PARADISE NOW

The opulent world of a celebrated designer.

As Paris bureau chief of Fairchild Publications, where he oversaw Women’s Wear Daily and W, Middleton was an insider to the heady world—and business—of haute couture and a friend of renowned couturier Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019). Born in Hamburg at the beginning of the Third Reich, Lagerfeld grew up in affluence and showed artistic talent early. In 1949, when Christian Dior staged a show in Hamburg, he went with his mother and came away dazzled. In 1952, he arrived in Paris and soon enrolled in classes for fashion illustration; in 1954, he was catapulted to overnight success after winning the prestigious Woolmark Prize for a coat design. Hired first by Pierre Balmain, he later moved to Jean Patou, where he gained a reputation for his ability to show “how the DNA of a great designer could be tweaked, teased, and even tossed aside in order to create work that was completely new and relevant.” He carefully honed his public image: “tight ponytail, dark glasses, severe tailoring, expansive knowledge of history and culture, amusing, if bitchy, comments.” He loved to provoke; he loved being in the spotlight; and, as Middleton amply shows, he loved luxury, inhabiting one sumptuous apartment after another, filling them with art, antiques, and glamorous guests. To celebrate the launch of his first men’s fragrance, he held a buffet dinner for 900. Unlike some of his rivals, he eschewed drugs, alcohol, and promiscuous sex, and he worked hard and obsessively. By the 1990s, he mounted about 15 collections per year at Chanel, Fendi, and his own house, Lagerfeld, and produced a burgeoning line of fragrances. With few criticisms, Middleton offers rich descriptions of Lagerfeld’s designs, outfits, and extravagant shows as well as the famous, beautiful, and affluent people who surrounded him: Anna Wintour, Paloma Picasso, Ines de la Fressange, Claudia Schiffer, and a host of others.

An authoritative and admiring portrait of a fashion icon.