The Met Gala honoured late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld last night, with the theme Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.
However, a group of models has criticised the tribute to Lagerfeld, who died in 2019.
Model Alliance, an advocacy organisation for models in the fashion industry, headed to the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art a day before the gala to protest the theme.
And its founder, Sara Ziff, has been outspoken about her criticism of the German designer.
Why did models protest the Karl Lagerfeld Met Gala theme?
The Model Alliance protested the Met Gala theme over Lagerfeld’s “problematic attitudes toward women” and “regressive views”. The group was also rallying for the Fashion Workers Act, which would regulate predatory management agencies in New York.
Ziff told the New York Post: “What will undoubtedly be left unsaid about Lagerfeld, who I worked with regularly as a model, is any mention of his problematic attitudes toward women who did not fit his harmful and outdated standards.”
She also told Jezebel: “The choice to honour Lagerfeld embodies the dissonance of an industry that claims to be progressive, that celebrates body positivity and survivors on the one hand, and then reveres figures like [Lagerfeld] without even acknowledging their regressive views.”
The Model Alliance is not the only group to have boycotted the Met Gala.
Twitter account @HFMetGala, which typically leads an annual discussion about the Met Gala on social media, said it would not be covering this year’s event.
The account tweeted: “As we approach the first Monday of May, the hf twitter met gala team would like to announce that we will not be celebrating this year’s met gala as our values don’t align with the selection of Karl Lagerfeld as the theme.
“We hope to celebrate with our community again soon.”
One of its founders, Chloe Iris Kennedy, told the New York Post that they couldn’t separate the art from the artists: “I don’t think that’s like a very honest analysis of Karl.
“It’s not something that can be fragmented. It’s not, like, oh, all of this happened and then at the very, very end he was problematic. It’s woven into his legacy.”
