German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has died at the age of 85, according to Chanel.
Lagerfeld was Chanel’s Artistic Director for 36 years. He had missed the fashion label’s haute couture show in Paris this January, fuelling speculation and concerns about his health.
He began his career as an assistant to Pierre Balmain in 1955 and joined Chanel in 1983.
His eccentric looks quickly made him stand out in the fashion world as he was always recognizable in his dark suits, white, pony tailed hair and tinted sunglasses.
Lagerfeld first found real success in the mid-1960s with Chloé, the fashion label now owned by Switzerland’s Richemont and to which he was connected off and on until 1997.
But it was Chanel that propelled him to rock star status, as he revitalized the brand and lifted its profile with grandiose runway shows. In the past year these have featured a full-scale beach and an enormous replica ship.
