia was showing at New York Fashion Week. And that Anaessia designer Sue Vanikiotis bumped into Vera Wang while in the Big Apple. Well, demonstrating that Sue and husband Nick Vanikiotis are as canny marketers as they are highend eveningwear specialists, here’s a brand new fash tourist shot of Sue with none other than Karl Lagerfeld, into whom the duo bumped at famed Parisian emporium Colette over the weekend. The encounter was in between appointments at the Tranoi trade show during Paris Fashion Week. Kaiser Karl was, they report, surrounded by five bodyguards.

Olivier Zahm still channeling Michael Hutchence - with a little help from Lagerfeld

karl lagerfeld via purple diary

Look, we know some of you can’t get enough of PURPLE FASHION magazine co-counder, editor and all-round fashion perve Olivier Zahm and frankly, who could blame you? The latest Zahm portrait just posted on Purple Diary was, unusually, not taken by Zahm himself – but no less than German fashion maestro Karl Lagerfeld. Earlier this week we joked that we were looking forward to Zahm's insider glimpses of Lagerfeld’s immacutely-arranged arsenal of sex toys. In the interim, Kaiser Karl has stepped up to the kinky sex plate by dropping this little S&M gem in our laps. The caption reads “Olivier Zahm and Lara Stone photographed by Karl Largerfeld for the Maison Michel F/W 2009 catalog. Here is one of the portraits styled and art directed by Laetitia Crahay, the designer of the collection”. In the shot, Dutch supermod Stone looks to be restraining the bearded attention whore by the throat with a leather belt. There seems to be little doubt that Zahm does need restraining but seriously, considering that our very first Zahm post asked if the Michael Hutchence lookalike is well, the new Michael Hutchence, frockwriter is vaguely alarmed at the thought of where this may be heading. And does this by any chance mean Zahm reads our posts?

The Personal Urban Transporter: Chanel's new mobile art

yatzer via chanel

"Bling is over" and the global economic meltdown calls for “a new modesty” in fashion. So Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld told The New York Times on January 15 - shortly after Chanel laid off 200 staff and pulled the plug on the company’s planned multi-city Mobile Art exhibition, which was housed within a spaceship-like structure designed by architect Zaha Hadid. Which is why frockwriter initially harboured doubts about a story currently whipping around tech blogs about Chanel's supposed foray into the Segway market, with its 'Personal Urban Transporter'. As it turns out however, the story is on the money. First spotted in the January edition of Air France's in-flight magazine, the first online image appeared on February 15th, on the BeautifulMag blog, which noted, "By simply leaning in the direction you want to go, you drive your personal transporter with a maximum speed of 20kph through your city. Shopping, sporting and relaxing has never been so glamorous".


yatzer via chanel

The only source provided is Chanel and frockwriter was unable to find any reference to the product on Chanel’s site, with the only Chanel-branded sport items listed being a tennis racquet, skis, snowboard, bicycle and fishing rod.

Frockwriter has just checked with Chanel's Australian PR director, Susie Stenmark, who confirmed that the product has been in the pipeline at Chanel for the past six to eight months and is available via order.

The Personal Urban Transporter functions in very similar manner to the electronic Segway, said Stenmark. Given that the Segway is an established brand name, Chanel's product had to be given a separate name.

Frockwriter is not sure if that constitutes a knockoff, but we'll get back to you.

Meanwhile Chanel's new baby doesn't seem to have gone down too well in the tech blogosphere - which has overlooked the officially sanctioned product name, and insists on referring to the "Chanel Segway".

Writes Gizmodo:

“Chanel Segway is pretty much inexcusable”

Yatzer:

“Will the economic crisis ever affect Mr Lagerfeld?”

And Ecorazzi:

“Chanel Segway May Hint That The End Of The World Is Near”

FYI a Ferrari Segway retails for 7,000 euros (A$14,000).

