Arts & Entertainment
Karl Lagerfeld dies at 85
The fashion designer served as creative director for Chanel and Fendi
Legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld died on Tuesday in Paris. He was 85.
Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1933 to businessman Otto Lagerfeld and his wife Elizabeth Bahlmann, a lingerie saleswoman.
In 1955 Lagerfeld won a coats design competition and was hired as Pierre Balmain’s assistant for three years before working at the House of Patou. After a freelance stint at Chloe, Lagerfeld became the creative director of Fendi in 1965. He was appointed the creative director of Chanel in 1983.
Lagerfeld was praised for modernizing Chanel with updated touches such as the “CC” monogram, which was incorporated into the House of Chanel in the 1980s.
In 2004, he became the first high-end designer to collaborate with H&M which paved the way for other H&M collaborations such as Stella McCartney and Versace. He launched his own collection, K Karl Lagerfeld, in 2006.
The designer formulated his own signature look of dark suits, a low ponytail, black sunglasses
Lagerfeld was also known for his quick-witted statements on fashion and life. He famously once said: “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.”
Lagerfeld was in a long-term relationship with socialite Jacques de Bascher from the early 1970s until Bascher’s death in 1989 due to AIDS-related complications.
Later in life he would make some controversial statements about gay marriage and gay parenting. In 2010 he said he was against gay marriage.
“I’m against it for a very simple reason: In the 60s they all said we had the right to the difference. And now, suddenly, they want a bourgeois life,”
On gay parenting, Lagerfeld said: “For me it’s difficult to imagine—one of the papas at work and the other at home with the baby. How would that be for the baby? I don’t know. I see more lesbians married with babies than I see boys married with babies. And I also believe more in the relationship between mother and child than in that between father and child… If I were interested in children, I would be a godfather—or a godmother. I don’t like the idea of taking people out of their lives and their contexts. If there were a child I wanted to adopt, I would try to find the family of the child and give them the money for an education in his life and his context.”
Lagerfeld is survived by his seven-year-old Birman cat, Choupette, who has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram.
Celebrities mourned Lagerfield with plenty of heartfelt tribute posts including from Donatella Versace and Victoria Beckham.
His position will be succeeded by Virginie Viard, director of Chanel’s Fashion Creation Studio.
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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