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Neither one. They are both too masculine and over the top for my taste.

Hmm. I actually *hate* Tom Ford's London home -- you put it perfectly when you wrote that "it could give someone the feeling of being trapped in a commercial grade refrigerator or an air vent".

(And I actually quite liked his Paris apartment -- don't know if he still has it).

It's as I wrote on the Julia Child post a couple of days ago -- it is a house that is all show, but no depth. To me, it communicates how superficial Tom Ford must be. Lagerfeld at least *seems* more complex, and might actually have a thought in his head...

Tom Ford by far! Especially if he happens to be home!

Lagerfeld--I love that library; reminds me of a bookstore.

Does Lagerfeld always walk around the house dressed like that?

As for which home...neither. I would expect them to have better taste.

Lagerfeld's library just seems like a showroom to me. There's no way he actually uses it. Otherwise, he wouldn't be storing so many books horizontally. Anytime you want a book on the bottom, you have to heave it out from under all the others. (This is a pet peeve of mine--and anytime I see more than 4 books stacked, I always have to wonder if the person they belong to has even read them, because it is SO inconvenient.)It would be especially difficult to pull books from the bottom of the stack on those ridiculously high shelves. You could hurt yourself. Seriously. And what's with the posters obscuring the shelves? I don't know. The impracticality turns me off. So Ford wins by default--though I agree about the "trapped in an A/C vent" thing.

I find both of these homes really unappealing, for different reasons. The clutter of Karl's makes my eyes bleed, and the coldness of Tom's gives it the feeling of common areas in a hotel. And I hate the dark gray sofas in both of them. They probably cost a fortune, but each looks like a microfiber set from a mid-range furniture store that is now for sale on Craigslist because the owners realized it was too big and bulky for the space.

I love all the books in Karl's house - I would live there, but only if Karl would stand around in the house like a mannequin.

Both are pretty awful. If these homes weren't owned by famous designers, would we even be talking about them?

No contest. Tom Ford rocks!

I think they are both pretty great.

Another vote for 'none of the above.'
Too many hard surfaces, not enough color or personality. And not a flower or a plant in sight (except when you gaze out the window).

Neither, too masculine and "staged". Lagerfeld by no means uses that library and he breaks more rules for me than the incredibly handsome Ford. (Yup I'm biased.) Lagerfeld treats the library like a typical design showroom, artfully stacked books and paintings hanging in front of the shelves like we've seen in a bazillion interior trend magazines. Not useful at all or believable. Ford almost comes close to believable in the wood paneled room, but doesn't quite make it.

Tom Ford's pad. Hands down.

Neither. Both are too stylized and cold for my taste. There's something postively dystopian about a 'library' that obviously uses books as interesting wallpaper. And that kitchen is the unfriendliest I've ever seen.

neither.

neither, but especially like lagerfeld's less. being rather fond of books, it always annoys me to see them stored in a way that shows they are obviously never read.

either way, neither of them have very good taste. ick.

Not crazy about either home.

The Kaiser. No doubt. I'm a fan of the fan.

Didya ever see Villa Jako? Now THAT was Mr. Lagerfeld's finest design moment, in my opinion.

Lagerfeld, hands down.

both of them are cold and gray!
but Tom Ford has better artwork

Both are soulless.

Neither!

Tom Ford's house is better although Tom Ford is a has been designing eye wear and expensive men's suits that nobody wants. Mr. Lagerfeld's vision has endured for decades.

they both need to go visit Valentino, get some fresh air and some flowers

Saint Laurent, sweetie.

http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/ysl_outtakes200901?slide=1#slide=11

Hate them both, but maybe Ford's a bit less. (As a librarian I agree with the comments about Lagerfeld's books. Why even have them? Displayed that way they certainly don't suggest "intellectualism".

Tom Ford, besides being adorable, has exquisite taste - I'd marry him/move into his place in a heartbeat.

Lagerfeld is just a tired old queen with too many books.

After watching "Lagerfeld Confidential" I'm convinced that Lagerfeld's house is a reflection of his lifestyle- excess, change, disorder, and luxury. He owns dozens of IPODs, hundreds of rings, and drawers full of those starchy collars he wears. It is exactly what I would expect from such a character. It takes good taste to a level that is gloriously ridiculous, just like fashion.

lagerfeld's library screams fire hazard. get a kindle.

except for the library shots, there are no other images of lagerfeld's house in this post on which to judge them relative to one another.

that said, though i intellectually prefer the more minimalist look of ford's, i know from how i live, that i would find lagerfeld's, if the rest of the house is anything like the library, more "me".

i'm an intellectual minimalist and an emotional maximalist. my house is the battle ground where these two extremes fight it out. a wreck, really.

These would not be good examples for either. I would pick Tom Ford over Lagerfeld in general. I have always liked his style, he turned Gucci around and now its a bunch or crap.