An embarrassment of riches

chanel haute couture SS09/getty

“Bling is over. Red carpety [sic] covered with rhinestones is out. I call it ‘the new modesty’”. So noted Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld in The New York Times on January 15th, a fortnight after Chanel announced 200 job cuts (reportedly one percent of its 16,000 workforce). Here are some early shots of the company's haute couture collection that was just shown on Tuesday morning in Paris. Australia's Myf Shepherd stars once again (^), her second haute couture outing after yesterday’s Christian Dior show.

Difficult to call from these first few shots but the backdrop to the show looks to have been a massive installation of white paper flowers.

The white flower theme was echoed in the whimsical millinery, which frockwriter assumes was created by Maison Michel, the 73 year-old Parisian milliner that was acquired by Chanel in 2002, along with several other specialist suppliers, including embroiderer Maison Lesage. (Correction: The millinery was created by Japanese stylist/makeup artist Katsuya Kamo).



chanel haute couture SS09/getty

Had it not been for Chanel, these houses would no doubt have disappeared, like so many others before them, taking jobs, and of course, skills, with them.

According to the above-linked NYT story, the luxury business in France still employs 200,000 people.

It is easy in this dire economic climate to look at these bespoke, hand-made and highly labour-intensive garments, whose upper prices soar into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and scream “obscene”.

But haute couture is about master craftsmanship and it represents the absolute nadir of fashion creativity. Paraphrasing a quote from the late Christian Dior, Dior's current creative director, John Galliano, told style.com yesterday that the job of couturiers “is to make people dream”.

At the end of the day the super rich will always be among us.

And without them, let's face it, we wouldn’t have the pyramids, Rembrandt or Versailles.

Here’s a video of the Christian Dior show from the UK Telegraph:



For millinery enthusiasts, a video on Maison Michel.

And more on the work of Katsuya Kamo, who was most recently showcased in the November edition of London's Dazed & Confused magazine.

Toon raiders

darkhorse via the cut/new york magazine

Was it something we said? Well, vis-à-vis McBeha, perhaps so (and tks to the SMH). Way back in July, when frockwriter was but a wee pup of a blog, we created a bit of digital mischief with a Karl Lagerfeld cartoon that had just appeared on an Urban Outfitters T. The latter's KL homage reminded frockwriter of one of the characters in the Powerpuff Girls all-gal cartoon trio. So we couldn’t resist creating our own homage: Blossom, Bubbles and Mittens (pictured below). Overnight comes word of a new KL T on which, as it happens, Lagerfeld is depicted as one third of a toon troika.

Due for release in March 2009 for US$45 via Andrew Randle’s Darkhorse label, the singlet/tank/muscle shirt features cartoon likenesses of Galliano, KL and Lee McQueen (^).

The three designers look to be involved in a heated exchange (debating whose SS09 shoes were the silliest?), with Galliano pointing the finger at a fan-dangling KL, while a kilt-clad McQueen looks on with his arms crossed.



Cartoon chic looks to be a hot trend.

Style.com pioneered the animated fashion character concept via CandyCast: a series of animated, and quite hilarious, accessories reports from the site’s executive fashion director Candy Pratts Price, who provides a voice-over to cover her lip-synching, power besuited, comic counterpart.

Oddcast powered the animation and audio, with illustrations courtesy Roger Vivier creative director Bruno Frisoni.

Style.com extended the concept for the SS09 season via its clever Virtual Front Row: a series of phoned-in dispatches from the SS09 trenches via the cartoon incarnations of some real life fashion front-rowers.

The latter included Dazed & Confused editor Jefferson Hack, Style.com VJ Tim Blanks, net-a-porter.com founder Natalie Massenet, The Guardian's Hadley Freeman and model Chanel Iman.


rockstar games via wwd

The Darkhorse T is the latest toy town incarnation for Lagerfeld - even if he presumably won't be getting any royalties out of it, à la two other recent initiatives.

