Rating and value of Karl Lagerfeld's fashion designs

If you own a work by Karl Lagerfeld, and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers will offer you their appraisal services. Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its current market value. Then, if you wish to sell your property, we will guide you towards the best possible means of obtaining the optimum price. The price of a fashion drawing can vary depending on the year, the collection concerned, or the creation in question.

Rating and value of a Karl Lagerfeld work

Karl Lagerfeld's drawings and works are treasures of haute couture and objets d'art that bear witness to the designer's talent and the history of fashion. The price at which they sell on the art and auction markets ranges from €40 to €4,895, a considerable delta but one that speaks volumes about the value that can be attributed to your drawings and objets d'art. In 2021, a drawing created for the Chloé house sold for €3,800, exceeding the high estimate by over 400%.

Order of value from a classic drawing to the most sought-after

Reasons to sell a fashion drawing or Karl Lagerfeld creation

A fashion drawingis a testimony to the history of a fashion house, part of the evolution of stylistic creation. These are rare pieces, at the origin of collections that have often marked the history of fashion. For a couturier, the drawing is often the starting point of the creation  the artist's vision is put down on paper for the first time. It allows the genius to take shape and be visualized, so that the garment can be born. These full-fledged works are highly prized at auction and sought after by many collectors.

Lagerfeld also produced photographs that are prized and quoted at auction. 

Lagerfeld, black and white fashion icon

Karl Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg in 1933 and died in Neuilly sur Seine in 2019. A German fashion designer, he lied a lot about the details of his private life.

He came from a family of German aristocrats. He spent his youth between Hamburg and Bad Bramstedt. He studies at the Bismarck School, and discovers his vocation when he accompanies his mother to a Christian Dior fashion show. He and his mother moved to Paris in 1952, by which time he had already started producing fashion designs. He studied at the Lycée Montaigne, and began his career as a fashion illustrator two years later. Pierre Balmain noticed him at a class and took him under his wing. Balmain was his first professional experience in haute couture. During these years, he was friends with Yves Saint Laurent, until Jacques de Bascher broke their friendship by being successively their lover. In 1951, Lagerfeld was appointed Artistic Director of Jean Patou, alongside his work at Balmain. From 1963 onwards, he worked for the Chloé fashion house, where his designs are still very famous. At the same time, he collaborated with the Italian house of Fendi, for whom he designed the logo.

His life's work was to turn around the house of Chanel, for which he worked from 1983, revisiting in particular the Timeless bag by creating the classic and the Boy. He takes up Chanel's aesthetic, which becomes his siganture : black and white. He discovers model Inès de la Fressange, who becomes Chanel's muse. He worked again with Chloé and Coty fragrances, and later launched several lines under his own name.

Karl Lagerfeld's imprint on fashion history

Lagerfeld leaves a colossal legacy in fashion history. He had a considerable influence on many 20th-century couture houses.

Today, his work continues to be celebrated, most notably at the Met Gala 2023, where he was the evening's guest of honor.

The success of Karl Lagerfeld's works at auction 

In recent years, haute couture has experienced a golden age it has rarely known. Lagerfeld's designs are particularly representative of this appeal. World-famous today, he exerted a considerable influence on twentieth-century fashion.  Lagerfeld's hand-drawn designs bear witness to his stylistic identity and unique elegance, and allow fashion enthusiasts and collectors to plunge once again into the German designer's refined, elegant world.

Recognizing an original fashion drawing

A fashion drawing is a work of art in its own right. Some of them are signed and can sometimes be used to identify their author. It is also possible to identify an original by comparison with the designer's other productions.

Know the value of your design

If you happen to own a Karl Lagerfeld work, or think you might, don't hesitate to request a free appraisal using the form on our website. A member of our team of experts and chartered auctioneers will contact you promptly with an estimate of your bag's market value, and will provide you with all the relevant information. If you wish to sell your bag, you will also be accompanied by our specialists in order to benefit from alternatives to sell it at the best possible price, taking into account the inclinations of the market.