The diverse photographic oeuvre of fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is on show at the Pinacothèque de Paris. As the title suggests, the works offer a comprehensive overview of the iconic 82-year old’s world from portraits and predictably glamorous fashion shoots featuring Anna Ewers and Jessica Stam, to the first showing of a nude series of French male model Baptiste Giabiconi, followed by a beguiling collection of architectural and landscape images.
At the core are two enormous installations, Daphnis and Chloe and The Journey of Odysseus, the latter an arresting black-and-white fresco-style installation of 15 glass panels portraying Ulysses' journey as imagined by Lagerfeld. These should be the exhibition's showstoppers but instead it is the more understated abstracted images - a soft-grey silkscreen showing part of the Eiffel Tower, for instance, or a sensuous curve of a wall on the Tadao Ando-designed Vitra House, that steal the limelight with their unaffected style.
Initially the eclectic range of images, including a life-size Lagerfeld floating in a surreal luminous blue glow, appears disjointed but according to long term collaborator and publisher Gerhard Steidl - who co-curated the show along with Chanel Fashion director of image, Eric Pfunder - this simply reflects the extraordinary wide range of things that interest the designer.
'Karl's passion for photography is unlimited. He is known for his fashion photography but in his private time walks through the streets or countryside constantly scanning for interesting things.’
It was Pfunder who is credited with starting Lagerfeld's photographic career when in 1987 he challenged the designer to provide his own photographs for a press kit. A lack of professional training in photography is unlikely to have deterred Lagerfeld from then continuing to shoot his own advertising campaigns - he had no formal training in fashion, starting his career at the couture house Jean Patou and then designing for Chloe before going on to revitalise Chanel.
Fashion may have preceded photography for the designer but what this exhibition highlights is how he continues to employ his inquisitive mind to discover beauty whether it is a couture dress or tree. Interestingly, none of the monochromatic architectural and landscape images have been 'retouched' in stark contrast to the colour-saturated glossy fashion photographs.
‘They are not different works,’ explains Steidl. ‘This is Karl Lagerfeld. You see what he sees.’
Designed by Man and Nature, 2010
Autoportrait, New-York, 2011
Jessica Stam, Harper's Bazaar, États-Unis, 2007
Baptiste Giabiconi, Vogue, 2009
Candice Swanepoel, Harper's Bazaar, Corée, 2011
Villa Malaparte, 1998
Monokel Diele, Vogue, Allemagne, 2009
Autoportrait, 2013
Anna Ewers, Numéro, 2015
Kendall Jenner, Harper's Bazaar, États-Unis, 2015
INFORMATION
’Karl Lagerfeld, A Visual Journey’ runs until 20 March, 2016
ADDRESS
Pinacothèque de Paris
8 rue Vignon, 75009 Paris
-
A transformed chalet by Studio Razavi redesigns an existing structure into a well-crafted Alpine retreatThis overhauled chalet in the French Alps blends traditional forms with a highly bespoke interior
-
Three sleek new design showrooms you need to see in Los AngelesThree international design showrooms have started a retail design boom in Los Angeles. Here are the stores to put on your radar
-
Brutalism in film: the beautiful house that forms the backdrop to The Room Next DoorThe Room Next Door's production designer discusses mood-boarding and scene-setting for a moving film about friendship, fragility and the final curtain
-
Watch: Jamie Dornan takes a bath in Le Corbusier’s villa for Loewe PerfumesJamie Dornan stars alongside Sophie Wilde in the new Loewe Perfumes 2024 campaign, shot by David Sims in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye
-
Trudon ‘Absolu’: an intoxicating orange blossom perfume for the start of autumnTrudon ‘Absolu’, the house’s latest fragrance by Antoine Lie, blends orange blossom absolute with saffron, cardamom, tonka bean and guaiac wood
-
Jonathan Lyndon Chase on creating a ‘complicated and messy’ domestic space for Acne Studios’ latest showA musing on ‘emotions and the body, and how they affect the space around you’: American artist Jonathan Lyndon Chase tells Mahoro Seward the story behind their Acne Studios runway set, which will backdrop the brand’s S/S 2025 show in Paris later today
-
Paris Fashion Week S/S 2025 highlights: Chanel to Louis VuittonWallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss selects the best of Paris Fashion Week S/S 2025, from Chanel’s return to the Grand Palais to Nicolas Ghesquière’s ‘soft power’ at Louis Vuitton
-
Augustinus Bader’s Palais-Royal boutique has been transformed by artist Harry NurievAugustinus Bader unveils a pop-up space at its flagship store in Paris by multidisciplinary artist and designer Harry Nuriev
-
First look: how Diptyque used synaesthesia to create its poetic new perfume collectionDiptyque’s new perfume collection, ‘Les Essences de Diptyque’, captures the scent of coral and mother of pearl. Ahead of its launch, the maison’s noses tell Wallpaper* how this was done
-
Inside Karl Lagerfeld’s extraordinary Paris library and bookshop, a haven for the bibliophileWe take an exclusive tour of Karl Lagerfeld’s Paris bookshop and library 7L, which is keeping the legendary fashion designer’s vision alive with a scintillating programme of cultural events
-
In time for the Olympics, Onitsuka Tiger opens a Paris ‘hôtel’Hôtel Onitsuka Tiger, on Avenue des Champs-Élysées, promises an immersive journey into the Japanese brand’s 75-year history, featuring some memorable ’residents’
