Met Gala 2023 could be dedicated to Karl Lagerfeld

The first Monday in May, the date on which the most anticipated event of the year is traditionally held by the stars and the elite of the fashion system, still seems so far away, speculation about the theme of the Met Gala 2023 has been multiplying for some time now. Last summer, the creators of TikTok were convinced that it could be space, and they were already imagining Bella Hadid as Padmé Amidala from Star Wars and Kim Kardashian sporting a garment from the Planet Schiaparelli collection, but, in the last few hours, it seems that Karl Lagerfeld will dictate the dress code. According to WWD reports, the upcoming exhibition organized by the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will be dedicated to the iconic German fashion designer who passed away in February 2019 at the age of 85.

It seems that within months of Lagerfeld's death, the Costume institute had already begun work on a retrospective of his scheduled for 2022, but then the pandemic halted the project. Now, however, after After In America: A Lexicon of Fashion and its natural escalation In America: An Anthology of Fashion, Anna Wintour, organizer and honorary co-chair of the gala along with Tom Ford, has reportedly chosen to pay tribute to one of the fashion world's most influential personalities ever by turning the spotlight back on his extraordinary career that saw him as creative director of Fendi since 1965 and Chanel since 1983. 

An eclectic talent, Lagerfeld loved fashion, photography, books, art, film, and music, and his free-spirited, snobbish, cultured, and highly recognizable persona was larger than life, as was his artistic output, full of collaborations and cult garments. If he really was the inspiration for the outfits at the upcoming Met Gala it would be great to see on the red carpet the first creations made in 1963 by Chloé, the still super cool 90s looks by Chanel or the elegant garments designed for Fendi, maybe Rihanna in one of the many signature double C wedding dresses alongside Asap Rocky with pigtail and black-and-white suit as a tribute to Kaiser Karl and his more classic look.

On Friday, September 30, the Costume Institute will hold a press conference in Paris at which both Anna Wintour and the museum's chief curator Andrew Bolton will be present and we will know if the Met Gala 2023 will really pay homage to Karl Lagerfeld.