Vogue Chaos Issue 8: MET Gala 2023 Predictions

Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty - Anecdotes and Fun

My thoughts on Karl

Karl was a permanent fixture in the fashion world, the kind that is hard to imagine today when designer-brand relationships are written for an average of 3 years before they are up for renewal. He was a chameleon designer who revived four dying fashion houses and created a legacy that we will be celebrating come Monday. It is hard to fathom the quantity of work he produced over 50 years without many pictures from before the 90s so I am excited to see someone bring to the forefront his work at Patou, Balmain, and Chloe as the references are not easily available.

Controversial for his awful fat-shaming remarks, there were several people annoyed that he was being honoured this way. While I do not agree with those remarks, he had severe body-image issues of his own and was on a heavily restricted diet at this point, where one of his indulgences was eating plain bread. His criticism came from a place of insecurity and grief. If this does not move you, just know that hosting a retrospective in his name was against his wishes. He believed that ‘clothes don’t belong in a museum but on women’s bodies’. So in a way, his philosophy is being dishonored and if his comments hurt you, you might find some comfort in this blatant disregard for his wishes.

I respect Karl a lot because of his immense generosity and contributions to art. His knowledge was endless, his library overflowing, his inspiration was deep, his patronage to art movements, especially his short lived Memphis period, is the main reason that whole school existed. He had the ability to shape culture through his influence, knowledge, and resources, and that is something I find aspirational.

Predictions

Karl’s career started with him winning the 1954 Woolmark prize and beginning his journey with Balmain. Olivier Rousteing already created an outfit in his honour for the vogue spread, and he also just dropped a collection with Beyonce, so I am certainly expecting her to wear something from this collection. OGs know that I also believe Olivier should be at Chanel so this combination makes total sense in my head.

Karl’s time at Patou completely alludes me so skipping right over to Chloe. He made RTW for them so we cannot expect anything grand but I do hope to see an interpretation of the shower dress. Another remarkable thing Karl did at Chloe was launching a perfume in an iconic bottle. This is more of a hope than an expectation that someone reinterprets the perfume as a dress.

Karl’s work at Fendi revived the entire fur industry but I hope and dream that Kim Jones leaves Karl alone, although he is very likely to bring in an Antonio Lopez look. Antonio was a key character in Karl’s life and Kim recently presented a Fendi collection inspired by him. Moving right over to Chanel and the exciting parts! Weird – I have not said that in a while…

Chanel has had several muses over the decades, some of whom like Penelope Cruz is also a chair for this event, along with Dua Lipa for some reason. I expect Anna Wintour, who is also the chair, to wear something black and respectful as if in mourning. She rarely wears black so this is quite out-there but it is what would feel appropriate.

Other Chanel muses that are expected to join are Margot Robbie, Jennie Kim, Kristen Stewart, Lily-Rose Depp, and Whitney Peak. With the Barbie movie press tour in full swing, I expect Margot to represent 90s Chanel in a full Barbie-pink skirt suit. I am praying for Jennie to wear the 2006 Spring Couture bridal look that Mischa Barton (another Chanel muse) wore for her prom in The OC – it would be perfect on her! As for Kristen, I expect her to have amazing hair and makeup but an unremarkable outfit. It would be an obvious pick for Lily-Rose Depp to wear her now iconic pink Chanel bridal dress from Spring 2017 Couture – and sometimes obvious is good. As for Whitney Peak, she appeared in the Chanel perfume ad which always has a back necklace with a No5 charm – I expect her look to capture that. It is not confirmed yet but a cherry on top would be Lindsay Lohan walking in with an ankle-monitor bag.

Kim confirmed that she will be attending the MET Gala despite some speculations that no Kardashians will be present this time (whoever started that rumour is naïve AF.) Kim posted a photo with Choupette, Karl’s cat, so her look might be inspired by the cat? It is also possible that she wears an homage to Karl by Balenciaga look – Karl used a lot of denim and architectural silhouettes which are right up Balenciaga’s alley. I also feel Kendall will attend and I am rooting for her to pick out the Chanel Bikini bride look for this event – she is perfect for it!

Other MET Gala attendees I have high hopes from are Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, and Priyanka Chopra. Blake and Gigi are most likely to continue their relationship with Versace, althought Jeremy Scott is also a candidate to dress Gigi. In 1998, Karl said Jeremy was his clear successor. His recent stepping-down from Moschino is also an eyebrow-raising affair…..could it be? During his time at Moschino, he subverted Chanel’s staple tweed and logo garments on several occasions so doing that on a grand scale would be genius. As for Bella, I am truly lost and ready to be surprised. Priyanka says her outfit has ‘an element of surprise’ which I am excited for.

There is definitely going to be several outfits by Thom Browne, he practically ruled last year’s gala and won the Vogue spread. Tweed manipulation is his area of expertise and I hope he interprets the iconic Chanel robot look. Will Devon Aoki be game for this? I hope so. Pierpaolo was already sneaky this year and presented a Valentino collection with black and white looks with ties – somewhat in Karl’s image. I hope they dress Florence Pugh, their newest ambassador, in a proportional look this time. John Galliano really disappointed me in the Vogue spread and I am praying for a redemption with a showstopping look on Naomi Campbell.

Although I don’t expect to see too many archive looks except from people’s private collections, some collections I hope to see represented are the Spring 2005 collections - the 2005 MET Gala was a retrospective of Coco Chanel and Karl did some great work here. The Fall 2005 collection titled ‘Hidden Luxury’ is also very relavant - named thusly probably because noone knows anyone who dresses this way. Above is a random picture association of Chanel’s collections and designers who are in the same wheelhouse. I expect most of the gala to be ruled by homages to Karl’s work by designers who were his friends or inspired by him.

Someone of these predictions are completely farfetched but that’s part of this fun pre-MET game I like to play and then see if anything comes true after. I got 3 spot-on predictions last year! It is an amazing opportunity to research and I went through every single collection I could find. If you are interested, I highly recommend reading The Beautiful Fall and Chiffon Trenches to learn more about Karl’s life.