This elaborate object offers an as yet unseen insight into Karl Lagerfeld's working processes as artistic director for Fendi, a position he has remarkably held since 1965. FENDI by Karl Lagerfeld traces Lagerfeld's unparalleled career at the luxury Roman fashion house, where he has revolutionized the craft of fur (both technically and artistically), and introduced the successful ready-to-wear and accessory lines that have transformed Fendi into a global fashion brand. Through the decades we see how Lagerfeld incorporates eclectic infl uences- from Eskimo designs and medieval armor, to kimonos and the world of informatics-into his own progressive vision. FENDI by Karl Lagerfeld includes a sketch pad of 137 of Lagerfeld's fashion drawings (those given to the Fendi ateliers to enable them to construct the garments, and selected from an archive of over 35,000), a pad of his logo designs for the house, along with booklets of exclusive interviews with the designer, a poster, and DVDs of his short fi lms-all packaged in a custommade wooden case modeled on the box of oil pastels which invariably graces Lagerfeld's working desk. Essential for all Lagerfeld and Fendi devotees, FENDI by Karl Lagerfeld illustrates the evolution of contemporary fashion over the past half-century.

Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer, publisher and book dealer, began working as a photographer in 1987. Lagerfeld has since received the Lucky Strike Design Award from the Raymond Loewy Foundation, the cultural prize from the German Photographic Society, and the ICP Trustees Award from the International Center of Photography. Steidl has published most of Lagerfeld's books, including A Portrait of Dorian Gray (2004), Room Service (2006), The Beauty of Violence (2010) and the best-selling The Little Black Jacket (2012).