Designer Karl Lagerfeld turns news editor, edits free daily Metro

The snow-haired designer offered up opinions on topics ranging from his aversion to movie theatres to suicide and sheep that mow lawns when he took over the Paris newsroom of free daily Metro for the day as its guest editor on Monday (February 6).

Dressed in his eternal black suit and Gladstone collar, Lagerfeld took a seat at the head of a conference table during the paper's daily news meeting and commented as reporters read out story ideas from their notebooks.

Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld takes over the Paris newsroom of free daily Metro for the day as its guest editor.

PARIS, FRANCE (FEBRUARY 6, 2012) (REUTERS - Chanel star designer Karl Lagerfeld is bored by the French presidential election so far and believes that France would be better run as a country if its leaders took inspiration from world-class French businesses.

The German-born Lagerfeld, known for his unrelenting creativity as head designer at Parisian fashion house Chanel, also proved himself a keen observer of French politics, summing up his views of an ongoing presidential campaign.

With less than 80 days to go before the first round of a presidential vote, as President Nicolas Sarkozy struggles to make up a poll lag behind Socialist front-runner Francois Hollande, Lagerfeld said he was already bored.

"Today, I don't believe in politics a lot. I think countries have to be run like big companies, I think if France would be run like LVMH they would have got the numbers Mr. (Bernard) Arnault announced," he said. Bernard Arnault is the Chairman of LVMH.

Asked about the euro zone crisis, Lagerfeld said the French were wrong to criticise Sarkozy for supposedly caving into the demands of German Chancellor Angela Merkel because Germany had already succeeded in pushing through tough reforms.

"No I think it's the best thing that can happen to Europe because they are the two strongest countries. But I don't like the idea that in France, if you read the newspapers, Germans look like they want to impose something. After all what Mr. Schroeder did was not a bad idea, it was not easy, and he lost nearly his job for that but in the end, it worked. So I don't think one should think that Mrs. Merkel wants to push the French exactly in her direction but the thing is, the way the direction went, what she inherited from Mr. Schroeder, what is not her party, it's not that bad in the end," he said.

Quizzed about fashion, Lagerfeld, who has been at the helm of Chanel for more than two decades, said the era of star designers with larger-than-life personalities was not over, despite the fact that no successor had yet been found to replace John Galliano at rival Christian Dior.

"Today, the world we live in, with the media it is easier to have a star designer I'm afraid. It's easier for us. Because it's not easy to find a team of a certain level because there has to be one person who takes the final decision," he said.

When the camera was off Lagerfeld said Dior might be having trouble finding a designer to succeed Galliano because of the pressure involved in the job and the fact that Dior management kept close watch over creative output. He added this was not the case at Chanel, where Lagerfeld enjoyed a free hand.

Lagerfeld's edition of Metro will hit the stands on Tuesday.