© Metropolitan Museum of Art
Karl Lagerfeld: a Line of Beauty is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through July 16, covering the late designer’s work from the 1950s to the 2000s at Balmain, Patou, Chloé, Fendi and Chanel, as well as his own brand.
The exhibition has been curated by Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute at the Met, and designed by architect Tadao Ando.
It shows Lagerfeld’s work from sketches to finished creations, adorning Bonaveri mannequins adapted to the exhibition’s requirements. One hundred and sixty were created for the exhibition, matching Ando’s designs. Their heads were inspired by the work of Gerhard Schliepstein, a German art-déco sculptor whose porcelain figures Lagerfeld collected. The hands are also new, with longer figures, to match.
The exhibition begins with introductory galleries highlighting Lagerfeld’s early career, including his 1954 international Woolmark prize and his roles at Balmain and Patou. Another gallery is dedicated to the studio premières, namely the seamstresses who translated his drawings into three dimensions.
The exhibition has two threads inspired by Lagerfeld’s drawings: the serpentine, covering his historiographical, romantic and decorative side, and the straight, covering his modernist, classicist and minimalist approaches. It is reflected in Ando’s architecture, which also uses serpentine and straight lines.
© Metropolitan Museum of Art
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