The 2023 Met Gala honored the late Karl Lagerfeld by making him the theme of this year’s event. Highly expected, were black and white tailored suits, a beautiful mess of tweed, pearls, all things signature to the scene dominating fashion house that is Chanel, and looks protesting sexism in the industry. Karl Lagerfeld’s legacy leaves not only prints of fashion fabulousness, but also sexist and racist behavior. Surprisingly, not one Met Gala attendee used their attire to protest against the fashion industry’s tolerance for such ill behavior.
Who is Karl Lagarfield
German born, Karl Otto Laferfeld, was one of the worlds most decorated designers: having spearheaded fashion’s top collections, runway shows, and visuals. Karl spent majority of his life as creative director for Fendi and Chanel. Coco Chanel made a mark in fashion history with her time-bending designs, but Karl is said to have rebranded Chanel into what we know it to be today.
Parallel to his work in the fashion industry were his insensitivity to body positivity, disrespect for religious patterns that were unlike his own, and inconceivable discuss for the #metoo movement.
The Controversy
Karl was well-known for having loose lips in interviews, and reporters never skipped asking him his thoughts on celebrities who didn’t fit society’s physical blueprint. “A little too fat, but a beautiful face, and a divine voice,” is how he described singer Adell. He would often suggest that women turned their faces from the cameras because their backside views were preferable.
Karl Lagerfield expressed utter disbelief for starlets who accused men of rape and molestation decades after the literal act took place and wondered out loud, why would women choose to be models if they didn’t want their pants pulled down? “If you don’t want your pants pulled down, go work at the nunnery.”
In 2013, Karl printed passages from the Koran onto 3 Chanel dresses. For this, he did apologize, stating he had no idea the words were holy text. However, he did admit he saw the scriptures in the Taj Mahal and thought the texts were that of a Love poem.
Choupette made quite a few appearances at the Met Gala
Although, we didn’t see any A-listers protesting at the Met gala, several celebrities wore their own versions of Lagerfeld’s pet feline, Choupette. If you haven’t heard of Choupette, she’s Karl Lagarfeld’s only heir, who inherited 30 percent of the multi-millionaire’s fortune. Lagerfeld’s uncanny love for Choupette began when a friend of his (who at the time was Choupette’s caretaker) were preparing for vacation and needed someone to look after the cat. Karl agreed and ended up falling in love with Choupette.
No one knows what the arrangement entailed that allowed Karl to keep the cat permanently. Choupette went on to live a life most humans dream of. She’s been Karl’s left hand and sleeping partner for years. Karl revealed in an interview that he and the cat shares a pillow, nightly. Choupette has posed with model Naomi Campbell on the cover of Vogue, and now lives in Paris, where she takes care of her new caretaker with the money Karl left behind.
2x Grammy Winner Lil Naz X wore studded body paint and fangs in honor of Karl Lagerfeld’s rich cat.
Doja cat wore an Oscar de la Renta gown, completed with a cat-eared hood and prosthetic cat face. The MOOO singer only spoke in her native cat tongue while at the Met Gala, answering all interview questions with ‘’Meow.’’
Jaret Leto attended fashions favorite night in a life-sized cat costume.
I would have to say that despite Karl’s disgusting perspective and lack of empathy for humanity, he is well respected by many in the entertainment and fashion industry. The 2023 event was the best dressed Met Gala we’ve seen in a long time. It seemed every celebrity understood the assignment. The question remains, are we ignoring the degrading behavior of a gay homophobic and gaslighting Nazi supporter in honor of his work or do we no longer care to hold sexists and racists accountable?
