According to reports made in France, the fashion designer and artistic director of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld has died at the age of 85.
In January, Lagerfeld missed his haute couture show in Paris which fuelled speculation of ill health.
His career began in 1955 as the assistant to Pierre Balmain.
In 1983 he joined Chanel and spent a record-breaking 36 years at the house.
He was revered in the fashion industry because of his artistic instincts, business acumen and commensurate ego.
Lagerfeld's big breakthrough came shortly after a move to Paris when, in 1954, he drew a wool coat that won a prize and landed him an apprenticeship with Balmain.
Yves Saint Laurent, who went on to found his namesake label, won the dress prize. The two became fierce competitors and even rivals in love at one point, chasing the affections of late Parisian society figure Jacques de Bascher.
Saint Laurent, who died in 2008, became the enfant cheri of high society and Lagerfeld leader of a wild-child younger group.
He first found real success in the mid-1960s with Chloe, the fashion label now owned by Switzerland’s Richemont and to which he was connected off and on until 1997.
But it was Chanel that propelled him to rock-star status, as he sexed up the brand and lifted its profile with grandiose runway shows. In the past year these have featured a full-scale beach and an enormous replica ship.
Reuters contributed to this report
