WATCH: Threads of love & fashion get tangled in this story of controversial designer Karl Lagerfeld
so hot right now.In the world of television, the lives of the most visionary, influential designers in history have become fodder for sleek and (appropriately) stylish streaming series.This year alone, we’ve seen Cristóbal Balenciaga, Disney+’s ode to the groundbreaking Spanish designer, and The New Look, AppleTV+’s series that tells the story of Christian Dior and Coco Chanel’s fiery rivalry.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.Now, Hulu wants a turn, and they’ve set their sights on late German designer Karl Lagerfeld, a man who was as controversial as his style was iconic.Before he was brought on to revive the Chanel brand in the ’80s, before he found his signature look—the catogan ponytail bow, the dark sunglasses, the fingerless gloves—Lagerfeld was a burgeoning ready-to-wear designer, whose name still had little pull in the wider fashion world.The series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld begins in 1972, when the designer (played by Inglourious Basterds and Marvel star Daniel Brühl) meets Gaby Aghion (Agnès Jaoui) and starts finding success through her fashion house, Chloé.It’s around this time when Lagerfeld also meets Jacques de Bascher (Boy Erased‘s Théodore Pellerin) a French dandy whose troubled man-about-town lifestyle beguiled the designer, and would have a profound impact on him in the years to come.And then there’s Yves Saint Laurent (120 BPM and Good Grief‘s Arnaud Valois), who would go on to become Lagerfeld’s rival in more ways than one.
Not only did the two find themselves in a race to be the biggest name in fashion, but they were also competing for the affections of de Bascher.As the threads of Lagerfeld’s personal and professional lives become a tangled mess, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld traces the most pivotal years of his career across six episodes.We’ll be especially curious to see how the series approaches the late designer’s sexuality and relationship to de Bascher, his.
