Karl Lagerfeld’s Career Was Unlike Anyone Else's

On December 11, 1954, Lagerfeld won first prize in the coat category in a competition organized by the International Wool Association in Paris.

Per Yahoo!, Lagerfeld's success in the competition helped to establish him within the industry, and led to his job as Pierre Balmain's assistant in 1955.

According to Karl Lagerfeld's official website, the designer became one of the first freelancers in the fashion industry, and spent his time working between France, Italy, England, and Germany. He worked with brands including Charles Jourdan, Curiel, Krizia, and Valentino.

Lagerfeld also worked with Italian fashion house Tiziani for several years in the '60s. The label designed many of Elizabeth Taylor's movie costumes and red carpet looks.

Importantly, Lagerfeld began to freelance at French fashion house Chloé, before taking "sole creative control" in 1966, per WWD. Lagerfeld designed the fashion house's collections from 1964 to 1983, and again from 1992 to 1997.

Lagerfeld is "dubbed the first designer to launch a fragrance without having his own label," GQ reports, proving him to be a trailblazer in every field.

Alongside his ongoing responsibilities at Fendi and Chanel, Lagerfeld launches his own line.

The designer revealed his eponymous label was created to channel "intellectual sexiness," GQ writes. Lagerfeld sold the label to the Tommy Hilfiger group in 2005, per Business of Fashion, but retained his role as its chief creative.

Lagerfeld's photography became just as renowned as his design work, with the artist regularly creating photo shoots for Harper's BAZAAR.

Of Lagerfeld's impeccable work creating campaigns, editorials, and imagery for Chanel, the image director of the fashion house, Eric Pfrunder, told WWD in October 2015, "Karl has an eye. He’s not taking 300 shots. He’s doing five, maybe six. Generally, it’s the first frame that is the best. He’s very fast because he has one vision, and that’s it."

A retrospective of Lagerfeld's photography ran in Paris in 2015.

According to his official website, Lagerfeld lost 93 lbs following a strict diet. He released a book in 2004 detailing his weight-loss method, written with his physician, Jean-Claude Houdret.

Introducing The Karl Lagerfeld Diet, the legendary designer revealed the reason for his lifestyle changes: "I suddenly wanted to dress differently, to wear clothes designed by Hedi Slimane… But these fashions... required me to lose at least eighty pounds... I did not think that it was possible to lose so much weight in one year... In fact, it took me exactly thirteen months."

Lagerfeld was the first high-end designer to collaborate with H&M on an affordable collection—a move which has inspired an impressive slate of other designers since (like Alexander Wang, Balmain, and Erdem). His collection, unsurprisingly, sold out within seconds.

Lagerfeld collaborated with Net-a-Porter for new line, KARL, which launched online in 2012. Described as "a collection of covetable downtown classics," Fashionista said the affordable line had "a rock'n'roll/street vibe with a healthy dose of leather."

Lagerfeld is awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards. Announcing the award, Natalie Massenet MBE said, “Karl Lagerfeld defines outstanding. He is the champion of excellence, the master of the exceptional and one of the most iconic figures globally from our industry."

Here, the designer is photographed with the creative director of Balmain, Olivier Rousteing, at the London Coliseum for the British Fashion Awards.