Written by Alfons Kaiser, a journalist and personal friend of Karl Lagerfeld, a graphic biography exploring the man behind the larger-than-life figure who became an iconic fashion brand in and of himself while defining an era at Chanel

“It starts with me and it ends with me.”—Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld stylized himself into a living logo and a myth of the fashion world. As a brand, his name is synonymous with luxury, and as a designer, he has worked for and influenced almost every major luxury brand since the beginning of his career, from his apprenticeship with Balmain, to Fendi, whose logo he designed, to his renowned tenure at Chanel from 1982–2000.

Now, FAZ editor Alfons Kaiser, who knew Lagerfeld personally, tells the story of the charismatic fashion designer in this new graphic biography. Using many previously unknown sources, this graphic novel explores every aspect of his colorful career. From a youthful outsider in the northern German plains, to an urbane genius in Paris competing to make a name for himself against designers such as Yves Saint-Laurent, this personal look at Lagerfeld’s life paints a picture of a peerless designer, a tireless illustrator, an avid photographer, a passionate book collector, and a peerless workaholic.

But most of all, Kaiser tells the story of the man behind the larger-than-life figure: the precocious boy who preferred drawing in the attic to playing with his peers; the son who argued with his parents but never got away from them; Saint-Laurent’s greatest rival; a brother, uncle, friend—and the partner of Jacques de Bascher, the great love of his life.