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By Hannah Militano

The Most Memorable Chanel Looks Ever Worn to the Met Gala

In honor of the late, great Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld

(L-R) Christy Turlington walks the runway during the Chanel Haute Couture show as part of Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 1992-1993 in January, 1992 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images), Lily-Rose Depp attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes On Fashion at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City. (BFA)

Every year since 1948, the Met Gala hosts fashion’s biggest night. The exclusive event gathers Hollywood’s brightest stars with fashion’s most legendary figures to celebrate the latest Costume Institute exhibit and raise museum funds. Of course, everyone dresses to nines in theme-appropriate looks or in rule book-defying ensembles. This year, the upcoming exhibition is entitled “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” and the theme celebrates the life and work of the revolutionary couturier.

Serving alongside the Gala’s longtime honorary hosts Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, and Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, the 2023 Met Gala co-chairs include Dua Lipa, Michaela Coel, Penélope Cruz and Roger Federer.

According to an official statement acquired by CNN, the presentation will consist of 150 designs that “explore the designer’s stylistic language.” The exhibition will include sketches and designs from Lagerfeld’s tenure as creative director of Fendi, Chloé and Chanel, along with creations from his time at Balmain, Patou. There will also be pieces from his namesake label, for a true retrospective of his six-decade career, which lasted until his death at the age of 85 in 2019.

Ironically, Lagerfeld may not have liked that his clothes would be shown in a museum. Andrew Bolton, the chief costume curator said, “When we worked on the Chanel show together he was incredibly generous in what he lent, but he was completely disinterested in the exhibition itself! He would say ‘fashion is not art — fashion belongs on the street, on women’s bodies, on men’s bodies.’”

Bolton, who is also writing an book on the designer, told CNN that Lagerfeld “would have hated a retrospective,” but that the showcase will be laid out like an “essay” on his inimitable career. Bolton will also receive a helping hand from Amanda Harlech, who previously worked alongside the couturier, as the exhibit’s creative consultant.

In 1954 the wunderkind kicked off his career, winning the esteemed Woolmark Prize in a tie with fellow up-and-comer Yves Saint Laurent. Lagerfeld went on to become Pierre Balmain’s assistant just a year later, before taking the reins as art director at Parisian fashion house Jean Patou. Later, Lagerfeld would go on to helm Chloé, take on a life-long partnership at Italian fashion house Fendi in 1965, before eventually becoming the chief artistic director at Chanel.

The highly anticipated exhibit will be on display beginning May 5, following the Met Gala on May 1, 2023.

While this year’s soirée is sure to showcase a tour de force of Lagerfeld’s finest, we’re looking back on some of the most radical ensembles designed by Lagerfeld that have been worn to the Met Gala. See Chanel’s greatest hits at the Met Gala throughout the years.