The eagerly awaited 2023 Met Gala took place earlier this week in New York. This year’s theme paid homage to the late Karl Lagerfeld, the iconic designer and Chanel artistic director who passed away in 2019.
Since 1995, the Met Gala has been organised by Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and is a highly coveted annual fundraising event, often dubbed the Oscars of fashion, raising eight-figure sums for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The institute has a collection of more than 33,000 items of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women and children from the fifteenth century to present. The Met Gala is the main source of annual funding for the department’s exhibitions and acquisitions and each year the gala celebrates the opening of the spring exhibition.
This spring will feature Karl’s work, focusing on the designer’s stylistic vocabulary expressed in themes shown in collections from the 1950s to his final collection in 2019. The pieces on display are accompanied by his sketches, showcasing his creative processes and collaborative relationships with his seamstresses.
Vogue live streamed the event for viewers to watch the elusive guests walk the red (or white as was the case this year) carpet.
This year’s dress code was fittingly in honour of Karl Lagerfeld, with many guests drawing inspiration from the designer’s illustrious career in fashion. The celebs who caught the paparazzi’s eye this year included Jeremy Pope in his 30-foot long Balmain cape bearing Karl’s face, Kim Kardashian wearing custom Schiaparelli inspired by iconic Chanel pearls and Jared Leto who dressed as Karl’s beloved cat Choupette.
There’s no question that the Met Gala has evolved through the years since its red carpet evolution in the 70s, but one thing for sure is that the looks from this year’s event will go down in history.
