One of Paris' most famous adopted sons Karl Lagerfeld has decried the French capital saying it is a different world to the city he began to call home in the 1950s.

Having been heavily targeted by terrorists in the last 18 months, notably in November when 130 people were slaughtered by ISIS, Paris has gained a feeling of danger, said the fashion legend.

'Paris by night is a nightmare now. It is not a cliché anymore,' the 82-year-old at the helm of Chanel said.

'Paris by night is a nightmare now. It is not a cliché anymore,' the 82-year-old at the helm of Chanel Karl Lagerfeld said

The German-born designer moved to Paris in 1950 to take up his first job in the capital under French fashion giant Pierre Balmain.

When he first set eyes on the city, he told CNN the scene was idyllic, and that it looked like an old French movie.

Fast-forward more than half a century and what Lagerfeld sees is very different.

He condemned the weather, demonstrations and strikes, saying the Paris of today is like another world.

'There was no feeling of danger, and not even a boy of 16 years old could walk in the street,' he said.

'This is not the most glamorous moment in Paris.

'Paris by night is a nightmare now. It is not a cliché anymore.

'I must say, in my whole life I never saw Paris that gloomy.'

Comparing the Paris he fell in love with and the French capital today, he said: 'Things are changing, but I have the feeling I lived in a world that no longer exists.

'Paris has to make an effort to become Paris again'

Lagerfeld has been the chief of Chanel's fashion house as head designer and creative director since 1983.

Last year, Paris was rocked when ISIS terrorists swarmed the city, slaughtering 130 people on the evening of November 13.

As well as setting off car bombs near the Stade de France and opening fire on a row of restaurants and bars, 89 revelers were murdered when four extremists began to fire into the crowd of an Eagles of Death Metal concern at the Bataclan theatre.

The horrific attacks followed another terrorist siege at the headquarters of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January of last year.

Two Islamist gunmen Saïd Kouachi and Chérif Kouachi forced their way into the building and killed 12 people in reaction to the publication of a cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed.

Catwalk icon Legerfeld was talking ahead of Chanel's Autumn-Winter 2016 haute couture show in Paris.