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Man of many words Karl Lagerfeld sat down for an interview with the folks at Style.com and talked, among other more sartorial subjects, about himself—how he's drunk his own Kool-Aid, how he considers himself working-class, why he likes being on television, and his Just-Say-No PSA.
Every time we start to think we couldn't possibly like Karl more than we already do, he goes and proves us wrong. Best bits of the interview, after the jump.
On becoming his own caricature: "You don’t ask a marionette what a marionette really thinks. I’m totally myself. I became 100 percent my image, so maybe there’s nothing else behind it. It’s like talking heads."
On being a working-class person: "I don’t even try. From you to me, I don’t know anything myself. I am flattered, because I don’t understand. I don’t sing, I’m not an actor, I have no scandals, I am a decent working-class person and people are interested in me, which I think is extremely flattering."
On why he likes doing TV: "I like if I’m on TV; watching it is not my specialty. I prefer what I see in my mind—I get second-rate images delivered there for free. But I’m not too bad on TV. I commented on the English [royal] wedding for the [French] state channel. Normally they don’t have a huge audience, but with me doing it, we had nearly 50 percent and the others had only 30 and 20 percent. An event like that is fun to do because I can make jokes, and jokes of the lowest kind are not against my mentality."
Just say no! "Don’t smoke! Everybody knows it’s bad for the health. But they have to forbid it. But I’m a bad example. I never smoke, I never take drugs, I’m never drunk, because I like only what I’m doing—work, reading, learning, sketching, taking photos. For the rest, my lack of passion or interest for this kind of thing makes it perhaps too easy for me to judge others. I’m surrounded by people who drink and take drugs. It doesn’t bother me at all, even when I know it’s bad for them. I’m not teaching them."
· Karl Lagerfeld opens up [Style.com]