Amanda Harlech / Karl Lagerfeld: Palazzo - Tapa dura

Palazzo is a sensual and luxuriant fable. Combining a short story by Amanda Harlech and a series of black-and-white photographs illustrating the story by Karl Lagerfeld, the book explores a glamorous yet equivocal romance. The narrative depicts Principessa Allegra and her American fiancé, who at first seem to be a beautiful and enviable couple. Yet as events unfold, we see that this relationship which initially seemed flawless and sparkling, is in fact complex and shaded with reluctance. Palazzo is a contemporary drama infused with a sense of a theatrical past. Indeed the Palazzo Taverna in Rome is not only the setting for the story, but a vessel containing the complex history of the building itself, on which Lagerfeld elaborates in an epilogue in the book. While depicting a degree of decadence which many can only dream of, Palazzo also explores the disquieting emotional states present in many human relationships expectation, compromise and regret. The allure of Palazzo is thus underpinned by familiar emotions. This is seductive fiction into which we can read our own experiences. Amanda Harlech known as Karl Lagerfelds eye outside Paris, has been his personal and professional collaborator for a decade. Working first as a fashion editor at Harpers & Queen and then for John Galliano for twelve years, Harlechs sensibility, which now informs the Chanel aesthetic, is evidenced in her vivid and often darkly humorous prose. Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer, book dealer and publisher, also began working as a photographer in 1987. He has received the Lucky Strike Design Award from the Raymond Lewy Foundation, the cultural prize from the German Photographic Society, and most recently the Infinity Award 2007 at the International Center of Photography. Steidl has published most of Lagerfelds photography books, including Waterdance/Bodywave, Aktstrakt, A Portrait of Dorian Gray, 7 Fantasmes of a Woman, Room Service and others.