The next Met Gala will celebrate Karl Lagerfeld’s legacy

While the Paris Fashion Week is in full swing, the official theme of next year’s fashion exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has been announced during a press conference at the 7L bookstore and studio in Paris, created by Karl Lagerfeld in December 1999. An appropriate location, since the Costume Institute has chosen to highlight the legendary creations of Karl Lagerfeld, who passed away at the age of 85 in February 2019, for an exhibition soberly entitled “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty”. The idea of this retrospective came about when the designer died, but was postponed due to the pandemic. Following the tradition, this major exhibition will also be the inspiration for the most awaited fashion event of the year: the Met Gala. A charity gala organized by Anna Wintour, for the benefit of the Museum’s fashion department in New York. After the two editions that were dedicated to celebrate American fashion, the theme of the 2023 gala will focus on the German designer and welcome hundreds of celebrities as usual.

 

“Karl was a lover of multidisciplinary arts, and it is the highest recognition for his work to be presented in such a monumental exhibition at The Met’s Costume Institute”, CEO of the Karl Lagerfeld label Pier Paolo Righi shared after the announcement. Over his sixty-year-long career, the German designer, who moved to Paris in the 1950s and never left since then, displayed his inextinguishable talent through several fashion houses such as Balmain, Patou, Chloé, Fendi, and of course, Chanel. He modernized Chanel’s wardrobe by constantly renewing its style while remaining true to the essence of the house inspired by the founder Gabrielle Chanel. At the Metropolitan Museum, the retrospective will present about 150 of the greatest outfits designed by “the Kaiser of fashion”, along with archives of his sketches that became famous thanks to his distinctive pencil stroke. Pier Paolo Righi continued: “As custodians of Karl’s legacy, we aim to bring his passion, intuition, and inexhaustible creativity to life in everything we do. We cannot imagine a more poignant or meaningful way to celebrate his colossal achievements – both the enduring impact he’s had on fashion and how it’s shaping the future.”

 

As usual, next year’s Met Gala will take place at the Museum of Art, on the first Monday evening of May, the day of the exhibition’s opening. Beyond its charitable dimension, the Met Gala is best known as a parade of eccentricity. Actors, musicians, artists, and public figures will once again be ready for the event, most of them wearing chosen custom-made creations or designs made in connection with the theme of the exhibition. In addition to the Chanel, Fendi, and label Karl Lagerfeld pieces expected on the red carpet, the designer’s signature silhouette will surely be the topic of surprising variations. The black suit, low ponytail, black sunglasses, leather mittens, and highly buttoned shirt collar have now become iconic references in today’s pop culture. The German designer himself used them in numerous by-products.

 

Next year’s Met Gala will take place on May 1st, 2023. The exhibition “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” will be open from May 5th to July 16th, 2023, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.