Splicetoday

Pop Culture
Oct 11, 2011, 06:38AM

A Nightmare Not to Daydream

A 2010 Vice Magazine interview with Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld vs. a 2002 Pitchfork interview with reclusive musician Jeff Mangum.

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Cat Johnson

Jeff Mangum: You know, you struggle and cry and moan and thrash around and beat your head against the wall.

Karl Lagerfeld: And now I cannot cross the street. I cannot go anywhere.

Mangum: I picked up the sea turtle and put it in my hand and it turned into a butterfly. And then it turned into a black spider.

Lagerfeld: But I was not living that kind of life; I was not taking drugs and all that.

Mangum: And I felt like Eastern thought really spoke to me.

Lagerfeld: It would be a nightmare not to daydream.

Mangum: It's like your brain is a drain with a bunch of words and images dropping into it, swirling around.

Lagerfeld: To brainwash my own head and to write letters.

Mangum: Even our concepts about romantic love, I think, are destructive; treating people as property is destructive; being jealous of other people is destructive.

Lagerfeld: I don’t like that people butcher animals, but I don’t like them to butcher humans either, which is apparently very popular in the world.

Mangum: So in France and Spain I was recording a lot of things like bells, animals, children, parades and protests.

Lagerfeld: I have bodyguards. So what do you want me to think about it?

Mangum: Want to hear some of it?

Lagerfeld: Beyond horrible.

Mangum: A lot of people are.

Lagerfeld: It was in the early days after the Communists—maybe a week after—and she wore a yellow sweater that was kind of see-through. She had huge tits and a huge black bra, and she said to me, “It’s impolite; remove your glasses.” I said, “Do I ask you to remove your bra?”

Mangum: So often it's all about the frame that you put something in for people.

Lagerfeld: I’m not sure I want to be charmed.

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