Lagerfeld’s Heir

MAXIM chats with HUN KIM, creative director of the Karl Lagerfeld brand, to talk approachable luxury, gender-neutral clothes and designing without borders…

For the past six years, Hun Kim, head of design at Karl Lagerfeld, has been one of the fashion industry’s great quiet achievers. Following stints at all-American brands like Converse, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, Kim took the top job at KL in 2015 and promptly decamped to Amsterdam. It’s here, on long morning walks along the canals, that Hun finds his inspiration for the various collections and capsules released each year. Hand-picked by Lagerfeld himself to head the brand, Kim was tasked with designing clothes for Karl’s fans at a more accessible price-point than Chanel or Fendi. “Karl worked with so many luxury brands and had so many amazing collaborations,” explains Kim, “but when we started Karl’s own namesake brand, he wanted to be more approachable, meaning that not only select people are able to afford his collection, but rather many more people can enjoy Karl’s creations.”
The son of a designer who owned a local boutique, Hun’s youth growing up in Korea in the ’70s was spent drawing and sewing. It was unsurprising, then, that a career in design followed. This journey led to senior roles at some of the biggest names in the industry. First Converse and RL, and later he served as head designer at Hilfiger. “It sounds very different since most of the brands I’ve worked for are very Americana. Like red, white and blue, but at the end great designs are something in common. First of all, they should make you look good and fit right. Wherever I’ve worked, I always ask the designers, ‘Would you wear this?’ If they said no, then I said it’s not a good design.”
Although Karl Lagerfeld lived to 85, his death in February 2019 sent shockwaves through the fashion world. With his zest for life and rock star-like fame, it almost seemed like he’d live forever. “I can’t believe it’s already been two years… seems just like yesterday,” remembers Hun. We’re curious, what would Mr Lagerfeld have made of the pandemic? “I can imagine Karl would write another book — The Pandemic According to Karl. He had such a brilliant sense of humour. Something like, ‘the only negative we like is a COVID test result.’”
Lagerfeld was also something of a renaissance man, photographing the campaigns for many of his collections and branching into filmmaking, and near the very end of his life, even became a caricaturist for a German newspaper. It is then, surely, a daunting task to succeed this master. Fortunately for Kim, Karl bequeathed a wealth of references to draw upon. “Karl left us with a tremendous amount of archive pieces. First I like to start with a little story, like what were Karl’s favourite movies, his preferred art pieces or architect or a place he loved, and then I build the stories around that.”
An essential part of Hun’s storytelling involves sketching, a talent he and Karl shared and bonded over. Sketches also come in handy when Kim is taking meetings with his team, who hail from all corners of the earth. “When you have sketches in front of you there is no need to explain. Sketches became the universal language that bind us together. My first meeting with Karl, I was sitting right next to him and presenting my first sketches and he asked me if I sketched myself, so I replied, ‘Yes, when I start designing, I make many sketches which give me a clear direction on what this concept will be.’ Then he whispered to me, ‘I do sketches for all of my collections as well.’”
Although more pessimistic commentators once dismissed the Karl Lagerfeld brand as a licensing gimmick, it’s evolved into a mini powerhouse in its own right. Under Hun’s design direction, the brand now boasts over 100 stores worldwide, including a flagship on Paris’ Boulevard Saint Germain, and an ecommerce presence in 96 countries. The likes of Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber and Barbara Palvin have fronted campaigns, while legendary stylist Carine Roitfeld serves as creative advisor. Prices in the men’s range run from around $100 for a T shirt to $1,800 for a leather biker jacket. In between are tracksuits and hoodies emblazoned Lagerfeld, shoes, luggage, phone cases and fragrances. These wares sell well from Berlin to Beijing, post-Soviet eastern Europe and shopping hotspots in the Middle East.
Hun’s genius is in designing clothing that nods to Mr Lagerfeld without being overly deferential. Tweed features heavily in the collections, an homage to Mr Lagerfeld’s decades of work at Chanel. Also present are references to the great love of his later years — his Birman cat Choupette. “I remember Karl used to show me Choupette on his phone” recalls Hun. “Whenever he showed me, you could see from the look on his face how happy he was.” Still, Hun is unafraid to impart his own ideas onto the collections. If Karl’s signatures were tweed, kitties and wit, then Hun’s is surely the transformable garment.
“What if your trench coat could turn into a short jacket or your long jacket can be split into a two-piece suit? When I [first] presented a transformable outfit, I remember Karl really loved it.” There’s also a practical wisdom behind these creations. “It’s not only fun, but it’s also very sustainable if you can wear your one trench three different ways. Sustainability is no longer option. Now it’s a must.” Just think of it as the antidote to fast fashion, where garments are supposed to be worn then disposed within a single season. “It all depends on how you combine it, since there’s the possibility of making so many different combinations.” This brings us to the latest menswear collection for Fall 2021, which is available now. Hun’s pick from the new collection?
“Anything new with the KL monogram. We have a great monogram denim trucker-style jacket that looks great on everyone. You can dress it up or down and we’ve made many KL monogram styles as we become more gender-neutral.” In that sense, Hun is helping lead the charge for more genderless clothing in fashion, a philosophy he’s particularly passionate about.
“I see more and more young generations moving toward gender-neutral/non-binary/genderless…” he observes. It’s no surprise then, that the brand’s website is now neatly arranged into menswear, womenswear and unisex. “Sexism exists because we’ve been divided into two different sexes. There’s racism because we’ve divided ourselves into White, Black, Asian… what if we were to look at this differently and not view sex or skin colour? What if we just see each other as who we are?” he ponders. It’s a timely sentiment. After all, the fashion industry is currently experiencing something of a global reckoning of its long-held prejudices and gate-keeper mentality. Gender lines are about more than just fashion though, says Kim. Like this magazine, for example. “Someday MAXIM might become a lifestyle magazine for all humankind, rather than just a men’s magazine” he theorises.
Karl Lagerfeld once said, “Change is the healthiest way to survive.” Indeed, when he took over at Chanel in 1983, Karl swiftly deviated from Coco’s work and retained only the basic motifs of the house. Although it’s a strategy Hun may one day emulate as KL continues to develop, for now it’s all about monsieur Lagerfeld. “I want the Karl Lagerfeld brand to always be Karl, no matter what. It’s like DNA. Even if we evolve over time, the Karl DNA will and should always be there.”
Part of that DNA includes Mr Lagerfeld’s signature look: a rather patrician, stiff-collared suit, finished off with dark sunglasses and fingerless gloves, all of which can now be bought from the Karl Lagerfeld brand. So famous was Karl’s ‘uniform’, he remains a perennial favourite costume for Halloween. Hun’s personal style is a bit more down to earth. “I have a great outfit which I do wear quite a lot. It’s a great hoodie. I wear it under a tailored jacket with tailored pants or just simply with great denim.” Indeed, Kim admits that there’s few KL designs he wouldn’t wear himself. “It doesn’t mean everyone has the same taste, but if you don’t want to wear it, then there must be a reason and you cannot force that onto your customers.” Reaching customers over the past year has been a challenge, as many of the brand’s boutiques have remained closed for extended periods. It’s no coincidence that Kim has taken on a more front-facing role in the brand’s promotion since the pandemic, conducting online sketching lessons and talking customers through the collections virtually.
“These days the world is more closely in touch through technology, and we saw this speed up during the pandemic.” Always optimistic, Hun is keen to use technology as a vector to boost the brand’s reach. “We can share our new collection with different continents at the same time (taking into account, of course, that there are some time differences). So, I have to say we might need a new word beyond just being ‘international.’” He pauses. “We’re moving forward with collections without borders.” ■