Before his death in 2019, Karl Lagerfeld became known not only for his expert designs and how he helmed legacy brands like Chanel, but also for his outspoken opinions on just about everything. A new scripted series documents how Lagerfeld went from a successful but obscure ready-to-wear fashion designer to the icon he became.
BECOME KARL LAGERFELD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Initial shot: Expensive cars stop at a Paris nightclub. “SPRING 1972.” A man in tall red boots gets out of a Rolls Royce and enters the club.
The essence: Jacques de Bascher (Théodore Pellerin) is sitting in a church with his sister, looking with flirtatious eyes at the priest who is giving a sermon about not giving in to modern conveniences. He then gets on a scooter and heads to the club. There he notices Karl Lagerfeld (Daniel Brühl), the up-and-coming ready-to-wear fashion designer, and becomes intrigued. The next day, he finds a small article about him, which mentions that he designs for 20 different brands under relative anonymity.
We see Lagerfeld bring a portfolio of his latest designs to the house of Chloé and its founder, Gaby Aghion (Agnès Jaoui); She has worked independently for Chloé since the mid-60s. She constantly reminds him of the success of one of his friends, Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois), who has had his own design house for a decade.
Back at the club, Jacques tries to meet Lagerfeld, sitting alone away from the dance floor, and when he doesn’t, he returns to where he lives with his mother and sister and writes Lagerfeld an eloquent letter introducing himself and seals it. with wax That puts him face to face with Lagerfeld; Jacques wears leather pants, not only to pay homage to Lagerfeld’s German heritage, but also to be playful and flirtatious.
Lagerfeld receives an invitation to the Saint Laurent 10th anniversary show and feels insulted. He claims to his mother Elisabeth (Lisa Kreuzer) that he doesn’t compare himself to anyone, but that may not be true. During a meeting in which different fashion houses present themselves to him, Aghion tells Lagerfeld that they have hired a second designer to work in-house; As much as they love his work, they need to have a contingency in case he ever decides to take his skills elsewhere.
After that meeting and her chance flirtation with Jacques, Lagerfeld decides to present himself to Aghion as artistic director of Chloé, which means that he would design for them and no one else. But it also means that his name will be on his next collection.
Lagerfeld takes Jacques to the Saint Laurent anniversary show, where he introduces the young “writer” to Pierre Bergé (Alex Lutz), who runs YSL “with an iron fist and no velvet glove.” They are obviously not friends; Lagerfeld tells Jacques that Bergé is the one who broke up his partnership with Saint Laurent.
After the show, we find out why Lagerfeld decided to go; He wants Saint Laurent to attend his first show for Chloé. What Saint Laurent tells him is that he is now a “slave to fame” and, when he went into a hyperventilating panic shortly before the show, he thought of the time they spent together to calm him down.
Two months later, beardless, Lagerfeld presents his first show as artistic director of Chloé. Jacques bails him out with some “working women” when he is missing two models on the day of the show, and tells the models to be free and imperfect when they leave—this isn’t haute couture, after all.
What shows will it remind you of? Becoming Karl Lagerfeld is similar to other series about real-life fashion designers, such as Halston and The new look.
Our opinion: When we’re bored by the first episode of a series, we often don’t factor it into our review, mainly because sometimes the reasons we don’t engage with a show are personal to us and not the intended viewers. . But with Becoming Karl LagerfeldIt’s no exaggeration to say that what made the first episode boring for us will also prevent other viewers from interacting with it.
There doesn’t seem to be much conflict in this show. Of course, Lagerfeld ends up being a declared icon in the world of fashion, and in his early years with Chloé, his designs competed directly with those of Saint Laurent. But from what we’ve seen, we don’t even have an internal conflict with the preternaturally confident Lagerfeld. For the most part, he makes a move from being a successful but obscure independent designer to having a named line because… we’re not sure. Is he jealous of his friend Saint Laurent? Or have things simply changed for him?
Creators Isaure Pisani-Ferry, Jennifer Have and Raphaëlle Bacqué don’t give us much information about Lagerfeld’s inner life in the first episode. Aside from a vague yearning to have what Saint Laurent has, he seems largely content with being a freelancer. But any self-employed person knows that sometimes he wants the security of being on the staff. It doesn’t seem like a notable transition to us.
So, again, we look for conflict and drama. Is it because of her relationship with Jacques? Maybe, but only because Jacques is a very free spirit. Could it be his rivalry with Bergé? Maybe, but it’s not like Bergé stopped Lagerfeld from reaching the top of the fashion world. Is it Lagerfeld himself? Probably not; Daniel Brühl correctly portrays the young Lagerfeld as confident and arrogant, with just a hint of insecurity.
So it’s just going to be six episodes of talking, maybe some sex, and a lot of ’70s and ’80s fashion? If so, we don’t think our boredom will subside anytime soon.
Sex and skin: Nothing in the first episode.
Parting Shot: After getting Jacques’ opinion on his first line for Chloé, Lagerfeld asks his young friend if he will join him in the company.
Sleeping star: We liked how haunted Arnaud Valois’ scenes as Yves Saint Laurent were; Despite how famous and successful he was, he longed for the simpler times with “Karlito.”
Most pilot line: “There is not a day in my life in which I have not dreamed of becoming a great man,” Lagerfeld tells Aghion when he introduced himself as artistic director of Chloé. It’s a line Jacques said when they met, and it’s strange that he uses it to introduce himself to someone he’s worked with for years.
Our call: SKIP IT. We would say that Becoming Karl Lagerfeld It would be great if you’re a fashion fan, but we’re not even sure there’s enough conflict to drive drama for people interested in Lagerfeld’s story.
Joel Keller@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but make no mistake: he’s a couch potato. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.comFast Company and other places.
