Lagerfeld’s Vintage Chloé Designs Revived at the Met

Karl Lagerfeld’s early Chloé are rarely seen these days. The designer’s time at Chloé (1966-1983, 1992-1997) is often overshadowed by his much longer career at Chanel, but his surrealist-inspired designs from his time at the label are some of fashion’s most memorable.

Photo: Getty Images via British Vogue

They are extremely playful, a little bit camp, but classically beautiful all the same. As many of these surrealist collections were designed during the 80s, they have a familiar 80s blockiness and color palette, but placed on today’s red carpet, they do not look at all out of place.

Several of these pieces are on display at the Met starting on Friday. Lagerfeld designed an entire collection that references ‘those who make the clothes,’ with lots of trompe-’l’oeil details including a dress within a dress and scissors slicing through another dress.

Photo: Getty Images via Vogue

We were also lucky enough to see several of these vintage pieces on the Met Gala carpet on Monday. Olivia Wilde appeared wearing a white version of Chloé’s famous violin dress, which is from a 1984 collection. While I personally prefer the classic black version of this dress, the gold detailing in the trompe-l’oeil violin and wrist cuffs of the dress was very flattering against Wilde’s bronze, sultry hair and glam. 

Photo: Getty Images via Vogue

Vanessa Kirby looked absolutely stunning in the equally famous ‘shower dress,’ from 1983 which shows a shower head and the illusion of water streaming down the back of the dress. The dark dress with its glittery, beaded back and the sparkling Cartier jewelry that Kirby accessorized with were the perfect color palette against her icy blonde hair and pale skin. It was utterly elegant.

These dresses are very special pieces of fashion history. They demonstrate how integral Lagerfeld was to what Chloé became as a brand, and they show how playful and fun fashion can be. It was extremely pleasurable to see their revival for the Met Gala.