Photo At the British Fashion Awards, Stella McCartney, center, was presented with the brand of the year award by Joanna Lumley, left, and Jennifer Saunders. The actresses were in character as Edina and Patsy from the TV comedy "Absolutely Fabulous." Credit Tom Jamieson for The New York Times
LONDON — Does the world need another award ceremony?
If he were being entirely honest, Karl Lagerfeld — who won the Outstanding Achievement trophy at the 2015 British Fashion Awards at the London Coliseum on Monday night — might say no.
"I don't like the word 'honored,' " he said in 2010, when the Fashion Institute of Technology did just that — honor him, that is. "I did a job all my life, and I'm happy they like it."
Still, speaking to him in Paris just days before the recent occasion, he did concede that "alth ough I'm not crazy about that, Anna is a friend, and it's flattering." He referred to Anna Wintour, the American Vogue editor, who presented the award.
He continued: "The British Fashion Awards are creative. And Miss Massenet, I know her quite well, too. She invented something." He was talking, of course, about the designer fashion e-tailer Net-a-Porter, which Natalie Massenet founded in 2000 and from which she recently departed. She is also chairwoman of the British Fashion Council, the industry's governing body in Britain responsible for the awards. (Most of the winners are chosen by the council's panel of around 800 judges.)
"Karl represents the soul of fashion," Ms. Wintour, dressed as she often is in Chanel couture, said Monday night. His image "is as iconic as the outline of a Chanel suit."
He is "a linguist, a photographer, an interior decorator, a philanthropist," she continued. "He reads the way most of us breathe."
Photo Karl Lagerfeld was presented with the Outstanding Achievement award by Anna Wintour. Credit Tom Jamieson for The New York Times
To describe Mr. Lagerfeld's contribution as outstanding, then, would be something of an understatement. He designs eight collections a year for Chanel, is creative director of women's wear at Fendi, shoots advertising and promotional films as well as campaigns for both houses, and contributes to many fashion glossies. Over the past half-century, he has raised the bar for every other fashion creative.
It was not a surprise that Alessandro Michele, creative director at Gucci, picked up the award for International Designer. Not since Tom Ford's heyday at that label in the late 1990s has it attracted so much attention, and Mr. Michele has been the man of the moment. The young designer's aesthetic is, well, younger than that of his predecessor Frida Giannini, tapping into his apparently indefatigable interest in vintage clothing — suffice it to say Mr. Michele's take on the theme is not even remotely dusty — and what seems to be a prescient questioning of conventional gender codes.
True, putting boys in pussy-bow blouses and girls in trouser suits is not radical, but Mr. Michele does it well and, over the past 12 months, Gucci has again become one of the industry's most coveted and copied names. In his acceptance speech, the designer thanked his employers at Kering, which owns Gucci, for appointing "an unknown guy to one of the world's most famous fashion houses." (Mr. Michele had worked behind the scenes there for many years before taking the reins.)
So far, so global. But what of the British side of the equation?
Continue reading the main story Slide Show British Fashion Awards Red Carpet Credit
The photographer Nick Knight won the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator. Mr. Knight is that rare thing — an idealist — and from his early days in the 1980s shooting groundbreaking catalogs for Yohji Yamamoto to his current editorial work for mainstream and esoteric publications as well as campaigns for the likes of Dior, Lancôme and Swarovski, he has consistently pushed the boundaries of conventional preconceptions of beauty. His self-funded website ShowStudio.com pioneered film as a medium to showcase fashion, and it continues to both nurture young talent just as it provides a platform for established names to experiment and innovate.
Jennifer Saunders and J oanna Lumley, as the "Absolutely Fabulous" characters Edina and Patsy, presented Stella McCartney with the Brand of the Year Award. And Lady Gaga accepted the Red Carpet Award on Tom Ford's behalf, resplendent in a (Tom Ford) red gown and soignée blonde updo.
In an unprecedented result, the Irish-born Jonathan Anderson, who designs his J. W. Anderson label as well as Loewe, both owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, received the prizes for Menswear and Womenswear Designer of the Year. The first was presented to him by Orlando Bloom, the second by Noomi Rapace.
"I'm kind of embarrassed and don't know what to say," Mr. Anders on said. "I started off designing men's wear, and then did women's wear to make sense of it."
"I am honored to be on the same stage as Karl Lagerfeld," he said. "He is my greatest hero."
