Yves Saint Laurent, Jeff Koons: Karl Lagerfeld’s treasures for sale at Sotheby’s

“It’s important to keep yourself updated with everything. I want to know everything in all fields possible”, Karl Lagerfeld once said. Almost three years after his passing, the iconic fashion designer keeps inspiring us with a creativity and curiosity that have enlivened the fashion industry for over nearly six decades. In addition to his well- known drawings, photographs, and abundant collections for Chloé, Fendi, then Chanel – whom he was the artistic director for 38 years – Karl Lagerfeld is also recognized as a great aesthete, who owned numerous artworks, accessories, and design pieces from different eras. Today, Karl Lagerfeld’s estate is composed by all that heritage, with a proud record of over a hundred pieces that once belonged to the fashion designer. Next month, some parts of the collection will be displayed at Sotheby’s auction house and then be sold to the highest bidders following these three steps: a primary selection in Monaco on December 5th, a second one in Paris on December 15th, and finally a third one in Cologne in Spring 2022. This large panel of 1200 lots from Karl Lagerfeld’s collection has just revealed its treasures in the auction house’s online catalogue.

Among other items, one can find several self-portraits as tokens of a designer’s sense of humor who knew how to shape his own image into a brand. One can thus recall the unique ribbon he used to tie his white hair down in a ponytail, his black sunglasses, his fingerless leather gloves, and his ebony three-piece suits, all in an illustration made by the artist John Baldessari. There also are a resin-made bust by Nicolas Tempé, a figurine designed by Tokidoki, and of course, his famous cat Choupette as the central piece of both a mischievous print and a sculpture crafted by Joanna V asconcelos. As a design aficionado, Karl Lagerfeld has collected multiple contemporary designers’ pieces over the years, such as tables and consoles by the French designer Martin Szekely – some of them will be part of the auction – a silver armchair by Marc Newson, as well as translucid chairs and tables by Konstantin Grcic that go along with several china or glass dinner services and Art Deco furniture. Other big names of the fashion industry stand alongside the fashion designer’s one in the collection dedicated to him: Yves Saint Laurent, from whom he owned a number of original drawings and clothes, Martin Margiela, from whom he had both a leather vest and champagne buckets, but also Christian Dior and Comme des Garçons. Among the lots, one can notice a small fuchsia balloon sculpture by Jeff Koons, estimated between €20,000 and €30,000, or an extensive collection of luggage items by Goyard Malletier, including a jewelry box varying between €2,000 and €3,000.

Karl Lagerfeld’ Estate, exhibitions then sales from December 3rd to December 5th, 2021, at Sotheby’s Monaco, and from December 14th to December 15th, 2021, at Sotheby’s Paris.