KARL LAGERFELD: A LIFE IN HOUSES BOOK

While Karl Lagerfeld was famously at the center of the fashion industry for more than half a century, he was equally stubborn when it came to interiors, which acted as a private creative outlet alongside his fashion designs.After an overview by Patrick Mauriès, each house is introduced by a short text by Marie Kalt that reveals its history and identifies the designers and key pieces. The houses are documented by date, beginning with rare photographs of Lagerfeld's first addresses in the 1960s and 1970s, through to the final purchase of his home in 2009. From the elegant Art-Deco inspired flat in Saint-Sulpice, Paris, to the incredibly ornate 18th century flat. 19th century mansion, Hôtel Pozzo di Borgo (his muse and collaborator Amanda Harlech described Lagerfeld as having "a Versailles complex"): Lagerfeld's homes reveal that he was a collector of Renaissance scale and displayed a spectacular variety in his decorating styles. Lagerfeld balanced the old with the new, humorously describing the minimalist décor of his 200-year-old flat on Quai Voltaire, Paris, as "like floating in your own spaceship over a very civilized past", and moving from one atmosphere to the next, leaving a Memphis-designed flat in Monte Carlo for a Grand Tour-themed Roman pied-à-terre, followed by bucolic French houses and even a majestic Nordic villa in his native Hamburg.Presented in a large, elegant format, Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Houses will be a rich source, a serving dish of inspiration for those interested in interior design and will appeal to fans of the decorative arts and the fashion designer himself.