The artist Patrick Hourcade met Karl Lagerfeld in 1976, initiating a friendship that would last more than twenty years, nourished by a shared passion for the arts of the eighteenth century. Patrick Hourcade tells us the story of this aesthetic meeting of minds. Together they would construct a magnificent world of refinement and luxury—at times bordering on the extravagant—from the Château de Grand-Champ in Brittany to the Hôtel Pozzo di Borgo in Paris and villa La Vigie on the Côte d’Azur.

Drawing on unpublished photographs and documents, the author paints an intimate portrait of Karl Lagerfeld, both shadow and light. He gives us a unique and singular perspective, populated by the exceptional personalities who accompanied the great couturier throughout his life.