Capturing Karl: One-on-one with Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld walks briskly into the lobby at the Hotel de Rome in Berlin, sporting his requisite uniform: dark sunglasses, fingerless silver gloves and a black jacket made of artfully distressed fabric by Martin Margiela. With that ever-immaculate ponytail, he looks like an iconic fashion superhero. But despite his somewhat buttoned-up demeanour and fame, the head designer for Chanel and Fendi is surprisingly forthcoming. For his latest fragrance, Kapsule, the Kaiser is in a playful mood: Kapsule's trio of unisex scents (Light, Floriental and Woody) can be mixed and matched. "Scent is a composition," he says. "It's like music for the nose. I love to mix things and play with fragrances, and with Kapsule you can play with all three. There is no gender in perfumes anymore. A woman or a man can choose all three of the scents or just one of them. It is his, hers, yours!" ELLE sat down with the enigmatic designer to talk about the method behind his creative madness.

How has the fashion world changed during your career? "Nothing compares to how it once was. We are living in a visual world in which everything becomes multiplied through the Internet, so it's hard to tell the new from the old. This can be seen everywhere, whether it's in fashion, art or society."

Do you collaborate with other designers on your various collections? "No, I do all my work by myself. I work at home."

Everything? Fendi, Chanel, your own label, Karl Lagerfeld - all of that? "Yes, that's the funny thing."

You can't do everything yourself! "I have people who carry out my ideas. Using sketches that are not my own and then putting my name on them would bore me to death."

That's incredible. "I have to laugh about it myself. I have precise visions and technical knowledge, so I just draw in a way that makes the sketches easy to realize."

What kind of boss are you? "I don't call myself a boss. I have no appreciation of hierarchies because I need the others I work with in so many ways - especially for practical things. I can't do anything practical. I have never made a bed in my whole life!"

So you must have a large staff? "Yes, my staff live in a different house, and they ring the doorbell when they enter. I want my peace and quiet. Whether I'm drawing, reading or talking on the phone, I don't want to be watched."

You sound like a hermit. "No, it's not that. But I have to charge my batteries in order for them to work again!"

Lagerfeld's Parisian Black Book

Favourite It store "Colette."

Favourite restaurant "La Maison du Caviar, for its caviar with smoked salmon, and L'Orient-Extrême, for its sashimi."

Favourite hotels "The Four Seasons Hotel George V and, for its location, The Ritz Hotel. On the Left Bank, the Hotel Montalembert." "Silvera, Galerie Kreo and Félix Marcilhac."

Image courtesy of Karym Bagoée

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