Chanel's legendary creative director, fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld dies at 85

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PARIS. KAZINFORM Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, best known for being the creative mastermind behind the iconic French powerhouse Chanel for over three decades, has died at the age of 85, sources close to Chanel told EFE on Monday.

Lagerfeld, a ubiquitous name in the world of fashion who took the helm at Chanel - one the world's most renowned fashion houses - in 1983, passed away at a Paris hospital, the sources said.

"Rest in peace, Karl," said English stylist and fashion journalist Katie Grand on Instagram, joining many others in the world of fashion who paid their respects to the legend on social media. "There are too many great stories and fun times to detail, you are incredibly special and talented and I was very lucky to have known you," she added.

Throughout a productive and acclaimed career, Lagerfeld also supervised creative designs for the Italian leather and fur goods brand Fendi, in addition to creating a signature label that bore his own name.

He had been notably absent at Chanel's Haute Couture show during the Paris Fashion Week in January, which sparked concerns over his health.

The German designer, who also dabbled in photography and art, cut a striking figure with his iconic uniform of a monochrome tailored black suit often paired with a flamboyant white shirt with fingerless gloves, dark sunglasses and his long white locks of hair tied back in a ponytail.

Born on Sept. 10, 1933, in the northern port city of Hamburg, he first stepped into the glamorous world of fashion when Pierre Balmain hired him as an assistant after a young Lagerfeld won a coat-designing competition in 1955.

Lagerfeld joined Fendi as a collaborator in 1965 and by the late 1960s, he had become the main designer for French house Chloe.

However, the "Kaiser" - as he was affectionately known - only became a household name once he took up the reins of the Chanel luxury label and started branding fabrics with the now-iconic interlocking Coco Chanel logo.

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