KARL LAGERFELD is so much a part of Parisian culture that he sometimes he even pretends to be a street statue – or that’s how it looked to The Kills musician and VOGUE.COM contributor Alison Mosshart when she visited Paris recently.
"One time, I was at Café de Flore in Paris and he was sitting outside on a bench on the pavement almost like a statue – it was the most amazing thing," she told VogueTV at the launch party of the designer’s new Selfridges pop-up store on Tuesday. "People kept walking by, sitting down next to him and having their photos taken and then they’d get up and walk away. He didn’t say a word."
Just before the party kicked off, we caught up with Lagerfeld to ask him about the collection – but, Lagerfeld being Lagerfeld, he also gave us his view on plenty of other things.
"I’m lucky I can sketch things that the seamstresses can understand, with all the technical details included," he said. "When I was young, I worked at Balmain and in those days for the private clients and the buyers, you had to copy exactly every dress. So, for three weeks after each collection – 15 hours a day – I was sketching. I can tell you, no young people would accept that today – I did it for three-and-a-half years – but it was the best training. Now, I can sketch dresses with my eyes closed." – Vogue