I LOVE tired old queens. Karl! Karl! Karl!

I kind of like the idea of chrome walls. Heh heh hehhhhh.

Just by looking at the images of the two men, I'd go for Ford anyday, he's more my "style" menwise. :-)

But then when I looked at their places, true, you don't see much of Lagerfield's place but the library, but just looking at it, it's just too much (like he obviously is with his "creative" banter, gag) but even there, it was a resounding nope, too much going on to make it work for me visually and while both rely much too much on grays and whites and little else, I'd take Tom Fords more restraint decorating anyday over the excess of Lagerfield.

That said, I'd first ditch the stainless steel walls tho and replace w/ similar wood panels shown in the den to some of the walls and paint the rest white and then recover the couches with COLORFUL fabric and voila, less cold.

Both awful, and I base that assessment 100% on the books. Books LOOK great stacked like that but they can't be USED (read, referred to, taken down and put back). Apparently, neither man reads. If you don't read, why fill your home with books? OK, dumb question, they're designers, and yes, the books look snappy. But no. Just...awful homes.

Neither!

I could get lost in Uncle Karl's library for days....


http://mylittleapartment.blogspot.com/

neither too

one reads, the other doesn't?

or maybe they both just look at the pictures.

and posters are never a good sign.

(unless they are 1930's british rail...)

YSL's homes were all horrors... at least Andy Warhol was up front and just warehoused his stuff.

I remember a peek at Helmut Lang's Vienna pad long ago... now THAT was dreamy


writers make nicer homes in general....

omg karl's, hands down! so much more character.

Jumping back in a moment, RE stacking of books.

some stacking is perfectly OK as you can display picture/coffee table books on a, well, coffee table or on a low credenza etc, but I'd not go more than perhaps a half dozen stacked and I DO wonder if Lagerfield didn't use special shelving to not allow more than 6 stacked upon each other to help facilitate removing of any one book, but I still don't like his idea of shelving them ALL in this manner.

I do stack a few books, mostly for variety on my shelves but rarely more than 6 stacked and I have a couple of small stacks on an Expidet bookcase on its side that houses LP's and I do have one stack of paperbacks in the bedroom bookcase but only because of running short on space and on both bedside tables are books stacked, the rest are upright as they would normally be.

LAGERFELD, I LOVE THE KAISER

Kaiser Karl's place is a sterile, cluttered mess. Tom's place is too masculine for my taste (God, I miss Todd Oldham's playful, colorful approach...), but at least I wouldn't feel claustrophobic in there.

I don't think I would want to live in Tom's place as is, but I think with a few teeny changes I wouldn't mind. Lagerfeld's makes me break out in hives, as well. No surprise, I have no time for the man. It encapsulates everythign I dislike about him - showy and over the top without enough flair, IMO (obviously millions disagree) and ostentatiously 'crazy' just for the hey of it.

No thanks.

Both wanky. Karl Largerfeld looks like he should live on Tracy Island, anyway.

Why do people confise character with clutter? and substance with stuff? To me a cluttered home show a distinct LACK of character and substance. It is far too easy to replace real thought with another doodad.

This is a perfect case in point. Tom's place shows a certainty of and thoughtfulness, and looks like someplace that he actually lives (albeit staged for the cameras) OTOH, with Karl's, I see no personality here other than the one he's manufactured for the public. It is obvious that he doesn't really 'live' here, but rather has decorated it for the media and public voyeurs.

Sorry, did somebody say it was dangerous to stack books? Absurd.

If you can't manage stacked books without injury, then please avoid the following as they would also be extremely dangerous:
-Swinging a hammer
-Closing a car door
-Walking barefoot on the beach
-Drinking hot coffee
-Petting a cat

proper:

I said that it would be difficult and potentially dangerous to be 25 feet above the ground, lifting a stack of 15 coffee table books to get to the one below them. It's a matter of balance. You'd have to use both hands to lift that many books, and you'd be on a ladder, and you'd have to get to the book you want. Granted--I'm a clutz. So there is definite injury potential for me in that scenario. As there is in swinging a hammer and closing a car door (I seem to do OK with beaches and cats--so far at least). But given the fact that Lagerfeld is 300 years old, he should probably shy away from said scenario. But I doubt that's a problem since he probably has never attempted to access any of those books anyway.

BlackFrancine, you are absolutely right about the stacked books. And they don't even look that good.

If I had to choose between the two, it would be Tom's place. Karl's library scares me. I'd feel like the books are gonna fall on me.

Tom Ford's - I love the colors and artwork!

Having lived in the Bay Area for 9 years, and So Cal for 2, all I can think of when I look at the photos of Lagerfeld's home is E A R T H Q U A K E ! ! ! !

oh yeah, and dust mites!

