Karl Lagerfeld's recipe for success? Not letting your feet touch the ground, he told Suzy Menkes during the last session of day one of the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference.
"It's a very healthy thing to live a high-speed professional life. Ideas come when you work. I don’t believe in sitting around waiting for information," he said, adding, "I live by not giving credit to the past and believing in 'no second action' – you have to think first before you propose something."
Lagerfeld is famous for not harking back to the past – most recently felt by his refusal to visit the Amanda Harlech-curated retrospective of his life in Bonn – and his line on the subject is as hard as ever.
Image: Getty
"My life and my job is to forget myself," he told Menkes. "You want me to take inspiration from my past? No. I don't have to take note of my past. I don't want to see who's had success in the past – I don’t think like this. I have never gone into the Chanel and Fendi archives. It’s unhealthy for me, but I can see it's interesting for other people."
In the spirit of pushing things ahead, he revealed that was exactly why he started his eponymous brand.
"I need the idea of freedom – that I could leave if I wanted as it's bad for a designer to be in an ivory tower," he said. "I started the Karl Lagerfeld business because I wanted to put my name behind a label. I was tired with the Chloé management. But I’ve never owned a business as I don't want responsibility. I want to be free."
Being free affords Lagerfeld the opportunity to change his mind, (when asked about his on-off love affair with fur, he told Menkes, "I'm a fashion opportunist, if I feel the movement is out I go out; I come back when I feel the love is coming back"), as well as adopting the newest technologies.
Image: Getty
"Look at how digital I am," he said, proudly showing off his Apple Watch. "I have the first one! I am very proud and very happy and Mr Ive did very well to make sure I got it first," although he admitted that he hasn’t had time to figure out how to use it yet – "I only got it a week ago."
Looking forward as he does, Lagerfeld used the conference platform to urge his younger designer counterparts to do the same.
"People have to find their own way," he advised. "I had to create, as what I wanted to do didn't exist. I don’t think that my advice is that important to them. They have to work, work, work, and I'm sorry but there's no other way."
Image: Getty
Easily responsible for the most animated session of the day, Menkes wrapped things up by asking Lagerfeld how he felt to be the last of the Mohicans?
"I never compare myself to anyone else so I don't know," he replied, not missing a beat. "I'm here, nobody knows from when to when and I'm pretty happy with it because I can do what I want to do under marvellous conditions."
And with that the Palazzo Vecchio emptied onto the sun-soaked streets of Florence. Also quite marvellous.
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