Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Otto Lagerfeld was an internationally famous German fashion designer, artist, photographer and creative director. His fine art photography, which has been displayed in many important institutions around the world, was first displayed at Galerie Gmurzynska. Educated in three languages, he moved to Paris in 1952 and was accepted into a French high school but didn’t complete his secondary studies, instead, Lagerfeld started working as an assistant for Pierre Balmain in 1954, after winning a prize from the Wool Secretariat for a coat he designed. In 1958, Lagerfeld left Balmain for Jean Patou, then he worked as a freelance designer for several fashion houses, including Krizia, Charles Jourdan, Valentino, and Chloé. In 1963 he was assigned artistic director of Chloé and in 1965 he started working for the Italian brand Fendi. In 1983 Lagerfeld began his collaboration with Chanel, making Chanel one of the most coveted and influential fashion labels of our times. Lagerfeld was the creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his eponymous label until his passing in February 2019. Since 1986 Galerie Gmurzynska has been representing and showing Karl Lagerfeld. His works have been shown in various exhibitions, including “Visionen” in 1996, “Hommage an Lyonel Feininger” in 1997 and “Masterpieces in Black and White” in 2006.