After her death, the house of Chanel was looked after by Yvonne Dudel, Jean Cazaubon and Philippe Guibourge. The Chanel suit and the Little Black Dress were sold in their usual vast quantities, and all the Chanel products sold very well, but the sparkle had gone. Chanel needed someone to put life back into the veritable house. The owner Alain Wertheimer persuaded Karl Lagerfeld to sever his contract with Chloe and become Chanel's chief designer for an annual salary of $ 1 million.

Karl Lagerfeld

In 1983 Karl Lagerfeld took over Chanel. His shock treatment, raising the hemline about 12 inches, using leather and denim, have not changed what is basically the Chanel suit. It still says the wearer is elegant; cares about quality; knows her way to the rue Cambon, and is rich - or wants to be.

It may be a sin, it may be expensive but the American and European woman's insatiable passion for Chanel defies all expectations and has led to billion dollar earnings for the house of Chanel. Chanel's style has outlived her, outlived the 2Oth century, and perhaps will outlive the 21st century too.

Ready-to-Wear

Karl Lagerfeld presented his Chanel Spring/Summer 2003 collection in Paris during October 2002 which was very well received. This is an outfit from that collection.

He went for one of Coco Chanel's favourite themes, Deauville - the Sea - the Surf. His models carried surfboards when wearing their swimsuits. He reworked Chanel's affection for nautical themes in baggy pants, sundresses with big skirt as well as showing many of the micro-mini skirts which are all the rage this season. The clothes with the Chanel label on them are still superb.

Haute Couture - Spring/Summer 2003

To celebrate his 20 years with the house of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld showed the most beautiful collection yet for Spring 2003 in Paris in January. It was delicate, exquisite and fragile. It was a delight of rose-garden hairdoes, tresses twined over hats and chiffon camelias. Even the famous Chanel suits were woven in coloured threads on tulle, in pale gemstone shades.

Paris Ready-to-Wear
Fall/Winter 2003

Karl Lagerfeld seems to have a never-ending suply to traditional Chanel clothes with which to come up with different ideas for modern collections.

His collection called "White Light" was shown during the Paris Fashion Week of March 2003. One of the very white ensembles can be seen at the right.

Karl presented square-cut jackets hardly skim the waist, showing off a flash of midriff, over mini skirts with frayed hems or peeps of lace petticoat.

He used leather legwarmers which gave the look a modern a twist. Thigh boots and very short skirts gave the Chanel boucle suit a new look.

One of the mini-suit outfits is shown on the left.

Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2003

Karl Lagerfeld presented his usual breathtaking collection for Haute Couture fall 2003. The setting was a 17th century Parisian convent.

Here is Linda Evangelista as the Snow Queen in a medieval-theme gown. All his outfits were worn with lace French hoods. There were ruched, pin-tucked, ruffled, layered and fluted chiffon dresses, with jewel embroidery.

The Chanel tweed, ever present, came this year with wide embroidered waistbands and large buckles.

Spring/Summer 2004

During Paris Fashion Week in October 2003, Karl Lagerfeld showed the Chanel collection for next Spring. A dress and coat from this collection are shown on the left.

There seems to be no limit to the ideas that Karl can dig out of the Chanel archives. This time it was neat but never uptight soft little pastel pink checked tweeds, dainty georgette dresses, lace skirts and fresh takes on Coco's favourite tricot dressing. The signature jacket came light as a cardigan and trimmed with tiny raw-edged chiffon ruffles instead of the classic braided edging.

The Chanel trenchcoat came in a tweed with a specially woven edging by the great Parisian couture craftsman Lesage. Karl said "I don't know why I didn't think of it before, a simple idea, to add the braid in a specially made cotton, on to the trenchcoat and as soon as you wear it, you know it is Chanel".

Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2004

The Spring/Summer show was held in Paris in January 2004 and Lagerfeld presented his usual splendid collection. Coco Chanel would have recognized all of the designs, which were classics updated in Karl's inimitable way.

Here on the right is one of his beautiful evening gowns, glinting with silver sequins, worn by Liya Kebede, which is a natural for the red carpet.

Oscar Night February 2004

Nicole Kidman, the great Hollywood beauty, wore the gown shown on the left, designed by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, on the Oscar Awards Night in February 2004.

Fall/Winter 2004 ready-to-wear

Karl Lagerfeld presented his Chanel Fall collection in Paris during Fashion Week in March 2004. An outfit from the show is on the right.

The designer always knows exactly how to pick a new theme, and this time he has taken a 180 degree turn from the lady-like clothes of earlier collections. Here we have coloured leathers, urban streetwear, youthful dressing and girls playing pretty boys. The show was all about the man/woman thing, going back to when Coco wore her lover's clothes for casual wear. Karl said "I believe in boys and girls sharing jeans, jackets and T-shirts." He ran the gamut of modern styles with effortless panache and chic.

Cruise Collection

Karl Lagerfeld took a boat party down the Seine in Paris, to show the Chanel Cruise Collection. The models wore nautical short pleated skirts, high heeled sandals and jackets with badges from Chanel No. 5 perfume logo. Jaunty berets and fish charm bracelets were included with refined and classy references to the maritime world.

