There's a Waiting List for These $3K Pencils

Karl Lagerfeld's special edition colored pencil set has sold out
By Linda Hervieux,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 17, 2016 9:46 AM CDT
There's a Waiting List for These $3K Designer Pencils
Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld closes Chanel's spring-summer 2017 ready-to-wear fashion collection this month in Paris.   (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

It isn't a handbag or a pussy bow blouse, but Karl Lagerfeld's latest star turn has design aficionados swooning. There's a waiting list at New York's Museum of Modern Art's shop for Lagerfeld's KARLBOX, a collection of colored pencils, markers, paintbrushes and other artsy doodads, reports Quartz. But the breathtaking part is the $3,000 price tag (sharpeners included). Some 2,500 of the limited-edition sets made by Faber-Castell sold out shortly after going on sale online last month, per the Hollywood Reporter. "What amuses me while drawing is the fact to draw," Lagerfeld, 83, says ponderously on the KARLBOX website. "To me drawing is like breathing and writing. These are things that almost relax me."

Although the collection is tagged "Colours in Black," the tools come in every color of the rainbow. Could pencils costing roughly $9 each possibly be worth it? The reviews aren't in, though the design gets raves. Vogue hails the set as "über-chic," while Forbes notes the "elegant" black wood box "resembles a Chinese wedding cabinet." Lagerfield said he's used Faber-Castell pencils since he was a kid and began sketching his own designs. "I wanted to become an illustrator, so I studied every book of costume design from any kind of period," says the Chanel impresario, per Quartz. He tested out his skills for the 2014 Coco Chanel The Allure of Chanel. (What offends Lagerfeld's design sensibilities? Lots of things.)

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