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Contributions to fashion

The 2023 Met Gala will honor late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld

Anna Wintour said the theme “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” was developed after Lagerfeld’s death in 2019

Although late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld never considered himself an artist but a dressmaker, his pieces and sketches will be displayed next year in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

Lagerfeld’s career will also be honored, and his creativity and contributions to fashion will be celebrated at the 2023 Met Gala. Karl’s longtime friend Anna Wintour and the museum’s curator Andrew Bolton made the official announcement in Paris at Lagerfeld’s former studio and library, as informed by Haper’s Bazaar.

The Met Costume Institute Press Presentation - Paris Fashion Week©GettyImages
Anna Wintour and Andrew Bolton attend the The Met Costume Institute Press Presentation as part of Paris Fashion Week on September 30, 2022 in Paris, France.

According to Wintour, the theme “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” was developed after Lagerfeld’s death in 2019. The exhibit will display around 150 garments and will focus on his drawings.

Karl Lagerfeld passed away at 85. The creative director of Chanel died on February 19, 2019, in Paris. “Thanks to his creative genius, generosity, and exceptional intuition, Karl Lagerfeld was ahead of his time, which widely contributed to the House of Chanel’s success throughout the world,” Chanel’s CEO, Alain Wertheimer, said in a statement at the time. “Today, not only have I lost a friend, but we have all lost an extraordinarily creative mind to whom I gave carte blanche in the early 1980s to reinvent the brand.”

Concern over his health began worrying his peers after he didn’t attend Chanel’s Spring-Summer Haute Couture show in Paris — the first time in over 36 years he had missed a presentation.

WWD claimed that the designer did not attend because he was tired, while a spokesperson for the Karl Lagerfeld fashion line said that the company wished him a “quick recovery from his bad cold.”

As he was known, the Kaiser of fashion will be remembered as one of the most innovative, iconic designers of all time. He was admired by his contemporaries and recognized the world over for his white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high starched collars.

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