I could never live in the Lagerfeld library. I like my visual order. That said, these comments about how the books are stored strike me as off base. It is possible to create visual interest with books, or empty vases, or glassware, or a whole host of things you aren't going to readily use. Why do the books he may have already read need to be readily accessible? If he had stuffed them all in boxes and sent them to a storage facility, they wouldn't be readily accessible there either. Instead he created what amounts to a visual installation. It is clearly over the top and impractical and not meant to be anything but striking. How is this different than if he had just resorted to the more mundane choice of trendy wallpaper, wall decals (god forbid), or paint?

I find it clever.

Because books serve a purpose other than being merely decorative elements, unlike wallpaper, decals or paint.

slowdown - there is no reason books can't pull double duty. It doesn't reduce the pleasure or information derived from having read those books one bit.

I love books and I can handle a lot more clutter than the average AT reader, but the photo of the books that go straight up to the ceiling give me a feeling of vertigo.

Books can't really pay double duty with all the dust they tend to collect.
Unless you have a servant to dust all the shelves for you---that's it---that's why it feels so deliberately ostentatious.

Has anyone else noticed that Karl Lagerfeld is wearing different clothes in both photos?

i don't like either of them...they both look way fake. they probably spend 3 days per year there and have a servant clean everything.

(i know the horizontal book storage is impractical, but i do like the look of it.)

I actually like Tom Ford's... It's crisp and clean and I don't think it's too industrial because it has the big windows everywhere which evens out man vs nature... Lagerfeld's is just too cluttered for my taste... it hurts my eyes... Books shouldn't be like wall paper... it's just too much. When are you ever going to need that many books?? Really... I do like the spiral staircase though.

RichardinLA: I was disagreeing with your equation of books with wallpaper or paint, not the idea that books can be beautiful in and of themselves. I still think that what's between the covers is the important thing and a book's raison d'etre.

Plus, the extreme horizontal stacking in Lagerfeld's library is just impractical, as most people who actually use their books frequently will attest. Whenever I see someone doing something like this with their books, I am convinced that they don't read them very often, if at all. There's something so...pre-literate about this kind of book storage.

Since lagerfeld is a writer himself(he writes poetry in his native tongue) and from the interviews with him I've read, I'm pretty sure he reads his books. He also has a great love of collecting them. And last and most obviously, he has a great love for aesthetics. Is a chanel couture gown with a feather train practical?

I can't really say which one I like best because there are only two photos of the same room for lagerfeld. why has no one mentioned that instead of insulting these mens taste (which is funny because they've been paid millions and have revitalized businesses for their taste). Since I see more of Tom's place, and I like chrome, I'd say his. I like shiny things and I don't really care if that make me seem mindless or soulless. And I don't think either house seems soulless or not lived in. A home should reflect its owner and the way they live a person doesn't have to live the way you do. A person's soul doesn't have to look the way you'd expect. We were asked which home we liked better not to insult people's homes. From the aesthetics and personas these men have presented for so long I wouldn't expect to find powder blue vintage stoves in their homes. They are pretty undeniably purveyors of good taste. I wish I could see more of karl's because I would probably like his more. And they do have more than one home and they probably have different styles in each one. Tom ford's home is probably suppose to be evocative of him AND the location. His ranch in his home state of texas might have more of a "soul" whatever that means.

I have no idea who these men are (other than designers of some kind) and based on this post:

Lagerfeld is insane.

Tom Ford is a vampire.

I think they're both a little soulless, because of the lack of colors, but I second the "Lagerfeld's makes me break out in hives" comment. I'd much rather spend time in Tom Ford's home. Doesn't look like he'll be around anyway.

Ew. They are both cold and stiff. They make me uneasy.

I agree with trace228. AND Karl's pad is just an over the top defect of character.

As a man, I would choose Ford's house and hope that he left the closet full of Size 40 regulars.

Being a designer means you are always on the search for inspiration. Mr. Lagerfeld has been at the top of his game for decades, and has been credited with being one of the most original designers of our time. I have no doubt every one of those books has been read and are arranged in a way to be able to refer back to easily. Some of these criticisms wreak of envy. It would be interesting to see the comments if he were a college professor instead of a design icon....

That's all.

"As a man, I would choose Ford's house and hope that he left the closet full of Size 40 regulars."

He's more like a 42 Short - He's only 5'7"...

Of course we aren't judging these as though they are ours, we are comparing them.

On that note, I'll take Ford way over Lagerfeld. All of that schtuff everywhere would drive me crazy, but then, that is the way he dresses, so I'm not surprised.

i realized this weekend why lagerfeld shelves his books horizontally: it's his high, starched collars! he can't tilt his head to read the titles! it's totally a functional solution to his fashion induced restriction of movement!

and really, there's no reason not to stack them, it's better for the binding's anyway.

KL, of course

KL always.