Runway

A Celebration of Karl Lagerfeld’s Work in Vogue

By Laird Borrelli-Persson
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    Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, November 2007
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Caroline Trentini in silver-spangled Chanel Haute Couture.

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    Photographed by Horst P. Horst, Vogue, September 1974
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    “Karl Lagerfeld is a young fashion designer whose special talent is to invoke the mood, the glamour, of the 1920s and ’30s—combining it with the ease and dash of the 1970s,” noted Vogue when, in 1974, his Deco-filled Paris apartment was featured in the magazine. “The clothes he designs for Chloé . . . are enormously pretty, feminine, alluring . . . .”

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    Photographed by Deborah Turbeville, Vogue, January 1975
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Models at the Hôtel Lutetia in Paris, wearing silk separates by Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé.

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    Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, 1975
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Chris Royer in a look by Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé.

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    Photographed by Helmut Newton, Vogue, April 1975
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Model in a printed dress by Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé.

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    Photographed by Peter Lindbergh, Vogue, September 1991
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Helena Christensen, Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, and Cindy Crawford wear Chanel in Vogue.

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    Photographed by Peter Lindbergh, Vogue, September 1989
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Linda Evangelista in a sequined chiffon Chanel dress.

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    Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, March 1992
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Naomi Campbell in Chanel Accessories, including peekaboo plastic camellias, iridescent bead necklaces and bracelets, and mini bags.

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    Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, December 1995
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Shalom Harlow in a midnight-blue satin confection from Chanel Haute Couture .

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    Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, 1999
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Audrey Marnay in a diaphanous dress by Chanel Haute Couture.

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    Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, April 2001
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Renée Zellweger, in Chanel Haute Couture, with Karl Lagerfeld at his Paris bookstore, 7L.

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    Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue, October 2001
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Ben Stiller with Stella Tennant in an embroidered tunic with matching overall by Chanel Haute Couture.

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    Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, April 2002
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Jacquetta Wheeler in a pale pink embroidered chiffon Chanel Haute Couture gown and coat.

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    Photographed by Craig McDean, Vogue, October 2002
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Maggie Rizer in a Chanel Haute Couture black wool jacket and dress with a black wool bodice and black-and-white silk taffeta skirt.

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    Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, October 2003
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Elise Crombez in a Chanel Haute Couture organza top with jeweled buttons, floor-skimming fishtail skirt, wide patent belt, and leather gloves with snowy organza bows.

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    Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue, December 2003
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    The designer with Natalia Vodianova, as Alice in Wonderland, in Chanel Haute Couture.

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    Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, May 2004
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Nicole Kidman evokes Satine, the coquette she played in Moulin Rouge, in a Chanel Haute Couture dress of feathers and satin with a black cache coeur.

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    Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue, November 2004
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    In MoMA’s “conservation room, Matisse’s Goldfish and Sculpture (1912), Gino Severini’s Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin (1912), and Rothko’s No. 3/No. 13 (1949) stand side by side with the artistry of the Chanel atelier’s expert craftspeople.” Natalia Vodianova in a Chanel Haute Couture black tulle jacket and bustier dress.

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    Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, May 2005
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Lily Donaldson wears a Lesage-embroidered Chanel Haute Couture dress, based on one worn by Coco Chanel in 1937.

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    Photographed by Mario Testino, Vogue, October 2005
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Gwyneth Paltrow photographed at Le Grand Véfour, Paris, in a fuchsia taffeta dress with ostrich feathers by Chanel Haute Couture.

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    Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue, September 2006
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    At the Grand Canal of Versailles, Kirsten Dunst, star of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, wears a Chanel Haute Couture “Petit Trianon” lace dress with tulle rosettes made for Vogue.

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    Photographed by Steven Klein, Vogue, November 2006
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Cate Blanchett wears a Chanel Haute Couture tweed minidress with sea urchin–inspired embroidery.

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    Photographed by Craig McDean, Vogue, September 2007
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Raquel Zimmermann in Fendi’s black-mink-and-white-goat-fur coat, wood-buckle belt, and suede boots.

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    Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, Vogue, October 2008
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Natalia Vodianova in a slate faille dress with camellias and train by Chanel Haute Couture.

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    Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, Vogue, October 2008
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    On Chanel's celebrated staircase, head dressmaker Martine Houdet (in black) admires the wedding dress she and her team created modeled by Natalia Vodianova. Chanel Haute Couture alabaster embroidered-pearl-and-strass organza dress with layers of pleated tulle, and ruffled hat with silk camellias.

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    Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, October 2009
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Karlie Kloss, in Chanel Haute Couture, plays catch with Gaël Monfils.

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    Photographed by Mario Testino, Vogue, May 2010
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Sarah Jessica Parker in an embellished lipstick-red silk-faille dress, and bracelet, from Chanel.

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    Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, August 2011
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Kristen McMenamy wears a white Mongolian shearling coat by Fendi.

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    Photographed by Mario Testino, Vogue, September 2011
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Jamie Hince with Kate Moss in a Chanel lace cape and embroidered dress.

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    Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, Vogue, October 2011
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Elisa Sednaoui in a Chanel boater and jacket accessorized with Chanel Fine Cheap Replica Handbags pearl sautoir with diamonds, diamond-and-white-gold bracelet, and watch; Mikimoto Akoya cultured-pearl necklaces.

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    Photographed by David Sims, Vogue, October 2011
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Stella Tennant takes things in stride in Fendi’s fox-collage jacket and jabot.

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    Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, December 2011
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Soarise Ronan strikes a Pre-Raphaelite pose in Chanel Haute Couture.

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    Photographed by Tim Walker, Vogue, April 2012
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Kate Moss takes it easy at the Ritz in a Chanel Haute Couture flower coat and pumps.

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    Photographed by David Sims, Vogue, September 2013
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Edie Campbell in Chanel Haute Couture.

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    Photographed by Norman Jean Roy, Vogue, March 2014
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Karl Lagerfeld, surrounded by models in his Métiers d’Art collectsion. From left: Heather Marks, Magda Laguinge, Joan Smalls, Stella Tennant, and Crystal Renn, all in Chanel.

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    Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, May 2015
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Fei Fei Sun wears a gold-embroidered evening dress is from Chanel Haute Couture’s Autumn 1996 collectsion.

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    Photographed by Karl Lagerfeld, Vogue, September 2015
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Kendall Jenner in a Chanel jacket and skirt.

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    Photographed by Josh Olins, Vogue, September 2016
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Fei Fei Sun in Fendi’s leather-and-mink jacket and dress and Chanel backpack.

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    Photographed by Mario Testino, Vogue, October 2016
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Lupita Nyong'o wears a Chanel dress.

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    Photographed by Daniel Jackson, Vogue, December 2018
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    Karl Lagerfeld’s Best Looks in Vogue

    Hannah Ferguson wears a Chanel top and skirt.

Christian Lacroix is Laird Borrelli-Persson’s fashion raison d’etre; the way he combined romance and historicism set her on the path she is following today. Borrelli-Persson studied literature at Boston College, spending her junior year abroad at Oxford, where she added some art history. After graduation she moved to New York to intern ... Read More
TopicsKarl LagerfeldChanelFendiChloéObituary