11. ON HIMSELF:

“I’m very much down to earth, just not this earth.”

— Karl Lagerfeld

10. ON CHOCOLATE:

“I like chocolate. I don’t eat it, but I like the smell of it. People can drink with their eyes; I can eat with my nose. I would love to have a perfume based on chocolate.”

— Karl Lagerfeld

9. ON SWEATPANTS:

“Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.”

— Karl Lagerfeld

8. ON HIS PERSONAL SPACE:

“I have a guest house because I don’t want people in my home.”

— Karl Lagerfeld

7. ON LADY GAGA:

“She’s an Upper West Side girl with real learning. She’s not just an idiot from nowhere…There are so many third-rate people now who are more famous than people who should be famous, but sometimes people who could or should be famous are very boring, too.”

— Karl Lagerfeld

6. ON BED HEAD:

“That’s why I sleep alone. My hair is curly, and that’s why I have my ponytail. I look like a madman, like something out of a horror movie,”

— Karl Lagerfeld

5. ON HIS WORK SCHEDULE:

“I’m like a rock singer with one-night stands on the road. I’m here for two days in New York; I leave in the morning early. I come back for Anna Wintour’s party at the Met, then again at the end of May for a prize I get from the Gordon Parks Foundation.”

— Karl Lagerfeld

4. ON MEETINGS, OR SOMETHING:

“I don’t do meetings. At Chanel, there are no meetings. At Chanel, we do what we want, whenever we want and it works. And Fendi is the same.”

— Karl Lagerfeld

3. ON IF HE’D EVER CUT HIS PONY:

“No, because I’m afraid it won’t grow again. And I’m not very gifted for hairdos. This is the quickest thing in the world. It takes less than five seconds.”

— Karl Lagerfeld