Here's What The Karl Lagerfeld–Themed Met Gala Means And Why It's Controversial
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The 2023 Met Gala is just around the corner, so let's get into what we can expect from this year's red carpet.
Let's start with the basics: The Met Gala is a fundraising event that celebrates the opening of the Costume Institute’s spring 2023 exhibition, "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty."
If this is the first you're hearing of Karl, he was a German-born fashion designer who worked for brands like Balmain, Chloé, Fendi, and Chanel — as well as his eponymous brand. He headed Chanel for three decades and died in 2019 at age 85.
The New York Times said of Karl in its obituary, "His contribution to fashion was not in creating a new silhouette, as designers like Cristobal Balenciaga, Christian Dior and Coco Chanel herself did. Rather, he created a new kind of designer: the shape-shifter. That is to say, he was the creative force who lands at the top of a heritage brand and reinvents it by identifying its sartorial semiology and then pulls it into the present with a healthy dose of disrespect and a dollop of pop culture."
I.e. Karl was less renowned for making anything new as much as he was noted for taking in the history of iconic brands and updating it for the present.
A lot of this is important in context. It seems fairly obvious now, but when Karl was initially hired at Chanel, the brand was "fading into staid irrelevance."
As such, there's a chance that you already recognize some of Karl's looks. Let's take this 1992 Chanel Haute Couture spring/summer cocktail dress, originally worn by Christy Turlington on the red carpet, as an example. It was also worn by Penélope Cruz in the 2009 film Broken Embraces and Lily-Rose Depp on the 2019 Met Gala red carpet.
You may have also spotted Karl himself at the Met Gala, as he attended with Blake Lively in 2011 for "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty." This is as good a time as any to mention Karl's signature look: the glasses, white ponytail, and fingerless leather gloves.
Subsequently, the 2023 Met Gala theme is...“In honor of Karl.” Vogue summed up three ways that the theme could be interpreted: 1) An archival look from one of the labels that Karl headed, 2) Wearing a contemporary look from one of said brands, especially Chanel or Fendi, and 3) Dressing like Karl himself (or his cat, Choupette, whose eyes inspired a Chanel color).
Some more basics: Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, Roger Federer, and Dua Lipa are this year's co-chairs. The Met Gala is always the first Monday in May, so it'll be May 1. The red carpet will kick off about 5.30 p.m. ET and will end...as late as the celebs deem it appropriate, but around 8 p.m.
But it would be impossible to talk about this year's Met Gala theme without talking about how controversial it's been. Karl himself was no stranger to backlash. His anti-fat language surrounding women's bodies has been called "cruel." He said he was "fed up" with the #MeToo movement and sent flowers to an accused rapist.
As the Associated Press put it, "He spoke against gay men who want to adopt children, migrants, sexual assault survivors, the #MeToo movement and 'ugly' people, without apology."
