How much is Karl Lagerfeld Worth? Karl Lagerfeld Net Worth in 2025

Karl Lagerfeld Net Worth: How rich is Karl Lagerfeld? & How much money is Karl Lagerfeld worth? Time to find out!

Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist, and photographer and his current net worth is $200 million.

Born in Hamburg, Germany as the son of Otto Lagerfeld, a businessman, and Elisabeth Bahlmann, his parents married in 1930.

At the time his parents met, his mother used to work as a lingerie saleswoman for Berlin.

His father, the owner of a company that produced and imported evaporated milk, along with his entire family, belonged to the Old Catholic Church.

Everybody knows that he often misrepresent his birth year, claiming to be younger that his actual age, as well as misrepresent his parents’ background.

But in 2013 he finally admitted that 1935 is the year of his birth.

He has an older sister, Martha Christiane “Christel”, and an older half-sister, Thea, from his father’s first marriage.

Often misspelled both Lagerfeldt and Lagerfeld, he chose the spelling Lagerfeld, because it sounds more commercial, just like his father.

During the deprivation of World War II his family didn’t have to suffer thanks to his father’s business interest in Germany.

Growing up, he attended a private school, after which he finished his secondary school at the Lycée Montaigne in Paris. There he majored in drawing and history.

After winning the coats category in a design competition sponsored by a big brand, Pierre Balmain hired him as his personal assistant.

After three years working for Balmain, in 1958, he moved to Jean Patou where he designed two haute couture collections per year for five years.

In July 1958 he presented his first collection in a two-hour presentation, using the name Ronald Karl. The collection had bad reviews, because his skirts for the spring of 1960 season were the shortest in Paris.

Only a few years later reports started referring to him as Karl Lagerfelt or Karl Logerfeld.

Then he moved to Tiziani, a Roman couture house established in 1963, the same year he began working for them, by Evan Richards of Jacksboro, Texas.

His designs started as couture and then moved out into ready-to-wear, having the label Tiziani-Roma – Made in England.

Together with Richards, he launched the first collection in 1963, and remained at the company until 1969.

Around the time he worked for Richards, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Duke, and Princess Marcella Borghese used to love his creations.

A year after he left the Roman house, he started to freelance for French fashion house Chloe, with him designing few pieces each season.

He then started to add more and more pieces to the collections, until he designed the entire collection.

His collection for the house made all the headlines because it used to offer both high fashion and high camp.

Karl showcased loose Spencer jackets and printed silk shirt-jackets.

Since 1965 he has worked in partnership with Italian fashion house Fendi, designing furs, clothing and accessories for them.

Ever since the 1970s he has occasionally designed costumes for theatrical productions.

At the time, he had a lingerie line in the U.S. produced by Eve Stillmann, who designed shoes for Charles Jourdan and sweaters for Ballantyne.

He also maintained a design contract with Japanese firm Isetan to design collections for men and women through 30 licenses.

In the 1980s he collaborated with Renzo Rosso, the founder of Diesel, on a special denim collection for the Lagerfeld Gallery.

The collection, Lagerfeld Gallery by Diesel, became an instant hit with more than 90% of the rousers sold out.

His collaborations include H&M, which offered a limited range of his clothes for men and women in certain outlets, and many others.

Apart from his design work, he is also a photographer and has photographed various celebrities for Harper’s Bazaar, Numero, Vogue, and many more.

He even photographs advertising campaigns for the houses under his direction such as Chanel, Fendi and his line.

Today he is the head designer and creative director of Chanel, as well as Fendi, and his eponymous fashion label.

This wraps up our Karl Lagerfeld Net Worth profile!