A PRESTIGE HONG KONG WORLD EXCLUSIVE
THE DOUBLE LIFE OF KARL LAGERFELD
by Stephen Short

But you must have liked aspects of what you’ve done in the past.
Whatever you did, that’s okay. Maybe others care about what you did, but you don’t. You don’t have to care, hmm? If I started to care about what I did, I would not be able to continue. I like to destroy things, houses, everything, only to rebuild. But what’s funny is to rebuild and to do, not what you have done. I’m not a collector, nothing except for books, because I like information. I do things for doing. I don’t do things to achieve them, no, because that way you achieve nothing. What you have to achieve is the next collection, hmm?

But the photography you do, the exhibitions, must be things to keep and cherish, no?
Yes, that’s the life. I do the photos, but the minute they go to museums, it’s another me. It’s unrelated to fashion. I like to photograph architecture and architects. That was my favourite thing in a way when I was younger. But it goes through other people who do the exhibitions, and I come at it like a guest. I’m very bad with my own work. I like to be a guest at other people’s work in photography, but not in fashion. For me the photography and exhibitions are like another world, it’s like a kind of double life, but part of that double life goes into fashion, like the shoot I did just now. I have a very clear vision of what I want quite quick, no? Like I said, there is no second option. I can make a mistake, but I hate people who hesitate. I’m easily bored, so I have to fight against boredom and that’s a very healthy thing to do, I think.

Chanel’s Mobile Art Pavilion will be in Hong Kong in March. Did you ever consider becoming an architect, or are you doing any architecture?
I’m not doing architecture. I love architecture but it’s not my thing. There are so many great geniuses in architecture today that I don’t have to touch that. I hate second-rate architecture, though. I wouldn’t even design a house for myself. I could make the inside, but that’s enough. The pavilion with Zaha Hadid, they wanted me to build the pavilion but I said no. I told them it’s none of my business, I have no time. So I told them I see only one option: I call my friend Zaha and propose the mobile idea, which has never been done before, that you can build a museum you just break up and take somewhere else. A long time ago, when I was finishing school, my first project was a mobile museum, an exhibition idea, and after all this time it came back, hmm? Some things are just meant to be.

[Lagerfeld is interrupted by Steidl, who shows him photos from the shoot. They talk in German.] They will take these off to Germany tonight to print them in time. C’est bien, hmm? I don’t even know what language I’m speaking. Sometimes I feel my life is like a cartoon, I’m speaking so many languages with my friends. Funny thing is, I can write better in English than in French or German. That’s very strange don’t you think, hmm?

Why is that?
Nobody can explain that, perhaps because I like to play with words. I don’t know but I just know in German there is so much overlapping, the grammar is endless. I like old French. For me French is a great language. English is a more creative language but French is a beautiful language from another era.

How do you rate yourself as a photographer?
I don’t judge it. The thing is, I’m never happy, that’s why I continue. I’m in a permanent state of bad mood, because nothing is ever complete. I’d never carry on doing collections if I thought everything I did was great.

Diane von Furstenberg told me she thinks you may not be the best designer aesthetically, but that you’re by far the smartest. What do you make of that statement?
And look at her prints, hmm? Maybe I’ve known her for too many years. Maybe she’s right, I don’t know. If she were an expert, perhaps her designs may be more impressive. It’s only opinion, you know? I’ve been in fashion for many years. I’m not a one-day fly. You have to be a genius so other people can make such statements. I can tell you she is not my favourite fashion critic, no, hmm? [Coco] Chanel herself was not limited. At 86, perhaps, she was limited and when the miniskirt arrived she went out of fashion by resisting it, but I’m not stupid in that way.

As a designer, whose work do you find interesting today?
There are many interesting designers at work right now, more so than a few years ago. In France there are people like Alber Elbaz doing a lot of interesting things. People of my generation, I don’t have the best relationship with.

Are people doing interesting things now because so many have learned from you and copied your ways, stolen from you in some way?
You know I never analyse. I’m too superficial to do that. [Roslyakova interrupts Lagerfeld to say goodnight.] Great model.

What makes her great? What do you like about her?
Her ease and her attitude. A very feminine touch she has. Wonderful proportions, her face, skin. An easygoing, great model.