Karl

by Marie Ottavi

Roi de l'autofiction, Karl Lagerfeld était le premier narrateur de sa propre vie. Le personnage ambivalent, qu'il a savamment élaboré, a passé quatre-vingt-cinq ans à se réinventer pour ne jamais regarder en arrière, vers un passé trop terrifiant à contempler. Créateur inspiré, doté d'une culture immense, dépensier jusqu'à frôler la ruine, outrancier dans ses manières, insatiable dans le travail, asexué et hygiéniste, roi des piques et des bons mots, ultra-sensible et arrogant, solitaire rarement seul, bête médiatique toujours à la lisière du borderline, Karl Lagerfeld a eu plusieurs vies. Il a rajeuni, grossi, maigri, noyé sa mélancolie dans le travail après la mort de son seul amour, Jacques de Bascher, dandy désinvolte et strict opposé, qui suscita aussi la passion dévorante d'Yves Saint Laurent et brisa la longue amitié des deux couturiers.

Cette biographie raconte les multiples existences de cet homme hors norme et, à travers elles, une histoire de la mode, qu'il a contribué à révolutionner. Elle est le fruit d'une longue enquête commencée avec deux entretiens exclusifs accordés à l'auteure par Karl Lagerfeld lui-même et enrichie par les témoignages de ses proches et de nombreuses personnalités : la princesse de Hanovre, Bernard et Hélène Arnault, Silvia Fendi, Bruno Pavlovsky, Tom Ford, Alessandro Michele, Valentino, Carine Roitfeld, Claudia Schiff er, Inès de La Fressange, Linda Evangelista, Tadao Ando, Fran Lebowitz...

Genres: Fashion

688 pages, Paperback

Published September 16, 2021

Reviews

[Matteo Fumagalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

La mia intervista all'autrice: https://youtu.be/AD_ST9zGeMA

[Gabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super intéressant de lire sur sa carrière et sa vie personnelle, et t'apprends des choses sur d'autres couturiers comme par exemple Yves Saint Laurent lol (j'ai jamais aimé et j'ai bien fait)

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, biographies only work if the biographer is able to keep the subject at a bit of a distance and is able to view their subject critically. Marie Ottavi was able to manage this with Karl Lagerfeld. Ottavi successfully takes the groundwork laid by Alicia Drake in The Beautiful Fall and expands on it, without the book feeling like a derivative re-hash of the chic and debauched, friends and enemies. While I think Alfons Kaiser did an expert job at researching Karl Lagerfeld's early life in his biography, Ottavi leaves practically no stone unturned. I have to give her credit for being able to find Collette Bianchi (who won the International Wool Secretariat competition in 1954 alongside Karl and Yves Saint Laurent, who's name is but a footnote in their lives). She also relies on two interviews she conducted with Karl himself as part of her research for her Jacques de Bascher biography, these prove to be invaluable.

Ottavi is particularly successful at focusing on Karl Lagerfeld's work as a fashion designer. She does an excellent job (I think the best) at tracing his career and evolution from Chloe, Fendi, Chanel and his own brands, alongside the massive changes occurring within fashion from the 1960s to 2010s. Especially focusing on WHY he was able to be as successful as he was with Chanel, because his reliance on the Chanel codes at the time was really genius, in retrospect (perhaps too overbearing as time went on), but no one was reviving fashion houses in 1983. It almost reads like a history of modern fashion, as he was someone who was always able to capture the zeitgeist of the times.

Karl Lagerfeld was such a bizarre, paradoxical figure. He had the Sword of Damocles hanging over all of his relationships, but also extremely loyal (as long as you didn't piss him off). It's obvious that he was also, surprisingly, sensitive. He could never say it explicitly, but reading about the affect that Jacques de Bascher's illness and death had on Karl is really quite harrowing. After de Bascher's death, he cut himself off from "happiness" (as Patrick Hourcade writes in his book about Karl) and lost interest in himself, as he said. He had as many enemies as he had "friendships" (if you can call them that). Ottavi never lets you forget his intense rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent/Pierre Bergé, which is always lingering in the background. Despite the affair between YSL/Jacques de Bascher, Ottavi presents the rivalry was a feud that's truly between Karl and Bergé (so intense he even removes the Saint Laurent Paris of Hedi Slimane's designs). Ottavi doesn't forget about his numerous other feuds, from Azzedine Alaïa to Audrey Tautou! I can't get the image of Karl making Carine Roitfeld watching Baptiste on Danse avec les stars out of my head!!

[Emerence Joly Visine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hyper intéressant mais tel ment long pour ma part à lire car j’ai trop enchaîné de livres sur sa vie en très peu de temps, ce qui m’a mis en panne de lecture à cause de ce livre malgré le fait qu’il soit très intéressant et très complet

[Garrido · Rating 5 out of 5]

great and detailed book of the amazing and fascinanting story of king Karl

[Miguel Ruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro muy interesante, sin embargo en ocasiones se centra demasiado en la vida de los coetaneos y poco en la del propio Karl

[Ángel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble Karl. Preciosa biografía.

[natacha jonson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love you Karl 🥺🌷