Karl Lagerfeld was truly a fashion icon, and had the most outrageous and witty personality.
While creating a legacy for himself as Chanel’s creative director, the designer also became well known for his outspoken quotes throughout the years.
So while the world is mourning the loss of a true fashion icon, it only seems right to remember his most iconic quotes of all time.
On being fashionable and stylish
“Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.”
“Don’t use expensive clothes as a screen for your personal doubts. Be proud of yourself and not only because you wear expensive designer clothes. They are great, but lots of people are happy without them.”
“Never use the word ‘cheap.’ Today everybody can look chic in inexpensive clothes (the rich buy them too). There is good clothing design on every level today. You can be the chicest thing in the world in a T-shirt and jeans—it’s up to you.”
“Trendy is the last stage before tacky.”
“Don’t dress to kill, dress to survive.”
“I am a fashion person, and fashion is not only about clothes—it’s about all kinds of change.”
“Chic is a kind of mayonnaise, either it tastes, or it doesn’t.”
On 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.”
On spending your hard-earned money
“If you throw money out of the window, throw it out with joy. Don’t say: ‘one shouldn’t do that’—that is bourgeois.”
On always looking tip-top 24/7
“I’m very impeccable and clean before I go to bed. 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.”
On luxury goods
“Luxury bags make your life more pleasant, make you dream, give you confidence, and show your neighbors you’re doing well.”
“Luxury is the ease of a t-shirt in a very expensive dress.”
On wit
“Everything I say is a joke. I am a joke of myself.”
“A sense of humor and a little lack of respect: that’s what you need to make a legend survive.”
On his own legacy
“I’ve always known that I was made to live this way, that I would be this sort of legend.”
Credit: HarpersBazaar