What is behind this larger-than-life figure who, despite all his desire to communicate, kept his own life story a secret? In this first German biography, Alfons Kaiser, who has long been acquainted with the legendary fashion designer, comes close to the person Lagerfeld: the precocious boy from the North German lowlands who preferred to draw in the attic rather than play with his peers. The son, who was criticized all his life by his emotionally cold mother, but who nevertheless brought her to Paris. The rival of Yves Saint Laurent, the brother, the nephew, the friend - and finally the partner of Jacques de Bascher, the great love of his life. The book takes off the mask of "Emperor Charles" and presents an extremely active, historically educated man of radical decisions, who worked with Prussian discipline and was at home in many styles - an extremely versatile, multi-faceted and at the same time down-to-earth genius.