Karl Lagerfeld's ornate former mansion for sale in Hamburg for $15.7 million

For fans of high fashion, here’s one piece with serious bragging rights. A €10 million ($15.7 million) Lagerfeld – well, former Lagerfeld which you can literally live in, not just wear.

It’s a 1920s Roman-style villa close to the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany, that Lagerfeld bought in 1991 and renamed Villa Jakop.

The new moniker was in honour of his long-term partner, Parisian socialite Jacques de Bascher, who had passed away not long before the purchase.

The German fashion designer paid 3 million Deutsche marks for the home, and he embarked on an extensive renovation of the property in partnership with art conservator Renate Kant.

​It had originally been called Villa Schuler, and was single-storey home built for Hermann Witte, a shipping magnate. 

It sold in 1927 to a lawyer, who brought the original architect back in to build an extension that added a second level.

Lagerfeld used the home in the marketing campaign for his ‘Lagerfeld Jako’ scent, as well as writing about it in his book Ein Deutsches Haus (A German House).

He sold the property – which sits on 12,000 square metres – in 1998, apparently because it was too quiet. 

• Related: Karl Lagerfeld turns to interiors
• Related: Colette Dinnigan’s first interior project
• Related: High-end fashion for your home

“It’s impossible to live on the Elbe. You spend all your time looking out at the river. You ended up becoming lazy,” he was quoted as saying.

The ornate home is now owned by the chief executive of media company Edel AG, Michael Haentjes. He has listed the property for sale through agency Engel & Volkers.

Aside from his fashion work with brands such as Chanel and Fendi, as well as his own label, 84-year-old Lagerfeld has attracted attention in recent years for a variety of colourful comments.

These include criticising the German government’s immigration policy invoking Holocaust imagery, commenting on singer Adele’s weight, and reportedly declaring that he would marry his cat, Choupette, were it legal.

He currently owns an 1820s-era house in Paris, and sold his his New York apartment for $US4.5 million ($6.1 million) in 2013.