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View of the Seine and the Louvre: Here came Karl Lage

Photo: Alain Jocard / AFP

Karl Lagerfeld liked to gossip, but was discreet when it came to private matters. What his home looked like was only revealed after his death. All of his household goods were auctioned off - from chrome dumbbells to his cat's pillows. Now this Tuesday his - now emptied - apartment on the Quai Voltaire in Paris is going under the hammer.

The fashion designer lived there for ten years until his death in February 2019. The apartment is 260 square meters in size, the dressing room alone measures 50 square meters, and offers a spectacular view of the Seine and the Louvre. Lagerfeld's muse Baptiste Giabiconi told SPIEGEL three years ago what it looked like there during his lifetime: "The apartment on Quai Voltaire didn't look like an apartment, more like a spaceship in space."

Lagerfeld had all the walls removed in the apartment, which is located in a 17th century building, during three years of renovation work. “There were no closed rooms, just sliding glass panes and a kitchen made of polished stainless steel that was never cooked in,” says Giabiconi. Lagerfeld had his food served in another apartment; two cooks worked for him on Rue des Saint-Pères. He had his photo studio and a huge library in a third apartment on Rue de Lille.

Lagerfeld was able to work particularly well in the apartment on Quai Voltaire, Giabiconi told SPIEGEL: "He always said, this is where my ideas come from."

The starting bid for the apartment was set at 5.3 million euros. Only bidders who have deposited 1.06 million euros as security are admitted to the auction.

vet/AFP