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

Are you a romantic person?
I hate the smell of cooking. Some people love it, but I don’t care for it. I don’t eat sweet things. I don’t eat greasy things. And I like fish better than meat. In fact, I hate meat. My doctor tells me to eat meat twice a week, as apparently we are cannibals. There used to be a Nobu here in Paris but it was very bad; it was horrible. The one in London is great. It’s my favourite restaurant in London.

Would I be able to invite you to an important dinner with eminent people for money? Is your time buyable on a personal level?
Yes, I see that happening. Even for charity, people get paid. I try to avoid charity. It doesn’t happen to me. I’m rich enough not to have to do that. Thank God I don’t have to do that. I do a lot of unnecessary things for free, but I’m very much against that. Money itself isn’t interesting, the use of it is.

You’re the only “old school” designer still actively working for a house. In fact, you work for many. Do you think about what will come after you step down at Chanel and do you already know who will succeed you?
No. Why should I step down? I wait for others to step down. If I think I cannot do what I should, I would take care of it. But that never enters my mind. As for old-school, I may be mature, but I’m also childish.

Does your ability to absorb the zeitgeist around you get easier or harder as you age?
It improves. I think I’ve improved. I like myself now better than in the past. It’s a good thing. I have more a feeling of freedom. In my position, as long as I fight for time for myself, it’s a very present feeling.

Do you want to grow your men’s fashion line, K Karl Lagerfeld?
About men’s fashion I have a client mentality. One has to be interested in men’s fashion and I’m not. I can do a few pieces but I’m only interested in what I can do for myself. I’m a very good client for designers. I hate men’s shows, too. It’s not my scene.

What do you think of Tom Ford and what he’s doing now in going bespoke?
Yes, but I like to pay for it. Thom Browne does interesting things but not my fit. It’s too much chest and then I hate short length on the trousers, hmm? Everybody criticises shorter pant length but everybody also does it. I put on weight in the early ’90s because clothes were so large, then they got tighter, so I slimmed down. Never go one size ahead. Go down but not up.

The model for tonight’s shoot was fairly lean. Where do you stand on the skinny model debate?
Yes, new Russian girls are like this. But this is a subject I won’t discuss. You know why? In France, there are a large percentage of young girls who are overweight and less than one percent are skinny. So let’s talk about the 25 percent who have a weight problem, or are overweight. We don’t need to discuss the less than one percent. Anorexia is nothing to do with fashion. These Russian girls are so young. Chinese ones are skinny, too, and bony. I don’t think it’s a subject to discuss. And in today’s world, many people take drugs, not only models, hmm? It’s an unnecessary subject. Let’s talk about the fat ones.

Is there any woman you would love to have designed for?
Not as such. I have a vision of what I like to do and how I see things. I like to design for theatre and opera. No matter whom I design for, I don’t want to work with people who aren’t good.

You must get that feeling a lot - people being mediocre compared with you.
I have to accept that. But I think I have very modest behaviour in that way. It’s a surprise to me when I hear from others that I scare people. There’s nothing to be scared about, hmm?

Is that one of the biggest misconceptions about you?
Maybe I did enough to create that, so I can’t say that I’m a victim. I’m perhaps a victim of myself, or my stupidity, or what I allowed to happen. I’m a victim of nothing.

Do you ever wish you had a son to pass on your wisdom to, to continue the Chanel heritage?
That’s the last thing I want. I hate all children.