We all know Karl Lagerfeld with Chanel, his cat Choupette, and the contrast of black and white in his clothes. This contrast of black and white was also seen in his personality, and he, who was considered a talented and legendary person in the world of fashion, was not without flaws. From his comments about Middle Eastern immigrants to the disrespect he gave to overweight people, all of this caused a lot of criticism for this year’s theme of the Met Gala. With all this and due to the legacy that Lagerfeld left for the fashion world, this year’s Met Gala with the presence of many celebrities and prominent people in fashion with the theme “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” held. In this article, we will divide the dresses of the biggest fashion event of 2023, the Met Gala, into several sections and then we will review them together.
Clothes can be divided into several main groups:
- Looks from the Chanel archive
- Carl’s favorite cat themed clothes
- Designs inspired by key Chanel brand elements such as black and white, flowers, pearls and fans.
Black and white and pearl looks are a key element at the Met Gala 2023:
(Arghwan Khaja Mohammadi)
Black and white, Carl’s signature color that is clearly reminiscent of him, inspired many of the outfits at the event.
Janelle Monáe at the 2023 Met Gala
Jenelle was seen in a very beautiful dress by Tom Brown. First, she is known for wearing deconstructive clothes, first she appeared in a triangle of multi-layered jackets, and then she surprised the audience by removing the top layers and revealing a petticoat and a bikini worn underneath, which of course was reminiscent of Lady Gaga’s look in 2019.
Bad Bonnie and Jacomos clash on the Met Gala red carpet:
Two black and white elements side by side but separate. Bad Bunny appeared in an all-white suit with long sequins, a trail that brought Karl’s statement florals to the cream carpet of the Met Gala, and was flanked by her costume designer, Jacomos, who appeared in a black suit, pair Another historical color combination whose glamor was added not by design but by a shiny fabric and garland. Of course, the open back of these suits should not be ignored, which was emphasized with a silver necklace.
Cardi B with amazing style:
Black and white, black tie, white men’s shirt and big roses were all seen in Cardi B’s first outfit. She wore arguably one of the most complete references to Lagerfeld’s original signature look, complete with long black gloves and a hat of white hair.
Anne Hathaway and the art of the Versace brand:
Using tweed fabric to create a shirt is not something we see every day, a rough and rough fabric that is usually used for a dress, it does not seem like a good choice for a shirt, but Versace did it successfully; Not only did Hathaway’s dress not look crass, but it also had an extra touch of elegance with the added pearl detailing and gold pins.
El Fanning:
Elle Fanning’s Vivienne Westwood dress took a different direction, using one of her favorite memories with Carl as inspiration for the dress. Her source of inspiration is a memory of when Elle was 13 years old and Carl photographed her with the black cape coat that is now draped around her shoulders.
Fanning remembers that she was wearing a crown of daisies, and for that reason, this dress, along with the bouquet in her hand, could be a reference to Karl’s famous wedding dresses, which were usually worn by his favorite goddess and model.
The historical heritage of the Chanel brand
(The dynamic breeze of descent)
Penelope Cruz The 49-year-old Spanish actor, who was a close friend of Karl Lagerfeld and one of the hosts of the 2023 Met Gala, A white hooded wedding dress from the spring and summer archive of the Chanel brand, which was worn by the French supermodel in 1988. Ines de la Fressange It was worn.
The embroidered lace cap of the cruise dress is reminiscent of the Spanish mantilla (traditional Spanish headscarf) worn by brides in religious ceremonies, and is completely consistent with the Spanish authenticity and preservation of the cape’s heritage.
Nicole Kidman’s inspiration for this year’s Mets was herself. The Australian actress appeared on the red carpet in a dress designed for her by Lagerfeld in 2004 for Chanel’s No.5 campaign. Some critics believe that he, like Carl, has always been his own inspiration.
Another influential host of this year’s gala was Dua Lipa. She showed up at the Karl tribute night wearing a dress from Chanel’s Fall/Winter 1992 collection that she wore in the main fashion show of German actress and model Claudia Schiffer. Lipa styled this iconic and beautiful dress with a 100 carat diamond necklace from Tiffany & Co. A tweed shirt, which is a characteristic of the luxury brand Chanel, and a corset-shaped top designed by Karl in 1992.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell was another guest who went to the Chanel archive to walk the red carpet of this historic night. Campbell’s choice of a gown from Chanel’s spring-summer 2010 couture collection for this evening was memorable. This is the 16th Met Gala red carpet that this hot supermodel is celebrating and attending.
Ashly Graham in a luxurious and powerful dress
The 35-year-old plus-size model is making her fourth appearance on the Met Gala red carpet. Ashley wore a heritage Chanel dress from the Fall/Winter 1987 collection, redesigned by British-American designer Harris-Reed.
Cat theme at Met Gala 2023
Considering the late German designer’s great love for his cat Choupette, it was not too far off to expect designers to include this popular cat as their source of inspiration. Doja Cat was one of the people that Karl’s cat had put as his inspiration and when he entered the event, it was one of the most watched moments of the event.
Brett Alan Nelson, Doja’s creative director and stylist, says: “Nobody but doja cat should have been Carl’s cat.”
Doja and her stylist, along with Oscar de la Renta’s creative director Fernando Garcia, worked on this fully embroidered dress for about six months.
Lil Nas X was one of the other guests who entered the hall dressed head to toe in silver, covered in crystals and pearls and wearing a face mask reminiscent of a cat.
Fashion designers on the Met Gala red carpet
(Sepideh Suri)
Designers are the most important people in this event, and every year, in addition to collaborating with celebrities, they also appear on the red carpet with clothes designed based on the theme.
This attendance was different this year due to the fact that the theme of the commemoration ceremony was a late fashion designer. Because many of these people were Carl’s former colleagues or his students.
The interesting thing about the costumes of the designers present at the event was that many of them were inspired by Karl’s black and white look with the iconic suit and glasses. This point reached its peak in the American Tommy Hilfiger look, which looked exactly like Carl. But in the meantime, some acted differently!
Olivier Rousteing
Olivier Rousteing is one of the designers who had a unique presence.
He had various sources of inspiration, but nothing seemed more dramatic to him than Carl’s face. So American actor Jeremy Pope’s costume from the Balmain fashion house was a cape with Lagerfeld’s 30-foot figure sewn onto it with “more than 5,000 meters of silk fabric.” Jeremy and Oliver appeared together on the red carpet.
Donatella Versace
Donatella, one of the influential designers of the night, was able to combine Carl’s heritage with Versace’s design signature.
This combination was evident in his designed costumes such as Anne Hathaway’s shirt and even his own shirt.
She wore a pink shirt with Chanel’s famous flowers, and yet some parts, like the corset, clearly represented Versace.
Met Gala 2019, Oscars of the fashion world
Jeremy Scott
Fashion designer and Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott appeared on the red carpet with one of Karl’s favorite models, Devon Aoki.
Carl and Jeremy’s collaboration with this Japanese model goes back two decades. The presence of these two together evoked the symbolic relationship between the designer and the supermodel. Scott says: I consider the black and white combined clothes to be the most important signature of Carl’s design. To design these looks, Jeremy added his famous wings to Carl’s favorite color combination.
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