As we speed into this year’s MET Gala of May 1, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that the spring exhibition at the Costume Institute, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” is being designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect, Tadao Andowho first met the legendary fashion designer in 1996.

Ando designed the exhibition with William Hogarth’s 18th century book The Analysis of Beauty as a theoretical background. In it it is argued that art and aesthetics focus around the concept of the ‘line of beauty’ or ‘serpentine line’, an S-shaped curve that represents vitality and movement, as opposed to the straight line that depicts stillness and inertia. Lagerfeld was known to draw inspiration from this text, drawing equally from the straight and the ‘spiral’ line.

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The architect conceived the idea of ​​the exhibition at the Costume Institute as an example of the intersection of straight and sinuous lines. He had collaborated with Lagerfeld in 1996 for a design studio in Biarritz that never materialized. Additionally, the Vitra House he created in 1993, his first non-Japanese architecture, became an artistic subject for Lagerfeld during his exploration of architectural photography.

The exhibition will trace the late designer’s prolific career at brands such as Balmain, Patou, Chloé, Fendi, Chanel and his own and will showcase iconic collections from the 1950s until his death in 2019. Alongside the 150 creations that will exhibited, Lagerfeld’s original sketches will be presented. From May 5 to July 16, visitors will be able to take an in-depth look at Karl Lagerfeld’s creative processes.