Guests at the Met Gala are fighting over Karl Lagerfeld's vintage

In preparation for next Monday's annual Met Gala, hosted by Vogue and its editor Anna Wintour, guests have begun a mad dash for vintage. Motivating them is the theme of the event, this year focusing on the profound artistic legacy of Chanel's historic artistic director Karl Lagerfeld, who passed away in 2019. For vintage fashion retailers, these have been abnormal months; according to Cameron Silver, the founder of the Los Angeles boutique Decades interviewed for the occasion by the Financial Times, some of the requests received from customers are even to be considered «delusional.» 

Reportedly, the stylists of the stars who will soon be treading the Met red carpet are trying everything, even attempting to recover some of the designs Lagerfeld designed in the 1950s, when, after leaving Pierre Balmain's atelier, the German designer was working alongside Jean Patou. But while some of the vintage shop owners are trying to slink away, seeking shelter from the onslaught of celebrities and their stylists, some are riding the wave of work without fail. The owner of Pechuga Vintage, Johnny Valencia, is, for example, helping Anitta, Emily Ratajkowski, Anok Yai, and Paloma Elsesser's stylists to find the right look for their clients with complete peace of mind, «I'm in my element,» he said. Among the commissions he is handling in Orange County is a request from an unknown client who would like to wear the same gold jewel-studded black dress worn by Linda Evangelista in 1995 in an iconic Harper's Bazaar editorial. 

It's only natural that at an occasion like the Met Gala, America's most glamorous party, guests would want to present themselves in an eye-catching and original look, but it has to be said that if everyone is so fierce in the hunt for the best vintage Chanel this year, it's surely also due to the growing collective interest in archival fashion. Showing up in front of the paparazzi in the right dress - perhaps packed with references to pop history like Linda Evangelista's '95 - could be worth a viral post on Twitter or TikTok, the ticket to the rise to power in the strange world of VIPs. Lagerfeld's designs have always been much loved by celebrities, and judging by the reports from vintage dealers and auction market auctioneers, it looks like this will be one of the most exciting Met Galas yet.