Karl Lagerfeld Talks With Hamish Bowles About His New Collection

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And what was the appeal of the Karl concept?

It's a graphic idea of what I like,

what could be translated from me to girls.

It's very graphic, black and white

and silver and grey universe.

You know Chanel is me doing Chanel.

Fendi is me doing Italians, Italy.

and this is me doing me whatever it means.

[Hamish] Right.

So don't ask me too many questions because

I don't know it's very strange to see your face

wherever you turn your head.

This collectsion, the Karl collectsion,

is just going to be available online.

Yes, what I like.

You know I wanted that for a long time.

Because the people I ran business before with

they always thought they could be in competition

with Chanel or Fendi whatever you made.

Or you will put billions or you forget about it.

[Hamish] Right.

And I was not interested.

I was not interested in doing three times the same thing.

I like to do things, I did H & M,

that point and that point.

[Hamish] Right.

'Cause the middle has not enough class,

that I think about the middle class.

Right.

And who's the customer,

who do you see buying the Karl collectsion.

I never want to think about customer.

(Hamish laughs)

There is another department for,

I am not a marketing person. Sorry.

I just do collectsions then it's up to them to run with it.

[Hamish] Mmmhmm.

Wherever they run, whatever direction they take,

I hope it's the right direction,

but I don't believe it a good thing to say

I design for this kind of woman.

[Hamish] Right, right.

There was once a French designer,

I don't mention the name, I can tell you private,

who said 'my dresses are only bought by clever women.'

You know she went out of business.

There you go.

So propose something but in the end

never say this is for you. Right.

And it is not for you!

[Hamish] Right.

I think it's very pretentious.

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I am what the French people call compublique.

(Hamish laughs)

So if there is a name of the big companies

with tradition and the culture that's like Fendi

and especially Chanel, it's okay,

whether it's my name or not.

Alone, I'm different.

[Hamish] Right.

I started at Balmain and then I was at Patou.

All those houses are free now,

you can do the collectsion if you want.

No, thank you.

(Hamish laughs)

But Balmain I wasn't crazy for what I did with him.

He was not very pleasant,

but I told myself you are here to learn,

shut up and forget about it.

[Hamish] Right.

No?

I thought it was (speaks in foreign language)

but I was there and you can learn in a good place

because you are not into it.

You learn what not to do.

[Hamish] Right.

Exactly.

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I am not a businessman.

There are people who are good on that.

Why should I do that, huh?

It bores me to death.

And that's how you've always operated.

Always, always.

Business is not for me.

I am too stupid for that.

or too shrewd depends how you like at it.

[Hamish] Precisely.

Yeah, exactly, but I don't want to

show that side and it bores me, you know.

I want to have a free spirit.

[Hamish] Yeah.

And a kind of liberty without going down to earth.

[Hamish] Right.

I'm not a showroom person.

I like the vision, the idea,

but reality I don't want to know too much about.

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