The Lagerfeld Looks That Defined a Career (and Remade Fashion)

Chanel

A trompe l’oeil dress with faux necklaces and belts from Mr. Lagerfeld’s first Chanel couture collection, paying homage to Coco’s penchant for draping herself in ropes of pearls and gold chains. Decades later, Anna Wintour would wear the same dress to a Biden state dinner.

Inès de la Fressange and Jerry Hall modeling Mr. Lagerfeld’s Chanel version of power shoulders and Reagan red suiting in a 1986 couture show.

Easter egg alert: Claudia Schiffer in a 1990 ready-to-wear gown featuring costume jewelry versions of the Maltese cross on Verdura cuffs that were Coco’s signature — just as embedding such Chanel references in his collections was one of Mr. Lagerfeld’s signatures.

The 1994 spring collection featured the classic Chanel bouclé suits — with ultra-mini skirts in Jordan almond shades, an example of Mr. Lagerfeld’s willingness to blow raspberries at established brand codes the better to recast them as cool.

Stella Tennant in a micro-mini double-C logo bikini in 1996. Mr. Lagerfeld made a sport (to so speak) out of putting haute branding on leisure gear, from skis to motorcycle helmets and even boxing gloves.

Devon Aoki in the Y2K version of couture in 1999: crop top and hipster taffeta ball skirt.

A look from a 2009 Chanel couture show. Coming out of the Great Recession, Mr. Lagerfeld took paper flowers as his inspiration, and the theme was reflected in the clothes.

In the 2010s, the Chanel ready-to-wear shows and sets became increasingly extravagant. The 2015 spring collection, for example, was set in a faux Parisian boulevard complete with a protest march for a finale.

In 2016, Mr. Lagerfeld dedicated his spring couture show to sustainability, crafting garments from mosaics of wood and, as in this look, mother-of-pearl — another example of his ability to find beauty in pretty much any material.

In 1997, Chanel created its Paraffection subsidiary, a group of ateliers that specialized in embroidery, millinery, buttons and other hand-worked decoration; in 2002, Mr. Lagerfeld created the annual Métiers d’Art show to highlight their work. In 2018, Pharrell Williams walked the runway for one of Mr. Lagerfeld’s last Métiers collections, held in the Temple of Dendur at the Met.

Kaia Gerber in Mr. Lagerfeld’s last couture show, inspired by the 18th century but also thoroughly modern.

Penélope Cruz, a Chanel face and muse for Mr. Lagerfeld, walked in the March 2019 show that paid homage to the designer just after his death.