Designer Chanel and Fendi, the last Mohican of a generation of dying dressmakers, died in Paris at 85 years
Karl Lagerfeld used to say that his mission in fashion was the result of a pact similar to that which Fausto signed with the Devil, through which the dissatisfied protagonist of the German legend exchanged his soul for unlimited wisdom and enjoyment of the mundane. This will have been the modus vivendi of the great designer, who died on Tuesday in Paris at 85 years, according to Chanel confirmed, the historical signature of which he was artistic director since 1983. They have not transcended the reasons for his death, which occurred at the American Hospital of Neuilly-sur-Seine, the rich town attached to Paris, in which he entered the emergency on Monday night.
Doubts about his state of health had increased since mid-January, when he was absent from the latest Chanel haute couture parade. "Mr. Lagerfeld felt tired this morning. We wish him a speedy recovery, "he then read the voiceover of his friend Michel Gaubert, in charge of the musical design of all his presentations. But that improvement never came. Its death, added to those of Saint Laurent, Givenchy or Alaïa, supposes the almost definitive disappearance of a generation of dressmakers of which only Valentino Garavani survives.