While his output at Chanel and Fendi is all pastel tweeds, Instagram moments and fur faces, Karl Lagerfeld’s own name label is a much more serious affair, with a monochrome colour palette chief.
Or at least that’s what the designer’s debut London store – the new European flagship, following openings in Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich and Antwerp – would have you believe.
Launched yesterday afternoon to press (with evening festivities reserved for the likes of Angel Haze, John Newman and Haim), the two-tier shop sits beside ‘Oxford’s Cashmere’, opposite Timberland, down the road from Burberry. It’s a welcome addition for London’s busy Regent Street.
Alongside the men’s and women’s Ready To Wear collections is a London centric capsule range, showcasing simple pieces (tees, jeans and jackets) all tied to the capital by Union Jack motifs and military inspired shapes; it’s a subtle hint at the all or nothing approach that often comes through in Chanel’s Métiers d'Art shows.
Elsewhere you’ll find TokiDoki dolls, coffee table books and fraggle fur covered chairs; the latter, sadly, for in-store entertainment only. The real win mind, will no doubt be the technology poured into the shop's walls.
iPads accompany rails – offering shoppers the chance to indulge in videos and new collections, plus the invitation to leave Lagerfeld a personal note – while changing rooms are equipped with photobooths fit for the finest of social media brags.
The future, apparently, is far from orange.
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