By
AFP

Published
June 30, 2025

Karl Lagerfeld’s former villa, a secluded estate just west of Paris that reflects both his taste for luxury and privacy, is going under the hammer Tuesday in a rare candle auction.

Bought in 2010 by Lagerfeld, who died in 2019, the villa in Louveciennes in the Yvelines region some 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of Paris is to be sold at notarial auction with an initial asking price of 4.6 million euros ($5.4 million).

A two-hectare park contains three separate houses, a swimming pool, and a tennis court, surrounded by trees or walls ensuring "discretion and anonymity," said Jerome Cauro of notaries Arias, the firm handling the sale.

The main building is classical on the outside and understated on the inside. The designer's studio occupied a large part of the house's first floor.

"It's a property that was the showcase for his furniture," said Arno Felber, also a notary at Arias.

"He put everything into this last house; he really loved it. He called it 'the true version of himself,'" his muse and right-hand woman, Amanda Harlech, told Vogue in 2021.

The iconic former Chanel creative director even had his childhood bedroom recreated in a small room with leopard-print walls.

Legend has it that Lagerfeld only slept there for one night, hosted a grand reception in honor of Princess Caroline of Monaco, and readily lent the villa to friends.

"He loved coming here during the day to create, and he loved entertaining," said Cauro. The three living rooms and the kitchen—equipped with four ovens, five sinks, two refrigerators, and two fryers—can accommodate dinners for 100 people.

According to Arias, the fashion legend carried out "colossal works" on the property, which once belonged to the 19th-century poet Leconte de Lisle and members of the Rothschild family in the first half of the 19th century.

"We don't have the bill, but we estimate that the cost of the work is close to the asking price" of 4.6 million euros, said Felber.

Abandoned after the death of the "Kaiser," the house was purchased in 2023 by a real estate company that took over its upkeep and put it back up for sale.

In a style the late designer may have approved of himself, the sale will take place using the traditional notary auction method known as a "candle auction."

In such a candle auction, still commonplace in France, the auction time is defined by the burning of two small candles, each lasting about 15 seconds.

In March 2024, Lagerfeld's futuristic three-room Paris apartment was sold for 10 million euros by the notary firm Althemis, twice its asking price.

With his powdered white ponytail, black sunglasses, and starched high-collared white shirts, Lagerfeld, who died aged 85, was as instantly recognizable as his celebrity clients.

Having pushed Fendi into the big league, he was brought in to save Chanel in 1983 when only its celebrated range of perfumes was making money.

Though he was at the heart of fashion’s social scene and spent millions on art, furniture, and homes, Lagerfeld remained a solitary figure.