Today, fashion lost more than a titan. We lost a living legend.

Of course, Karl Lagerfeld, who passed away in Paris this morning, would have had none of this. He was never one to reminisce about the past, let alone eulogize it.

At its core, his ethos was a mix of Prussian discipline and sobriety – virtues that citizens of Hamburg, his birthplace, pride themselves on. He became the most celebrated fashion force of our time in the process – a true fashion superstar that the world had not seen before.

Lagerfeld was an extraordinary designer with a vast knowledge base of art, literature, celebrity, and pop culture, all of which he synthesized into collections for Chanel, Fendi, and his own signature label. It’s fair to call him the ultimate fashion genius.

Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH, put it best: “His taste and talent were the most exceptional I have ever known. I will always remember his immense imagination, his ability to conceive new trends for every season, his inexhaustible energy, the virtuosity of his drawings, his carefully guarded independence, his encyclopedic culture, and his unique wit and elegance.”

Claudia Schiffer, who can credit Lagerfeld for her supermodel career, compared him to another creative genius: “What Warhol was to art, he was to fashion; he is irreplaceable. He is the only person who could make black and white colorful.”

The CFDA has been blessed with Karl’s presence on many occasions. He received his first CFDA Fashion Award at our second-ever awards in 1982, and many more followed, including the Accessory Designer of the Year award in 1991 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. That year, legendary WWD editor Etta Froio penned a tribute to the designer for our Awards Journal, calling him “highly intelligent, witty, controversial,” and “with an insatiable curiosity about everything, from his beloved Eighteenth Century to the rock star du jour. Spending an evening, or just a few hours, with Karl couldn’t be more delightful or stimulating.”

For my part, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Karl over the past two decades as part of my previous role writing about fashion for WWD. We were both from Hamburg, a city he loved even though he spent very little time there as an adult. He was actually the first fashion designer I ever met. I was just 14 when he came back to Hamburg for the launch of his book of photographs. He signed a copy for me, and it’s still one of my most prized possessions today. Through the years, we talked quite a bit about growing up in Northern Germany, both feeling a little like Tonio Kröger, the hero in Thomas Mann’s namesake novel. Of course, we also talked about Choupette, his car. He told me about the maids and the diary and life she had that we all wanted. I last spoke to Karl in December 2017 after Chanel’s Metiers d’Art in Hamburg, a beautiful love letter to our beautiful hometown.

Last December, Lagerfeld brought the Metiers d’Art collection to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a great moment for New York.

Lagerfeld always looked to the future. We now have to imagine a fashion world without him.