Other Voices, Other Rooms: Karl Lagerfeld at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" - Red Carpet / By Neilson Barnard/MG23
Oh, the first Monday in May, what a glorious time for viewing cherry blossoms and magnolias blooming along the Hudson River Parkway, taking a stroll through Central Park, and seeing some of the most exquisite works of fashion inside and outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lining the streets of Fifth avenue, people clamor to glimpse into the world of celebrities at the Met Gala. This annual benefit is a collaborative event between the Costume Institute and Vogue. Started in 1948, the Met Gala is the primary fundraiser for the Costume Institute's yearly endowment. Although it has changed from the dinner ''party of the year'' for New York's elite to the grand spectacle of heritage fashion brands and celebrities, the event still galvanizes the fashion curious and obsessed, just now on the world stage.
Vreeland & Blass At The Met Gala / By Sonia Moskowitz
Late designer Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019) was honored at this year's Met Gala through a monographic retrospective of his illustrious career working with fashion powerhouses such as Jean Patou (1958-1963), Chloé (1963-1978, 1992-1997), Fendi (1965-2019), Chanel (1983-2019), and his eponymous label (1984-2019). Due to his sixty years in the fashion industry, Lagerfeld's style consistently evolved to keep up with a contemporary aesthetic. However, the longevity of chic, sophisticated style was interwoven into Lagerfeld's oeuvre that celebrities and designers paid homage to at last night's gala. Elements of style such as black and white garments, pearls, white florals, tweed, padded textiles, sequins, crosses, and eighteenth-century fans were on display on the red carpet, showcasing the breadth and timelessness of Lagerfeld's innovation.
CHANEL: Metiers d'Art - Show / By Mike Marsland
The show, as a collaboration between The Costume Institute and Vogue, has particular importance within this show due to Lagerfeld's collaboration between his designs and the head seamstresses being highlighted. The idea of Lagerfeld as an artist-designer is shown through many sketches and their subsequent materialization from ideas or works of art. By highlighting the designer's prolific career and references, celebrities who worked with Karl and those who did not both tapped into how personal this show is to the fashion industry. Many designers, like Marc Jacobs and Tommy Hilfiger, told personal stories of their experiences, and models, like Cara Delevingne and Giselle, illustrated how fundamental Karl was to their careers within fashion. Lagerfeld has been championed through his personal relationships with the industry. That story is being told at the Costume Institute's annual spring exhibition.
Frequent collaborator Carla Bruni put it best when quoting Lagerfeld, ""Death doesn't exist… the person just goes into another room"." That is the essence of the exhibition and the red carpet of the 2023 Met Gala. Karl Lagerfeld's livelihood was placed into his sketches and relationships within the fashion industry. Karl was quite literally in the other room. His spirit was alive in the garments and homages. Following In America: An Anthology of Fashion (2022), Karl Lagerfeld's exhibition draws back the scope of global fashion and invites museum-goers into the designer's and his colleagues' private world to view the fashion system from the inside. Many celebrities were wearing copies or archival works of Lagerfeld designs. For example, the event co-chair, Dua Lipa, was in a bridal gown for the F/W 1992 show, initially worn by Claudia Schiffer. Going into the gala, Dua Lipa switched into Chanel couture from spring/summer 1995. This strapless black lace Chanel gown was worn by Stephanie Seymour on the runway and in the campaign. Dua Lipa gave one further node to Claudia Schiffer, who has also been seen in the SS95 couture gown. Margot Robbie wore a Chanel replica of a 1993 garment initially worn by runway model, Cindy Crawford, during Paris fashion week. Versace paid homage to Karl by creating a gown worn by Anne Hathway. Using pearls and flat fabric with surface embroidery and beading, the Versace gown resembled the classic Chanel tweed. Hathaway's Bulgari choker was made from Monete pieces, ancient Roman coins, inspired by Chanel’s coin accessories that were popular in the 80s. Donatella Versace told Vogue that the gown was inspired by a memorable dinner conversation between Gianni Versace and Karl Lagerfeld. These beautiful reproductions of iconic fashion moments are only one piece of Lagerfeld's continual influence within the restyling of fashion during his six decades within the world of fashion.
The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" - Inside / By Cindy Ord/MG23
The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" - Arrivals / By Jamie McCarthy
The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" - Arrivals / By Jeff Kravitz
Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty (2023) is a profoundly personal and emotional exhibition paying respect to an influential figure in fashion who's career will be referenced for years to come. Many of the works were loaned to the Metropolitan Museum through private donors and the fashion archives of the brands touched by Lagerfeld. To see this exhibition is to see a once-in-a-lifetime capsule of a designer's career formatted for public viewing. Despite his controversial ideologies surrounding models and the fashion system in general, the Met and Vogues collaboration tries not to mystify and deify designers and works but to create discourse surrounding fashion to percolate through the audiences.
The exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty (2023) will open for public viewing on May 5th, 2023.
The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" - Arrivals / By Taylor Hill
The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" - Inside / By Arturo Holmes/MG23
