A New Book Showcases The Many Glamorous Homes Of Karl Lagerfeld
“Karl Lagerfeld,” writes Patrick Mauriès in the introduction to Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses, “changed his decor even more often than his image.” Indeed, the 13 homes belonging to the late Chanel creative director that are featured in the new book are remarkable in their aesthetic range – whether his Art Deco Paris apartment from the 1970s, his 1980s Memphis-design Monte Carlo pied-à-terre, or his spare yet luxurious weekend retreat in Biarritz. As Mauriès summarises: “Lagerfeld collected interiors in the same way that Don Juan notched up conquests.”
Even more impressive than Lagerfeld’s mastery of interior design, however, was his skill as a collector: throughout the decades, the designer amassed a dazzling range of paintings, furniture, and decorative objects of impressive worth. The Paris property on Rue de l’Université included a light pendant by Man Ray and Joe Colombo Elda armchair, purchased before the Italian modernist designer became mainstream. His next apartment in the city of lights, Hôtel Pozzo di Borgo, was decorated lavishly after a “frenzied spending spree”, in the words of Marie Kalt, the book’s co-author along with Mauriès.
“Lagerfeld sought to go beyond a mere exercise in style and build up an unmatchable collection,” Kalt continues. “He accumulated Old Masters paintings, furniture with prestigious makers’ marks (with a special preference for the Transition style, which combined the curves of Louis XV Rococo with elements of the neoclassical Louis XVI style), and precious historical objects that constantly changed place amidst a restless swirl of removal men.”
Meanwhile, his futuristic Left Bank lair on Quai Voltaire features chrome chairs by Marc Newson and metal stools by Jasper Morrison. (Many photographs from Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses come from the Condé Nast archive: Vogue alone shot his properties eight times in over 34 years.)
Lagerfeld was a polymath, and Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses serves not only as visual proof of his talents across multiple mediums, but also a fascinating glimpse into the interconnectedness of his great creative mind. “Dresses are only interesting as part of everything else that’s going on,” he told Vogue back in 1989.
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Below, a preview of Lagerfeld’s artful homes, as published in Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses.
Photo: Georges Kelaïditès / Roger- Viollet / TopFoto1/16Karl Lagerfeld at Rue de l’Université, Paris, early 1960s.
Photo: A. Schorr / ullstein bild via Getty Images2/16Karl Lagerfeld in his bedroom at Villa La Vigie, Roquebrune-Cap- Martin.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo3/16Karl Lagerfeld posing for a German magazine, in a new version of the sitting room, in 1972.
Photo: Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock4/16Karl Lagerfeld’s office in his one-time Paris apartment, where he worked and received visitors. This photo was originally published in the September 1974 issue of Vogue.
Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock5/16The designer posing at his work table with, in the foreground, his favorite Lalique crystal glass, complete with Coca-Cola.
Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock6/16The Shell armchairs and sofa covered with ivory-coloured satin came from a house that had been decorated in the 1930s by Elsie de Wolfe, one of Karl Lagerfeld’s key references in terms of decoration.
Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock7/16In the bedroom, a platform covered with chocolate-brown carpeting supports the bed with a metal base from the previous apartment, complemented by a stratified leather headboard attributed to Eugène Printz.
Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock8/16On the large lacquered table by Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann and Jean Dunand, a bronze mask by Alexandre Kéléty on a three-tiered onyx pedestal, and a pair of vases by Jean Dunand.
