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 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 catwalk of celebrities, was, as usual, fireworks – its main objective alongside a fundraiser – while the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition, open to the public Friday through July 16, promotes the silent encounter with the essence of the geniuses
The exhibition, presented hours before the gala in New York this Monday, is titled Karl Lagerfeld: a line of beauty, in reference to the serpentine line or line of beauty theorized by British artist William Hogarth in the 18th century: An S-curved line that appears within an object or as its boundary, representing liveliness and movement. The rooms, which house the production of the fashion emperor thematically, meander like gigantic large S through a winding structure designed by Tadao Ando. 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…
Karl Lagerfeld fits into 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, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opening of Germany to refugees – including an unfortunate reference to the Holocaust – the singer Adele for her actions and those who, not without reason, denounced the sick image of many models and their weight limit. 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 has spent his life “insulting people from right and left,” as New York Times fashion editor Vanessa Friedman wrote after his death, the German emerges spotless from the show Scored, without any indication of his mistakes, not far from those that cost 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.
Anna Wintour, Roger Federer and Carla Bruni, this Monday during the presentation of the rehearsal at the Metropolitan in New York. 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 In reality, 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 in design, was the most viewed at the museum that 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 you too must be subpoenaed, 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 drew all their light charge with Penélope Cruz, Chanel’s ambassador for years, and singer Dua Lipa, who wore a wedding dress from Lagerfeld’s 1992 collection for the house, worn at the time by Claudia Schiffer. Cruz shone in a wedding dress, also white, with silver embroidery and a capeline. As co-hosts, they 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. Virgin white and pure black reigned supreme in the clothing of the almost 400 guests, in the essential monochromatic line of the Emperor, with few touches of color, such as the blood red dress by Salma Hayek or the occasional daring yellow.
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 accounts on social networks. 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.