87 Karl Lagerfeld Quotes from the German Fashion Designer

Karl Lagerfeld, born in 1933 in Hamburg and passed away in 2019 in Paris, was a renowned German fashion designer and photographer.

He is mainly celebrated for rejuvenating the iconic French fashion brand, Chanel.

Karl moved to Paris in 1952 and quickly made a name for himself by winning a major design award and working for notable brands.

He even briefly left fashion to study art in Italy but soon returned, designing for multiple fashion houses, including a long-term relationship with Fendi.

Karl Lagerfeld

In 1983, he started with Chanel and became a legend there, blending modern trends with the brand’s classic look.

Besides fashion, Lagerfeld was a passionate photographer and worked on various projects.

He published books, ventured into budget clothing with H&M and in 2015, received a major fashion award in Britain.

I have selected the best quotes by Karl Lagerfeld below.


Best Karl Lagerfeld Quotes

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I like the idea of craziness with discipline. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Keep the best, forget the rest. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Change is the healthiest way to survive. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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I don’t like standard beauty – there is no beauty without strangeness. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Chic is a kind of mayonnaise, either it tastes, or it doesn’t. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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I like to reinvent myself – it’s part of my job. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Trendy is the last stage before tacky. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Don’t dress to kill, dress to survive. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I didn’t play with other children. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Don’t look to the approval of others for your mental stability. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Personality begins where comparison ends. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

The iPod completely changed the way people approach music. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

What I love best in life is new starts. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Evolution is the secret for the next step. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Famous Karl Lagerfeld Quotes

I am like a caricature of myself, and I like that. It is like a mask. And for me the Carnival of Venice lasts all year long. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

People who say that yesterday was better than today are ultimately devaluing their own existence. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Forgiveness is too easy. I can forget by indifference, but not forgive. I prefer revenge. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I don’t like sleeping with people I really love. I don’t want to sleep with them because sex cannot last, but affection can last forever. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

We live in a dark and romantic and quite tragic world. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

People who can’t be alone have a problem. Loneliness is a luxury for people like me. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Luxury is the ease of a T-shirt in a very expensive dress. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

We need houses as we need clothes, architecture stimulates fashion. It’s like hunger and thirst – you need them both. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I’m not an employee who goes to the office every morning at the same time. Then, vacations are needed. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

The brain is a muscle, and I’m a kind of body-builder. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

The minute you think that the past was better, your present is second hand, and yourself becomes vintage – it’s okay for clothes not that great for people. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Top Karl Lagerfeld Quotes

I’m a very down-to-earth person, but it is my job to make that earth more pleasant. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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You were never told that Saint-Tropez is paradise? ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I hate intellectual conversation with intellectuals because I only care about my opinion. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I like to do things quickly because I’m easily bored. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I am a fashion person, and fashion is not only about clothes – it’s about all kinds of change. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going – I have no post-satisfaction. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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I design like I breathe. You don’t ask to breathe. It just happens. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Fantasy is often better than reality. It’s much more inspiring not to go to places than to go. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Music gives color to the air of the moment. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

The only love that I really believe in is a mother’s love for her children. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Truth is only a question of point of view. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Popular Karl Lagerfeld Quotes

Books are a hard-bound drug with no danger of an overdose. I am the happy victim of books. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Stuff your brain with knowledge. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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I think tattoos are horrible. It’s like living in a Pucci dress full-time. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I am a black diamond, unfaceted. Black diamonds are rare, hard to cut, and therefore uncommercial. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Youthfulness is about how you live not when you were born. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Dieting is the only game where you win when you lose! ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Logos and branding are so important. In a big part of the world, people cannot read French or English – but are great in remembering signs. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I care more about the people than about the company. That’s why I don’t want to own it. I don’t want to run a business. People do it better than I do. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I have no idea of the future – never, ever. That’s what I like about fashion. It’s paradise now. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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I’m a working-class person, working with class. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Reinvent new combinations of what you already own. Improvise. Become more creative. Not because you have to, but because you want to. Evolution is the secret for the next step. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I’ve always known that I was made to live this way, that I would be this sort of legend. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Great Karl Lagerfeld Quotes

I never fall in love. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Be politically correct, but please don’t bother other people with conversation about being politically correct, because that’s the end of everything. You want to create boredom? Be politically correct in your conversation. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I forget nothing and then, one day, there will be revenge. Innocence isn’t exactly everywhere. But I will say innocence also takes you far in photography. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

In fact, I don’t even know myself. That is the big secret of the story. That there is no story. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

For every book you buy, you should buy the time to read it. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I’m not crazy to discuss fashion with men. I couldn’t care less about their opinion. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

The most important piece in the house is the garbage can. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

If you throw money out of the window, throw it out with joy. Don’t say: ‘one shouldn’t do that’ – that is bourgeois. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Yes, some people say to me you’re too skinny, but never a skinny person says that to me, only people who could lose a few pounds say that. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

When people talk about the good old days, I say to people, ‘It’s not the days that are old, it’s you that’s old.’ I hate the good old days. What is important is that today is good. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Elegance is a physical quality. If a woman doesn’t have it naked, she’ll never it clothed. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I’m very much down to earth, just not this earth. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Powerful Karl Lagerfeld Quotes

There are not too many people with an opinion I care for. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Success nullifies. You then have to do it again, preferably differently. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I don’t do meetings. At Chanel, there are no meetings. At Chanel, we do what we want, whenever we want and it works. And Fendi is the same. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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Everything I say is a joke. I am a joke myself. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

If I was a woman in Russia, I would be a lesbian, as the men are very ugly. There are a few handsome ones, like Naomi Campbell’s boyfriend, but there you see the most beautiful women and the most horrible men. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I am not a second option person. It is that or nothing. If it is not the way I see it I prefer not to see it. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Fashion designers are dictators of taste. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

When I was a child, my mother always told me that you could wake up in the middle of the night and be deathly sick, so you always have to be impeccable. I laugh about it now, but I think everyone should go to bed like they have a date at the door. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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A sense of humor and a little lack of respect: That’s what you need to make a legend survive. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Fashion is what people wear not only what you see on the Runway. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I think that it’s a crime to say you are bored when time is so precious and there are so many things to do in life: read, learn, watch. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Luxury bags make your life more pleasant, make you dream, give you confidence, and show your neighbors you are doing well. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

When I was very young, at the beginning my business was to work more than the others to show them their pointlessness. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I love classic beauty. It’s an idea of beauty with no standard. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I’m all self-taught. I never had a teacher. Even for English, and French, and German, I hardly went to school. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

Think pink, but don’t wear it. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

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What I hate is nasty, ugly people. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

I lost 200lb to wear suits by Hedi Slimane. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.

A respectable appearance is sufficient to make people more interested in your soul. ~ Karl Lagerfeld.


So these were the 87 top Karl Lagerfeld quotes and sayings.

If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Janis Joplin quotes and Kara Goucher quotes.

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Chandan Negi
Chandan Negi

I’m the Founder of Internet Pillar - I love sharing quotes and motivational content to inspire and motivate people - #quotes #motivation #internetpillar