My visit to see Karl Lagerfeld “A Line of Beauty”

The Costume Institute’s spring 2023 exhibition examined the work of iconic designer Karl Lagerfeld.  I was able to visit the beautiful exhibit before it closed this summer.  According to the museum, the exhibit focused on the designer’s stylistic vocabulary as expressed in aesthetic themes that appear time and again in his fashions from the 1950s to his final collection in 2019, the show spotlighted the designer’s unique working methodology.

Most of the approximately 150 pieces on display were accompanied by Lagerfeld’s sketches, which underscore his complex creative process and the collaborative relationships with his premières, or head seamstresses. Lagerfeld’s fluid lines united his designs for Balmain, Patou, Chloé, Fendi, Chanel, and his eponymous label, Karl Lagerfeld, creating a diverse and prolific body of work unparalleled in the history of fashion.