LOUVECIENNES, France, June 30, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A villa outside Paris owned up until his death by the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, which shows both luxury and discretion, is to be sold at auction Tuesday under a traditional method where time is counted by candles.

Bought in 2010 by Lagerfeld, who died in 2019, the villa in Louveciennes in the Yvelines region some 15 kilometres (9 miles) west of Paris is to be sold at notarial auction with an initial asking price of 4.6 million euros ($5.4 million).

A two-hectare park contains three separate houses, a swimming pool and a tennis court, surrounded by trees or walls ensuring "discretion and anonymity", said Jerome Cauro, of notaries Arias, the firm handling the sale.

The main building is classical on the outside and understated on the inside. The designer's studio occupied a large part of the first floor of the house.

"It's a property that was the showcase for his furniture," said Arno Felber, also a notary at Arias.

"He put everything into this last house; he really loved it. He called it 'the true version of himself'" his muse and right-hand woman, Amanda Harlech, told Vogue in 2021.

The iconic former Chanel creative director even had his childhood bedroom recreated in a small room with leopard-print walls.

- 'Loved entertaining' -

Legend has it that he only slept there for one night, that he hosted a grand reception in honour of Princess Caroline of Monaco, and that he readily lent it to his friends.

"He loved coming here during the day to create and he loved entertaining," said Cauro. The three living rooms and the kitchen, equipped with four ovens, five sinks, two refrigerators, and two fryers, can accommodate dinners for 100 people.

According to Arias, the fashion legend carried out "colossal works" on this property, which belonged to the 19th century poet Leconte de Lisle and members of the Rothschild family in the first half of the 19th century.

"We don't have the bill, but we estimate that the cost of the work is close to the asking price" of 4.6 million euros, said Arno Felber.

Abandoned after the death of the "Kaiser," the house was purchased in 2023 by a real estate company that took over its upkeep and put it back up for sale.

- Candle auction -

With a style of which the late designer may himself have approved, the sale will take place, according to the traditional notary auction method, as a so-called "candle auction".

In such a candle auction, which is still commonplace in France, the auction time is defined by the burning of two small candles, each lasting about fifteen seconds.

In March 2024, Lagerfeld's futuristic three-room Paris apartment was sold for ten million euros by the notary firm Althemis, twice its asking price.

With his powdered white pony tail, black sunglasses, and starched high-collared white shirts, Lagerfeld, who died aged 85, was as instantly recognisable as his celebrity clients.

Having pushed Fendi into the big league, he was brought in to save Chanel in 1983 when only its celebrated range of perfumes was making money.

Despite being at the centre of fashion's social whirl and lavishing millions on art, furniture and homes, Lagerfeld was however always a solitary figure.