A limited edition, US$1500 a pop, teddy bear version of Lagerfeld was due to be unveiled last month at Neiman Marcus, via German teddy manufacturer Stieff.

On April 29 2009, Lagerfeld is also due to make his debut as an animated DJ in the fourth installment of the Grand Theft Auto video game (pictured above).

Lagerfeld recently revealed that wouldn’t even mind upgrading to a real virtual streetfighter at some stage, telling WWD:

"I prefer to be in a video than to play with it.... I would love to be a very nasty, politically incorrect character."

Urban Outfitters marks down Lagerfeld - turns him into Powerpuff Girl?

There's been a bit of net buzz overnight concerning a Karl Lagerfeld dedication T done by US streetwear chain Urban Outfitters. First revealed by Nylon magazine, I have since spotted the story on several blogs. The shirt is pretty cute. I'd be curious to know however if Lagerfeld gets the joke.

Although according to Nylon the T-shirt was selling for US$19.99, Catwalk Queen spotted it on the Urban Outfitter's UK website and reports it was marked down:

"from £28 to £14.99. Bargain!"

Catwalk Queen illustrates its item with a shot from Urban Outfitters' UK website:



According to Urban Outfitters' UK website however a few moments ago (the site was inaccessible this morning for some reason), the "Truly Madly Deeply Karl Roll Cuff Tee" has in fact been marked down further still: from £28.00 to £9.99.

Beyond Urban Outfitters' advertised upcoming collab with Luella Bartley, it's not 100percent clear if the Lagerfeld T-shirt is an official collaboration with Lagerfeld.

In spite of the fact that Urban Outfitters apparently couldn’t give the Ts away before, is its Karl Lagerfeld T now destined to become a collector’s item on eBay? Just like the H&M Karl Lagerfeld T done at the time of Lagerfeld's collaboration collection for the fast fashion giant - a T-shirt which bore a signed self-portrait sketch of the Chanel creative director.

All these T-shirt dedications raise a few other questions.

Could Lagerfeld possibly be turning into the new Che Guevara?

Or is he just the latest addition to Cartoon Network's Powerpuff Girls lineup?

Urban Outfitters' toon take on Lagerfeld bears an uncanny resemblance to the US cartoon characters Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup - "Three little girls in kindergarten who have superhero powers".

I couldn’t resist the temptation for a little digital mischief.

So without further adieu - and with Buttercup taking a cure somewhere in eastern Europe to make room for Kaiser Karl - I give you the new, luxe version of The Powerpuff Girls.

Blossom, Bubbles and Mittens:

Chanel confessions: Karl loves a ballbreaker, Anna downplays her glam

I'm backstage at the Grand Palais just off the Champs Elysees. It's 9.30am and a half hour to the Chanel show - in fact the first of what will be two Chanel shows this season.

It's the first time in fact that Chanel has split its ready-to-wear show into two - due in part to the fact that the staging is little more intimate, I am told, this season.

But due no doubt also in part to the ever-expanding interest in this privately-owned French luxury powerhouse whose sales are estimated to be US$3.3billion. At Chanel's creative helm is of course the seemingly indefatigable and eternally youthful, septuaganarian German designer Karl Lagerfeld.

People are everywhere and it's difficult to move.

There's Gemma Ward having a mascara touchup. There's Iekelienne having more pink blush applied.

There's another model having her hair crimped to resemble merino wool [oops!]. She is reading a Swedish celebrity tabloid called Aftonbladet. There's a table covered in small plastic bags. Inside each bag is a polaroid of a model and I can see one shot of Australian Catherine McNeil - who is, yes, all over these big shows - with her hair combed over her face. Maybe it's a styling idea that got canned. I say that because over on the other side of the room, Raquel Zimmermann sits with what appears to be the finished look: crimped hair that has been brushed out for a shaggy effect, but definitely off the face, with pale makeup and heavily-pencilled uberbrows.

