Chanel Fetes the LBJ

"The jacket is eternal," Karl Lagerfeld has said. He might have been speaking of his own career, too. The designer for houses as varied as Chloe, Fendi and MaxMara is best known for helming Chanel since 1983, reinventing and reinvigorating the label for successive waves of fans. 

Part of Lagerfeld's genius lies in making Chanel's basics--for instance, a little black jacket, originally created in 1954--look like the hottest garments from tomorrow's runway. He did this most recently in a book of photographs featuring top models, celebrities and fashion bigwigs--from Claudia Schiffer to Kanye West to Anna Wintour--in Chanel's LBJ. The pictures, taken by Lagerfeld, are making their way across the globe in art shows: a movable feast for the eyes. 

Click through the gallery to see the striking images from the book as well as Lagerfeld and his A-list friends at openings in Paris and London.