Fashion drawing for Tiziani

[Rome, circa 1965]
1 drawing (300 x 400 mm) in felt pen with 2 stapled fabric coupons (no. 709 top left).

We apologize for the imperfect translation generated by Deepl for the purposes of the show.

In 1954, two young designers tied for first place in a fashion design competition, the International Wool Secretariat Prize, organised by the Woolmark brand: Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. A ‘genius in the making’, in the words of Evans Richards, Lagerfeld was recruited by fashion designer Pierre Balmain, a member of the jury. He was his assistant until 1962, when Richards, who had just founded the Tiziani fashion house in Italy, brought him to Rome, where he became artistic director of the house and where Lagerfeld produced his first collections from 1963 to 1969.

Six years of designs for Italian women and the brand’s prestigious customers, from Elizabeth Taylor to Doris Duke and Gina Lollobrigida. As early as 1965, Lagerfeld was noticed by Fendi, for whom he created the brand’s logo that same year, initiating a collaboration that would not end until Lagerfeld’s death, despite the career that was to follow and his many other commitments to houses such as Jean Patou, Chloé and Chanel, of which he became artistic director in 1983.

Original drawings by Lagerfeld from this period are extremely rare: the couturier always hated having his sketches, drawings and sketches kept, and they almost always ended up in the bin: ‘I throw everything away. The most important object in a house is the dustbin! I don’t keep any of my archives, no sketches, no photographs, no clothes, nothing’ (New Yorker interview, 2007).

Provenance: Tiziani Archives, Palm Beach auctions, 2019.