Karl Lagerfeld photographer for L'Officiel and the interview on Cocteau, Coco Chanel and
Karl Lagerfeld photographer? In 2013, the October issue of L'Officiel Paris celebrates Jean Cocteau, under the special creative direction of Vincent Darré. Kaiser Karl sheds the role of stylist and takes on the role of photographer, shooting an editorial (and the cover of the issue) which portrays the protagonists of Opium , a film about Cocteau directed by Arielle Dombasle, including Grégoire Colin, Marisa Berenson, Niels Schneider, Farida Khelfa, Ali Mahdavi.
Karl Lagerfeld becomes photographer for L'Officiel and shoots the cover (and an entire editorial) of L'Officiel Paris n. 979 , released in October 2013, a tribute-issue to Jean Cocteau under the special artistic direction of Vincent Darré . Interviewed - between the lines his rebellious and salacious spirit is best captured - Lagerfeld talks to us about all that cultural milieu that circulates around Cocteau , Coco Chanel , the Marquise Casati ... in short, les enfants terribles of Paris teeming with life from the 1920s. Musical, defined as a narrative description of the mind of Cocteau , Opium is based on a diary that Jean Cocteau writes during a break taken to detoxify after he had sunk into opium consumption due to the desperation following the loss of his beloved Raymond Radiguet .
On the occasion of the Met Gala 2023 which refers to the theme of the exhibition of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of New york , Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty , we re-propose the editorial shot by Karl Lagerfeld and the interview with the Kaiser della Moda conducted by Daphne Hezard.
Photography KARL LAGERFELD
Styling VANESSA BELLUGEON
Drawings by ELIE TOP
Interview by DAPHNÉ HÉZARD
Scroll and read the interview with Karl Lagerfeld that appeared in L'Officiel Paris n.979 of October 2013
Introduction by Vincent Darrè
To my surprise, the Jalou family offered me the chance to edit some exceptional issues of L'Officiel . Once the surprise was over, I started drawing the magazine in a notebook as I had dreamed it. In storyboard form, the magazine has taken a delirious turn. Friends I admire came and participated, filling the Paris salon with their imagination and talent. It was a coincidence that the shooting of Opium had just finished, Arielle Dombasle 's film about Jean Cocteau , in which I had been parachuted as artistic director. Many crazy artists had collaborated on it. Was it this spirit of freedom that prompted me to bring this motley crew together on the cover? Who better than Karl Lagerfeld - the Andy Warhol of fashion - he could capture this emotion in photographs . And just like the Factory, he's transformed his studio and welcomed this joyous band with his culture and humor. Thus was born the theme of the magazine, a tribute to Cocteau for the fiftieth anniversary of his death!
The interview with Karl Lagerfeld
L'OFFICIEL: Lagerfeld, what do you really think of Cocteau?
Karl Lagerfeld : I like the young Jean Cocteau , I like the Cocteau a little less who drew on restaurant napkins towards the end of his life. I was very disappointed with the last volume of his posthumous diary. It's silly and pretentious. He says he's more talented than Picasso or something. I love Cocteau's youth and his post-war films, such as Beauty and the Beast , Orpheus , Les Enfants Terribles . After that, I didn't like it that much.
LO: But would you like to meet him...
KL: I'm not someone who thinks I should get to know as many people as possible. The idea I have of them is perhaps more exciting than reality. This is enough. I'm not one to discover the stars. What would I have gained by knowing him?
Scroll and continue reading the interview with Karl Lagerfeld that appeared in L'Officiel Paris n.979 of October 2013
LO: But there are similarities between you and Jean Cocteau...
KL: None.
LO: Of course there are: you make films, you draw...
KL: Yes, but I don't write (and especially I don't do bad poetry).
LO: You don't write?
KL: No, I don't write. I do not have anything to say. I answer questions, but I have nothing to say.
LO: And why do you say that Jean Cocteau's was a bad poem?
KL: That's not what I like most about him. Poetry is a difficult thing. Either you're a full-time poet or you're not.
LO: What poem do you like?
KL: Catherine Pozzi , Anne de Noailles or arch-classical stuff like Mallarmé , Rimbaud , Verlaine .
LO: Jean Cocteau frequented the salon of Annade-Noailles...
KL: Yes, he copied it in the beginning. She was definitely more talented, I think. I also like Emily Dickinson , but poetry, if it's not 100%, gives me problems.
LO: You know the characters in Arielle Dombasle's film well. What do you think of their interpretation in Opium?
KL: The real Marchesa Casati was crazy. The Opposite of by Marisa Berenson . It was more extreme. Marisa is benevolence in itself, kindness, perfect education. He is the opposite of Casati, but he can interpret her.
LO: And Nijinsky, played by Philippe Katerine?
KL: Physically it's a bit difficult, but it's fun. I also made a film about Nijinsky , with Misia Sert played by Emmanuelle Seigner and Coco Chanel by Anna Mouglalis . It was very funny, Baptiste Giabiconi was just 18 and had never danced in his life. Jean-Christophe Maillot , the director of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo , had been called and shown him three movements. It was as if he had been doing it all his life. But Nijinsky was shorter in stature. A very fascinating new biography has just come out, with many discoveries that I hadn't read in other biographies.
Scroll and continue reading the interview with Karl Lagerfeld that appeared in L'Officiel Paris n.979 of October 2013
LO: What was the relationship between Cocteau and Coco Chanel?
KL: Coco Chanel mostly helped him financially. There are many letters where he thanks her for donations or something. But there's no shame in it. For a rich woman to help artists, I think it's perfectly right and normal.
LO: Is it true that Coco Chanel also paid for her latest rehabilitation?
KL: Yes, he had to. But you know, Coco Chanel was a morphine addict to the last degree. She died of a morphine overdose!
LO: It would seem that it would be necessary to take substances to "keep alive" one's talent...
KL: Personally I don't think so, but I'm not talented, so I can't say. I personally don't feel the need for it. I find doing what you love to be very inspiring. Work can be a drug, but if you add other things to it, in the frenetic context of today's life, the situation becomes unmanageable. Situations like that of John Galliano occur. But if you agree to work for a big brand, you also have to take the risks involved and be aware of them. Today this job is like a top-level sport. But it's still a feel-good job.
Scroll and continue reading the interview with Karl Lagerfeld that appeared in L'Officiel Paris n.979 of October 2013
LO: Is it still a job that stimulates you?
KL: I don't ask myself this question, I find it normal. I'm a trader and that's fine with me.
LO: Do you like tributes?
KL: I find the word itself awful.
LO: Why do you think the dead are so fashionable?
KL: I don't know and there are a lot of things that are trendy that I don't really like… that I find ridiculous. It's all a tribute. It's awful. It makes me think of the expression "My respects, ma'am" . What interests me is what I do, not what I have done or what I will do. The fun is to keep developing, perfecting, doing. Doing to do , not doing for the sake of doing.
LO: What will he do tomorrow?
KL: Being in the middle of haute couture, I'll take pictures late at night, but that's not really important. I have an appointment with some Brazilians for Melissa shoes, then I have an appointment with a gentleman for a perfume and then back to my tests for Chanel , if you really want to know all about it.
HAIR Marc Orsatelli
MAKE-UP Max Delorme
MANICURE Anny Errandonea
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS Olivier Saillant, Xavier Arias, Ben Sollich, Frederic David
DIGITAL RETOUCH Ludovic d'Hardiville
STYLING ASSISTANTS Helena Tejedor, Viviana De Ferrari, Louise Mast, Marine Prud'hon
