Melania Trump pays tribute to Karl Lagerfeld after Chanel designer dies aged 85

Chelsea Ritschel
Updated

Melania Trump was among those paying tribute to the late Karl Lagerfeld after it was announced that the designer died at the age of 85.

To pay her respects to the controversial yet immensely talented designer – who served as creative director of Chanel and Fendi before his death on Tuesday – Ms Trump shared a sketch of a design Lagerfeld created for the outfit she wore for her first official appearance as First Lady.

Ms Trump shared the photo alongside another of her wearing the outfit and one of herself and Lagerfeld on social media, where she wrote: “Today the world lost a creative genius. We will miss you Karl!”

The First Lady wore the outfit designed by Lagerfeld, a white peplum suit jacket and matching skirt, when she and President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara at the White House in February 2017, according to People magazine.

The designer also dressed the First Lady in Chanel for the state dinner in April 2018 honouring French President and his wife Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron.

Lagerfeld’s designs for the First Lady are notable because they were created at a time when many other designers such as Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen and Christian Siriano refused to dress the First family.

But despite the boycott from the fashion world, Lagerfeld, who was born in Germany and lived in Paris, said his willingness to work with Ms Trump was because fashion transcends politics.

“Fashion people are fashion, they are not politics,” the designer told the Wall Street Journal in 2017.

He was joined by equally controversial design duo Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce of Dolce & Gabbana.

At the time, Jacobs told Women’s Wear Daily of his decision not to dress the First Lady: “I have no interest whatsoever in dressing Melania Trump. Personally, I’d rather put my energy into helping out those who will be hurt by Trump and his supporters.”

Posen also referenced President Trump’s policies, telling The Daily Beast that he was “staying away from bringing my brand into politics” because of the president’s treatment of issues such as “LGBT rights, immigration, funding for the arts, Planned Parenthood, and women’s rights”.