A couple of models are tucking into little bowls of chocolate cocopop things. It looks like they're eating brown polystyrene chips. Good to see that there at least is food here. Last night backstage before YSL Iekelienne was complaining that she was starving but that all the food had gone. Outside in the foyer a humungous refectory table is laid out with food. From the requisite croissants to yoghurt and fruit platters, are also platters of cheese and bowls of pickled onions. Pickled onions for breakfast?

I walk back into the main backstage area and it's all happening. Not the show - just the backstage power posse.

Directly in front of me are Chanel owners, the brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, as well as Chanel president Francoise Montenay. All three seem to be exactly the same height - and come up to my ear. Anna Wintour is also there. The devil's not wearing Prada today but is a shimmering bronze vision in what I am reliably informed is a sable-trimmed, pearl-embellished Chanel haute couture cocktail suit.

The umpteenth Coco's Cabasse wafts past me. Quite seriously, if I see another of these bags, I may puke. A black patent vinyl tote with chain handle, this bag is the "must take" bag of AW0708 [see the "To the Manor bought" blog entry from the SS07 Fashion Season about the Burberry Manor bag] - gifted by Chanel to any fashion editors and journalists who aren't bound by ethics policies at their respective publications. And no doubt also a few who are. It has been everywhere this season. In Australia it retails for $2,100. Unlike the editors of course, you'll have to pay for it.

It's now 10.00am and I'm out front near the stage. There's an entire ice skating rink installation in the centre of the room, with fake 'ice' and snow. Suspended between the rink and the Grand Palais' magnificent domed glass ceilings are a series of 'clouds' fashioned from what looks like scrunched white gauze. Wintour and her hilariously camp offsider Andre Leon Talley hold court front row on one side of the skating rink.

I have been in Wintour's proximity on many occasions this season. For some reason this seems like an appropriate moment to approach her. I move in.

Now I have no idea whether Meryl Streep ever got to met Wintour in person prior to doing The Devil Wears Prada. But having now spoken to Wintour in person briefly, I should say that the withering tone so frequently adopted by Streep's Miranda Priestley character [which is supposed to be based on Wintour] is not too far from the real thing.

Although for the most part quite gracious and enthusiastic, Wintour adopts a withering tone twice. As she 'withers' curiously, she turns her head to one side - as if to express her utter disdain at the questions and to register that that is the end of the matter. On both occasions her British accent also seems crisper than usual. Perhaps she is simply embarrassed.

What is the secret do you think to the enduring appeal of Chanel?
Wintour: Well I think the enduring appeal of Chanel is all to do with Karl Lagerfeld who is this extraordinary human being in that he has such an open mind, surrounds himself with interesting people, he knows and loves culture of all kinds, popular, classical.... and I think it's all reflected in his collections. I mean without Karl, Chanel you know, would not be what it is today.

And he is an interesting case study in himself in that so many of his contemporaries have either retired or have lost their touch. He manages to stay hip.
Karl is eternally young. And he's interested in the future. What he always says to me the minute that a collection is over is, 'It's over'. He goes on to the next and I think that's a great strength.

Did The Devil Wears Prada have much of an impact on you?
Ah..... [withering, lowers voice] not at all.

In terms surely of fashion in film and on television now with that film and programs such as Project Runway you have to admit that fashion is everywhere?
Sure, I mean you know anything that celebrates fashion, whatever it may be, a movie, a television show, a book, online.... you know and I think one of the things that has interested me in the last three years is that so many of the designers are interested in doing small collections for people like H&M and Target. It just means that fashion is available on every level, whether it's the media or at different prices so that's great for the industry.

