A rare moment of intelligent fashion conversation on Radio Four this morning as Evan Davis caught Karl Lagerfeld for a chat after he came of stage during yesterdays IHT Heritage Luxury conference taking place in London. I thoroughly enjoyed the precis offered up of his talk by Fashionologie yesterday, so in the spirit of sharing I did my best to capture the essence of his chat in real time straight from the radio. If there are slight errors, its because I was trying to make sense of my hastily touch-typed notes. If you missed it, these were the key points. As always, Karl is utterly illuminating. Even Evan was impressed.
ON FASHION NOW:
“In difficult times fashion is more interesting.”
ON WHY THEY DO THE GRAND CHANEL SHOW:
“You go to the movies, and then you see Avatar. Today we do a show not only for audience but for whole world. I do a Cecil B. DeMille job for Chanel. To keep Chanel, to keep this image in world of internet if you have a super production movie it is not a bad thing.”
ON EMERGING MARKETS
“Journalists talk about these emerging markets. Emerging? Most of them are doing better than we do. America is still important, but China, Russia, the gulf are all big. ”
ON DIFFERING GLOBAL MARKETS:
“I don’t think in terms of markets. I just do collections. I don’t think the market works this way. It’s a very good thing to do it that way, don’t flatter them [different markets] in a fashion way. We know nothing about what they really like. It’s better to do what you really feel.”
ON WEALTH VS TASTE
“The not so rich like the big labels. The very rich don’t like the big labels. “
ON LOGOS
“Logos are so important. Do you know why? For people who cannot read English, French or whatever. Peoples who don’t use our alphabet like Russians or Arabic. But they can remember initials. If you don’t have a logo it can be very difficult. The importance of the logo is un be lieve able.”
ON HOW LONG HE WILL BE AT CHANEL:
“How long will I be at Chanel? So many people dream to get the job. My contract is lifelong. If I feel I can no longer do it, I would help owners to find the right person. Of course. ”
Images: fashionologie.com
