When Karl Lagerfeld arrives at an event, he doesnt just walk through the door. He sweeps in, preceded by a camera crew, a brigade of male models in Karl-silhouette t-shirts, a personal Diet Coke waiter (yes, really), an Olympic torch and crowds of idolising fans.
Lagerfelds legendary persona was in full effect when the designer appeared at the opening of his Karl Lagerfeld pop-up shop in Selfridges Tuesday evening.
He made the trip from Paris to introduce Selfridges shoppers and an elite crew of supporters (Edie Campbell, Daphne Guinness, Josephine De La Baume) to his Karl and Karl Lagerfeld Paris lines. The collections consist of the same sharp, monochromatic separates the Chanel designer favours in his own dressing, done over in feminine, futuristic iterationsthink fingerless gloves, double-layered blazers and splatter-painted denim biker jackets.
Both lines are geared toward the same customer, he told us. The Karl Lagerfeld Paris woman is the same woman who buys Karl, only its more expensive. Its the same spirit, and same style, but on another level of material and execution.
Selfridges also launched an exclusive Team Karl collection, winking at the Olympic spirit that has overtaken London. T-shirts with gold-medal appliqués and metallic-foiled skinny jeans referenced the Games without compromising on chic.
The Olympics are the thing of the moment, eh?, Lagerfeld told us as he showed us the collection. I think its a great moment, but in two days nobody will remember us because it will all be about the Olympics.
Given that Lagerfeld is one of the most difficult people to envision ever wearing a sports kit, we wondered: if he could compete in any Olympic sport, which would he choose?
I never compete, he said. My motto in life is never compete, never compare. In sports or whatever.
Other items redone in silver and goldsequins, of courseinclude Lagerfelds signature detached collars, which come straight from his own wardro
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Karl Lagerfeld at his Selfridges launch party
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Karl Lagerfeld and Daphne Guinness at the Selfridges launch party
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Alison Mosshart DJd at the launch party on Selfridges' roof
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Edie Campbell and Laura Carmichael
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Florence Brudenell-Bruce
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Jade Williams, Clara Paget and Zara Martin at the Karl launch
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Josephine De La Baume
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Karl Lagerfeld and Selfridges Creative Director Alannah Weston