Karl Lagerfeld

Morellato began a long-term Karl Lagerfeld watches and jewellery relationship for Autumn 2024. The announced watch territory excludes the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The Karl Lagerfeld at Grand Lisboa Palace opened in Macau in June 2023. SJM Resorts operates the hotel, and its interiors originated in a personal design commission Lagerfeld began before his death.

Karl Lagerfeld Maison debuted during Milan Design Week in April 2023 with an inaugural furniture and interiors collection created with Matteo Nunziati. The launch established a posthumous home category under the fashion brand and kept guest design authorship visible.

G-III completed its purchase of the remaining 81 per cent of Karl Lagerfeld on 2 June 2022, making the global brand wholly owned by the American apparel group. The transaction ended the previous investor structure and brought global ownership under one parent.

Archie M. Alled-Martinez entered the brand’s creative chronology through a bounded gender-neutral collaboration released in June 2022. His knitwear and tailoring language remained identifiable within the house’s monochrome wardrobe codes.

Karl Lagerfeld appointed Amber Valletta Sustainability Ambassador in October 2021 after the model and activist had begun co-creating lower-impact accessories with the house. The role added a formal advisory voice on materials and environmental initiatives under Karl Cares.

Kenneth Ize entered the Karl Lagerfeld creative chronology through a bounded 2021 designer collaboration. The project preserved Ize’s external authorship and brought his aso oke textile language into dialogue with the house’s tailoring and accessories.

Carine Roitfeld was appointed Style Advisor in March/April 2019 for an initial three-season mandate beginning with Spring 2020. Her remit was editorial and curatorial, working alongside Hun Kim on styling and presentation. Garment design and atelier management remained outside her role.

Hun Kim became Creative Director after Karl Lagerfeld’s death in 2019, extending the design leadership he had held internally since 2015. He became the central creative authority for the global house. Licensed categories retained specialist partner input.

Karl Lagerfeld died on 19 February 2019 after thirty-five years at the head of his continuing eponymous house. His death ended the founder-led period and forced the company to formalise a post-founder creative structure.

Fossil’s global Karl Lagerfeld watch licence ended by mutual agreement on 1 April 2018. The closure ended the watch partnership that had produced its first deliveries in 2013.

G-III acquired a separate 19 per cent interest in the global Karl Lagerfeld parent on 25 February 2016. The investment deepened its role beyond the North American joint venture and placed it inside the ownership of the worldwide business.

Groupe CWF received the global Karl Lagerfeld childrenswear licence in 2015, with the first collection scheduled for Spring/Summer 2016. The agreement established Kids as a durable licensed clothing line inside the wider brand.

Hun Kim joined Karl Lagerfeld as Design Director in 2015 and became a principal interpreter of the founder’s sketches for the global commercial collections. Lagerfeld retained final aesthetic approval. Kim and the wider team translated those directions into scalable apparel, accessories and footwear.

Karl Lagerfeld Group and G-III Apparel Group formed a North American joint venture in June 2015, with G-III taking 49 per cent and receiving rights for specified consumer categories. The agreement created the commercial structure from which Karl Lagerfeld Paris emerged.

The online-first KARL line launched on 25 January 2012 with exclusive initial distribution through Net-a-Porter. Its lower price architecture and digital presentation made it the clearest public expression of the brand’s accessible-luxury relaunch.

Under Chief Executive Officer Pier Paolo Righi, Karl Lagerfeld reorganised around an Amsterdam commercial headquarters and an accessible-luxury strategy from 2010/2011. The change separated much of the company’s merchandising and commercial development from Lagerfeld’s smaller Paris creative studio.

Pier Paolo Righi became CEO and President of Karl Lagerfeld in 2010/2011 and led the brand’s accessible-luxury relaunch from Amsterdam. His appointment established dedicated executive leadership for the expanding commercial business.

PVH’s 2010 acquisition of Tommy Hilfiger explicitly excluded the Karl Lagerfeld business. The label remained with Apax-affiliated and management investors as an independent company, creating the corporate basis for its next relaunch.

K Karl Lagerfeld was announced in December 2006 as a lower-priced line centred on premium denim, fitted T-shirts and casual clothing for men and women. It became one of the first line experiments under the post-Gallery Karl Lagerfeld identity.

Melanie Ward headed the New York design team for the lower-priced Karl Lagerfeld Label presented in February 2006. The collection was developed from Lagerfeld’s direction and visual references.

Tommy Hilfiger Corporation completed its acquisition of the Karl Lagerfeld trademarks and business in January 2005 for $27.5 million. Lagerfeld continued under a long-term creative contract after ownership of the name moved to the American company.

Vendôme discontinued the loss-making Karl Lagerfeld operation in 1997 and returned the trademark rights to Lagerfeld for a symbolic franc. A new French entity was registered in November, clearing the way for the Lagerfeld Gallery venture the following year.

The KL by Karl Lagerfeld partnership with Klaus Steilmann ended around 1995 as the German manufacturer contracted its operations. The closure removed the house’s principal mass-market clothing line of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The 1993 Dunhill and Cartier reorganisation placed Karl Lagerfeld S.A. inside Vendôme Luxury Group’s Paris portfolio. Lagerfeld remained creative director as the business became part of a larger luxury conglomerate.

Dunhill Holdings acquired Karl Lagerfeld S.A. from Revillon Luxe in June 1992 for approximately $29.3–30 million. The transaction was tied to Lagerfeld’s return to Chloé and placed his eponymous company inside a wider luxury portfolio.

By the late 1980s Anita Briey was leading atelier work for Karl Lagerfeld’s eponymous label. She remained in Lagerfeld’s working orbit through 2009 and continued into the Lagerfeld Gallery period.

Karl Lagerfeld and Klaus Steilmann created KL by Karl Lagerfeld in 1987/1988 as an affordable diffusion line with its own German manufacturing and distribution structure. The venture carried Lagerfeld’s name into high-volume European retail and lasted until the mid-1990s.

Cora-Revillon, through Revillon Luxe, had assumed financial and operational control of Karl Lagerfeld by the Autumn/Winter 1987 cycle after the Bidermann relationship ended. The change placed the label inside a French luxury holding structure. Lagerfeld continued as its creative author.

Céline Engel, later Céline Toledano, became Collection Director at Karl Lagerfeld in 1985 and remained through 1993. She coordinated the practical development and internal delivery of the seasonal collections during a period of repeated ownership change.

Gilles Dufour was active in Lagerfeld’s eponymous design operation by 1984 and remained part of the wider studio orbit into the 1990s. His responsibilities overlapped with Chanel.

Lagerfeld remained the principal creative author of his eponymous fashion business from its 1984 launch until his death in 2019. His role moved through several owners and commercial structures, with responsibility for the label’s visual direction and final aesthetic approval remaining with him.

Karl Lagerfeld launched the continuing fashion house bearing his name in 1984, with Bidermann Industries providing worldwide manufacturing and licensing infrastructure. The foundation created a Paris ready-to-wear business alongside his external appointments at Chanel, Fendi and Chloé.