Lagerfeld, Karl Otto (1938– )

German-born fashion designer. He has been a leading figure on the fashion scene from the early 1970s. As design director at Chanel for both the couture and ready-to-wear collections from 1983, he updated the Chanel look. He showed his first clothing and perfume collections under his own label in 1984.

Lagerfeld joined Chloé in the early 1960s, where he became known for high-quality ready-to-wear clothing. He made his mark at Fendi, where he was fashion consultant from 1967, with innovative jackets and coats. He entered the lower-end market by designing a line for the Swedish retail chain H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) in 2004.

Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg and moved to Paris in 1952, where he worked for Pierre Balmain 1954–57 and House of Patou 1958–63.