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To celebrate the birthday of the legendary German fashion designer we take a look back at some of his most memorable quotes.
Karl Lagerfeld, the celebrated designer who is currently at the helm at Chanel and Fendi is celebrating his birthday today.
Whilst it is not clear exactly how old he is, Lagerfeld himself admits confusion over his birth date. Estimates put him in his late seventies and in a recent interview with Paris Match Lagerfeld declared his birth year was 1935.
He’s not known as Kaiser Karl for nothing. In addition to his work at Chanel which sees him credited with transforming the fortunes of the legendary French house, he regularly transforms catwalk shows into spectacles, was one of the pioneers in the high-street/designer collaborations and has an instantly recognisable image.
Show all 47 1 /47Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On style: 'Chic is a kind of mayonnaise, either it tastes, or it doesn't.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On the late Yves Saint Laurent: 'He is very middle-of-the-road French-very pied-noir, very provincial.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On selfies: 'I don't do selfies. But other people do, and they all want to do selfies with me. No, no, no,' Lagerfeld told the New York Times. " 'We live in a world of selfies now... Thank God, Sébastien, my assistant, he's mean to the people in the street, mean and rude. I'm a nice person.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On what he says: 'Everything I say is a joke. I am a joke myself.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On male beauty: 'Life is not a beauty contest, some [ugly people] are great. What I hate is nasty, ugly people... the worst is ugly, short men. Women can be short, but for men it is impossible. It is something that they will not forgive in life... they are mean and they want to kill you.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On furniture: 'The most important piece in the house is the garbage can.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On his career: 'Work is making a living out of being bored.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On his working practices: 'I am a sort of vampire, taking the blood of other people.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On bedrooms: 'If you see it you will think about everything except sex, because it is the unsexiest room ever. I love unsexy bedrooms.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On women who criticise the size of supermodels: 'They are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On weight loss: 'I lost 200lb to wear suits by Hedi Slimane.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On his childhood: 'When I was four I asked my mother for a valet for my birthday.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On Diet Coke 'I drink Diet Coke from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On tattoos: 'I think tattoos are horrible. It's like living in a Pucci dress full-time'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On intelligent women; 'I remember a designer who said that intelligent women don't wear her dresses. Obviously, she went bankrupt.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On fashion and men: 'There are not too many people with an opinion I care for. I'm not crazy to discuss fashion with men. I couldn't care less about their opinion.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On music: 'The iPod is genius. I have 300.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On his personality: '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.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On style: 'Don't dress to kill, dress to survive.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On living alone: 'I live in a set, with the curtains of the stage closed with no audience - but who cares?'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On former muse Ines de la Fressange 'I wish her all the luck in the world, just so long as I don’t have to see her anymore or hear her spoken about.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On being old-school: 'I send notes. I'm not a chambermaid whom you can ring at every moment. Today, you know, most people act like they work at a switchboard in a hotel.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On Andy Warhol: 'I shouldn't say this, but physically he was quite repulsive.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On emotions: 'I have no human feelings.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On French President François Hollande and high taxes: 'He's an imbecile. Hollande hates the rich. It's a disaster. He wants to punish them, and of course, they are leaving, nobody is investing. Foreigners no longer want to invest in France and it cannot work like that.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On political correctness: '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.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On the recession: 'Bling is over. Red carpetry covered with rhinestones is out. I call it the new modesty.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On Coco Chanel 'What I've done, Coco Chanel would never have done. She would have hated it'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On prostitution: 'I'm rather pro-prostitution. I admire people who do it. It can't be much fun. Thank goodness for it. People need relief or they become murderers.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On being childless: 'They grow so fast, and having adult children makes you look 100 years old. I don’t want that.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On Pippa Middleton: 'I don't like the sister's face. She should only show her back'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On the price of fame: 'You cannot fight against it. There's a price you have to pay for fame, and people who don't want to pay that price can get in trouble. I accepted the idea of celebrity because of a French expression: "You cannot have the butter and the money for the butter."'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On Anna Wintour: 'People I'm really friendly with have faxes. Anna Wintour has one.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On being called 'reckless': 'If you throw money out of the window throw it out with joy. Don’t say: "one shouldn’t do that" - that is bourgeois.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On body diversity: 'The hole in social security, it's also [due to] all the diseases caught by people who are too fat... no one wants to see curvy women on the runway'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On his cat, Choupette: 'She's like a kept woman. She has a strong personality. She has lunch and dinner with me on the table with her own food. She doesn't want to eat on the floor'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On Adele: 'I prefer Adele and Florence Welch,' he told Metro. 'But as a modern singer she is not bad. The thing at the moment is Adele. She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice.'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On his fashion obsession: 'I'm kind of a fashion nymphomaniac, but who never gets an orgasm'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On his ego: 'I'm very much down to Earth. I'm just not from this Earth'
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On Heidi Klum 'I don't know Heidi Klum. She was never known in France. Claudia Schiffer also doesn't know who she is'
Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On sweatpants: 'Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On vanity: 'Vanity is the healthiest thing in live'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On making Meryl Streep's Oscars 2017 dress: 'I made a sketch, and we started to make [her] dress. [Her camp then told us] "Don’t continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us." After we gift her a dress that’s 100,000 euros, we found later we had to pay [for her to wear it]. We give them dresses, we make the dresses, but we don’t pay. 'A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On singer Conchita Wurst: 'We have all heard of 'bearded ladies' but no one has ever seen a bearded man posing as a lady... This brings new meaning to the term 'drag''
Karl Lagerfeld/ CR Fashion Book
Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On Michelle Obama: 'I adore Madame Obama, I love her. But there is a news reader at LCI which has this haircut...Frankly, this doesn't suit her. The fringe was a bad idea, it's not good'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On his infamous sunglasses: 'They're my burka'
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Karl Lagerfeld's most memorable quotes On fur: 'In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and even clothes, the discussion of fur is childish'
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Even his cat Choupette has gained notoriety with a new book dedicated to his furry friend.
However, besides his skills as a designer, he often makes headlines for his hilarious and often controversial quotes, weighing in on everything from Pippa Middleton to tattoos.
See the gallery below with his most memorable quotes.
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