Visions and a Decision is a tale of the delightfully lascivious power of the human imagination. Combining black-and-white photographs by Karl Lagerfeld with text by Amanda Harlech, it charts the sensual fantasies of a young bachelor about his bride-to-be.

Our first glimpse of the couple is in their decadent eighteenth-century drawing room. The male protagonist Ghyslain de Larzicourt is charming, ruthless yet oddly restless; his female companion Malvina is beautiful, studious and demure. “This is a story of a young handsome old-money couple”, explains Lagerfeld, “Everything is perfect, they’re just a little bored.” As Ghyslain nurses a sparkling glass of champagne and Malvina reads her poetry book, he ponders this cryptic woman, elegant and refined in grey cashmere and pearls — can she fulfil the elaborate expectations he has of his future wife?

And so, with Dom Pérignon as the catalyst, begin Ghyslain’s fantasies of how Malvina might be. Within his imagination she is transformed into an array of seductive characters including Marlene the French maid in fishnet stockings, Suzie Wong the Asian temptress in crimson silk, Gloria the glamorous soul diva complete with afro, and Alma the dominatrix in studded black leather. Says Lagerfeld: “That she could be all women in one is a perfect idea, and Dom Pérignon helps him to think it’s possible and to give almost a physical aspect to his fantasies.”

Modelled on a traditional fairy-tale book with a title plaque embossed in silver, a black cloth bookmark and silver printing throughout, Visions and a Decision is perhaps not without a playful moral. Suppressing our desires is a dangerous thing; liberating them could be the beginning of a delectable existence.