This year’s Met Gala – an annual celebration of all things fashion and celebrity – was billed as a tribute to the late German designer Karl Lagerfield.
A-listers invited to the glamourous fundraiser in New York were asked to pay homage to the man who, as creative director for Chanel and Fendi, was one of the industry’s most prominent and prolific figures.
But he was also controversial, and his views on the #MeToo movement and Germany’s decision to open the door to Syrian refugees widely condemned.
Among those to have criticised Monday’s event on social media is BBC Radio 1 DJ-turned-Hollywood actress Jameela Jamil.
Others have suggested some attendees deliberately chose to wear outfits that would have challenged Lagerfeld’s views.
And notable absences from the red carpet included singer Lana Del Rey, whom he once called “a little too fat”.
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who co-chaired the event, told BBC News it was a night to celebrate Lagerfeld’s body of work – not the man.
But Jamil accused organisers of awarding “the highest honour possible to a known bigot”.
In a post on Instagram, the British actress said: “Last night, Hollywood and fashion said the quiet part out loud, when a lot of famous feminists chose to celebrate at the highest level a man who was so publicly cruel to women, to fat people, to immigrants and to sexual-assault survivors. And all the women’s publications, and spectators online, chose to gleefully ignore it.”
The Good Place star accused the industry of “slippery tactics and double standards”, separating the art from the artist when it was “convenient”.
“This isn’t about cancel culture. Its not even about Karl,” she said. “It’s about showing how selective cancel culture is within liberal politics, in the most blatant way so far.
“And it’s not just Hollywood here – the general public…
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