"The Hitchcock of fashion": Met Gala to pay tribute to Karl Lagerfeld

Fun, Fendi but hopefully without fur, the 65-year career of late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld will be the subject of a landmark exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York at next spring, as well as the benefit evening – or Met Gala – in May.
Speaking at a press conference in Paris, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of US Vogue and chair exhibition co-honor, said the idea came shortly after Lagerfeld's death in 2019.
Describing the designer as a friend, the king of commerce, an intellectual and "one of the most read people I've ever known", she said: "Karl would be rather alarmed at the idea of his clothes appearing in a museum.
"He hated the idea of fashion stopping what to be admired with a glance back."
Initially scheduled for 2021, the event has been postponed due to the p andemia of Covid.
The exhibition is complete The title, Karl Lagerfeld: a Line of Beauty, takes its name from Hogarth's aesthetic theory of 1753 as it is described in The Analysis of Beauty and will focus on transforming Lagerfeld's 2D sketches into 3D garments. -spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-10khgmf">
More than 150 garments will be on display, covering the designer's career as creative director of Chloé, Fendi, Chanel, his label Karl Lagerfeld and his work at Balmain and Patou.
The exhibition will be anchored by two beauty lines - a straight, a serpentine - culminating with 10 looks that focus on Lagerfeld's ironic side.
Clothes will most likely be informed by his black and white uniform and contain an aphorism or karlism, which includes "sweatpants is an oft-cited pandemic 'sign of defeat'".
At the time of his death, Lagerfeld was the creative director of three labels - Chanel, Fendi and his namesake label. But as fans of his aphorisms ("fashion is the last step before pantyhose") and his cat (Choupette) can attest, the designer's influence has extended far beyond the catwalk, embodying the way whose fashion has permeated the wider culture. It's likely that the gala attire, which will be inspired if not designed by Lagerfeld, will nod to his sprawling reach.
A mercurial figure rarely seen without sunglasses sunshine, high-collar Hilditch & Key shirts, driving gloves, his beloved Diet Coke and snow-white ponytail, Lagerfeld was that rare thing - a designer as famous as the people he dressed.

Fashion Sep 30, 2022 0 85 Add to Reading List

"The Hitchcock of fashion": Met Gala to pay tribute to Karl Lagerfeld

Fun, Fendi but hopefully without fur, the 65-year career of late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld will be the subject of a landmark exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York at next spring, as well as the benefit evening – or Met Gala – in May.

Speaking at a press conference in Paris, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of US Vogue and chair exhibition co-honor, said the idea came shortly after Lagerfeld's death in 2019.

Describing the designer as a friend, the king of commerce, an intellectual and "one of the most read people I've ever known", she said: "Karl would be rather alarmed at the idea of his clothes appearing in a museum.

"He hated the idea of fashion stopping what to be admired with a glance back."

Initially scheduled for 2021, the event has been postponed due to the p andemia of Covid.

The exhibition is complete The title, Karl Lagerfeld: a Line of Beauty, takes its name from Hogarth's aesthetic theory of 1753 as it is described in The Analysis of Beauty and will focus on transforming Lagerfeld's 2D sketches into 3D garments. -spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-10khgmf"> Lagerfeld with the five Fendi sisters, heads of the Italian fashion house.

More than 150 garments will be on display, covering the designer's career as creative director of Chloé, Fendi, Chanel, his label Karl Lagerfeld and his work at Balmain and Patou.

The exhibition will be anchored by two beauty lines - a straight, a serpentine - culminating with 10 looks that focus on Lagerfeld's ironic side.

Clothes will most likely be informed by his black and white uniform and contain an aphorism or karlism, which includes "sweatpants is an oft-cited pandemic 'sign of defeat'".

At the time of his death, Lagerfeld was the creative director of three labels - Chanel, Fendi and his namesake label. But as fans of his aphorisms ("fashion is the last step before pantyhose") and his cat (Choupette) can attest, the designer's influence has extended far beyond the catwalk, embodying the way whose fashion has permeated the wider culture. It's likely that the gala attire, which will be inspired if not designed by Lagerfeld, will nod to his sprawling reach.

A mercurial figure rarely seen without sunglasses sunshine, high-collar Hilditch & Key shirts, driving gloves, his beloved Diet Coke and snow-white ponytail, Lagerfeld was that rare thing - a designer as famous as the people he dressed.