Karl Lagerfeld's former employee releases a tell all book about the designer

37 year old Arnaud Maillard who previously worked for Lagerfeld describes his ex-boss as a diva of the international fashion scene and reveals some unpleasant details in an interview for Spiegel Online. 

Lagerfeld is an unbelievable narcissist. Didn’t we already know that? He’s an unbelievable narcissist. He needs an eternity to get ready in the morning. He takes photos of himself at every photo shoot and puts them everywhere. He surrounds himself with a kind of royal court, nobody disagrees with him. Wherever he goes, there is Pepsi-Cola in a Baccarat crystal glass waiting for him and it gets replaced every 30 minutes. It’s like the 18th century.

Kaiser Karl did some ugly things. In 2005, I wanted to leave the company and go to Céline. I even told him about my plans one day at the Café de Flore on Boulevard St. Germain in Paris. But Karl knew how to stop them. He let me go without notice, the job at Céline was no longer available. In the industry, you don’t want to take on Lagerfeld — and I’ve been jobless until today. I was involved in a lawsuit against him for wrongful dismissal until the end of August — which I won

Lagerfeld can be merciless. He dumps people at the drop of a dime. Lagerfeld employees have to be available 24 hours a day. He can be very generous. When I was looking for my first apartment in Paris, he discreetly slipped me an envelope that made it possible to afford. But he can also be merciless. I’ve seen him simply stop talking to people, stop acknowledging their existence. In the fashion industry, nobody raises their voice; they say the worst things in a very polite tone.