Lizzo owned the Met Gala red carpet on Monday night, flexing her characteristic charm and ease, and proving just how singular the superstar really is. For the theme, “In Honor of Karl”—a tribute to the late fashion designer and former Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld—Lizzo opted for all-Chanel-everything, sporting a pearl-embellished custom Chanel gown, pearl accessories, and charm-stranded leather booties. She went mega-viral for that relatable photo of her hugging Jared Leto disguised as Lagerfeld’s famous cat Choupette. And in a mark of her embrace by fashion and culture’s biggest gatekeepers, Vogue tapped Lizzo to perform a surprise medley at the end of the night, placing her in legendary company of past performers Rihanna, Madonna, Diana Ross, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga.
She also bore the brunt of the (justified) backlash to this year’s theme. Lagerfeld’s legacy of intolerance and discrimination run the gamut from misogyny, to racism, to Islamophobia, but it was his fatphobia that prompted critiques of Lizzo’s designer choice and her attendance, though she was far from the only celebrity who would’ve offended Lagerfeld’s sensibilities and she certainly was not the only one wearing Chanel. It’s notable to see who was expected to protest and who wasn’t: body activist and model Ashley Graham faced a wave of criticism, but a number of #MeToo proponents, like model and actor Emily Ratajkowski, got off easier, even though Lagerfeld slammed the #MeToo movement in 2018, advising women against modeling if they didn’t want their “pants pulled about.”
For Lizzo, most of the finger-wagging rolled in through social media. “Idk how you could support Karl Lagerfeld… very disappointing to see you are,” wrote one IG commenter. “It makes me sad and disgusted that you know that Karl Lagerfeld wouldn’t have wanted you to wear his clothes bc you’re Black and curvy but here you are promoting them,” wrote another. (Neither appear to be…
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