“He Was Constantly Present and Never Nostalgic,” Carla Bruni-Zarkozy and Andrew Bolton Speak at the Press Preview for “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty”

Those lines intersect into further dichotomies, explored in particular galleries including “feminine and masculine, romantic and military, historical and futuristic, artisanal and mechanical, and figurative and abstract,” among others, before ending in “the satirical line.” Which focuses on Lagerfeld himself, both through the creation of his persona, and the way he referenced his own self through his work, culminating in a room where so-called Karl aphorisms, or “Karl-isms” are presented via iPhone screens mixed in with the sound of the designer laughing. 

But even if the focus remains on his creative output rather than his work, the work would not be what it is if Lagerfeld wasn’t who he was; and so Carla Bruni, the former First Lady of France, delivered a touching tribute to the designer, with whom she often collaborated back in her modeling days. “Despite his charisma and his creative power, despite the energy he diffused and which animated him, despite the bewitching charm of his brilliant and sharp mind, despite his elegance and generosity, and despite his wicked sense of humor, which as you can see is so well represented in this exhibition, it is his kindness that I remember the most,” she shared. “He was a universally curious man. Everything interested him, except mediocrity. This made his creations timeless, and in the world of the ephemeral, [they] have become permanent.”