Fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld is the undisputed star of this year’s Met Gala – but there are some loose threads.
The German-born couturier, who died at 85 in 2019, is the theme for this year’s star-studded annual benefit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and its corresponding exhibit. The dress code, “in honor of Karl,” pays tribute to his decades-long work as creative director of many fashion houses, including Chanel, Fendi and Chloé.
While Lagerfeld is known for his signature style – white hair, black sunglasses and 19th-century-style shirt collars – he is also remembered for his polemical tendencies, having offered unfiltered commentary on migrants, sexual assault survivors, the #MeToo movement and gay men who want to adopt children.
“He offended people right and left, making as much of an art out of the cutting aside as the perfectly cut double-face gown,” New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman wrote soon after Lagerfeld’s death.
Here’s everything you need to know about the style sage and his polarizing legacy.
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Who is Karl Lagerfeld?
Born Karl Otto Lagerfeldtin Hamburg, Germany, Lagerfeld took a strong interest in fashion during his teen years. After moving to Paris at age 14, Lagerfeld – who dropped the “t” from his surname to make it sound “more commercial” – worked under French designer Pierre Balmain as a junior assistant and later as an apprentice.
Following stints with Balmain and Jean Patou’s fashion house, Lagerfeld began designing collections for luxury brands including Chloé, Fendi, Valentino and shoemaker Charles Jourdan. His sartorial stature soared to new heights in the ’80s when he revitalized French fashion house Chanel with zeitgeisty looks and launched his own eponymous label.
Lagerfeld became…
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