Heritage
A house, in its own words
Karl Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1933 and rose to prominence as one of fashion's most relentless creative minds. He joined Chloé in 1964, Fendi in 1965, and Chanel in 1983, breathing new life into both houses and reshaping the modern luxury landscape. He launched his own eponymous brand in 1984, later renamed KARL LAGERFELD. For nearly two decades, Lagerfeld held simultaneous creative directorships at three major fashion houses, a feat unmatched in industry history. His tireless work ethic extended beyond fashion into illustration, photography, publishing, and design. Following his death in Paris in February 2019, the house appointed Hun Kim, one of Lagerfeld's closest collaborators, as Creative Director. CEO Pier Paolo Righi, who worked directly alongside Lagerfeld, has guided the brand through consistent global expansion, maintaining a reported 30 percent compounded annual growth over five consecutive years. Today, the house operates more than 200 monobrand stores across Paris, London, New York, Dubai, Shanghai, and beyond, solidifying its place among the world's leading accessible designer brands. The KARL LAGERFELD fragrance house operates at the intersection of Parisian classicism and rock-chic irreverence. Every scent reflects the founder's conviction that fashion should be both timeless and relevant, never static. The brand translates Karl's signature aesthetic of tailored silhouettes and effortless edge into olfactory form. Creative direction, now under Hun Kim, preserves the house's founding spirit while pushing forward with a philosophy rooted in curiosity, reinvention, and movement. The accessible luxury positioning invites a broad audience into a world historically associated with couture, democratizing the designer experience without diluting its identity. Righi has articulated this balance clearly: the brand aims to remain desirable, driven by the same creative restlessness that defined Karl himself. The house's guiding mantra, 'Embrace the present and invent the future,' echoes through every collection and fragrance release.