Karl Otto Lagerfeld was a German creative director, fashion designer, artist, photographer and caricaturist. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position he held from 1983. He was also creative director of the Italian fur and leather goods fashion house Fendi. 

 Lagerfeld was born on 10 September 1933 in Hamburg.  His father owned a company that produced and imported evaported milk;  while his maternal grandfather, Karl Bahlmann, was a local politician for the Catholic Central Party. When Lagerfeld's mother met his father, she was a lingerie saleswoman from Berlin. His parents married in 1930.

Lagerfeld lived in numerous countries over the years and it influenced his creativity. Because he decorated his houses with different styles. In 1955, after living in Paris for two years, Lagerfeld entered a coat design competition sponsored by the  International  Wool  Secretariat at the age of sixteen. He won the competition and befriended Yves Saint Laurent, and was soon after hired by Pierre Balmain. He worked as Balmain's assistant, and later apprentice, for three years. In 1958, Lagerfeld became the artistic director for Jean Patou. In 1964, he went to Rome to study art history and work for Tiziano but was soon designing freelance for a multitude of brands including Chloe, Charles Jourdan, Krizia, and Valentino. 

In the 1980s, Lagerfeld was hired by Chanel, which was considered a "near-dead brand" at the time since the death of designer Coco Chanel a decade prior. Lagerfeld brought life back into the company, making it a huge success by revamping its ready-to-wear fashion line. Lagerfeld integrated the interlocked "CC" monograph of Coco Chanel into a style pattern for the House of Chanel.

During  2001-2009  years, he worked with the most-known fashion brands of the world and added news views to them. In 2013, he directed the short film “Once Upon a Time”. 

Lagerfeld owned a redpoint Birman cat named Choupette, which, in June 2013, he indicated he would marry if it were legal.

Following health complications in January 2019, Lagerfeld was admitted to the American Hospital of Paris on 18 February. The next morning, he died at that hospital, aged 85. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

Gulnara Mammadova