Karl Lagerfeld’s Most Memorable Twists on the Iconic Chanel Suit Inline

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    For his Fall 1991 collectsion, Karl Lagerfeld remade the classic suit silhouette in denim.

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    Fall 2003’s suits were minimalism and mini—their only embellishments were the Kazimir Malevich paintings printed on their fronts.

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    Photo: Marcio Madeira
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    Lagerfeld had never shown a Chanel tweed for men until his Fall 2004 collectsion, where he sent out a number of garçons in the garçon-inspired suit. Today, a Brad Kroenig or Baptiste Giabiconi sighting in Chanel is the norm.

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    Coco Chanel came from humble, if not impoverished, beginnings, and the idea of a certain “poverty de luxe” was always present in her designs. Lagerfeld touched on this with his Fall 2008 collectsion featuring suits with faux rips, tears, and patches.

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    Photo: Monica Feudi / GoRunway.com
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    The Chanel-clad women of the ’20s might have been scandalized to see Lagerfeld’s Spring 2011 version with hot shorts in lieu of a skirt.

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    Fabrication is paramount at Chanel, and Lagerfeld always finds new ways to subvert the house’s high/low mix. For Fall 2014 couture, he chose to make beads out of concrete that were then stitched on suits and dresses.

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    Photo: Kim WestonArnold / Indigital.tv
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    Lagerfeld’s most unexpected material, though, might be plastic. His Fall 2015 couture collectsion was made by 3-D-printing Chanel suits and embellishing them with handwork techniques.

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    Perhaps influenced by his 3-D-printed experiments, Lagerfeld sent out a laser-cut leather suit in a grid pattern with detailing that mimicked a classic tweed pattern.

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    Photo: Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com
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    Spring 2016 saw the designer remove all hardware from the suit, further propelling it into the future with a digital print.

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    From a distance, the embellishment on this Spring 2016 couture suit looks like fine paillette beading, but up close, viewers will realize that it’s actually adorned with finely cut pieces of wood.