Paradise Now: The Extraordinary Life of Karl Lagerfeld

Recently deceased fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld holds down the center of a glamorous universe in this luminous biography. Journalist Middleton (Double Vision) surveys his subject’s celebrated career as a designer for Chloé and Fendi, his revitalization of Chanel as its chief couture designer, and his 2004 triumph with a collection for H&M of garments so popular that one shopper bit another to obtain one when stocks ran low. Middleton’s Lagerfeld is himself a fashion statement, with his trademark powdered white ponytail, black sunglasses, and fingerless gloves, as well as a man of dual natures. A “harsh, intimidating, even unpleasant” figure, Lagerfeld brims over with “bitchy bon mots” (“ballerina costumes for menopausal fashion victims,” he sniffed of one rival’s designs) and abrasive opinions, but in private had an inviting and magnetic personality. Middleton’s animated portrait paints Lagerfeld’s life as a whirl of clubbing, parties that occasionally end in orgies, and over-the-top fashion shows acted out by luminaries in gorgeous clothes and sumptuous locales. Fashion doesn’t emerge as a great or even coherent art here—“‘It is not black in the sense of black.... It’s black in the sense of chic!”’ is about as deep as Lagerfeld gets—but Middleton ably conveys the industry’s fizzy exuberance and the character of one of its definitive figures. This is a crackling chronicle of one of the fashion world’s punchiest personalities. Agent: Binky Urban, ICM Partners. (Feb.)