![]() The sketches function as kind of a secret language between the designer and his collaborators, who knew exactly how to decipher every line, mark, and notation. But to the skilled eyes of his premières d’atelier, who were responsible for translating Lagerfeld’s drawings into finished garments, they convey precise details and almost mathematical instructions. To the untrained eye, his sketches seem spontaneous and expressionistic. Sketching was not only Lagerfeld’s primary mode of creative expression but 4 also his primary mode of communication. Lagerfeld, however, was much too magnanimous to hold such aesthetic judgements-for him, the serpentine and the straight line were equally beautiful, exciting, and engaging his imagination in equal measure. The theoretical framework for the exhibition is inspired by eighteenth-century British artist William Hogarth’s concept of the “line of beauty,” an S-shaped line that represents liveliness and movement, in contrast to a straight line, which denotes stillness, inactivity, and even death. Presented on elevated pedestals – as totems – are garments that attempt to resolve and reconcile the competing aesthetics of these dichotomies. ![]() These two lines traverse the various design houses Lagerfeld spearheaded, and the dualities inherent within them are explored in the central galleries. Tracing the evolution of Lagerfeld’s two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional garments, the exhibition is anchored by two lines: the “serpentine” line signifying his historicist, romantic, and decorative impulses and the “straight” line representing his modernist, classicist, and minimalist tendencies. Other designers draw as part of their creative process, but it is usually a means to an end rather than an end in itself as it was for Lagerfeld, whose sketches are a combination of a detailed technical drawing and an expressive fashion illustration. While Lagerfeld the man has long been the subject of breathless mythologizing and hagiography, this exhibition focuses on Lagerfeld the designer, specifically his unique practice of sketching. Approaching fashion as both an art and a business, he created the identity of the fashion designer-impresario that has become the blueprint for contemporary designers. ![]() The career of Karl Lagerfeld (German, 1933–2019) spanned a remarkable and incomparable sixty-five years, during which he served as the creative director of multiple design houses, including Fendi, Chloé, Chanel, and his eponymous label. ![]()
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