Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld dies

Karl Lagerfeld, who has run the Chanel fashion house since 1983, has died today at the age of 86. It is reported by Paris Match and Le Figaro . The fashion designer, photographer and stylist has been ill for weeks.

Born in Hamburg, Lagerfeld moved to Paris in the early 1950s. Passionate about drawing, he made a name for himself as a fashion illustrator and was hired as an assistant to couturier Pierre Balmain. He then worked as a stylist for the French houses of Jean Patou and Chloe, and then collaborated with the Italian house of Fendi. In 1983, Lagerfeld was appointed Artistic Director of the "High Fashion, Ready-to-Wear and Accessory Collections" at Chanel, the house he still ran. He also founded his own house in 1984.