But there appears to be so much more interest in fashion now. Obviously everyone in the fashion world knows who Anna Wintour is however TDWP no doubt introduced you to a number of people who may not have been familiar with your name.
Well I think it's great for fashion and Amy [Astley] who is the editor of Teen Vogue gave a party just a couple of weeks ago for a young woman named Maria Sharapova, the tennis player. I was amazed at her knowledge of young designers, that she knew designers like Rodarte and Thakoon and I think that's because there is so much more coverage and interest in fashion than there ever has been. And so much more exposure on all levels. So I embrace that.

Do you think it's harder for young designers today to survive?
Well it's always been hard but I think talent always rises to the top.

Yes however they are obviously facing different challenges today.
Yeah but the good ones find partners, they find investment and they find a customer.

What is your definition of glamour?
[Laughs] My daughter.

Do you think you're the most glamorous woman in the world?
[Full wither, lowers voice] Of course not.

It's showtime and the models emerge onto the rink. It's a short, sharp show with plenty of the trademark Chanel glamour tweeds.

This season, any Chanel otaku will no doubt be thrilled to learn that they can kit themself out in Chanel tweed from top to toe - thanks to Lagerfeld's cute effort at, as he later explains, creating "endless" legs via matching tweed boots.

The back of Chanel's new season boot is fastened down the back of the leg with buckles and flaps. It's a kind of glam biker-meets-gladiator look.

The signature Chanel black and white is thrown out the window via a plethora of brightly-coloured tweeds and a series of shirtdresses with long tabard shirttails in bold colours such as turquoise.

The silhouette is long, waists are high and the eveningwear includes cocktail dresses in acid yellow and turquoise, some smart sequinned pencil skirts in silver or gold, teamed with graphic black/white tunic tops and slick strapless bustier dresses worn over skinny pants.

Add to that, some brightly-coloured enamel jewellery and yet more covetable Chanel boots - one pair in the trademark tan reach just over the knee, with a low, square heel and black 'racing stripe' down the outside of the leg.

After the show I run over to join the media scrum waiting for some Lagerfeld comments.

Although this scenario is played out at the end of every major international fashion show, the Chanel scrums always seem bigger than most. But at least they are civilised. Approximately 30 people have swarmed around Lagerfeld and we are packed so tightly together I believe I can feel the pelvis of the Asian woman standing directly behind me sticking into my back.

I am virtually piggybacking one security guard who is trying to shield Lagerfeld from the throng - and an Italian reporter has her arm around his neck trying to keep her balance on the rows of seating between which we find ourselves precariously perched. It occurs to me that you would never be this intimate with total strangers in any other situation.

Lagerfeld is wearing a black woollen peacoat, black pants, a black sweater with white ribbed turtleneck, burgundy Dior Homme sunglasses and silver Chanel mittens with silver discs on the knuckles.

Standing directly behind him at one point I can confirm that he does indeed powder his white ponytail - because I can see the white powder on his black ponytail elastic.

Making his hair whiter than usual is some 'snow' which fell from the clouds at the end of the show. It looks like chunky dandruff. With the white turtleneck, Lagerfeld also looks a bit like a priest - in the process of ministering to his congregation.

Someone moves out and I decide to carpe Karl.

As I flick out my tape recorder, he reaches out and grabs and holds my forearm for the duration of my questions. There is something sweet about it and I am secretly hoping that he doesn't remember that this time last week in Milan, after Fendi, I asked for his thoughts on anal electrocution.

The boots with the straps at the back - they looked like biker boots.
Lagerfeld: We called them spat boots, you know. It was the idea. Because you know if not they have the leg in some street maybe a little warm...

So are they a boot or a spat/gaiter?
No they are boots. Because it wouldn't fit well if it was added later.

We are seeing a lot of 'tough chic' on the runways, first in Milan and now also in Paris. What do you think about the whole idea of tough chic?
Because you know, I like women to be a little bit aggressive.

Really?
Yes, I think it's a good thing. Why not? Because if they're not aggressive, the men try to be aggressive [to] them so everybody can be aggressive. But in a nice way - because to be aggressive is sharp, huh?

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