How Karl Lagerfeld’s eponymous brand plans to continue for now

After the death of the iconic German designer Karl Lagerfeld on Tuesday, questions remain at his eponymous label as to who will succeed him. Hun Kim is the current design director at the brand and former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld will continue to play a role in the creative process. "At this moment, we're grieving. Decisions will be made later”, a spokesperson for Karl Lagerfeld said on Thursday.

"A very strong creative team"

The statement continued: ”Karl has built a strong creative team around him at his namesake brand. In particular, design director Hun Kim has worked very closely with Karl in recent years, and earned Karl’s absolute trust for his incredible creative talent.”

Hun Kim has been working as head of design at Karl Lagerfeld since 2015. Prior to that, he served as Creative Director at Tommy Hilfiger and held senior design positions at Ralph Lauren and Converse.

Roitfeld has expanded her long-standing collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld, when the designer herself named her contributor to the label in January, when a collection of “essential pieces” called “The Edit by Carine Roitfeld” was announced for September. “Roitfeld knows what she wants. She has a vision and she states her vision”, said Lagerfeld in a statement then. Last week, Carine Roitfeld announced she’d reduce her role at CR Fashion Book, the magazine she founded in 2012 after leaving Vogue.

What about Fendi?

While Chanel was quick to announce successors following Karl Lagerfeld's death, Italian fashion house Fendi, which was led by Lagerfeld for over 50 years, is likely to take its time. LVMH, the luxury conglomerate which owns the label, will let a member of the brand's founding family to fill the role for the time being, according to Fortune magazine, citing people familiar with the matter. Silvia Venturini Fendi, granddaughter of Fendi's founders, has progressively expanded her role in recent years, which makes her the most likely candidate to take on the creative lead of the brand for now.

Editors note: This article has been corrected on 21 February 2019 at 17.35 to clarify that no new creative directors have been appointed by the Karl Lagerfeld brand.