Karl was born on 10 Sept 1933 in Hamburg, to Elisabeth and Otto Lagerfeld. Karl's father owned a company that produced and imported evaporated milk, while his maternal grandfather, Karl Bahlmann, was a local politician for the Catholic Centre Party.

Karl Lagerfeld will always be remembered as the most prolific designer of the 20th and 21st centuries and a man whose career formed the prototype of the modern luxury fashion industry. He was the definition of a fashion polyglot, able to speak the language of many different brands at the same time.