A new series reveals Karl Lagerfeld as a person before he became a concept and a controversy
German-Spanish actor Daniel Bruhl stars in Becoming Karl Lagerfeld. Pics Courtesy/Disney
Having written about fashion as a career and having met Monsieur Lagerfeld in 2010 at a London fashion conference, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the Disney+ series, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld (available on Hotstar India). Based on Raphaelle Bacque’s book Kaiser Karl, this six-part series unfolds as a “becoming” story that explores the era before the iconic German designer’s rise to the role of Chanel’s creative director.
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Directed by Audrey Estrougo and Jerome Salle, it opens amid the highfalutin society of Parisian haute couture in 1972: the feuds, theatrics, sketchbooks, cravats, and the disco. Lagerfeld, portrayed by Daniel Bruhl, emerges as a superbly glacial and brooding 38-year-old styled in aviator shades and a fan in hand, dividing his time as a social butterfly and freelance designer for Fendi and Chloe. He has yet to adopt the trademark monochrome uniform, white ponytail, high-starched collars, and pout.
Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, Daniel Bruhl (left) as the designer, and Theodore Pellerin as his lover, Jacques de Bascher
In addition to harbouring lofty ambitions of escaping the tag of “ready-to-wear mercenary”, he holds a bitter rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois). Lagerfeld meets Jacques de Bascher (Theodore Pellerin), a younger, amateur dandy, who ends up in a tumultuous love triangle with Saint Laurent, causing scandal in the Paris social scene at the time. The series chooses not to depict de Bascher’s eventual death from an AIDS-related illness in 1989. Lagerfeld stayed with him until the end, even setting up a cot besides his hospital bed, reports The Cut.
Like the man himself, the largely French-language series takes its time to get going (each episode spans 40 minutes), but it glosses in sumptuous period detail and odious views: “Fashion has nothing to do with women, or there wouldn’t be so many gays in the business,” he tells de Bascher at the same YSL show in the episode 1. “It’s a way of embodying the zeitgeist, of reflecting society’s true nature.”
The series spotlights the designer’s lifelong struggles with body image and binge eating, reminding us of his infamous comment in Metro France in 2012 where he described singer Adele as “a little too fat” (later claiming he was referring to Lana Del Ray). Episode 2 opens with Lagerfeld lacing a corset tightly around his torso before putting on a French cuff shirt monogrammed with KL. In episode 5, there is a standout scene where Bruhl’s Lagerfeld is dressed in a printed night jacket and pyjama set, devouring a large piece of cake.
Nearly all the female characters throughout the series—aside from Marlene Dietrich (played by Sunnyi Melles) and her eternal firebrand presence—appear as emotional support or mere props; mannequins upon which Lagerfeld and Saint Laurent hang their craft. Becoming Karl Lagerfeld suggests that Parisian fashion in the 1970s was broadly gate-kept by a small coterie of bickering men.
For those unfamiliar with this world of high fashion and designer dramas, this series may seem obscenely ridiculous and indulgent at all times, better encapsulated possibly in Lagerfeld’s words: “Appetite comes from eating, ideas from working.” Yet, there is a weird and heavy backlash of sadness one feels at the end—a melancholy comedown of repression, power dynamics, and an intense pang of love and loss. These are themes universally known and felt, whether you are in fashion or finance. This compelled me to think about Lagerfeld more deeply, compassionately, moving beyond the detached impression from my brief encounter.
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