Anna

Anna Wintour, Cathy Horyn and More Top Critics Pay Tribute to Karl Lagerfeld

We rounded up eight poignant memorials of the legendary designer that are worth reading.

Photo: Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images

More

When Karl Lagerfeld passed away on Tuesday in Paris, it wasn't exactly a surprise — the 85-year-old designer's health had been failing for awhile — but it still sent shockwaves through the fashion world. An industry titan whose popularity and cultural relevancy far outlasted that of most of his contemporaries, Lagerfeld was the ultimate embodiment of what comes to mind when we think of a fashion designer for longer than many of us can remember.

At the helm of Chanel, Fendi and his own eponymous label, Lagerfeld captured imaginations with his relentless creative output for nearly four decades. If his sometimes offensive comments along the way upset people, he didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to relish in it.

In the hours since his passing, seasoned fashion journalists, magazine editors and Lagerfeld's personal friends have all offered their tributes to the controversial and utterly inimitable designer. Read on for some of the most memorable takes from our favorite commentators.

"Although he had never built a major fashion house in his own name, like Saint Laurent or Armani, he had nonetheless built a house for the people who loved his creative spirit and his incredible human warmth... Part of his genius was how he wove all the elements of his life into his work and his conversation, particularly at Chanel, without ever seeming to go backward." —Karl Lagerfeld Did the Work by Cathy Horyn

"Karl could be brilliant, he could be out-of-touch, but he could never be the worst sin in fashion: boring." —Mickey Boardman Remembers Karl Lagerfeld by Mickey Boardman

"His ready-to-wear shows were a torrent of ideas. Season after season, he would flood the runway with some 80 individual models, each wearing ensembles that were sometimes spectacularly appealing and at other times spectacularly not. He seemed equally at peace with both. The important thing was the constant striving toward something new and invigorating. Fashion, for him, was a constant evolution, an endless series of tweaks. He aimed for the best, but sometimes the only way to get there was through rocky and jarring terrain. If there was fear, it was of obsolescence." —Karl Lagerfeld Didn't Have a Signature Design — But He Invented a New Kind of Designer by Robin Givhan

"Karl was extravagant, generous, and very, very kind to his friends, until he had a rupture; then he would simply delete one from his life, cutting all lines of communication with no explanation. His kindness manifested itself in various ways, from loans of his 18th-century furniture to gifts of Fabergé diamonds." —André Leon Talley Remembers Karl Lagerfeld by André Leon Talley

"He had no interest in being politically correct. At least when he was upsetting people, they weren't bored. It's a strange thing to say, in the context of the multiple collections, the insane productivity, the omnivorous curiosity, the endlessly erudite references, the acres of satin and chiffon made glorious over the years, but one of the most extraordinary things about Mr. Lagerfeld may have been that he never apologized." —The Last Designer by Vanessa Friedman

"It really matters when you can pass things on. That's what Karl was always doing... for the whole industry in the prodigious legacy he leaves behind. It goes without saying there'll never be anyone else like him. Sometimes it felt like he would live forever. Maybe he still will. That would be the kind of twist I think he'd enjoy." —In Memory of Karl Lagerfeld by Tim Blanks 

"Karl was so much more than our greatest and most prolific designer — his creative genius was breathtaking and to be his friend was an exceptional gift. Karl was brilliant, he was wicked, he was funny, he was generous beyond measure, and he was deeply kind." —Anna Wintour Remembers Karl Lagerfeld by Anna Wintour

"As a subject, he was a journalist's dream — unguarded, hilarious, controversial, bold, and, well, occasionally obscene. It's true he often went too far with his satiric comments about celebrities' weight or appearances, or in recent years by making potentially offensive remarks about immigrants in Germany. But more often than not, he spoke freely and without serious repercussions because of his unique position as fashion's ultimate designer for hire." —My Unguarded Conversations with Karl Lagerfeld by Eric Wilson 

Stay current on the latest trends, news and people shaping the fashion industry. Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Anna Soubry CRIES on stage as she announces resignation from 'Brexiteer awkward squad'

Anna Soubry announced she was leaving the Conservative Party to join the Independent Group on Wednesday. The anti-Brexit campaigner made the move with two colleagues and claimed she was leaving the Conservative Party as it has shifted to the right and "the modernising reforms that had taken years to achieve were destroyed". Ms Soubry choked up as she announced she was leaving the Conservative Party, right at the beginning of her speech.

