Karl Lagerfeld is the 2023 Met Gala Dress Code
Get ready to don your favorite leather gloves and Chanel sunglasses. The 2023 Met Gala theme has been announced, and it is none other than dearly departed, prolific fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
As announced by British Vogue, Lagerfeld's legacy of fashion is the subject of a Costume Institute exhibition called "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty." The Met aims to complement the exhibit by making Lagerfeld the dress code.
Although Lagerfeld's often militant uniform of starched grays, blacks and whites have become associated with him to the point of parody, his fingerprints on fashion as a designer for Balmain, Patou, Chloé, Fendi, and Chanel span generations.
Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton, and longtime Lagerfeld collaborator Amanda Harlech, will distill the designer's career into about 150 looks.
At the Met Gala, the "In honour of Karl" dress code can be interpreted in three different ways, according to British Vogue.
"The first, most authentic approach would be to wear an archival look from one of the labels Lagerfeld led; the second would be to sport modern-day Chanel or Fendi," British Vogue said. "The third — and perhaps most obvious? — to find a Choupette and dress à la Lagerfeld."
Serving as Met Gala co-chairs this year include Michaela Coel, Penélope Cruz, Roger Federer, and Dua Lipa, with a usual laundry list of celebrities who will be in attendance to show off their interpretation of the theme. But the real winners of the evening are usually those who can take the theme and pull off something original.
Our money is on Michaela Coel for this year. Will you be watching?