It was quite fitting for Claudia Schiffer to place the Elle fashion star award into Karl Lagerfeld’s begloved hands this weekend at the Berlin Fashion Week. After all she owes a great deal of her success to his initial selection 20 years ago when he was looking for models for Chanel. And along with come-back bands and fashions, Claudia Schiffer made a reappearance as the face of Chanel’s SS 08 collection.

But it was what I discovered about Karl Lagerfeld himself, after a bit of nosey rooting, that really got me rubbing my hands together somewhat evilly I suppose. Some would be shocked to hear that Lagerfeld is turning 75 this year - no more than Lagerfeld himself, in fact, who is defiant that he was born 5 years after his teachers and school mates can prove. Act your age Karl.

He also claims his father, who made a packet by introducing condensed milk to Germany, was Swedish. When in fact he was confirmed to be German.

The final oddity shrouding the life of Karl Lagerfeld is his name. It used to end with a ‘t’ - as in Lagerfeldt, but he officially dropped the last letter as he felt ‘Lagerfeld’ was more commercial. Or maybe a little less German?

Anyway, who are we mere mortals to nitpick at how the a 70 *cough 5* - year old man wants to cradle his livelihood? He is, after all, single-handedly responsible for bringing us fashion classic after fashion classic. And the rest is fashion history, with a little white lie here and there.

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The fashion world was saddened today, on hearing the news that the much loved French icon Yves Saint Laurent died last night in his Parisian home.

(Photo taken in 1966 with actress and muse Catherine Deneuve)

Reports suggest that he died after battling a year long fight with brain cancer.

The sad news came as a shock to designers and fashionistas alike with, Stella McCartney, Vogue’s Editorial Director Nancy Pilcher and SATC star Sarah Jessica Parker expressing their condolences today.

YSL had, to those on the outside, a fabulous life. Credited for changing the face of women’s fashion, Yves Saint Laurent would go on to create the infamous 1966 ‘Le Smoking Suit’, that essentially liberated a woman to be able to wear trouser suits without the loss of her femininity.

YSL’s designs were unique and inspired, with his work regularly emulating the current art scene, a trait that didn’t go unnoticed by New York’s, Metropolitan Museum of Art, who honoured the designer for his creations.

With a fan base loyal and strong, Yves Saint Laurent had dressed everyone from celebrities to dignitaries, fashionistas to royalty. Even when troubling mental health issues looked like they would get the better of the designer, he refused to succumb to them, preferring to throw himself into his designs and his love of fashion.

For the man who once said:

“All a woman needs to be beautiful is a black pullover, a black skirt and to be arm in arm with a man she loves”

His passing leaves an empty space in the fashion world, which right now, seems near impossible to replace.

‘Le Smoking’

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