arts & culture

model! Join a nunnery, there’ll always be a place for you in the convent.” The choice to dedicate the event to Karl Lagerfeld brings up the question of how we should honor problematic figures and draws attention to the larger issue that people have with the Met Gala.

The Met Gala took place on Monday, May 1 and the attendees were overall very respectful of Lagerfeld’s legacy. Some internet users have suggested that a few people threw subtle jabs at him. For example, celebrities like Ashley Graham, Viola Davis, and Quannah Chasinghorse wore pink, which was Lagerfeld’s least favorite color. However, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, who were two of Lagerfeld’s countless muses, also wore pink despite their good relationships with the designer. Lizzo fans speculated that Lizzo coming to the gala as a fat woman (and later posting a photo of herself eating fries in her Chanel dress) was a response to Lagerfeld’s offensive statements about plus size women, referring to them as “fat mummies” and saying that “no one wants to see curvy women.”

Many criticized these celebrities for showing up at all and called them hypocrites for claiming to be progressive and then participating in an event paying tribute to Karl Lagerfeld. On the other hand, one can make the argument that they were honoring Lagerfeld’s impact as a designer and not Lagerfeld as a person.

While there is value in separating the art from the artist, it runs the risk of mythologizing a person who left behind a very questionable legacy. During his lifetime, Lagerfeld was fascinated with the idea of transforming himself into an icon. He once said, “I am no longer human. I am an abstraction.” The Costume Institute’s curator Andrew Bolton expressed that this was not his intention for the exhibit. He explained that “We didn’t want to emphasize Karl the man, who has long been the subject of breathless mythologizing, largely the result of his own self-invention.” Instead, Bolton just wanted to focus on appreciating Lagerfeld’s body of work. At the same time, Bolton made other statements that arguably contradicted this. He also claimed, “I don’t believe you can separate the man from the work, but who was that man?” Bolton’s goals for the Gala were a confusing mix of wanting to honor Lagerfeld’s designs and impact but not his personal life, while also trying to learn more about Lagerfeld as a person through his fashion and work ethic. It seems to demonstrate the impossibility of paying respect to a cultural figure in this way without glorifying them as a person.

Anna Wintour, who is the editor-and-chief of Vogue and a friend of Lagerfeld, supported Bolton’s decision in a CBS interview by saying that the exhibit was “not a biography. There are documentaries and books that cover all sides of Karl’s life. We’re really focusing on his work.” The issue with this argument is that most people are not willing to go through these biographies. The average individual’s understanding of Lagerfeld is limited to his image (his sunglasses, black and white outfits, and his beloved cat Choupette, who is to inherit a large percentage of his multi-million dollar fortune) and the way that he is represented in popular culture. Thus, the Met Gala was about celebrating Karl Lagerfeld as an idea rather than as a human. In the process, this both immortalizes a problematic individual and gives an incomplete idea of who he was as a person.

Choosing to dedicate the night to Karl Lagerfeld also contributes to the bigger problem that people have with the Met Gala. The event has never just been about expressing creativity through fashion or raising money for the Met Costume Institute. It’s also an opportunity for the rich and powerful to celebrate excess and status. Earning a spot on the exclusive guest list, which is approved by Anna Wintour herself, means that someone has been given access to the upper echelon of celebrities, rubbing elbows with the likes of the Kardashian-Jenners, Rihanna, and Naomi Campbell. Tickets reportedly sold for $50,000 this year while reserving a table cost $300,000. In a time when people are struggling to cope with political and economic uncertainty, this comes across as extremely distasteful and tone-deaf.

On the night of the Gala, a group of protesters shouting “tax the rich” congregated outside and temporarily blocked Paris Hilton’s car. Instagram posts made by the New York Times Fashion and Style account were filled with comments like “Who cares?” and “What a wasteful amount of resources.” The issue of elitism at the Met Gala becomes even harder to overlook when it’s honoring someone like Karl Lagerfeld, who upheld some of the most harmful aspects of the fashion industry—its classism, cultural appropriation, unattainable beauty standards, and exploitation.

Despite the many criticisms of this year’s theme and the purpose of the Met Gala as a whole, the event continues to go strong. It’s still beloved by many as the night when fashion is at its most creative and for being the Met Costume Institute’s main source of funding. At the very least, even though the Met Gala didn’t acknowledge Karl Lagerfeld’s controversies, the public was still made aware of them through the backlash that the event received. It represents a positive direction for the future where people are beginning to question the cult of celebrity and discern when a person deserves to be recognized but not celebrated.