«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

PARIS — He's an uncontested master with a pen and sketchbook, on which he's been rattling off blockbuster ready-to-wear and haute couture collections for decades. But Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld is also gifted with a camera.
A new Paris exhibition showcases the gamut of Lagerfeld's photography, from his commercial work for Chanel to celebrity portraits for magazines to more experimental landscapes and architectural pieces. The show — which kicked off Tuesday with a star-studded and Champagne-soaked opening at the Maison Europeene de la Photographie — brings together about 300 of the designer's shots and is billed as the largest-ever exhibit of his photographs. Lagerfeld first took up photography in 1987, and the show, called "Parcours de travail," or "Career Path," has something for everyone, with sober landscapes in black and white or sepia to portraits soaked in eye-popping colors or printed on glitter-covered paper.There are, of course, the obligatory fashion photos. Lagerfeld, who designs for Chanel, Italian fashion house Fendi and his own signature line, has long shot the press kits for the labels, churning out photos of models sporting clothes from his latest collections for decades.