A Fashionable Friendship: Socialite Susan Gutfreund Reflects on Karl Lagerfeld Ahead of Met Gala Monday
PARIS, FRANCE - JANUARY 21: (EDITORS NOTE: This image has been retouched) (L-R) Maryvonne Pinault, Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and Susan Gutfreund pose backstage after the Chanel show as part of Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2014 on January 21, 2014 in Paris, France. (Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images)
”Now that he is no longer here to help or curate, I just pray that it is going to be something he will be proud of.”
Highly anticipated and star studded, the 2023 Met Gala falls on Monday, May 1st. The Met has declared this year’s theme is in the celebration of late German fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld. Showcasing his designs from the 1950s up to his final collection before his death in 2019, the institution (and Andrew Bolton - Curator) has called it A Line of Beauty. Most of Lagerfeld’s 150 pieces displayed will be accompanied by his original sketches.
In preparation for the grandest night in fashion, I sat down with a lifetime friend of Karl’s, Susan Gutfreund. Flight attendant turned socialite, Susan has known Karl since before his start at Chanel and enlightened us on who Karl truly was.
I first made the connection to Susan while spotting her on a BBC documentary on haute couture. To my surprise, I had the pleasure of dining with Susan late last year with my dear friend who happens to be her goddaughter. As a self-described fashion fanatic (and that’s putting it lightly), I thought it would be wonderful to invite Susan to share with me, and you, her rare experience with Karl throughout his lifetime.
Susan spoke very highly of her late friend, who was much more than a fashion designer. She describes Karl as an absorber of art and culture beyond the fashion industry. She shared endless stories from Karl’s shows, all while discussing my main question:
Would Karl Lagerfeld be proud of how this year’s Gala showcases his life’s work?
And so it begins! Please enjoy…
Susan Gutfreund attends CHANEL Fine Jewelry Boutique Reopening hosted by ANNA MOUGLALIS at CHANEL Fine Jewelry Flagship Boutique on May 20, 2008 in New York City.
Tris: Do you remember when you met Karl, and what was that like?
Susan: Two years before he started at Chanel. I only remember that because he designed my wedding dress while he was at Chloe. I married in 1981 so I must've met him in 1980. I didn't really get to know him well until he was at Chanel. We sat together at a dinner and became close and then he always made sure I was invited to the Chanel shows. When we bought a house in Paris, I was able to spend more time with Karl. It was a wonderful experience. We would discuss architecture, art, gossip, photography and everything like that.
Tris: I understand that he was a voracious reader, and going back to his interest in other artistic areas, there was an interview with Anna Wintour and she said Karl would come to the office and would want to go for a walk and would speak with her his love beyond the fashion industry.
Susan: Oh yes. You would sit there and talk to him, for instance, there were times I would visit with him after the shows and he would be doing photoshoots. I would come in and while the models were changing he would sit and talk to me. He would always ask if I had read a specific book, and I would say no. Then he would ask someone to go on the fourth level, five over to the right and get a book. He had a photographic memory about where all of his books belonged.
Tris: With my research I learned that Karl had taken over Chanel in 1983, and many would consider him responsible for successfully relaunching Chanel to the world. Would you agree with that?
Susan: Oh absolutely. He would always make a reference to the past, and studied everything Coco Chanel had done. But Karl's ability to understand the history of the brand Coco created and interpret that for the modern day customer was what made him unbelievably talented. For instance, after his shows, Karl would not be talking about the show he would want to talk about the next one. He was always looking forward.
PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 30: Karl Lagerfeld attends the Hogan by Karl Lagerfeld Ready to Wear Spring / Summer 2012 show and cocktail during Paris Fashion Week at Hotel Salomon de Rothschild on September 30, 2011 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Tris: I think that might be a trademark for a lot of very successful people in the creative industry. I hear that quite a bit from people that I have studied and dearly look up to. Karl being one of them. I do think that his shows reflected that. There was this period between Karl and Coco where there were a lot of questions trying to figure out what the future held for Chanel. You can see that when he picked up the reigns at Chanel, you can see that nod to the roots. But even though there was a nod, nothing was held back, it was always about what is the next moment or step for Chanel. It was under Karl’s leadership that Chanel became the most profitable fashion house in France.
Susan: I asked him one day, “Are you going to be upset if I didn’t have the gold buttons and just had the buttons made out of the same material as the dress?” My reason being, the gold buttons interfered with my jewelry. He said no, and there was one other client who did the same thing. The point is, the average person would consider the Chanel gold buttons jewelry. And I just thought that was interesting.
