Hey there, y’all! Let’s gab a bit about this fella, Karl somethin’-or-other… Lagerfeld, yeah, that’s the one. Folks make a big fuss about him, so I figured, why not chew the fat about it a bit? Now, I ain’t no fancy pants, so don’t expect no highfalutin talk from me. Just plain speakin’, like it is.
Young Karl, huh? Before he got all famous and started wearin’ them big ol’ black sunglasses, like a fly on his face all the time, and that scratchy beard, he was just a young whippersnapper. Imagine that! A young’un, just like your grandkids or that boy down the street who’s always kickin’ rocks. They say he moved to Paris when he was just a sprout, 14 years old, or somethin’ like that. His folks let him, so I guess he wasn’t too wild back then, huh?
- He wasn’t always this big shot, you know.
- Started out just like anybody else, I reckon.
- Had to work his way up, same as we all do.
Now, they tell me he went on to be a big deal in fashion. Fashion! Can you believe it? Makin’ clothes and such. I tell ya, back in my day, clothes was just somethin’ to keep ya warm and decent. But this fella, he made it into an art, or somethin’. Started out with some fancy folks named Patou and Chloe, whoever they are. Made fancy clothes for fancy ladies, I s’pose.
This Karl fella, he worked at a place called Chanel for a long, long time. Thirty-some years, they say! That’s like a lifetime for some folks. And at Chanel, he did somethin’ special with their clothes. They had this suit, plain and old-lookin’ I bet, but he jazzed it up, made it new again. Re-what’s-it-called it, yeah, “reimagined” it, like they say in the city.
I saw some pictures of this young Karl once, in a magazine my niece left behind. Black and white they were, old-timey like. He looked kinda serious, even back then. Not smilin’ much. Guess he was busy thinkin’ about all them clothes he was gonna make. The magazine said it was from the 1950s and 1960s. Land sakes, that was a long time ago! Before most of you youngsters was even a twinkle in your daddy’s eye.
They’re writin’ books about him now, you know. One fella, Middleton, I think his name was, wrote one. And there’s movies too! One called “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld,” or somethin’ like that. They say it ain’t all true, that they made some stuff up. But I guess that’s how them Hollywood types do things. Spice it up a bit, make it more excitin’. The movie starts in 1972, they said.
He said some things that rubbed folks the wrong way, they tell me. Said some things he shouldn’t have, maybe. But that’s how some folks are, I guess. Speak their mind, even if it ain’t always pretty. He was just a regular fella, though, when you get right down to it. Just like you and me. Had a job to do, and he did it the best he could, I reckon. Lookin’ at fancy people, he called it, like a kid peekin’ in windows, wondering how those folks lived.
Karl Lagerfeld’s career started way back when, and he kept at it for a good long while. He changed things, they say. Made a mark on the world. And it all started when he was just a young fella, tryin’ to make somethin’ of himself. So, there you have it. A little bit about young Karl. Not so different from the rest of us, when you think about it.
He worked for Chloe too, they say. Started out just doin’ bits and pieces, freelancin’ they called it. Then he got to be a real designer for them, in 1966. And then, a few years later, in 1974, he was the only designer! Big responsibility, I tell ya. Like bein’ in charge of a whole field of cotton, gotta make sure everythin’s just right.
So, that’s the story, as best as I can tell it. A young fella, goin’ to the big city, workin’ hard, and makin’ a name for himself. Sounds like somethin’ any of us could do, if we put our minds to it, huh? Just goes to show ya, even them fancy city folk started somewhere.
