Chanel Rubbishes Karl Retirement Rumours

Chanel has rubbished rumours sweeping the internet yesterday that Karl Lagerfeld, its creative director of more than 30 years, was stepping down following the forthcoming pre-spring/summer show in Cuba next month.

"The rumours about Mr Lagerfeld discontinuing the collections and the cruise collection show in Cuba being the last are unsubstantiated," a spokesperson told us this morning.

The whispers stemmed from an article by US tabloid website Page Six, whose diarist Richard Johnson claimed he had been told by a friend of the designer that: "He's really tired. He's not doing well and he's ready to stop."

After 33 years at the helm of Chanel - where he took over just 12 years after the founder's death, and is said to have a whole-life contract - and more than 50 years at Fendi, Lagerfeld's workload has only increased in recent years; with personal projects in photography sharing his creative time alongside designing for the French and Italian houses and his eponymous label. Far from retiring, he was in Paris yesterday, where model Kendall Jenner snapchatted him from the set of a shoot she was on.