Haute Couture - Fall/Winter 2004
Paris, July 2004

As long as Karl Lagerfeld is there, Haute Couture will go on. His collection for Fall 2004 contained all the superb hand craftsmanship that Couture is famed for. Hand-sewn seed pearls, jewelled tunics, exquisite lace dresses, even gold thread woven into tweed garments.

He took classic Chanel designs and created new ways to wear them. As shown on the left, at Chanel the daywear suit is alive and well, to meet a modern woman's changing needs and his evening dresses had a double identity, with a voluminous tulle cape over a slim lace sheath.

On the right is Karl Lagerfeld leading out his finale wedding dress from the collection.

Spring/Summer 2005
Ready-to-Wear

During Paris Fashion Week in October 2004, Karl Lagerfeld showed his Chanel collection for next Spring. Two beautiful evening dresses from this collection are shown on the left.

It was of course a terrific occasion, with Nicole Kidman in the starring role of a mini-movie by director Baz Luhrmann. The gowns were perfect particularly the last black one, with a bare back showing a pendant in diamonds spelling out Chanel No. 5. The day clothes were also perfectly judged, pastel tweed coats, small jackets with cropped pants and houndstooth check raincoats.

Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2005

During January 2005, the Haute Couture shows for Spring/Summer 2005 took place in Paris. Karl Lagerfeld called his Chanel collection "French Garden" and was inspired by 18th century porcelain, on which he is an expert. As always he took Gabrielle Chanel's creations such as the tweed suit, but made his tweed fabric as light as a feather. The boxy jackets were shorter and the skirts wider, with a dirndl look to them. There was an occasional sparkle or hint of a crinoline and charming hats and powdered wigs made the models look like dolls. The master of couture turned out a simply lovely collection.

Oscar Night
February 27th 2005

Karl Lagerfeld was called on for lots of Chanel gowns for the Oscar evening including Kirsten Dunst shown here on the left, and Vanessa Paradis shown here on the right with her husband Johnny Depp who was nominated for best actor.

Autumn/Winter 2005

Karl Lagerfeld's Autumn/Winter collection for the house of Chanel was shown during Paris Fashion Week in March 2005. A brightly coloured outfit from the collection is shown on the left. Gone was the classic suits and quiet colours. Karl decided to show patterned tights with snug tweed jackets and short skirts. He sent out a collection saying COMMERCIAL loudly. Embroidered shearling jackets looked exceptional with narrow pants and a ribbon bow at the knees.

Chanel Exhibition

From 5th May 2005, the Metropolitan Costume Institute in New York, is presenting an exhibition of 50 of Chanel's most famous creations. A grand Gala was held a day or two before the opening, with all the fashion greats celebrating with Karl Lagerfeld. The catalogue of the exhibition by Harold Koda of the Metropolitan, is available through Amazon at the foot of the page.

Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2005

The Haute Couture collections for Autumn/Winter 2005 were held in Paris in July 2005. Karl Lagerfeld put on his usual splendid show, and one of the outfits is shown on the right. All his models paraded out wearing heavy black coats, with a sense of suspense as to what was underneath. Then they breezily threw aside their coats to show striking evening dresses of fuchsia, pale pink, black/white, embroidery like tweed, and classic tweed suits in lovely pastel colours embellished with jewelled chains. "Hidden Luxury" was the perfect name for this collection, put on with such showmanship.

Ready-to-Wear
Spring/Summer 2006
Paris Fashion Week

Karl Lagerfeld presented his ready-to-wear Chanel Spring/Summer 2006 collection during Paris Fashion Week in October 2005. A dark brown satin outfit from the collection is shown on the left. It consists of cuffed shorts (so popular this season) and a hip length jacket. It has been accessorized with a cream coloured man-shape trilby hat topped by a black flower pom pom.

Karl sent out big billowing printed blouses, skinny black jackets with "Chanel" written in silver chains, and dresses in Chanel's signature "garcon" style. The little black Chanel dress was cute in fine wool, and also in tweed. He added denim biker shorts and swimsuits with a distressed leather look, swathed in silver chains also. It was a fast-paced frenetic show.

1921	No. 5
1922	No. 22
1925	Gardenia
1926	Boise de Lies
1927	Cuire de Russe
1934	Glamour (USA only)
1955	Pour Monsieur
1970	No. 19
1974	Crystalle
1981	Antaeus pour Homme
1984	Coco
1987	Bois Noir (M)
1990	Egoiste (M)
1993	Egoiste Platinum (for men)
1995	Chanel Mademoiselle Voile(W)
1995	Coco Voile (W)
1995	Chanel pour Monsieur Concentrate
1995	Chanel No. 5 Voile (W)
1999	Une Fleur de Chanel (W)
1996	Crystalle Voile (W)
1996	Allure
1997	Allure for Men
1999	Une Fleur de Chanel (W)
1999	Crystalle (relaunched) (W)
2001	Coco Mademoiselle (W)
2002	Gentleman's Cologne (M)
2002	Chance(W)
2002	Allure Eau Fraichissante (W)
2002	Allure Eau Fraichissante (M)
2003	Allure Homme pour L'Ete (M)
2003	Allure pour L'Ete (W)
2004	Allure Homme Sport (M)
2005	Allure Sensuelle (W)