The 2023 Met Gala’s theme is “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty“. To understand the clothes and the context of this year’s event – that will happen on May 1st, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City –, get to know everything about the fashion designer.
Who was Karl Lagerfeld?
As some may have guessed – just by the fact that a single man is now the theme of one of the most important fashion events in the world – Karl Lagerfeld was one of the biggest designers that the fashion industry has ever had. Even four years after his death, in 2019, his work still inspires big and small designers all over the world.
Karl was born in 1933, in Hamburg, Germany, and was the son of a wealthy businessman from Sweden (who worked with the production of powdered milk). He studied at a private school and graduated in History and Drawing in Paris, France. After that, he started his fashion career by working for Pierre Balmain, founder of the Balmain fashion house, and became his assistant soon after he was hired.
Even though he is now known as a brilliant designer, it wasn’t always like this. His first collections for Balmain were really criticized, until he became a freelancer for Chloé – another French luxury fashion house – and, already as a designer for the brand, appeared on headlines for how good he was at the job.
Besides Balmain and Chloé, Lagerfeld also made his name in Fendi and gained international fame when he became the artistic director of Chanel in 1983. His fame went up so fast that, in 1984, he created his own high fashion brand “Karl Lagerfeld”. Even with all the success in other brands, it is undeniable that it was in Chanel that he conquered all the respect and admiration that we still see today.
A bit of his work
It is really hard to summarize all of his enormous and brilliant work in so many brands. He created such iconic things like redesigning the classic tweed tailored suit and the little black dress for Chanel and even creating the Fendi Baguette. We could spend hours just talking about how incredible all of his clothes and accessories were. He for sure was a big part of the creation of Chanel as we know today.
Another thing he was really good at doing were runaways. So here are 5 of the most fun and different show sets that he did for Chanel.
- SPRING 2012 READY-TO-WEAR (underwater)
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- SPRING 2012 COUTURE (inside an airplane)
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- FALL 2014 READY-TO-WEAR (grocery store)
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- SPRING 2016 COUTURE (“dollhouse”)
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- FALL 2017 READY-TO-WEAR (space center)
Genius X Human
Karl Lagerfeld is definitely one of the greatest designers the fashion world has ever seen. He knew a lot about art (he even had a gallery and was also a photographer) and was creative, chic and talented… But what about him as a person?
Along his career, he said some controversial things about prostitution, other people’s bodies and even religion. “You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly”, “No one wants to see curvy women” and “Simply too heavy (about Heidi Klum)” are some examples of body shaming things he said.
He also made fun of the #MeToo movement. “What shocks me most in all of this are the starlets who have taken 20 years to remember what happened. Not to mention the fact there are no prosecution witnesses.” He also defended his friend Karl Templer against accusations of groping models on set.
Some, like the model Cara Delevine, do say that he was a good person, who was born in a different time, or even that his behavior was a marketing strategy. Others believe that he did not have the right to talk so “rudely” about those topics and that those comments should not be ignored by society.
Regardless of which vision you choose to adopt, it is important to ask ourselves some questions. How worthwhile is it, in a world that seeks so much for equality and respect, to make such a controversial man the subject of the Met Gala? At the same time, how important is it to boast and honor a designer as brilliant as Lagerfeld was?
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The article above was edited by Milena Casaca.
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