Karl Lagerfeld Wordlessly Sanctioned Sweatpants, Therefore Gave Up on Life

In the endless arsenal of “bitchy comments” to choose from in Karl Lagerfeld’s oeuvre, one of the most immortal shall remain, “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” Regina George and so many other women with a weight and/or depression problem have proved this to be true time and time again. But no one could have predicted that Karl himself was ultimately alluding to succumbing to his own defeat against the reaper in having scandalously recently released “travel” sweatpants, which are sold out on his website at this point.

And yet, this is precisely what should have been surmised with a man in possession of nothing but odium for signs of weakness in fashion, therefore the person wearing it. The man was, in essence, a Nazi when it came to aesthetic, and he made us all better for it. Even those of us who could never possibly be able to afford Chanel. His staunch opinions were immovable, right down to statements like, “I think tattoos are horrible. It’s like living in a Pucci dress full-time” and being “allergic to flip-flops,” of which sweatpants fall under the same umbrella. At the same time, in a world increasingly appetitive for “fast fashion,” requiring major labels to capitulate to collaborations with the likes of H&M (Lagerfeld himself doing so in 2004, with a commercial that does its best to justify his decision to “lower himself” into the realm of the commoner), the controversial designer’s knack for never mincing words became too difficult for many to swallow. Particularly rotund people, for Lagerfeld’s sizeist attitude became yet another topic of media embroilment in 2012, “politely” calling Adele “a little too fat.” He probably envisioned her wearing sweatpants, too.

Even so, through all the criticism against his own criticism, Lagerfeld was an inherent lover of life, an aestheticist who, like another white-haired man, Andy Warhol, just wanted everything and everyone to be perfect. So what if he was a bit harsh in getting his point across on this front? He was a man who lived by the standards he put forth–until he clearly tried to subtly tell us all he was giving up on life by releasing the aforementioned sweatpants. Besides, as he put it, “If you want social justice, be a social worker.”

To that effect, for a man who once stated, “If you are cheap, nothing helps,” he did his best to bring class and taste to the world with his scathing aphorisms, quite possibly an even greater legacy than his contribution to fashion itself.