A giant of the fashion world passed away today.Karl Lagerfeld helped to shape the modern fashion industry through his work with the most influential designers and his own personal style.Jeffrey Brown has our remembrance. It's part of our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.His name was synonymous with luxury fashion for well over half-a-century.The German-born designer spent the bulk of his career at the helm of some of the world's biggest fashion houses.You know, fashion is not needed.There are many other problems in the world which may be more important, so this is not a problem. But it's an industry.And, you know, fashion has to go with time. If fashion doesn't go with time, fashion would be lost.Lagerfeld transformed the Italian brand Fendi, becoming its creative director in 1965, and spent 20 years designing for the French label Chloe.But he's best remembered for being the creative force behind the French fashion house Chanel, taking over in 1983 and working until his death.He took what some then saw as a stodgy label and added all manner of attention-grabbing designs,including reinventing the iconic tweed suits for a younger set, slashing hemlines and adding glitzy accents.Robin Givhan is fashion critic for The Washington Post. He revived Chanel when he took it over.At that point, the founder had been deceased for almost 10 years, and it was somewhat of a dusty brand.
