Met Gala 2023: What Karl Lagerfeld thought of the Met Gala

It’s first Monday in May: Welcome to Met Gala mania. With a livestream available when  evening gets underway,  world’s most fashionable fundraiser takes on one of world’s most prolific — and controversial — designers, late Karl Lrfeld, as starry party’s me. So how would man of hour, who died in 2019, feel about all hullabaloo? Lrfeld was a student of history, to be sure, but his eyes were forever on future.

“Karl never wanted to have a retrospective when he was alive. He felt that it was funeral. He me point that (Cristóbal) Balenciaga and (Coco) Chanel never h m when y were alive,” said William Middleton, who wrote biography “Parise w: Extraordinary Life of Karl Lrfeld.”

So what about w? “He believed very much in fashion history, so he’s a part of fashion history w. I don’t think he would have h a problem with it,” Middleton surmised.

Ors aren’t so sure. Caroline Lebar worked with Lrfeld for 35 years, rising to senior vice president of im and communications for his eponymous brand. Lrfeld loved Met, but he always said: “‘I’m t an artist, I’m a fashion maker,’” Lebar said on company’s site.

“He didn’t think his work belonged in a museum. Anna Wintour also mentioned this when she me anuncement about me,” Lebar explained.  invitation-only gala earned $17.4 million last year for Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, a self-funding department with a budget dependent on A-list affair. price of attending went up this year to $300,000 for a table and $50,000 for a single ticket.

Companies and brands buy tables and host many of roughly 400 guests expected this year from fashion, film, music, ater, sports, tech and social media. y were asked to dress “in hor of Karl” by gala mastermind Wintour, a close Lrfeld friend who first signed on to event in 1995 and took over helm in 1999.

Fashion publicist Elear Lambert thought up Met Gala back in 1948 as a fundraiser for newly founded Costume Institute. It was a dinner held elsewhere. idea is to celebrate opening of institute’s big exhibition each year, this time called “Karl Lrfeld: A Line of Beauty.”

Fashion expert Meline Hirsch discusses evolution of Met Gala mes over years, and muses on 2023 event's focus on Karl Lrfeld's legacy. American fashion was last year’s vibe. It followed gilded glamour and white tie. Camp was me in 2019, producing what is considered one of wackiest displays of dress by celebrity crowd.

Katy Perry wore a chandelier, n slipped into a hamburger outfit. Ly Gaga did a four-layer strip tease on Met’s Grand Staircase and Jared Leto carried a st version of his own he. Dressing to Lrfeld me could be a breeze for guests with stylists able to source best vint pieces from fashion houses where he worked: Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, Jean Patou, Balmain, his own brand and more.

This year’s five hosts include Wintour, as usual, along with Michaela Coel, longtime Chanel ambassor Penélope Cruz, recently retired tennis superstar Roger Federer and Dua Lipa.