The review of magazines. Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019) has the honors of the mook Schnock, “the magazine for old people aged 27 to 87”. The first volume of this title to be devoted to a fashion icon rather than an actor or singer takes readers to the heart of Parisian society in the 1970s and 1980s, through the story of a life on the border between baroque elegance and punk unleashing.
All the details of the life of the “Kaiser” are delivered, from his youth in the company of Andy Warhol and Yves Saint Laurent in the clubs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés to his lesser-known early career. Although eternally associated with Chanel, the couturier only actually took the reins of the house in the early 1980s, after a stint at Balmain, Chloé and Fendi. He becomes the superstar we know – with his hair gathered in a ponytail and a fan in his hand – even though he is already a 70-year-old “schnock”.
“At the time, we didn’t know it was going to work to this extent”, he confided to Laurence Rémila in a 2014 interview that remained partly unpublished, and published in full in this issue. After his death in 2019, tributes poured in. To the point that the designer was chosen, in April, as the theme of the gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which highlighted his favorite attributes: sunglasses, black and white colors, as well as the famous cat Choupette, to whom he bequeathed part of his property.
Humble and irascible
In accordance with the editorial line of the magazine, this major Lagerfeld file is above all a look behind the scenes of the star, behind his eccentric style. His great love, Jacques de Bascher, is thus told through the words of his nephew Thomas de Bascher, collected by Pierre Léonforte: “Jacques was the only one who knew how to stand up to Karl. When they argued, it was a comedy. »
As for the creator’s irascible character, his most loyal collaborators, Caroline Lebar (responsible for the communication of his personal brand from 1985 to 2019) and Anita Briey (mistress of his workshop), confirm the extent of it to Marc Godin, insisting however on his humble and diligent side. In fact, Karl Lagerfeld did not have much esteem for his profession and said, speaking of couturiers: “We are ragpickers, and nothing else. »
The black and white of Chanel is followed, in the second part, by the navy blue jumpsuits of Daniel Filipacchi, the creator of Hi buddiesbut also founder of the magazine Him and French versions of Playboy And Newlook. A long interview-confession with the Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde closes the review, bringing the reader back to the “emerging generation of schnocks”.
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