Happy birthday, Karl Lagerfeld

It was a coat that launched German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld's unparalleled career: In 1954, he won a competition with the design pictured here. A replica of the pivotal overwear invites visitors into the exhibition "Karl Lagerfeld. Modemethode" on show at the Art and Exhibition Hall in the central-western German city of Bonn.

"I always have to feel paper under my finger to express myself," says Lagerfeld about his favorite material. Paper turns up everywhere in Lagerfeld's work - in his design sketches, his photos, letters and books. He even uses a sketch book to plan his fashion shows. His notebooks offer extensive and intimate insights into how he works.

Over 40,000 of Lagerfeld's sketches can be found in the Fendi archives alone. Some of them are included in the Bonn exhibition, along with sketches for Chloé and Chanel. Posters for Lagerfeld's ad campaigns are also on display, grouped on exhibition walls that have been kept in a subtle cement grey tone to highlight the designs.

Karl Lagerfeld has designed for the Italian label Fendi for the past 50 years. When he began in 1965, he revolutionized their fur collection. Instead of the massive fur coats in the line-up, he created playful, light designs that no longer weighed down the wearer but embraced her like a feather. In addition, he designed classic looks and accessories for Fendi.

Lagerfeld didn't stop with skirts, coats and jackets. No outfit is complete without the appropriate accessories. The Bonn exhibition features 120 various Lagerfeld accessories, including these bags for Fendi. For Chanel, the designer went beyond shoes, purses and belts and created 177 buttons.

Lagerfeld knows what women want. He demonstrated his intuition above all during his time with the French label Chloé. His dresses from the 1970s were airy and romantic. He also liked to play with large patterns and preferred silk. This mannequin is wearing a hand-painted silk gown from 1973.

Wild parties in the famous New York club Studio 54 inspired Lagerfeld to experiment with humorous motives. In this satin dress from 1983 for Chloé, he overtly compares the female body to a violin. This gown, like most of the 120 other looks in the Bonn exhibition, comes from the fashion label's own archives, while some of the designs are on loan from other museums.

When Karl Lagerfeld came to Chanel in 1983, he gave the rather outdated label a fresh new look. He rejuvenated the classics, updating the suits with modern colors, cuts and fabrics. Skirts became shorter, jackets longer. The result: Chanel won over younger customers and is still worn by a wide variety of ages today. This suit is from 1991.

Designed by Coco Chanel, this tweed suit will always be a classic inseparable from the long-standing French label. Lagerfeld managed to retain the timeless design but spruced it up for a younger clientele by adding long fringe, unusual hemlines and even artistically placed holes.

At fashion shows, the best is saved for last: the haute couture designs. It's the crème de la crème in which top designers present one-of-a-kind masterpieces often worth no less than six figures. Lagerfeld's haute couture creations are also the climax of the Bonn exhibition. A palace of paper - Lagerfeld's favorite material - was built especially to house the most luxurious Chanel gowns.

The last piece in the exhibition is also the newest. Designed for a pregnant bride, the wedding dress is from Lagerfeld's 2014/2015 collection. Decorated with gold embroidery, the gown is conveniently made of stretchy neoprene. It's a humorous conclusion to a retrospective that reveals the continuity of Lagerfeld's inspiration over the decades and his unmatched influence on the world of fashion.