In a brand-new Life in Looks video, Vogue editor Anna Wintour reflects on some of the most memorable and innovative designs by late designer Karl Lagerfeld, as seen in the pages of the magazine. Wintour is more than equipped to speak on Lagerfeld’s genius; in addition to their professional relationship, the two were close friends for decades. “When you go back to the quintessential Karl, he would always say, ‘I’m just a dressmaker,’” Wintour says in the clip.
The new video comes ahead of the “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” exhibition opening at The Met and Monday’s Met Gala, for which the dress code is “in honor of Karl.” The sentimental trip down memory lane begins in 1989, with Naomi Campbell’s first cover for American Vogue, shot by Patrick Demarchelier. In the photograph, Campbell wears undeniably glamorous Chanel pearls and a gold jacket paired with more casual leggings. “I love the combination,” Wintour says. This rebellious spirit dominated the late ’80s and early ’90s, and its influence on Lagerfeld is particularly clear in a 1991 Vogue editorial shot by Peter Lindbergh. “This image is what Karl called ‘city ballerina,’” Wintour says of the photograph featuring supermodels wearing leather jackets paired with colorful, voluminous skirts. “We called it Madonna meets Marlon Brando.”
Things would quickly soften for Lagerfeld, as seen in a 1994 editorial shot by Steven Meisel. The joie de vivre that took over in the mid-’90s is typified by a gang of supers in tweed miniskirt suits crafted in an array of pastel hues. “When you would visit Karl, he would always have a huge array of colorful pencils,” Wintour says. “He told me this collection was based on the colors of those pencils.”
As the years progressed, celebrity and Chanel intersected more and more. The apex of this shift in fashion was a Nicole Kidman–fronted commercial for Chanel directed by Baz Luhrmann, fresh off their success with Moulin Rouge. “Even though it was a small film, Nicole and Karl and Baz treated it like it was an epic five-hour film,” Wintour says. “There were many meetings, many meetings, and many script discussions.” The hard work paid off: The commercial lives on in fashion history.
The final image in the Life in Looks video is not one of Lagerfeld’s designs but one of the celebrated maestro himself. “This last image is a deeply moving image of Karl towards the end of his life,” Wintour says of Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of Lagerfeld working diligently at his cluttered desk. “He sat at this desk that was so full and covered with every possible sort of book. There’s probably a million iPads in there too. You thought he would disappear under it.”