Anna Wintour Pays Tribute To Karl Lagerfeld: ‘To Be His Friend Was An Exceptional Gift’

American Vogue editor Anna Wintour wrote a statement in remembrance of longtime friend Karl Lagerfeld.

Lagerfeld died on Tuesday at 85 due to health complications that occurred on January 22. The creative director of Chanel and Fendi was one of the most influential voices in fashion and worked closely with magazines like Vogue. Wintour wrote the statement shortly after the news broke out about his death which was posted on Vogue’swebsite.

“Today the world lost a giant among men. Karl was so much more than our greatest and most prolific designer,” Wintour wrote. “His creative genius was breathtaking and to be his friend was an exceptional gift. Karl was brilliant, he was wicked, he was funny, he was generous beyond measure, and he was deeply kind. I will miss him so very much.”

Lagerfeld worked closely with Vogue and Wintour for many years during his career. Both Chanel and Fendi were always featured in issues of the fashion magazine and Wintour rarely missed a Chanel runway show. In 2015, Wintour opened up about her friendship with Lagerfeld when she honored him with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards. During the speech, she paid tribute to the fashion icon’s visionary eye for fashion, his appetite for information and his generous approach to friendship, Fashionista reported.

Wintour was one of the many fashion industry professionals to remember Lagerfeld. The fashion designer was memorialized via Instagram by multiple designers and editorial companies, including Marc Jacobs, Elle, and Olivier Rousteing, who is the creative director of Balmain. In his post, Rousteing mentioned how Lagerfeld gave him advice he will always cherish and sharing moments with the legendary creative director was “such a pleasure.”

Vogue’s team also took to Instagram to remember Lagerfeld and the many fashion moments he created for the magazine. His work was featured in many of the magazine’s editorial work throughout his career.

In addition to his work, Vogue also mentioned Lagerfeld’s ability to maintain his notoriety in the fashion industry. The magazine credited his ability to change shift Chanel as decades have passed, but still keep the brand as one of the most notable in the high-fashion industry. Wintour said he was one of the first designers to use his vision to change the way the world saw ready-to-wear fashion.

” More than anyone I know, he [Lagerfeld] represents the soul of fashion: restless, forward-looking and voraciously attentive to our changing culture,” Wintour said.