Karl Lagerfeld (1938-2019) - Authentische Fendi Modeskizze, signiert, 2014, Maison Lesage

There are drawings that document a craft. And there are drawings that let you dive into the visual world of a genius.

Karl Lagerfeld was not only one of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th and early 21st centuries—he was a compulsive draftsman. Long before a design found its way into the studio, he lived on paper. With pencil, ink, sometimes watercolor. Fast, precise, incorruptible. Lagerfeld drew daily—not as a means to an end, but as an autonomous artistic practice. His sketches were sought after by collectors, museums, and fashion houses alike because they showed what finished collections conceal: the immediate moment of the idea.

This authentic sketch was created in 2014 for the Haute Couture collection of Fendi, in the midst of a creative phase in which Karl Lagerfeld reinvented the fashion world season after season, with a productivity and consistency that is unmatched in fashion history. The subject is a fashion sketch of a lady in frontal view. She wears a long, light-gray A-line coat with a row of small front buttons, which is set off at the collar and the voluminous, puffed sleeves with a characteristic textured weave pattern. Her hair is styled into a tall, pointed, sculptural updo. The lady wears long black gloves, and at her visible foot a single, pointed black pump can be seen.

The expressive line work in black ink is combined with a gentle gray wash of watercolor. Red appears in three places: in the hand-drawn frame that surrounds the sketch, as well as in the handwritten inscriptions 'Fendi' at the upper left and 'HC2014' at the upper right, which assigns the work to the Fendi Haute Couture collection of 2014. The signature 'Karl Lagerfeld' is at the bottom right. The work is presented on cream-colored paper in a simple white frame.

The work comes directly from the renowned Maison Lesage in Pantin, France—and thus from the inner creative orbit of Karl Lagerfeld at Fendi.

Maison Lesage is no ordinary address. Founded in 1858, since 2002 part of the Chanel Métiers d’Art, the house is regarded as the world's most important embroidery atelier. Generations of couturiers—from Schiaparelli to Balenciaga, from Dior to Fendi to Saint Laurent—have relied on Lesage. For Lagerfeld, Lesage was for decades an indispensable creative partner: the most elaborate embroideries of the haute couture collections, season after season, originated in the Pantin ateliers. No house stood closer to the Chanel and Fendi cosmos. And this work comes from that house—directly.

On the back of the sheet is the original seal (Ref. KL4 77/90). The frame was equipped with a dedicated viewing window at this point, so the document can be viewed at any time without opening the frame.

A gallery certificate of complete provenance from Maison Lesage accompanies the work.

Comparable drawings with identical and direct Lesage provenance have been offered at international leading auction houses with estimated prices of USD 10,000–15,000. The present work furthermore impresses with its exceptional chromatic quality—the watercolor wash and the lavender tinting of the dress distinctly elevate it above the bulk of pencil-ink sketches.

For collectors who want to have the Chanel universe, the Lagerfeld era aesthetics, or the history of haute couture close at hand—this sketch is a rare document from the center of that world.

+++ Details about the work & shipping +++

Artist: Atelier Maison Lesage, Karl Lagerfeld (German, 1933–2019)

Title: KL4 77/90 - Fashion Sketch / Fashion Sketch Fendi

Year: 2014

Medium: Mixed media on paper (pencil, ink, watercolor)

Sheet size: approx. 21 × 30 cm (A4)

Signature: Signed "Karl Lagerfeld", bottom right

Provenance: Directly acquired from Maison Lesage, 20 Rue du Cheval Blanc, 93500 Pantin, France · Gallery certificate of provenance included.

Condition: Very good. The sheet shows minimal atelier-immanent creases that were present during its creation at Maison Lesage and do not represent damage from later handling. No foxing, no color loss, no restorations.

Framing: The sheet is freestanding within an off-the-shelf matte and professionally framed under UV-protective glass. A viewing window is cut into the back to allow view of the original seal.

Shipping: The work will be framed and carefully packaged for shipment. Because of the UV-protective glass, shipping is done with appropriate protective packaging.