Karl Lagerfeld’s ‘right-hand woman’ Lady Amanda Harlech on the genius of Chanel creative director

As the woman who helps the German refine his ideas and translates the ‘creative arch’ of his collections for the French couture house, Harlech works as closely as anyone with the man charged with upholding the legacy of Coco Chanel

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British fashion consultant Amanda Harlech has been Karl Lagerfeld’s “right-hand woman” at Chanel for decades. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 1:00pm, 9 Jan 2018Updated: 1:00pm, 9 Jan 2018

Lady Amanda Harlech’s slim frame turns heads as she enters a Left Bank bistro, close to her Parisian apartment.

Wearing little make-up, and with her jet-black hair tied up, Chanel’s creative consultant is all upper class English elegance, but then there’s that famous, almost punkish irreverence – apparent in her attitude, those flat boots, white tweed biker jacket (Chanel obviously) and the twinkle in her eye.

Amanda Harlech photographed by Karl Lagerfeld for The Little Black Jacket book in 2012. Photo: Karl Lagerfeld

It’s easy to see how she has inspired, influenced and beguiled fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld for decades. As the Chanel creative director’s “eyes and ears to the outside”, Harlech is “consistently challenging, sharpening and refining ideas with him”, she says.

She is often called his muse, but pulls a face at such a passive-sounding role, preferring to be called “his right-hand woman”.

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“I know Karl pretty well now. It’s my job to make sense of this creative arch in each collection and help translate it … it’s just a real pleasure and adventure to be having this dialogue with him.”