She said: “The Conservative Party has been very good to me. I have been elected three times to represent the people of Broxtowe as their Member of Parliament.

“I am very grateful for the support and hard work of a small team of activists, mostly of Broxtowe Conservatives, they know who they are, friends and family who enabled me to win.”

Online commentators were quick to point out Ms Soubry was getting emotional on stage.

One wrote: “Anna Soubry on the verge of tears as she explains her decision to quit the Tories, says it has been taken over by Brexiteer awkward squad.”

Another added: “Anna Soubry on the verge of tears at one point as she thanks activists and friends in her local Tory party in Broxtowe.”

A third said: “Anna Soubry chokes back tears as she recalls her career in the Tory party.”

During her speech, Ms Soubry said that the battle for the Conservative Party was "over" and the hard-right Brexit extremists had won.

She said: ”As my friend - and he is my friend - Chuka Umunna said on Monday, you don't join a political party to fight it and you don't stay in it and skirmish on the margins when the truth is the battle is over and the other side has won.

"The right-wing, the hardline anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every leader for the last 40 years are now running the Conservative Party from top to toe. They are the Conservative Party.

"Dear friends and now former colleagues who share those one-nation values and principles will, of course, today deny it, but I believe in their heads and in their hearts, they know it's over.

"And the reason they know it's over is because we lost the referendum and Brexit now defines and shapes the Conservative Party."

Ms Soubry urged "fellow one nation Conservatives" and "like-minded Lib Dems" to "please, come and join us" in breaking away from their parties.

Ms Soubry was joined by Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston to quit the party after eight Labour MPs joined the Independent Group earlier this week.

Ms Allen described the Tory trio as the "three amigos" who had joined the "magnificent seven" ex-Labour MPs who launched The Independent Group (TIG) on Monday.

She said she believed "a significant number" of Conservative MPs were considering joining them.

In a letter to Mrs May, the three MPs said: "We no longer feel we can remain in the party of a Government whose policies and priorities are so firmly in the grip of the ERG and DUP.

"Brexit has re-defined the Conservative Party - undoing all the efforts to modernise it. There has been a dismal failure to stand up to the hard-line ERG which operates openly as a party within a party, with its own leader, whip and policy."

They added: "The final straw for us has been this Government's disastrous handling of Brexit."

Anna University to get SAIF for high-end research

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Anna University will soon get a Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility (SAIF), which will have high end-equipment to boost research activities in the Institute, said M K Surappa, Vice Chancellor of the varsity.

Surappa told Express that Anna University is one of the four institutes in the country that have been selected by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) for the establishment of SAIF.

“We had sent a proposal to set up SAIF in our institute which has been selected by DST. After completing the necessary procedure, the DST will sanction at least Rs 125 crore for the project,” he said. The SAIF unit will immensely benefit the researchers and encourage research work in the university. “Along with our students, researchers from outside can also use the  facility,” said Surappa. He also added that work on the project will start immediately after they receive the funds.

The DST provides facilities of sophisticated analytical instruments to researchers through its SAIF programme so that the non-availability of these instruments in their institutes may not come in the way of scientists in pursuing research and development activities. Mostly, high-end equipment such as thermal analyser and scanning electron microscope, which are normally not available at many academic institutions due to their high cost, will be procured and kept at the SAIF unit.

With such a facility, the researchers will be able to keep pace with developments taking place globally. There are around 18 SAIF centres across the country, including one at IIT-Madras. The unit provides services of facilities of sophisticated analytical instruments to scientists and academicians from research laboratories and industries, to enable them to carry out their research work without any hindrance.