Heimathafen: a homage to Karl Lagerfeld

How Anna Marleen Kutsch's costume design graduation project turned into a fully analogue editorial at Villa Jako, Karl Lagerfeld's old Hamburg home.

Bachelor's graduation project by Anna Marleen Kutsch · with Studio Moodio · [k]eine produktion as service production September 15, 2025 Editorial

I. An idea that began at CHANEL

„Heimathafen“ is Anna Marleen Kutsch’s bachelor’s graduation project, the work she finished her costume design degree with. She realised the editorial together with Studio Moodio from Munich, and [k]eine produktion came on board as service production. The first sketches were made in autumn 2024. Anna, a designer from Hamburg, was working at CHANEL at the time. Two things about Karl Lagerfeld wouldn’t let her go there: how he turned fashion into stories and how attached he was to Hamburg. Out of that came the idea for a homage collection.

The reference was Lagerfeld’s Métiers d’Art show 2017/18. Anna designed a transitional collection that brings his CHANEL codes to Hamburg: officer’s jackets and gold buttons, sailor collars, sailor’s knots. The fabrics are knit, bouclé and wool, the colours navy blue, grey and bordeaux. When the Munich photographer and creative director Niklas Reinfelder joined, the idea for an editorial of its own grew out of the collection.

A model wearing an Elbsegler cap, tweed and a veil from the Heimathafen collection — Elbsegler cap, tweed and veil

A knit dress with fringes and long strings of pearls — Knit, fringes and long strings of pearls

II. Villa Jako

The location was settled early on: Villa Jako, Lagerfeld’s old house on the Elbe. You can hardly get closer to his Hamburg. The current owner was won over by the project, and so the team could photograph and film in the salons, at the tall windows and in the garden.

A model in a doorway of Villa Jako looking out at the Elbe — In a doorway of Villa Jako, the view out onto the Elbe

III. Fully analogue

A young team from Munich and Hamburg gathered around DoP and producer Felix Finken and service producer Jakob Hermann. The shoot took place in mid-May 2025, on a day that was unusually sunny for Hamburg. Everything was done entirely on analogue. That forced everyone to work more slowly and more precisely.

The large and medium format film was developed and scanned by hand, the 16mm material was developed by Studio L’Equipe. Then came the selection and the edit, and a score of its own was written for the film. Almost a year after Anna’s first idea everything was finished: 28 images and a two-minute film.

Billowing curtains in the salon of Villa Jako — Billowing curtains in the salon

A portrait of a woman beneath a veil — A portrait beneath the veil

IV. Home and wanderlust

The editorial circles around the harbour, a gateway to the world that stands for home and wanderlust at once. Two women embody this in-between. One looks ahead, full of longing and courage. The other stays calm and steady like a lighthouse. And the anchor, between staying and setting off. Both together, that is Hamburg.

A model in the park of Villa Jako — In the park of the villa

We show the full film and the complete series in our work Heimathafen. What remains is a homage to Lagerfeld and to his city, and the thought that fashion can be a way of storytelling across generations.