Tris: That is interesting. It just goes to show that at the end of the day it was an art to him. He was not a stickler for tradition in the brand.
Susan: He was always open. But still traditional. One day he had asked me to borrow a piece that I had bought at auction. He said I would love to show the girls the way it had been sewn. He wanted to see the construction and what they might have done differently. He was that into every detail.
Tris: That is remarkable. You’re describing someone that absorbed information and applied it to what can be done in the future.
Susan: Absolutely. That was Karl.
Tris: One of the things that really excited me about Karl and this whole prospect of A Line of Beauty, which is what the Met Gala is called this year, was the thought of Karl’s opinion on the theme. There is a documentary Vogue put out maybe in 2012, all about the Met Gala and how it is put on. And Karl was interviewed and he said something to the effect of what he does and his opinion of what he does is applied art. He did not believe that what he did belonged in museums. It was meant to be worn, enjoyed, lived in and appreciated. But he made a distinct difference between art on the walls in museums and what he created which he classified as applied art. I’m curious as to what you think about the retrospective.
Susan: Well, he didn’t believe in them.
Tris: Yes! That is my understanding as well.
Susan: He said many times that he could not understand why so many of these designers had these retrospectives while they were alive. Of course it is a very different thing when you are dead but many of these were done in the lifetime of these designers. He would be very much against that. Just like the way he was against discussing health.
Tris: Really, isn't that interesting.
Susan: He never once told me he had cancer. I saw him walking poorly once and I thought he had a back injury with age. Then the next show, 6 months later, I go to the show and I walk backstage and I walk in with his lawyer. Karl is seated and jumps up and walks over. So I think oh gosh, he's much better. Then he came to New York and someone who I cannot remember asked me if I would like to see Karl quietly before he went on stage. So I went, and I had this wonderful animated conversation with him. He had grown a bit of a beard but I still did not sense that he was sick. And then that was it. The next time I heard he wasn’t going to show up at the show, so I didnt go. Low and behold, that was it.
Tris: Now I know this was a dear friend of yours so I do want you to know that I am really appreciative of you recounting these stories which I am sure as pleasurable at times.
Susan: It's painful because he was such an important part of my life. I was so happy to share good moments with him but I am sad that he felt like he could not share the bad news with me. But then again he never spoke about his health. He added a lot to my life and I miss him terribly. I think the mark he put on the fashion world will never be the same without Karl. He was very unique. You have to remember, all these other designers, while they were wonderful, Karl had so many different interests. His passion for photography, history and so many other things. It was the whole birthday cake with Karl.
Wife of Salomon Bros. CEO John Gutfreund, Susan w. son John Peter. A portrait taken by the late great Karl Lagerfeld. Cherished by Susan.
Tris: Right. What a beautiful way to put it. I think that what you're describing here makes me so happy because I think that that is a description of somebody who had a real zest for life. He was never bored and always interested in the world around him. Isn't that beautiful?
Susan: Also that very Germanic sense of work ethic. In other words, when you'd stay with him, he would get up in the morning, powder his hair, put a dressing gown on, and do his sketches. Then he'd come out and we would have lunch and talk about everything with fashion, architecture, things like that. And then he would go back to his room, do some more work, and then come back out for dinner. It was an amazing work ethic.
Tris: I’m not sure where I heard it, I do believe it was Anna Wintour who described his sense of humor being on the wicked side. Do you remember Karl’s sense of humor?
Susan: Of course. He did have a wicked sense of humor. He was capable of making a comment about something or someone, very wicked. The other thing about him that was interesting, do you remember Andre Leon Talley?
Susan Gutfreund, British-American fashion editor & journalist Anna Wintour, and German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld (1933 - 2019) talk together as they attend Vogue magazine's 100th anniversary party at the New York Public Library, New York, New York, April 2, 1992. (Photo by Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)
Tris: Well of course. I was watching his documentary a few days ago. Absolutely.
Susan: Well we were together on a panel discussing Lulu La Falaise and his book. Anyway, something came up about Karl, and Andre made the comment that I was the only person Karl hadn’t “dumped". He would have these friendships and then next thing you knew he wouldn't take your call and then all of the sudden he just moved on. I was very lucky that that didn't happen to me. But as I said, I had nothing but the greatest relationship and I was lucky to have it for so long.
Tris: Susan, you had a relationship, but a lot of people would only be lucky just to have been to one of his shows. As you well know, prior to Karl and John Galliano, the fashion shows seemed to be beautifully dressed women, holding numbers in their hands. But Karl’s shows were sometimes on the level of Cirque du Soleil performances, an event.
