Chic Shots

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Karl Lagerfeld may strike the world outside of fashion as just a man in funny-looking outfits, but he is a true aesthete whose vision of the world has enjoyed no shortage of expression. He has influenced the houses of Pierre Balmain, Jean Patou, Chloe, Fendi, and Chanel. He creates about 12 fashion collections each year. His designs nearly caused riots at H&M stores and critics drooled over his clothes at Olympus Fashion Week in February. Now with his exhibition of photographs at the Pace/MacGill Gallery, he presents his aesthetic to a new audience. And whether he earns credibility from the art world is almost immaterial. Mr. Lagerfeld’s success precedes him.

His photographs in the show “Farewell to Daylight” illustrate his idiosyncratic sensibility – contrasting colors and dramatic structure – and evoke an indomitable, yet romantic, Paris. The exhibit of nearly 30 photos depicts the City of Light on an evening walk along the Seine and streets after sunset – from pink clouds to cold shadows. The pictures convey a sense of detachment against the dark and dramatic backdrop, but also offer a glimpse of the emotions behind those black sunglasses. Towering buildings, narrow walkways, the Samaritaine from a distance, and Mr. Lagerfeld himself, dressed in white beside a gray column.

The designer began working as a photographer in 1987 and has since won accolades from the Raymond Loewy Foundation and the German Photographic Society. He has published about 20 books, ranging in theme from nudes to the Bauhaus movement.

Among his notable books is “A Portrait of Dorian Gray,” which turned Oscar Wilde’s fantasy into a high-fashion world of sex and Bohemia. Then there is “7 Fantasmes of a Woman” that captured the sensual fantasies of women from an 18th-century perspective. “Modern Italian Architecture” looked at the relationship between the built and natural environment. And in 1998, he published a collection of photographs of his own home entitled “German House.”

Mr. Lagerfeld’s show at Pace/MacGill – a gallery that has shown work by Alfred Stieglitz, David Byrne, Chuck Close, and Andy Warhol – helps establish his non-fashion bona fides. But even if the art world doesn’t embrace him, he’ll still have his own powers of distribution: The Lagerfeld Gallery sells his photography and clothing in Paris, where he also has a bookshop named 7L – and his own publishing imprint (Edition 7L). And more importantly, no matter how his pictures are received, a fair portion of the world will still be wearing his clothes.


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