ALL ABOUT KARL: France’s former first lady Carla Bruni and Roger Federer turned up Monday on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s unveiling of the Costume Institute’s “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.”

The museum’s director Max Hollein, the Wendy Yu chief curator in charge Andrew Bolton and Condé Nast’s global content officer Anna Wintour headlined the morning press preview. After their remarks, lots of the few hundred members of the media flooded into the exhibition, which highlights the confluence of the late designer’s designs for Chloé, Fendi, Chanel and the Karl Lagerfeld label. The designer died in 2019 on the age of 85.

Tory Burch, Thom Browne and Philip Treacy were among the many designers in the gang. Although Bruni was not doing interviews, she told a number of videographers how fashion is a present that could make people feel higher in trying times.

That gift appeared to have already been given, based on the handfuls of smartphone-wielding people camped out on Fifth Avenue in front of The Met’s fundamental entrance. Some speculated about which pathway Met Gala guests will use to enter the celebrity-studded affair. The event’s “in honor of Karl” dress code is predicted to translate into plenty of Chanel, Fendi, Chloé and Karl Lagerfeld decisions. That black-and-white-centric style was embraced by lots of the media types that poured into the Met’s Temple of Dendur.

Browne, whose partner is Bolton, has been living the exhibition for some time. “I feel you may really feel the non-public connection between Andrew and Karl. In fact, I saw all year long as he put it together, the care and a spotlight that he put into it. You actually see it within the show,” Browne said.

What some may not appreciate is the quantity of intellect and thought that go into Bolton’s shows, the designer said. “I often say to so many folks that Andrew is a very powerful person in fashion because he elevates fashion to a level of being worthy of being at The Met. The work he does is so necessary. The energy that Andrew’s work generates is overwhelming. It’s amazing to see how excited individuals are to see his shows. It’s a testament to the importance of his work and the quantity that individuals love seeing his shows,” Browne said.

Kaleidoscope Consulting’s Miki Hagasi agreed, saying, “It’s never just a fancy dress exhibit or a historical show. It’s extremely analytical yet still fulfilling too. In fact, in the long run like several other exhibit at a museum, it’s extremely educational. I just like the undeniable fact that it’s not too black-and-white or too narrow. It’s based on a robust concept. It’s visually and intellectually compelling. The way you present things, whether it’s an exhibit or a book, is so necessary. Andrew really nails it down.”

Karl fever’s peripheral economic effect might be seen within the black-and-white portraits of Lagerfeld in Bergdorf Goodman’s Fifth Avenue windows, and Lagerfeld’s sketches in Fendi’s Madison Avenue store windows. On Friday, 20 to 30 people were lined up outside of Chanel’s Fifth Avenue store. Winding through the galleries, Karl Lagerfeld chief executive officer Pier Paolo Righi said that he knew the exhibition can be great, “but was surprised by how stunning it’s and the way emotionally impactful it’s.” As someone who worked very closely with Lagerfeld for greater than a decade, Righi said, “It really looks like as he was, when he was within the room. It’s amazing to see and really touching.”

The replica of Lagerfeld’s beyond-messy desk is dead-on, in response to Righi. “To see the desk, it looks as if he had left it the day before. It really was like how he used the desk.”  

As for what the entire Lagerfeld-laden publicity will mean for Lagerfeld’s namesake company, Righi said beyond the exposure, it’ll have an emotional impact on the corporate’s team. “Karl never was one to look back on the achievements, because he at all times desired to look ahead to create the long run. That is the primary that we will actually gift him by some means, the homage that he didn’t allow himself to present to himself. That’s an emotional moment, particularly for us. As the only real house that carries his name on the door and the one ones which can be taking his legacy into the long run, it’s a tremendous milestone for us to integrate into the long run.”