Every first Monday in May, the annual Met Gala is held in the Met Museum in New York City with a spectacular theme each year. The Met Gala brings together a variety of celebrities such as actors, models, singers, athletes, political figures, stylists, and designers into the event that’s been labeled as “the Super Bowl of fashion.”

The Met Gala gives us the craziest, most eye-catching, and over the top outfits all in one place on one night. This year, the Gala honored the legacy of late fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld, by dedicating the 2023 theme to him. Lagerfeld was also the inspiration behind the Met Museum’s new exhibit titled, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” which features several of his sketches and designs. However, not many people were supportive of the chosen theme. 

Karl Lagerfeld was a German fashion designer most known for his work with Chanel since 1983, Fendi since 1965, and his collaboration with several other designer brands. Lagerfeld died of pancreatic cancer on February 19, 2019 at the age of 85. He was undeniably an extremely talented designer, but he was not an admirable or largely admired person.

Daily Mail reports, Lagerfeld left $1.6 million dollars for his pet cat in his will, which reveals his relationships with humans. During his lifetime, he was known for being rude, fatphobic, racist, and showing no remorse for sexual assault survivors, especially women. This is what caused the uproar against the 2023 theme along with stirring up drama in the fashion world. 

Throughout fashion history, some of the most powerful people have been known for being the most closed minded when it comes to size and skin color, and Lagerfeld was no exception to this stereotype. As a result of the 2023 theme, many revealed the person Lagerfeld truly was and claimed that honoring him is wrong. Even on the Met Gala carpet, multiple celebrities shied away from answering questions about Lagerfeld and speaking on his legacy.

Jameela Jamil resented the chosen theme and spoke out on an Instagram post saying, “Last night, Hollywood and fashion said the quiet part out loud when a lot of famous feminists chose to celebrate at the highest level, a man who was so publicly cruel to women, to fat people, to immigrants and to sexual assault survivors. And all the women’s publications, and spectators online, chose to gleefully ignore it.” Besides the obvious issue with the theme, I personally found this year’s Met exceptionally boring due to its lack of iconic guests like Blake Lively, Lily-Rose Depp, Ryan Reynolds, Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Kris Jenner, Beyonce, etc. This could possibly be a result of the controversial theme, however, even so, many looks displayed at the 2023 Met Gala were undeniably incredible.

Some looks creatively mocked the theme like, Jared Leto and Doja Cats cat inspired looks. Oliver Rousteing, wearing a bag that said “Karl who?” and Irina Shayk who wore sweatpants to a Met Gala after party to mock Lagerfeld’s opinion on them. “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” (Good Reads). 

There are several reasons to dislike Karl Lagerfeld. In a 2009 interview with the German magazine titled “Focus”, Lagerfeld made an unimaginably cruel statement about women wanting normal bodies represented in magazines and runways. “These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly.” and continued to say in the same interview, “No one wants to see curvy women.” (Skinny Models – DW – 10/12/2006) 

In addition, he commented on the bodies and appearances of Adele, Lana Del Rey, Seal, Pippa Middleton, Andy Warhol, Heidi Klum, Michelle Obama, and many more. Many believe he reflected his own insecurities by shaming others.

In 2002, Lagerfeld lost 92 pounds in a year and documented his journey in the book “The Karl Lagerfeld Diet”. He also wrote the book, “The World According to Karl”, where he claimed that “fashion is the healthiest motivation for losing weight.” Which is not healthy in the slightest bit.

Lagerfeld’s controversial reputation: 

There are several reasons to dislike Karl Lagerfeld.  Lagerfeld was known for making negative comments and creating controversial campaigns about peoples bodies, immigrants, various ethnic communities and sexual assault survivors. Here are just a few examples of his many questionable actions and statements.

In a 2009 interview with the German magazine titled “Focus”, Lagerfeld made an immensely cruel statement about women wanting normal bodies represented in magazines and runways. “These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly.” and continued to say in the same interview, “No one wants to see curvy women.” (Skinny Models – DW – 10/12/2006). 

Many believe he reflected his own insecurities by shaming others. In 2002, Lagerfeld lost 92 pounds in a year and documented his journey in the book “The Karl Lagerfeld Diet”. And also wrote the book, “The World According to Karl”, where he claimed that “fashion is the healthiest motivation for losing weight.” Which is not healthy in the slightest bit.

In an interview done with The Guardian about the German government allowing Muslim refugees into the country, he shared that he believes that Muslims are “the worst enemies” of Jewish people and implied that they are worse than the Nazis and that it makes no sense for the German people to take in Muslim refugees. While Lagerfeld also did a lot to support Jewish causes, his actions and statements about immigrants and foreigners made him controversial to many people.

Furthermore, in a 2013 ad campaign for Dom Perignon, Lagerfeld offended the black community and the Asian community when he used White German model, Claudia Schiffer, to create an Asian look by participating in “yellow face” and also participating in “blackface”. (Bet.com – Racist Moments in Fashion) 

When it came to the support of women and sexual assault victims, Lagerfeld was insensitive at best. In an interview with Numero magazine, when speaking on the “#MeToo” movement revolving around sexual assault, he announced that he was “fed up with it.”

Similarly in 2018, Lagerfeld stated in response to a model revealing she had been sexually harassed by stylist Karl Templer. “If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model! Join a nunnery.” (hollywoodreporter.com).

It’s mind-boggling to me that the Met Gala would support the legacy of such a problematic person, regardless of the positive work he did for the fashion industry. Surely, there are plenty of fashion icons that should have been chosen before a man who would cause such an uproar. For the future Met Galas, I’m hoping they do better when choosing who and what they represent.