We live in an age obsessed with self-creation. Our social media-fueled culture is less about changing the world than about shaping how the world sees us.
Nobody did it any better than , who died in 2019 after four decades as a lion king in the fashion world. Beginning as a somewhat ridiculous outsider from Germany, Lagerfeld used his genius for self-invention to wind up designing for , resurrecting the moribund house of Chanel and creating a personal look so distinctive 鈥� white hair, dark sunglasses, fingerless gloves and crisp detachable collars 鈥� that it could serve as the emoji for Fashion Designer.
His hard-won rise in 鈥�70s Paris is the theme of Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, a smart, dishy, hugely entertaining new French series on Hulu. The show doesn鈥檛 pretend to offer the definitive take on an enormously complicated man. Instead, its brisk six episodes offer emblematic incidents 鈥� or perhaps pressure points 鈥� that take us surprisingly deep inside a figure who moved constantly forward, spurred on by ambition, loneliness and a keen sense of self-protection.
We first meet Karl in Paris through the eyes of Jacques de Bascher, a self-destructive young aristocrat played with scene-stealing charisma by the French Canadian actor Th茅odore Pellerin. Always looking for distractions, Jacques fixates on the uncharismatic Karl 鈥� that鈥檚 the superb German actor Daniel Br眉hl 鈥� who at this point is something of a brainy schlub who lives with his acerbic mother and stuffs his face with sweets when he鈥檚 angry. You know you鈥檙e watching a French series, not an American one, when, in this show鈥檚 equivalent of a meet cute, Jacques and Karl discover their affinity by quoting the daunting Austrian novelist Robert Musil.
Jacques dreams of being a great writer, but he fritters away his gifts in drink and drugs and sex; he yearns for love. Although Karl cares for him, he鈥檚 too relentless a work-machine to provide such consolations. Karl never stops hustling and scheming. He鈥檚 chasing a stardom to equal his one-time-friend, now-nemesis Yves Saint Laurent 鈥� that鈥檚 a terrific Arnaud Valois 鈥� who鈥檚 celebrated as a haute-couture genius with his own label while Karl toils away on ready-to-wear for the house of Chloe.
Jacques and Karl share a long, tortuous, asexual sort of love. Their relationship becomes the through-line of Karl鈥檚 story, which includes his battles with fashion power broker Pierre Berg茅, Jacques鈥� disastrous affair with Saint Laurent, and Karl鈥檚 struggles designing a dress for who pointedly asks, 鈥淒o you have a style?鈥� This was always the big question about Lagerfeld, who, like that other self-inventor, , tried on many styles and used whichever one would help him get ahead at that moment.
In this year鈥檚 other fashion series, The New Look, Christian Dior and felt like animatronic creatures in a diorama. By contrast, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld feels urgent and alive 鈥� like a present day story that happens to be set in the past. Whether it鈥檚 Jacques鈥� desperation, Karl鈥檚 impacted passion or shocking betrayals, the show pulses with feeling, even wringing genuine poignancy from the pop song 鈥淭ake on Me.鈥�
Without flaunting its seriousness, the show gets you thinking about the characters 鈥� for instance, how the controlled Karl and out-of-control Jacques are complementary halves of a complete human being. And it explores the isolation, even lunacy lurking inside the quest for fame.
Focusing on a brief period of time, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld never overtly tries to explain its often-contradictory hero. Instead, it lets Br眉hl reveal the powerful emotions that flit across Karl鈥檚 face even as he attempts to bottle them up. By the end, I felt I understood him surprisingly well and grasped how he could become a fashion legend.
Now is the show completely true? Did Dietrich really castigate Karl for a dress he made her? Did Karl really flee when Jacques tried to sleep with him? Who cares! The opening crawl acknowledges that much of the action is fictionalized. Besides, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld isn鈥檛 about the Kennedy assassination or World War II. It鈥檚 about a fashion designer, one who cultivated his personal mythology and became notorious for his delight in saying reprehensible things.
鈥淚 have no human feelings,鈥� Lagerfeld famously told an interviewer. What he鈥檇 like least about this show, I suspect, is that it shows he did.
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