Karl Lagerfeld is a fashion icon who knows a thing or two about branding, building a legacy and keeping up with changing trends. He is a designer, as well as an entrepreneur, who started a career in Paris when he was only 17 years old.
Lagerfeld is responsible for revitalizing fashion house Channel and Fendi, by bringing innovation to the brand while preserving a classic appeal. Today, he designs several collections a year each for Fendi, Chanel and his own Karl Lagerfeld line. And he doesn’t plan to stop any time soon.
This week, he was featured in the New York Times, where the designer spoke about his designs and shared some valuable career lessons. Here are a few
On Holding on to the Past and Moving Forward
“This is one of the sicknesses of our period, to look back. No, forget about it. Fashion is now and tomorrow. Who cares about the past?…When people start to think that what they did in the past is perhaps even better than what they do now, they should stop.”
On Finding Inspiration
” I don’t believe in waiting for inspiration. The French say, l’appétit vient en mangeant, the ideas come when you work. I work a lot for the garbage can. I have huge bins next [to me], for whatever I do, 95 percent goes to the bin.”
Young Lagerfeld. He started his career in Paris at age 17
On Competitors
“Yes, I look at many things. I don’t see it like competition. I like when there are many people who do good things, because you work better if there is competition than if there are only third-rate people.”
On the Culture of Selfies
“I don’t do selfies. But other people do, and they all want to do selfies with me. No, no, no. Thank God, Sébastien, my assistant, he’s mean to the people in the street, mean and rude. I’m a nice person.”
