Karl Lagerfeld’s most memorable quotes about fashion, celebrities and body diversity

Designer once described sweatpants as a 'sign of defeat'

Few designers are as synonymous with luxury fashion as the late Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld.

On Tuesday 19 February, Chanel confirmed the German fashion designer and photographer had passed away at the age of 85.

After launching a career in fashion at the age of 17 as the assistant to French designer Pierre Balmain, Lagerfeld etched out an incomparable reputation for himself in the fashion industry at brands such as Fendi, Chloe, and, of course, Chanel.

Since taking the helm of the French luxury brand in 1983, the designer injected the cultural zeitgeist into his outstanding designs, referencing everything from rap and hip hop in early Nineties collections to Emma Watson’s advocacy of the UN Women’s HeForShe campaign in his mock feminist protest at the brand’s spring/summer 2015 runway show.

However, while Largerfeld has been celebrated for his sartorial and artistic prowess, however, he has equally become infamous for his quotes on everything from fashion, celebrities, and body diversity, and not all positive.

From describing sweatpants as a “sign of defeat” to saying singer Adele is “a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice”, click in the gallery above to find out all of Karl Lagerfeld’s most unforgettable quotes.