Paramount Pictures has released the first trailer for Karl, a new documentary about Karl Lagerfeld directed by Nick Hooker. The film follows Lagerfeld across several decades of his career and combines archival material with interviews from friends, collaborators and figures from fashion and film. Paramount will release Karl digitally in the United States on October 6.
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The trailer introduces the film as a portrait of Lagerfeld’s professional life and the personality behind his highly recognizable public image. Hooker draws from Lagerfeld’s personal archives and material connected with the fashion houses he led, giving the documentary access to both his working methods and the relationships that surrounded his career. The film covers his work at Chanel, Fendi and Chloé, tracing the path that took him from an industry outsider to one of fashion’s most recognizable designers.
Karl takes inspiration from Paradise Now: The Extraordinary Life of Karl Lagerfeld, the 2023 biography by journalist William Middleton. Middleton, who knew Lagerfeld personally, also serves as a producer on the documentary alongside Julia Nottingham and Susan Hootstein. The film uses the biography as one of its foundations while expanding the story through footage, personal archives and firsthand accounts.
Several of Lagerfeld’s friends and collaborators appear on camera. Tilda Swinton, Penélope Cruz, Vanessa Paradis and Tom Ford discuss their experiences with him and offer perspectives on his personality, working process and approach to fashion. Lily-Rose Depp also appears in the documentary, while other participants include Inès de la Fressange, whose relationship with Lagerfeld reaches back to his early years at Chanel.
The film follows a career that crossed several major fashion houses. Lagerfeld joined Chanel as artistic director in 1983, by which point he had already spent years working with Fendi. His work also included a significant period at Chloé. Karl examines how those roles shaped his position within the industry and how he helped redefine expectations around the fashion designer as a public figure.
Hooker also turns toward Lagerfeld’s private life and the contrast between the controlled image he presented publicly and the experiences that shaped him away from the runway. The production describes the film as an intimate portrait that addresses his ambition, wit, emotional isolation and a significant relationship from his personal life.
The 110-minute documentary previously screened at the Telluride Film Festival in 2025. Its October 6 digital release now brings the film to a wider audience, with the newly released trailer offering the first extended preview of how Hooker approaches Lagerfeld’s career, personal archives and recollections from those who knew him.
