Cat sculptures, Rolls-Royces and fingerless gloves – Karl Lagerfeld's personal effects go under the hammer

One item that won't be included in Karl Lagerfeld’s upcoming sale of personal memorabilia is a tracksuit. The late designer – who became almost as well known for his outspoken opinions as he did for his fashion collections – famously said, "sweatpants are a sign of defeat," along with other bon mots such as "trendy is the last stage before tacky" and "chic is a kind of mayonnaise, either it tastes, or it doesn't". 

Concerned your mayonnaise isn’t stylish enough? Why not pick out your napkins, suits or tableware from Lagerfeld’s personal collection – which will of course have been personally vetted for chicness by the man himself. 

His luxury cars, dining room tables, antique desks, linens, illustrations and suits, among many other items, are set to go on sale at Sotheby’s in a series of auctions between December 2021 and March 2022. The final auction, which will take place in the eminent fashion designer’s birth country of Germany, will mark just over three years since his death. 

The sale will be held in Monaco, Paris and Cologne – three cities where Lagerfeld had homes – and has been described as “an anthology of his personal taste” by Sotheby’s. It will contain more than 4,000 objects, artworks and personal effects, which have been estimated at having a collective value of €4.6 million – although Sotheby’s Paris director Pierre Mothes believes the final results could be far higher due to the almost mythic status of the man. 

“People are fascinated by Karl and we have interest in this auction from around the world – and particularly from Asia,” says Mothes, on the phone from Paris. “He was a man who was deeply interested in whichever era he lived in, which is why he felt as relevant in the 21st century as he did in the 20th. He wanted to understand every style and every period, and only ever bought the best of everything.”

This includes accessories for Choupette, his beloved Birman cat. Although she hasn’t been sighted since his death, the feline is allegedly still alive and well enough to see her milk and food dishes fetch four figures at auction this December. Not to mention the art she inspired. There is a Joana Vasconcelos sculpture of the cat which is estimated to sell for €7000 and a Hello Kitty Choupette print for €300 – a price that will no doubt escalate if a bidding war gets underway among arch fans. 

For luxury lovers, there are three Rolls-Royces with all the mod-cons; Lagerfeld's emblematic fingerless leather gloves, which he consistently wore for 20 years (more than 200 pairs will be brought to auction); a selection of designer suit jackets by Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Comme des Garçons and Maison Margiela; as well as an astonishing number of Goyard suitcases.

More artistic pieces include furniture and sculptures by designers such as Marc Newson, Martin Szekely, Ron Arad, Gino Sarfati, Louis Süe, and André Mare; and fashion illustrations by Georges Lepape and Ludwig Hohlwein, all of which range in price from €200–€60,000. Don't expect any Ikea plates: everything is in line with the luxurious life Lagerfeld famously lived – a Jeff Koons balloon sculpture from his living room estimated at €30,000; Lalique jugs; Georg Jensen champagne glasses, and pure silver dumbbells. 

© Provided by The Telegraph A Joana Vasconcelos sculpture of Choupette

And then there is the furniture, which has been taken from his two Parisian apartments: 15 rue Saint Peres and Quai Voltaire, as well as from his Louveciennes chateau on the outskirts of the city. For anyone wishing to recreate these famously stylish interiors, most of it is on sale, including the desks he drew his Chanel and Fendi collections on, and the tables he hosted Paris Fashion Week dinners at. 

The history these items represent is enticing, which is perhaps why Mothes says if he could own one lot from the sale, it would be the Van Severin table estimated at €20,000. “Not only is it a beautiful piece of furniture,” he says, “but I like the idea of knowing Karl would have created some of his work from there too.”

The proceeds from the sale are set to go to the Lagerfeld estate, although what that means is anyone's guess. Allegedly worth between £178 million and £400 million, it has been in dispute since his death, with a group of seven reportedly fighting over who should get the largest share of his will, filed in Monaco. Reports suggest these include Brad Koenig and his equally beautiful son Hudson, who regularly walked the Chanel catwalk, an array of male models, and Françoise Caçote, who is Choupette's 'governess'.

While his inheritance is in disarray, the sale itself is so meticulously curated that I wonder if the entire auction is something Lagerfeld planned before his death.

Mothes is adamant that this was not the case. “We spent some time together when I helped build up his furniture collections and one thing that always struck me was that Karl didn’t particularly care about what would happen after his death,” he says. “He was a man of the present and, yes, he had a life contract with luxury. But after that, he simply wasn’t interested.”

Luckily for the executors of Lagerfeld’s estate, the rest of us clearly are... 

Reference: The Telegraph: Melissa Twigg