Karl Lagerfeld to build luxury villas in Dubai

Global fashion and accessories label Karl Lagerfeld and Emirati real estate developer Taraf have inked a deal to build luxury villas in Dubai. It will be Karl Lagerfeld’s third residential real estate project worldwide, and the first in the Middle East. In 2021, the label founded in 1984 by the eponymous German designer and photographer, who died in 2019, built a set of luxury properties in Marbella, Spain, and this year it announced it will build a high-rise featuring a hotel and luxury flats in Malaysia.

Karl Lagerfeld’s latest project chimes with a strategy that has become popular with many fashion and luxury players in recent years: investing in real estate. Labels like Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Versace, and Elie Saab, are well aware that buying branded properties, especially if furnished with the labels’ own interior decoration products, is high on the list of many affluent consumers.
 
The lowest price for a luxury flat furnished by Fendi Casa in Marbella is €4.9 million, while a Karl Lagerfeld villa is priced closer to €8 million, according to Spanish news agency EFE.

In a press release, Karl Lagerfeld said that its Dubai villas will give a glimpse of the Hamburg-born designer’s eclectic world, celebrating the DNA encapsulated in his motto ‘Embrace the present and invent the future.’
 
“Thanks to our collaboration with Taraf, we are not merely building villas, we are crafting unique lifestyle habitats,” said Karl Lagerfeld’s CEO Pier Paolo Righi in the press release. “With Taraf and the Karl Lagerfeld team, which has worked with the designer on his architecture projects, we will bring Karl’s unique idea of exclusive living to Dubai. By blending design artistry with the art of real estate, we look forward to offering an unparalleled experience,” he added.
 
Low Ping, CEO of Taraf’s owner, the Yas Holding group, said that “this partnership with a globally recognized brand” is an initiative that “will not only add incomparable value to Taraf’s next residential property, but also elevate what Taraf stands for in this competitive sector in the UAE.”
 
Taraf noted that a survey by real estate consultants Jones Lang LaSalle found that demand for branded residential properties has been increasing worldwide, as the number of high net worth individuals is rising. Taraf recently laid the first stone for its next property, called ‘Light’, a luxury residential complex located in Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.
 
The Karl Lagerfeld collections are characterised by classic, Parisian-style items with a rock-chic vibe. The label’s eponymous founder and designer was an iconic fashion industry figure, and the creative spark behind labels like Chanel and Fendi. The collections include women’s, men’s and children’s ready-to-wear, the Karl Lagerfeld Jeans line, handbags, small leather goods, footwear, perfumes, eyewear and more. The label also produces the Karl Lagerfeld Maison furniture collection, and is active in the hotel sector. Design Director Hun Kim is in charge of style at Karl Lagerfeld, assisted by other members of what Karl regarded as his extended ‘family’. Among them, Sébastien Jondeau, brand ambassador and product consultant, and Amber Valletta, the label’s sustainability ambassador.
 
Karl Lagerfeld is owned by the G-III Apparel group, and is distributed via 200 stores worldwide, including its main wholesale and franchising partners. Its key cities are Paris, London, Monte Carlo, Dubai and Shanghai, and it also operates a well-established e-shop, ensuring a solid online presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In the Middle East, Karl Lagerfeld has a flagship store in the Dubai Mall, and has recently boosted its online presence by launching a dedicated e-shop. The label has now also entered the Chilean market.
 
Yas Holding is an Emirati investment firm active in sectors like health care, agriculture, food, digital technology, education, real estate and aviation. It has over 50 operational subsidiaries and it is present in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.