Seven words by Karl Lagerfeld adorn a doorway of the Metropolitan Museum of Art lavish new exhibit in honor of the deceased, legendary designer: ‘Fashion has no place in a museum.’
Andrew bolton, who hosts the New York Museum’s blockbuster Costume Institute shows each year, chuckled as he led a visitor through that doorway this weekend, a few days before opening, with crews nearby busily preparing for the smashing Monday Met Gala.
“That’s what Karl told me when I met him,” said the star curator. ‘He believed that fashion was not art – it belonged on the street. So I really don’t know what he would think about this! I’m not sure he would come.’
‘All this’ is an exuberant, loving tribute to the hugely prolific career of the German-born Lagerfeld, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 85 after more than half a century of designing that has left a deep mark on luxury fashion, especially at Chanel, but also at Fendi, at his own eponymous label, and elsewhere.
Set in 14 galleries, the walls of the show are built to embody the essential contradiction or duality in Lagerfeld’s style and persona – a series of curved and straight lines. The show, titled “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” is wide in scope but intricately detailed, and the message is clear: Lagerfeld’s creative tentacles spread far beyond fashion into culture, constantly adapting to the times On.
What the exhibition purposely fails to do is focus on Lagerfeld’s words – despite that quote on the doorway.
A design by Karl Lagerfeld will be displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, on Saturday, April 29, 2023 in New York
Much of Lagerfeld’s most famous quotes has shocked people over the years as he took issue with topics from #MeToo (skeptical), round bodies (dismissive), and political issues like immigration (offensive, to many). What Bolton found more interesting, he says, was focusing on work, and that was daunting enough. He researched 10,000 items before slowly whittling the show down to about 200.
“He was Karl,” the curator said, pointing out that Lagerfeld himself meant that he didn’t always mean what he said. “There could be 10, 20 different shows about Karl. For me, I thought the way to get to know him better and understand his contradictions was through his work.” And at the end of the day, he says, “that’s his legacy – the body of work you see here.”
Bolton’s shows, which have attracted many thousands of visitors to the museum, have tended to focus on concepts rather than individuals. But it’s hard not to feel that this show, dedicated to one man, is more personal to him, as he walks the galleries and stops for a relatively plain tweed suit with a tight ribcage, narrow waist and exaggerated hips that he calls his favorite item.
Each gallery combines conflicting moods: romantic and military, historic and futuristic, feminine and masculine, floral and geometric. Thin tulle goes together with glossy black plastic. It’s striking to think that the same mind conjured up the pastel pink dress with cascading roses, and a cheerful design with huge block alphabet letters, which Lagerfeld loved because, says Bolton, “L comes after K in the alphabet.” So KL.’
A standout number is a shimmering, gold-embroidered dress, said to be the most expensive ever made at the time, Bolton said, because of its ingredients: Literally, it’s spun with gold. Another item, on the other hand, is simply ‘plastic on plastic’.
What is striking is the variety, which makes it impossible to describe one Lagerfeld style, even though his personal uniform became so recognizable that he called himself a caricature: the gray ponytail, the starched white collars, the black fingerless gloves, leather trousers, dark Chanel shades – a morphing of Mozart and maybe Keith Richards.
‘Fashion has no place in a museum’, was written above these colorful dresses
But that in itself, the show argues, is what defines the designer and explains his longevity: that he was always changing, in a determined — perhaps even obsessive — effort to stay relevant.
‘He was a chameleon,’ said Bolton, ‘able to move with the times so quickly. I think the reason he spent so many years designing is because he wanted to stay relevant. Everything he did was about connecting with the zeitgeist.’
Lagerfeld was also a man of many interests: literature, film, music – as well as business, making him an early example of designer-as-impresario. To illustrate this, Bolton has created an item that is sure to turn heads: a faithful reproduction of Lagerfeld’s chaotic desk.
It’s full of books, magazines, Caran D’Ache’s favorite sketching pencils, and a glass of Diet Coke (actually rosin here).
All over the place: The mannequins were placed all over the wall
“He drank it all day long,” Bolton said. “I’ve never seen him without his glass of Coke.”
To create the tableau, Bolton spent three days in Paris photographing Lagerfeld’s library. Not wanting to disturb the actual collection, he bought books from Amazon. The cultural artifacts range from highbrow to lowbrow.
‘He wasn’t a snob,’ says Bolton, then catches himself: ‘Well, he WAS a snob. But he was a Democratic snob.’
There’s also a sketch pad: open and blank: “We wanted it to look like he was about to sketch.”
They were also sketches that inspired the show. Bolton was at Lagerfeld’s memorial service at the majestic Grand Palais in Paris – “much a fuss, as you can imagine” – and was moved by images of the sketching designer, “lost in his imagination, oblivious to all.” He started to invent a show. (Lagerfeld was also a close friend of Anna Wintour, the influential Vogue editor who created the gala and is one of this year’s hosts. Chanel is the show’s main sponsor.)
One guitar sat on the back of a dress, while another contained a candlestick
The exhibition focuses primarily on the dichotomy of the curved ‘S’ line (think romantic, decorative) and the straight line (modern, minimalist), with one curved wall and one straight wall in each gallery, and designs that express any aesthetic. . Then, up in the middle, there’s a piece of clothing called an “explosion” that combines both moods. For example, a traditional pastel colored ball gown is topped off with a black biker jacket.
Speaking of coats, there’s also a military-style women’s police coat designed by Lagerfeld as part of a competition by the Rome Police Department to dress its female officers.
And there’s a room full of iPhones – yes, iPhones – their screens capture moments of what the exhibit calls “Karlisms.” It is an illustration of the designer’s continued use, in later years, of his phone in his creative process – and of his vast collection of smartphones.
“I think he was ahead of his time, I really did,” said Bolton. “I think he saw where fashion was going as early as the 1950s. And fashion eventually caught up with him.’
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