Susan: They were absolutely an event. I remember being in the Grand Palais for the January show and there were blankets with Chanel logos, hot cocoa to drink. It was just amazing and every single detail was thought out. It was the Super Bowl for those interested in fashion.
NEW YORK CITY - OCTOBER 29: Businessman John Gutfreund and wife Susan Gutfreund attend Dinner Gala Honoring Gianni Agnelli on October 29, 1991 at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Tris: I guess what I am saying is that you are lucky if you got to experience Karl and his genius on that level. But you are two or three steps further. You got to experience Karl as a friend. I am curious to know in your perspective, what do you hope to see, or what message do you hope A Line of Beauty conveys about Karl?
Susan: That's a really tough question because he was so many things to me, that if it is just about fashion and they don’t make references to photography or the literature, I would be disappointed. I hope it is not just simply a parade of dresses. That would not be Karl, they would have to have something else. Blow ups of photographs he took, something. Just to get a bit of his personality beyond just creating these dresses.
Tris: I’m on board with you there. I would be interested as a patron of the Met in seeing a side of Karl that I can’t see on YouTube or in past documentaries. I hope you are right.
Susan: There was another thing, you asked a question about if the Met had asked me to donate something. I asked a year ago for the Met to come and look at my couture pieces that I would have liked to donate. I had a number of one-of-a-kind pieces that were samples from the couture shows. I had a number of these pieces. The Met told me they were not interested because they did not have any space for it.
Tris: That is unbelievable. That question was rooted in an understanding in previous expeditions like China: Through the Looking Glass would go to the archives to fill the galleries for the expedition.
Susan: Yes they were not interested. Not only did I have Chanel but I had Chloe and Karl Lagerfeld and Fendi. Even a Patou dress he did. I ended up donating most of it to Denver and Phoenix because those museums had space. The head curator at the Denver Art Museum did an exhibit of my clothing. A lot of it was Chanel. It was beautifully done. And the Met had no interest.
Tris: How disappointing. Now I’m very curious what the exhibit will consist of. That said, you know Anna Wintour personally, and it is very easy for me to rely on the rumors and characterization of who she is, do you think she is the type of person that would make a decision that could harm the show based on personal grudges?
Susan: I think Anna has her own ideas and they are Anna’s and that’s that. She is going to override anybody. The Met Gala is her show and no one else's. In her mind, it is her house.
Tris: I hope if you're right, which you probably are, that she is making decisions that will lead to the best show possible.
Susan: For Karl’s sake I hope so. The amount of times he told me that he cannot stand the idea of a retrospect when someone is alive. Now that he is no longer here to help or curate, I just pray that it is going to be something he will be proud of.
Tris: Mine as well. Like I said, I can go to a body shop down the road and show these macho men a photograph of Karl, and they would know exactly who he was. That is the ripple effect that Karl has had. It has really moved far beyond the fashion industry.
Susan: Absolutely. No question.
Tris: Do you plan on going to see the retrospective?
Susan: Of course I’m going to see it! In fact, since I am a benefactor of the Met, I am going to see if they can organize a tour for me. Anna is not going to invite me to the dinner. The dinners are now very corporate sponsorship, they invite their own people. It is no longer a dinner like it used to be before Anna took over.
Tris: I cannot thank you enough for your time. I did not intend to take forty minutes of it, but it was just a joy.
Susan: You’re so sweet, and make sure you call me when you're in the city. We’ll have a lunch!
Tris: I would love that, Susan. If you get to the Met before I do, drop me a note and tell me what you think.
How fabulous is Susan? I am so delighted to be able to share this incredible tribute with you on the blog. Susan gave me a true glimpse into the incredible life of Karl Lagerfeld and I will be forever so thankful that she opened up to me.
Streaming Met Monday from my living room in my most fashionable robe, you know I will have much to say. Will our favorite “it” celebrities master the Karl Lagerfeld retrospective theme? Will Choupette make her Met steps debut in a tiny Karl Lagerfeld look? Will Cara Delevigne attend as Karl, himself? Nevertheless, I am truly in my element watching the glam, the iconic looks, the anticipation on who is next to ascend the steps. It all makes for the best night in fashion, and I cannot wait to tune in with you.
As a true reveler of fashion and all things Met Gala, Tris will be reporting in real time during Monday’s Met Gala live stream. Tune into his Instagram Stories starting at 6PM EST for detailed analysis of the night’s looks featuring a special guest commentator, a few unapologetic opinions, and far too much champagne. Cheers!
