Everyone’s eyes are glued to the rolling coverage of the looks on the Met Gala 2023 red carpet, searching for iconic moments and viral memes — but there’s something else I’ve been on the lookout for. Specifically, shade aimed at Karl Lagerfeld. And yes, there certainly were plenty of fuck-yous to the known bigot.
“Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” is the controversial theme for this year’s Met Gala, designed to honour the long-time creative director of Chanel who passed away in 2019. This might have been fine (though extremely boring) had it not been for the fact that Lagerfeld was quite a nasty bigot.
Some notable blights on his legacy include his insistence that “no one wants to see curvy women” on runways, his determination to maintain only women who were a size 0 in his brand, and his assertions that anorexia — which has a mortality rate of 20 per cent — is actually not as bad for society as fat people.
With the #MetGala tonight, this is a reminder that Karl Lagerfeld is a racist, islamophobic, fatphobic misogynist who hates women and anyone that isn’t white, European and thin. Hope he’s rotting in hell today. pic.twitter.com/yhmL5bOE1I
— Yousef x2 (@yalozai022) May 1, 2023
As if it couldn’t get worse, he also said he was “fed up” with models coming forward with sexual assault allegations, famously telling any model that doesn’t want to be groped that “there’ll always be a place for you in the covent” 2018. He was also racist. Gross.
Basically, he’s not the kind of guy most decent people would want to honour — and the lack of celebrity pushback has been concerning to say the least. We get it, you don’t want to lose your invites, but have a fkn stance, will you?
Not everyone has stayed completely silent though, with what appears to be a quiet little rebellion against Lagerfeld’s legacy taking place on the red carpet.
Karl Lagerfeld once said “See life in pink, but do not wear it!” and I can’t help but think some celebrities used pink as a “fuck you” to him.
Precious Lee, a prominent plus-sized Black model who’s worked with the likes of Versace and Fendi, had a hot pink cape attached to her dress which I just know Lagerfeld would have hated.
Precious Lee at the #MetGala2023 pic.twitter.com/QMG2BeZS5L
— linda (@itgirlenergy) May 1, 2023
An absolute slay.
Quinta Brunson also appeared in a pale pink gown, as did Native American activist Quannah Chasinghorse.
Karl Lagerfeld was a fatphobic, sexist and racist butthole that hated pink. Quannah Chasinghorse attending the Met in pink, in a gown and style that Karl Lagerfeld would have hated, and in all her Indigenous glory is absolutely the most beautiful way to “honor” an unhonorable man https://t.co/wLuH41CY3C
— Johnnie Jae aka The Burnt Ball of Fury (@johnniejae) May 1, 2023
#QuintaBrunson is turning heads at the #MetGala!
See more arrivals here: https://t.co/d7wlM5TBA6 pic.twitter.com/gDNHPFyGum
— People (@people) May 1, 2023
Plus-sized model Ashley Green also wore a pink gown that pays homage to an existing Chanel gown, and while she didn’t seem to have a stance on Lagerfeld’s fatphobic comments, it’s still satisfying to see her slay in an adaptation of a gown he would have never allowed a curvy women to wear if he was still alive.
Honored to wear this show-stopping creation by the brilliant, spectacular (and my new bff) Harris Reed, paying tribute to the iconic Karl Lagerfeld. I just feel so beautiful. #MetGala pic.twitter.com/IqYhAjNmX6
— Ashley Graham (@ashleygraham) May 1, 2023
Harvey Guillén showed up in a suit in the same pink hue, and Cardi B slayed in a dress the same colour (though she had an outfit change, and wore a black and white ‘fit on the red carpet in true Lagerfeld fashion).
karl lagerfeld hated fat people and pink which makes Harvey Guillén’s slay truly an impeccable gorgeous fuck you
infinity/10 pic.twitter.com/6K2QOLotmp— frogz 🐸 (semi ia) (@1800frogzplz) May 2, 2023
WAIT A MINUTE KARL LAGERFELD HATED PINK??? OH CARDI ILY 😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/hXCj6qdkST
— MAD? HURT? ™ (@cardisbirkin) May 2, 2023
Were all these celebrities purposefully shading Karl Lagerfeld with their pink dresses and unapologetically curvy bodies? We can’t say for sure. But there’s something beautiful in knowing such a nasty man’s style is being appropriated by people he would disdain.
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