Since 1983, the year he took over as creative director of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld has impressed with his pioneering and irreverent vision, thanks to which he renewed the aesthetics of the French fashion house with shameless designs inspired by the legacy of its founder, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.

His ideas were so personal and his work so meticulous that, unhappy with the shots of his collections, he began to photograph them himself and published his first press kit in 1987.
From then on Karl Lagerfeld’s work developed on two parallel tracks, that of creativity and that of the image on which vision and concept travel in unison.

Here are the 5 most beautiful Chanel campaigns shot by Karl Lagerfeld.

1. Helena Christensen Spring/Summer 1990 Prêt-à-porter

Campaign taken in the elegant French seaside town of Deauville, where Coco Chanel opened her first fashion boutique, in Gontaut-Biron. 

2. Claudia Schiffer Fall/Winter 1992-1993 Prêt-à-porter

His muse par excellence Claudia Schiffer, taken in a Berlin that had just been reunified after the fall of the wall on 9 November 1989.

3. Milla Jovovich Spring/Summer 1998 Haute Couture

A collection inspired by the 20s and a beautiful Milla Jovovich shot digitally in Paris.

4. Stella Tennant Spring/Summer 2002 Prêt-à-porter

Still in Coco’s footsteps. Stella Tennant is the protagonist of this companion taken in Biarritz, an elegant seaside town on the Basque coast in south-west France. The founder of the French maison spent much of her time there between the late 10’s and early 20’s due to the war raging in Paris. In Biarritz Coco Chanel opened her first fashion house in a villa opposite the city’s Casino.

5. Natalie Westling and Vittoria Ceretti Pre-Fall 2017 ‘Paris Cosmopolite’ Métiers d’Art

The collection highlights the wonderful work of Chanel’s tailoring ateliers and was presented at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, home of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel where she died in 1971.