Coinciding with Paris Fashion Week, auction house Sotheby‘s will auction 180 sketches made by Karl Lagerfeld from the 1970s through 2018.
Preserved in the German couturier’s Paris apartments-one on Rue des Saints-Pères and the other on Quai Voltaire-these sketches “uniquely retrace the history of fashion and taste as seen by one of its major players, driven by boundless inventivity and virtuosity”.
Clear, confident strokes, black ink paired with brush strokes, watercolors, pencils, markers, and even make-up are the hallmarks of Lagerfeld’s sketches, which have been the starting points for his creations for Chanel, Fendi, and Chloé.
Among the most valuable drawings to be auctioned by Sotheby’s on July 6 will be: a series of 24 illustrations from 1969 kept in a binder along with three newspaper clippings about the designer, as well as a collage of his inspirations; a sketch of a coat for Fendi from 2013; a drawing of a red-haired model parading in an orange suit with white ruffles dating from 1978; and a sketch of a Fendi baguette. Some of these sketches also feature atelier directions written in Lagerfeld’s own hand.
In previous Sotheby’s couturier-related auctions in Munich, Paris and Cologne, the auction house has already sold Lagerfeld’s wonderful furniture, artwork, collectibles, memorabilia and personal items.
Sotheby’s auction devoted to Karl Lagerfeld’s sketches is scheduled for July 6 in Paris at Sotheby’s France headquarters at 76 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
