Karl Lagerfeld was a mega-collector. Of high-collared white shirts (1,000). Of books (300,000). Of interval décor (Artwork Deco, Memphis Group, 18th-century European). And of houses — not less than 20, in Europe and in New York.
“He beloved shopping for, redesigning and adorning homes,” stated Sébastien Jondeau, the longtime assistant and bodyguard of the style designer, who died in 2019 on the age of 85. “It was a real ardour.”
A kind of houses, the Bond-villain-like lair on the Quai Voltaire in Paris that was Mr. Lagerfeld’s final residence — offered at public sale on the Chamber of Commerce and Trade of Paris on Tuesday for 10 million euros ($10.8 million). Greater than 50 attendees gathered for the sale of the two,800-square-foot residence, which Mr. Lagerfeld shared with Choupette, his beloved blue-eyed Birman cat. Bidding started shortly after 10 a.m. at 5.3 million euros, and rapidly became a standoff between two events: one who was off-site and speaking by way of an public sale official within the room by way of a landline phone, the opposite who was represented by a French lawyer seated within the second row and taking instruction on his cellphone.
The lawyer, who wouldn’t give his identify for causes of confidentiality, gave the impression to be taking path in English from his consumer by way of a phone earpiece. Affords bounced between the 2 bidders by increments of fifty,000 to 150,000 euros for practically 20 minutes, till the lawyer’s bid jumped from 9.3 million euros to 10 million euros. The public sale official on the landline with the phone bidder made a hand movement that her bidder stood down. When the auctioneer, Bertrand Savouré, introduced that the residence had been offered, attendees erupted in applause. Mr. Savouré wouldn’t reveal the client’s identify or nationality.
Proceeds of the sale go to Mr. Lagerfeld’s property, which will probably be distributed to Mr. Lagerfeld’s seven heirs: the previous mannequin Baptiste Giabiconi, who will obtain 30 p.c; Mr. Jondeau and the previous mannequin Brad Kroenig (the daddy of Mr. Lagerfeld’s godson, Hudson) will every obtain 20 p.c; and the Chanel creative director Virginie Viard, Mr. Lagerfeld’s inventive muse Amanda Harlech and the Karl Lagerfeld model executives Caroline Lebar and Sophie de Langlade, who will cut up the remaining 30 p.c, in response to the French weekly journal Le Level.
The public sale comes at a time of renewed curiosity in Mr. Lagerfeld. “Paradise Now: The Extraordinary Lifetime of Karl Lagerfeld,” a dishy biography by William Middleton, a former Paris bureau chief of Girls’s Put on Each day, was revealed in the USA final 12 months, and is being tailored by Paramount as a function documentary, produced by Graydon Carter. In June, Disney+ will stream “Changing into Karl Lagerfeld,” a six-episode biographical sequence based mostly on the ebook “Kaiser Karl” by the French journalist Raphaëlle Bacqué. And Thames & Hudson not too long ago launched “Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Homes,” a large-format artwork ebook by Patrick Mauriès and Marie Kalt, the previous editor of Architectural Digest France, that particulars 13 of Mr. Lagerfeld’s properties.
“Each place had its personal spirit,” the authors write within the introduction. Mr. Lagerfeld’s actual property “reveals his character extra absolutely than any biography.”
Particularly the Quai Voltaire flat. Mr. Lagerfeld discovered the eight-room residence, which is on the third ground of a Seventeenth-century constructing and overlooks the Seine and the Tuileries, 20 years in the past whereas studying Maison & Demeure journal.
“When he purchased the residence, he stated, ‘Possibly I’ll do a bit of labor on it,’” Mr. Jondeau recalled. “Then he spent three or 4 years redoing all the pieces.”
Mr. Lagerfeld had partitions torn down, elaborate moldings ripped out and a mixture of gray-tinted concrete and resin poured on the oak parquet. The only remnant of the constructing’s historic décor was the frescoed ceiling of a chapel, which he had hid by a drop ceiling. He reconfigured the format right into a grand lounge going through the river, a bedroom-bathroom suite, a 550-square-foot wardrobe, a small laundry room and a butler’s pantry, the place he saved his Food plan Coke. No cooking was allowed within the residence, as Mr. Lagerfeld abhorred the aroma of meals in residing areas. He took his meals at one other residence he owned across the nook, on the Rue des Saints-Pères.
He framed the primary room with bookcases encased by milky-white glass doorways. The home windows had been equally handled however with one-way white glass that allowed Mr. Lagerfeld to soak up the view whereas preserving tour boat spotlights, and telephoto lenses, out.
Mr. Lagerfeld furnished the flat with early Twenty first-century design, a lot of it from the Galerie Kreo, a up to date décor retailer in Paris. There was a bulbous chrome chair by Marc Newson, a pair of clear glass reclining chairs and an identical boxlike espresso desk by Konstantin Grcic and a lacquered steel and Corian shelf unit by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. All was in black, white, silver or grey. The lighting was a spooky blue that forged no shadows.
“There isn’t any colour right here, as a result of I’m continuously surrounded by colour,” he advised Architectural Digest France in 2012. “I desire to stay in a impartial setting.” The furnishings had been offered by Sotheby’s in Monaco in 2021.
Mr. Lagerfeld’s life within the residence was meticulous and regimented. One desk was for drawing, one other for writing checks, a 3rd small desk for correspondence. “There was a bit of couch the place he solely sat to learn magazines,” Mr. Jondeau stated. There was no artwork on the partitions, save a Takashi Murakami display print portrait of Mr. Lagerfeld. He not often acquired guests.
“I by no means went there,” stated Clémence Krzentowski, a co-founder of Galerie Kreo. “He would ship me pictures when the furnishings we delivered was all in and say that Choupette ‘beloved all the pieces.’”
“The Quai Voltaire flat for Karl was the identical as Coco Chanel when she lived on the Ritz: very intimate, his luxurious hideaway,” Mr. Jondeau stated. “I hope it lands in good fingers.”