Charlemagne

Typically German were his notorious work ethic and his love of education: Karl Lagerfeld drew, photographed, wrote, and talked incessantly – often simultaneously – a perpetual manufacturer of the tailor-made bon mot. He did not necessarily become famous for his designs, but rather for his art of varying what already existed, combining things creatively, or simply being in tune with the times: He repeatedly reinvented Chanel’s bouclé jacket, merged luxury fashion with street style, became the first fashion designer to collaborate with H&M, and, with his Birman cat Choupette, created cat content.

He once said about the actor Daniel Brühl: “I’m a fan of this boy.” The two met only once, at a photo shoot in the early 2000s. Brühl later recounted that he had not encountered the man Karl Lagerfeld, but rather a self-created artistic persona. Now, at 45, Brühl embodies the legendary designer in a series, for which he delved into a mountain of interviews and books and spoke with those close to Lagerfeld. The six-part series, based on the biography “Kaiser Karl” by French journalist Raphaëlle Bacqué, tells on Disney+ the story of the designer’s rise to a world-famous style icon and his rivalry with Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent.

When Karl Lagerfeld died on February 19, 2019, Germans mourned the man who had given their country something few would have ever thought possible: fashionable extravagance.