On this day - Karl Lagerfeld's birthday

Known as the Emperor of Fashion, Karl Lagerfeld was born on this day.

A man of many talents, with ventures into film, photography, as well as his domination of international fashion, Lagerfeld is one of fashion’s larger than life personalities.

Born in Germany, Lagerfeld has designed for Chanel, Chloe, Fendi as well as his own Karl Lagerfeld label.

At 16 years old, Karl Lagerfeld was living in Paris and was already versed in German, French, Italian, and English. On a whim, he entered the International Wool Secretariat Competition and won a prize for a coat design. Contest judge (and designer) Pierre Balmain mentored him at his fashion house, and Lagerfeld went on to Jean Patou, where he would be the lead designer from 1958 until 1963. With a backbone of experience and still bursting to the seams with ideas, he decided that freelancing across a variety of labels would be the only way to fulfill his fashion destiny.

Rarely seen without his dark sunglasses and fan, there is little known about his private life, aside from the adventures of the great love of his life, his cat Choupette.

With two maids, an iPad and her own Twitter account, Choupette Lagerfeld is a celebrity in her own right. “She has become the most famous cat in the world.” Lagerfeld said in a recent interview with The Independent. “ I even get propositioned by pet food companies and things like that but it’s out of the question. I’m commercial. She’s not.”