Fashion Designer Karl Lagerfeld Had a Massive Book Collection
Karl Lagerfeld was a fashion designer who was famous for working with Fendi, Chanel, and of course, his own collection. Just like Thomas Jefferson, Lagerfeld collected books. But his collection would have put the President to shame, because he amassed approximately 300,000 volumes. In the past, he collected other things. But he was once quoted saying, “Today I only collect books, there is no room left for something else. If you go to my house; I’ll have you walk around the books.” Like most hoarders on this list, he was living in a fire hazard. He kept his books stacked horizontally, rather than vertically, because he could fit more books on the shelves that way. The collection is entirely hardcover books, because Karl had a wasteful habit of ripping the pages out of paperback books when he was done reading them.
According to newspaper reports, “Karl Lagerfeld is going underground — to find creative storage space for his sprawling 230,000 volume book collection. “It’s a big problem, no?” asks the passionate bibliophile, ever the master of understatement. His solution: a storage facility at his house in Biarritz — underneath the tennis court. The 20,000-square-foot, climate-controlled subterranean complex will also include a photo studio, but the centerpiece of the project is a 10,000-square-foot, 20-foot high space where he plans to erect a library. What’s next, the return of the sexy librarian at Chanel?” Lagerfeld passed away in 2019, but there is no record online as to what happened with his book collection. However, he had established his own bookstore in Paris back in 1999, so there is a chance that the books were sold there.
