At This Year’s Met Gala, Expect ‘A Night of a Thousand Karls’
When someone creates everlasting, unswerving beauty, cultivating clothing that’s unique and aesthetically compelling with the aid of models and muses who are just as beautiful if not more so, the world takes notice. And so it is, many controversies apparently set aside, that decorated and controversial German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is the inspiration behind this year’s Met Gala theme—the curiously titled Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.
The Gala will be put together in part, as always, by Vogue creative director and Lagerfeld confidante Anna Wintour. Co-chairing the event will be actress Penélope Cruz, pop star Dua Lipa, tennis legend Roger Federer, and brilliant jack-of-all TV trades Michaela Coel. Some commentators have questioned why some of Lagerfeld’s other major muses, like Cara Delevigne or Kiera Knightley, weren’t selected to lead the event. The Daily Beast reached out to Condé Nast and Wintour for comment.
When Lagerfeld, creative director at Chanel for the past 30 years and an undeniable cultural figure in his own right, passed away in 2019, an avatar disappeared along with him. With his instantly-recognizable uniform of a slicked-back, pure white ponytail, a high, starched collar and opaque black sunglasses, Lagerfeld was sort of like the embodiment of the fashion world, in all of its ridiculousness, mystery and flair.