Unlike previous bids, the Met Gala 2023 claim was not a brand, time, or concept, but a person: Karl Lagerfeld. The designer, who died in 2019 at the age of 85, was as well known for his sketches for Chanel, Fendi, Chloé and his own brand as for his character: drainpipe pants with a frock coat, black glasses, embroidered mittens, ponytail and his inseparable choupette, in her words ” the Garbo der Katzen”, the kitten to whom she bequeathed part of her fortune. The man who “in the world of the ephemeral was someone enduring,” as ex-model Carla Bruni defined him this Monday, May 1, in New York; The “interested in everything but mediocrity” achieves the halo of the immortal in an exhibition that brings together nearly 200 pieces chosen from more than 10,000: the production of a career that spanned six decades. The gala, with its galactic celebrity runway with Penélope Cruz as one of the hostesses, was, as usual, fireworks – alongside a fundraiser, its main objective – while the Metropolitan Museum exhibition, which will be open to the public Friday through July 16, invites you to a silent encounter with the essence of genius.
The exhibition, presented hours before the gala in Manhattan this Monday, is titled Karl Lagerfeld: a line of beauty, in reference to the serpentine line, or line of beauty, the 18-shaped curved line that appears within an object or as its boundary appears and represents liveliness and movement. The rooms, which thematically house the production of the so-called emperor of fashion, wind through a curved building designed by architect Tadao Ando like giant S letters. The pieces on display range from his early days as a design assistant at Balmain and artistic director of Patou to the suits that defined his latest collection in 2019. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the world’s most influential fashion curator, the exhibition is both thematic and conceptual essay, with several contrasting approaches: masculine and feminine, romantic and military, historical and futuristic…
Find out more Suits by Karl Lagerfeld at the exhibition dedicated to the German designer at the Metropolitan, this Monday in New York.SHANNON STAPLETON (Portal)
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, host and organizer of the gala and exhibition for two decades, was a close friend of the Germans and often recalls that all the important moments of her life were dressed in one of her designs. This friendly relationship, the artist’s proximity to the Monegasque royal family or the circle of top models that always surrounded him, protected him from controversy, embodied in racist, xenophobic, homophobic statements against fat women or gay marriage. Lagerfeld publicly criticized MeToo, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opening of Germany to refugees — including an unfortunate reference to the Holocaust — singer Adele for her actions, and those who, not without reason, denounced the ill image of many models at the limit of their weight . Plus-size models “nobody wants to see”; fat mothers with their bags of chips sit in front of the television [son las que] They say skinny models are ugly,” he joked in a 2009 interview with a German magazine.
A sewing wizard but also cruel and cutting, someone who during his life “offended people from right and left,” as New York Times fashion editor Vanessa Friedman wrote after his death, the German looks flawless on the show of the show struck without any hint of his flaws, not far removed from those that cost designer John Galliano his career. There is no room for criticism in the exhibition, only for praise. “Karl Lagerfeld was one of the most compelling, prolific and well-known forces in fashion and culture, known for his extraordinary designs and tireless creative output as much as for his legendary personality,” says Max Hollein, director of the museum. However, Hollein admits his provocative nature. “He was certainly provocative with his statements, but I think it’s important to see the exhibition as a celebration of his art, his creative expression and also as an analysis of his public persona. On the one hand there is a separation between artistic production and what one makes personally. On the other hand, we also reflect on his personality,” he said on Monday.
Left to right Anna Wintour, Roger Federer and Carla Bruni during the presentation of the rehearsal at the Metropolitan in New York this Monday TIMOTHY A. CLARY (AFP)
Versatile (he was also a photographer, writer, editor and interior designer), Lagerfeld was in his own way a forerunner of young talent who revolutionized the very nature of fashion, such as the ill-fated Virgil Abloh. The temporal dimension of the phenomenon, far from underlining its ephemeral nature, is rooted in the obligatory environment of a museum. There are no contradictions, Hollein claims; Fashion’s shifting and fickle expression fits into a museum and vice versa. “Don’t forget that the Met was founded over 150 years ago, basically to teach New York artisans how to make better art, better fabrics, better costumes and so on. So it fits his identity very well.” Dedicating part of the museum each year to fashion is, in his opinion, “a manifestation of creativity, artistic excellence, contemporaneity, the ability to capture the contemporary spirit and give it a fantastic three-dimensional form Actually, fashion is an art that has been around for many centuries.”
The Super Bowl of global fashion
The exhibition attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year; For example, 2018’s, dedicated to the influence of Catholic imagery on design, was the most watched at the Met this year. The gala has a planetary, almost galactic audience. But Hollein isn’t afraid of the shadow cast on the museum by this global catwalk, often dubbed the Super Bowl of fashion and audiovisually rivaling the Oscars. “The gala is a very popular event. It certainly adds to the profile, notoriety and understanding of the Met. When I was appointed director of the museum five years ago, not only my children but all their friends were thrilled that I attended the gala,” he admits.
But alongside a global carpet, not always red, the gala is a gigantic coffers designed to fund the activities of the institution’s costume institute. Last year it grossed $17.4 million (the museum’s spring gala only grossed $2.6 million). The single entry is listed at $50,000; The full table for dinner that companies usually reserve starts at 300,000. But it isn’t just necessary to be rich to enter the sanctum of glamor up the Fifth Avenue steps of the centenary building: you have to be famous, relevant or influential. And besides, you have to be summoned, it’s not worth picking up the checkbook.
Penelope Cruz arriving at this Monday’s Met Gala in New York Evan Agostini (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Along with Wintour, four co-hosts co-led the event. Alongside tennis player Roger Federer, a friend of the Vogue editor, the Flashes maxed out their full light load with Penélope Cruz, longtime Chanel ambassador, and singer Dua Lipa, who wore a bridal gown for the house from Lagerfeld’s 1992 collection, Worn by Claudia Schiffer at the time. Cruz shone in a wedding dress, also white, with silver embroidery and a capeline. As co-hosts, the actress and singer were the first to arrive alongside Wintour, in a Chanel from the latest collection, and alongside the ever-stylish British actor Bill Nighy. The gala was also helmed by screenwriter, actress and producer Michaela Coel, who was on the cover of last year’s Vogue, in a loop of media representation that is constantly being fed back. The almost 400 guests dressed in virgin white and pure black, in the essential monochromatic line of the Kaiser, with a few touches of color, such as actress Salma Hayek’s blood-red dress or the occasional daring yellow.
Met Gala co-host singer Dua Lipa chose a ‘vintage’ Chanel wedding dress for the occasion. ANGELA WHITE (AFP)
Last year, 275,000 pink roses adorned the museum’s entrance hall, which on Monday hid a huge tent from the eyes of the curious. A single detail of abundance that underlines the renewed commitment to balance even more than the previous one, in the decoration, in the power of convocation, in the clothing. As if the motto of the circus, the most difficult so far, is transferred to the gala in the most glamorous way to nourish and renew a show that devours itself. That’s why the Met Gala, whose origins date back to 1948 as a New York high society dinner, has transformed over time into an exhibition platform for influencers, dazzling celebrities, celebrities and occasionally royals. The arrival of the guests was streamed from various social network accounts. And the list of lucky guests, revealed after an almost summary secrecy to the last second to stoke interest, showed the succession of epiphanies lasted much less than was anticipated.