HE was the “Kaiser of Fashion” who boasted supermodels Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne as best friends and helped launch the career of Claudia Schiffer.
But while late German designer Karl Lagerfeld sold sex, sophistication and luxury, behind the scenes his private life was bizarre and often farcical.
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His death in 2019, aged 85, and the subsequent wrangle over his £100million fortune, revealed one of the biggest recipients was one of the great loves of his life, his pet cat Choupette.
And though Karl always liked to be seen with catwalk queens, privately he surrounded himself with a “family” of handsome male models who also stand to receive a chunk of his legacy.
But that could be taken by the French taxman, who is currently investigating the designer’s opaque financial affairs after his accountant is thought to have fled to Switzerland following the fashion guru’s death.
In a new BBC documentary, The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld, Karl’s inner circle of friends reveal the man behind the image, including his Parisian neighbour, antiques dealer Juan Portela.
Juan said: “I thought he was the strangest person I’ve ever met.
“I thought the way he dressed was very weird.
“I don’t know how Karl loved. He was such a remote person, even though he may have been very nice with his friends and everything.
“He was a very remote and private person and I saw him practically every day when he was in Paris.”
In true diva style
By the time of his death from cancer aged 85, he had become known as “King Karl” and was considered to be the last of a generation of designers which included the likes of legends Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy and Coco Chanel.
Starting out in the Sixties at fashion house Fendi, Karl hit the big time taking over Chanel in the Eighties, and described boss Coco Chanel as a “mean bitch”.
He then set about transforming it from a frumpy brand into something much sexier.
He did so by making up-and-coming model Claudia Schiffer the face of the company and for years she would grace adverts, often wearing skimpy outfits.
The reinvention made Karl a multi-millionaire and he lavished his riches on properties around the world, which he filled with stunning 18th Century furniture and paintings.
He also wanted to be seen surrounded by the most beautiful, glamorous women, many of whom he said were close friends.
But in true diva style he demanded complete devotion from them.
One pal was shunned for decades because she dared to wear clothes made by Karl’s great rival, Yves Saint Laurent.
Lagerfeld brand executive Caroline Lebar said: “Planet Karl is black and white, made of loyalty and friendship.
“The recurrent reason of someone ‘disappearing’ from Planet Karl was him feeling betrayed — that was the worst.”
His former right-hand man at Chanel, Gilles Dufour, said: “We didn’t even say goodbye to each other when I left Chanel.
“All the people that tried to leave him, they were out, like Claudia Schiffer was at one time.”
At times his extravagant behaviour hilariously backfired, such as his big move from the French capital to Monte Carlo to avoid paying tax and to be close to his friend Princess Caroline of Monaco.
He had unwittingly moved into a house, the palatial Villa La Vigie, which was just outside of the world-famous tax-haven, so was technically still in France.
When the tax authorities duly came knocking at his door, he had to sell all his furniture and move out of the home he had spent millions renovating.
Karl’s extravagant spending and gestures were legendary.
In the new show his American niece, Caroline Wilcox, recalls he once had a Lagerfeld-designed wedding dress flown to her in the US by Concorde.
But, strangely, she confirms she hasn’t inherited any wealth from her uncle, despite being a blood relative.
Instead, that was intended to go to other “family” members, made up of three men.
They are his handsome bodyguard, model and right-hand man Sebastien Jondeau, 46, whom Karl met when he was a 15-year-old boy, as well as male model Brad Kroenig, 43, who was 23 when they were introduced.
But Brad seemed to have been replaced in his affections by another model called Baptiste Giabiconi, 33, who was 18 when he started a particularly close relationship with Karl.
Some, like former friend and Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld, said it was obvious Karl had designs on his adolescent muse right from the start.
In the documentary she says: “We all figured he had a crush on Baptiste, that’s for sure, that he felt he was exceptionally beautiful.
Suffered heartbreak
“He still is very beautiful. I never saw any kissing, nothing sexual. But people talk a lot.”
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Baptiste himself said he was taken aback by the strength of feeling Karl had for him, which manifested in him instantly becoming his catwalk favourite and being jetted around the world to stay in top hotels and dine in the finest restaurants.
