Vogue announced the theme for the 2023 Met Gala on Friday, and it’s a return to modern design. While the past two galas have featured an ongoing “In America” theme to go along with two exhibits tracing American fashion over the centuries, the 2023 Met Gala will honor designer and former Creative Director of Chanel Karl Lagerfeld.
While we have our eyes on that red carpet and the celebrity looks that will have us talking for weeks, the focus of the Met Gala is, of course, the exhibition that will make its way to The Met next year. The Costume Insitute will unveil its spring 2023 exhibition on the work of Karl Lagerfeld, “Focusing on the designer’s stylistic vocabulary as it was expressed in through lines—aesthetic themes that appear time and again—in his fashions from the 1950s to his final collection in 2019, the show will spotlight the Germanborn designer’s unique working methodology.” Along with approximately 150 designs on display, the exhibit will also feature the designer’s sketches. The official title for the exhibition is Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.
While it doesn’t seem like any language from the official event invitations has been shared, The Met shared, “the exhibition is anchored by two lines: the “straight line” and the “serpentine line,” which delineate, respectively, Lagerfeld’s modernist and historicist tendencies.” The bar will be high for achieving these lines and creating new looks that nod to themes in the collection.
The 2023 Met Gala will take place May 1, 2023, and Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty will be open from May 5 to July 16.