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The 2023 Met Gala will honor the work of late designer Karl Lagerfeld.
In the blink of an eye, the 2023 Met Gala will be upon us. This year, the event—which benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute—falls neatly on May 1 and honors one of fashion’s greatest talents: Karl Lagerfeld. The accompanying exhibition, titled “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” pays tribute to the prolific designer, who helmed major fashion houses including Chanel, Fendi, and Chloé. Michaela Coel, Penélope Cruz, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa, and Anna Wintour will serve as the evening’s official co-chairs.
These figures span every realm of popular culture: Lipa, a global music star and three-time Grammy winner, recently wrapped her Future Nostalgia tour. Coel has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most in-demand talents after the success of her daring series I May Destroy You and her turn in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Cruz, who recently earned her fourth Oscar nomination for 2021’s Parallel Mothers, is perhaps the quintessential Karl Lagerfeld muse. And this past fall, after two decades at the pinnacle of men’s tennis, Federer announced his retirement from the sport. In addition to his many business ventures, including a partnership with On Running, Federer is focusing his efforts on his philanthropic foundation, which turns 20 in 2023.
“Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” will showcase over 150 original looks from the late designer—exploring Lagerfeld’s creative output from the 1950s until his final collections in 2019. In addition to tracing Lagerfeld’s tenures as creative director at Chanel, Chloé, and Fendi (and at his own namesake label), the show will also consider the designer’s time at Balmain and Patou. Many of the objects on display will appear alongside his vast collection of sketches.
“He would sketch everything,” said Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s Wendy Yu Curator in Charge, in September. “He would always say that he could draw before he could talk or walk. In many ways it was his primary form of communication, whether he was delivering them by fax machine or iPhone. So at its heart the exhibition will look at the evolution of Karl’s two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional garments.”
This article was originally published on Vogue.com.
