Lagerfeld Says 'Long Live the Recession'

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Jan 6th 2009 at 10:02AM

Chanel may have slashed 200 jobs and pulled the plug on its Mobile Art project, but the label's creative director Karl Lagerfeld says the recession is actually a good thing. "I see it like a cleaning up - it was too rotten anyway - so it had to be cleaned up," Lagerfeld tells the BBC. "I see it like a healthy thing - horrible but healthy, like some miracle treatment of the world."

As for the uselessness of designing luxury goods that many can no longer afford to buy, Lagerfeld insists the premise is faulty. "People have different kinds of dreams," he declares. "After all, people need a handbag, there are cheaper handbags. But if you can buy a beautiful one and if that's your dream to buy, why not?"

We're not sure Chanel's business can solely be sustained on dreams, but that doesn't faze the Kaiser. "I can be interested in a $20 million diamond I will never buy, without desiring the diamond," he notes. "If you want only things you can afford, it's boring too. It's great to see things you may not buy - because you don't have the money - but it is very ugly to think they shouldn't exist because you can not buy them."

As we reported last month, Lagerfeld himself has cut back somewhat these days, but still employs a full domestic staff and three chauffeur-driven Hummers.

Tags: Chanel, karl lagerfeld, KarlLagerfeld, Recession

Filed under: Wealth

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

just me Jan 6th 2009 11:05AM

I think he defines 'luxury' with what he's saying: "If you want only things you can afford, it's boring too. It's great to see things you may not buy - because you don't have the money - but it is very ugly to think they shouldn't exist because you can not buy them." Luxury is about the unnecessary, the non-essential but in the same breath, about the fact that it does exist. He's spot on, as they say there.