Karl Lagerfeld And Net-A-Porter To Launch New Online Fashion Startup

Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher is the European Editor for TechCrunch. A former grunge rock drummer, he became a long time journalist, and has since written for UK national newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The New Statesman. Mike is also a co-founder and shareholder of TechHub, a co-working space/service/community with several locations... → Learn More

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
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Le Web kicked off today in Paris, though the show was opened not with a discussion about a tech issue or company of the day, but with a demonstration by fashion scion Karl Lagerfeld on how he uses the iPad and technology to enhance his work. Not your typical Le Web fare, but then this reflects a growing maturity in the tech scene as it infects the mainstream, in part thanks to devices like the iPhone and the iPad.

With just a small amount of technical hitches Lagerfeld managed to demonstrate to Le Web’s Loic Le Meur how he now creates many of his designs using drawing programmes on the iPad, even showing a sketch he’d done of Steve Jobs that morning.

But the news from the fireside chat was delivered Natalie Massenet, founder and executive chairman of Net-A-Porter, who announced her company would be working with Lagerfeld on a new online fashion brand, called Karl.