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He says in the documentary: “I think even he was surprised to feel this deep affection he had for me.”
But Baptiste claims it was always more of a father/son relationship and at one point Karl even discussed adopting him.
It went so far that his “father-in-waiting” bought the youth some Louis Vuitton luggage monogrammed with the name “Baptiste Lagerfeld Giabiconi.”
Karl allegedly felt a similar familial relationship with Brad, who not only asked the designer to be a godfather to his sons but also treated him like a grandfather figure to both boys.
But a glance at the many naked photos that he took of Brad during the years he made him one of the world’s top models aren’t the usual snaps a father would take of a son.
Brad said: “It felt natural. Nowadays it’s not as typical but back in the day if you look at all the supermodels, they all photographed nude.”
Karl’s close relationships with the “beautiful people” was a reflection of his elite view of the world, one which was obvious when, in 2012, he famously said that Adele was a great singer but needed to lose weight.
His friends confirm in the show he always wanted to be surrounded by youngsters, never older people — suggesting this was all part of his desire to constantly look forward, professionally and privately.
That may have been down to the heartbreak Karl suffered in his youth with the man many consider to be the great love of his life, handsome socialite Jacques de Bascher.
Their relationship, which began in the 1970s in Paris, was an 18-year rollercoaster ride made worse when Jacques briefly became the lover of Karl’s arch rival, Yves Saint Laurent.
Jacques died of Aids in 1989 aged just 38 and was described by friends as “seductive but dangerous”.
He was hedonistic, with an unquenchable sexual hunger — a stark contrast to Karl, who would call himself a “voyeur”.
Karl’s friend, Patrick Hourcade, said: “He had a problem with sex.
“He can’t have sex. But Jacques was crazy about sex.”
Friends said he was haunted by the tragedy of losing his former lover and Karl’s distinctive image overhaul in the 1990s, complete with major weight loss and the addition of those huge white collars, was a reinvention intended to hide the pain.
Head in the sand
In the documentary, photographer Ellen von Unwerth recalls: “He usually always had black glasses and you couldn’t see his eyes.
“But once he had only tinted glasses on and I said, ‘Karl, I can see your eyes!’
“And he took them off and said, ‘Yes, they’re really sad.’”
Karl fastidiously maintained the facade of the eccentric diva, even when his doctor diagnosed him with pancreatic cancer.
Prof Clement Abbou recalled: “He was not listening.
“He was just thinking, ‘You are the doctor, I am Karl.
“I do my job, you do your job.’ I don’t know any patient like him.”
He refused to have surgery and buried his head in the sand until the end, an approach which caused problems after his death when the French authorities once again intervened in his financial affairs.
They wanted to take most, if not all, of the £100million in the will — a process which is made more difficult because his finances are split between France and Monaco.
Now his lawyer says the mess could take as long as ten years to resolve, by which time Karl’s beloved Choupette will probably be long dead.
- The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld is on BBC Two on April 26 at 9pm.
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QUEEN OF CAT WALK
SINCE Karl Lagerfeld died four years ago, his cat Choupette has “earned” £3million from Lagerfeld products bearing her image.
But that could be dwarfed if she lives long enough to get a chunk of the £100million inheritance.
The designer set out to make her a “celebrity” by featuring her in photoshoots and ad campaigns, and he ensured she was seen sharing his luxurious life.
The next issue of Vogue will feature a tribute to Lagerfeld, including one of his favourite supermodels, Naomi Campbell, carrying Choupette through his former home in Paris.
The cat is now cared for by a live-in nanny and a business manager who looks after the financial affairs linked to her image.
And Choupette has taken on the behaviour of a diva to match her lifestyle, as Lagerfeld’s friend, former Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld, confirmed.
She said: “Choupette is a very jealous girl, a mean cat.
“For Christmas I gave Karl a cashmere scarf that he liked and he said, ‘Choupette never destroys any of my clothes, but she totally destroyed your shawl’.
“And when I see her sometimes she can bite, she can scratch – she’s not a nice girl.”
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