How the 2023 Met Gala Stands Out From the Rest

By: Brennan Furber

For every fan base and hobby, there is at least one day every year that stands alone from the other 364. Football fans have the super bowl, movie fanatics have the Oscars, and sci-fi/fantasy fans have comic-con. For fashion fanatics, that event is the Met Gala—where A-list actors, musicians and supermodels come together donning elaborate and often outlandish outfits that represent a specific theme, all in the name of charity. The Met Gala attracts an unprecedented amount of press, but this year’s extravaganza was put under a larger spotlight for a rather controversial reason. The theme was “in honor of Karl,” which was meant to pay homage to the late German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The kicker is that not all of the attendees are as fond of Karl as the Met Gala organizers at Vogue, and they made their opinions known.

Karl Lagerfeld has quite the reputation in the fashion industry. Before his passing in 2019, he worked for a number of reputable designer brands, including Balmain, Patou, Chloé and Chanel. The mark that he left on the fashion industry is undisputed, and the way in which he revitalized the Coco Chanel brand in the 1980s is still applauded to this day. In conjunction with his reputation in design, Lagerfeld is also attributed to some other things that do not exactly compliment his legacy, namely a string of insensitive and misogynistic quotes and slurs directed towards the models he worked with.

Lagerfeld’s insensitive and derogatory behavior is something that has been noted for several years leading up to the 2023 Met Gala. In his book that he published in 2005 titled, “The Karl Lagerfeld Diet,” he made several critiques of women within the public sphere. Some notable examples were singer-songwriter Adele who he called “too fat,” and model Heidi Klum who he called “too heavy.” Lagerfeld also made claims that anorexia was “not as dangerous as junk food or television,” and that “no one wants to see curvy women.” Taking this information into consideration, it stands to reason that some of the models who attended the 2023 Met Gala were not overly thrilled with this year’s theme.

“This man was indeed, supremely talented,” said actress Jameela Jamil. “But [Lagerfeld] used his platform in such a distinctly hateful way, mostly towards women, so repeatedly and up until the last years of his life, showing no remorse, offering no atonement, no apology, no help to groups he attacked. There was no explanation for his cruel outbursts.” Sara Ziff, founder of the Model Alliance, also spoke out against this year’s theme. “The choice to honor Lagerfeld embodies the dissonance of an industry that claims to be progressive, that celebrates body positivity and survivors on the one hand, and then reveres figures like [Lagerfeld] without even acknowledging their regressive views,” said Ziff. Other notable protesters were L’Oreal Global Ambassador Nidhi Sunil, models Ambra Gutierrez, Mamé Adjei, Rozi Levine, and Roberta Little, and New York state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal. 

The fashion industry is a double-edged sword. It is a medium that people can use to show expression and display confidence, but is also filled with judgment and ignorance. Women of all ages all over the world experience the latter on a daily basis, and Karl Lagerfeld, as talented as he was, was a proponent of this. Thanks to the brave women who spoke out at the Met Gala and used their platform to spread positivity and empowerment, this hurtful rhetoric was unveiled for what it is: outdated, out of touch, and unacceptable in today’s society. 

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