Exhibition design is a practice of curating immersive spatial experiences that feel like narrating a story to the viewer. This is often achieved by balancing visual cues, light, and space, and creating a flow that feels natural and inclusive to the viewer. An understanding of architecture plays a beneficial role in creating exhibits, as architects are attuned to the concept of spaces, user experience and the interplay of light, both natural and artificial. A legendary collaboration between architecture and exhibit design was seen in the 2023 MET Gala, where Tadao Ando, the Pritzker-winning architect, was commissioned to design the exhibition that paid homage to the late designer and his old friend, Karl Lagerfeld.
What is The MET Gala?
The MET Gala is an annual fundraising event held for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The event takes place on the first Monday of May and marks the opening of the costume institute’s annual exhibition. It is considered one of the most prestigious events in the world.
A Line of Beauty: Understanding the Theme of the Exhibit
For the 2023 costume exhibit, the theme was “Karl Lagerfeld- A Line of Beauty” to pay homage to the legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The phrase a line of beauty comes from Karl’s fascination with both a straight line and a serpentine line, often representing duality. This was explored in William Hogarth’s book “The Analysis of Beauty”. The straight-line nods to the stillness, modern classical and minimalist tendencies, and reflects the seriousness of the design and the designer. The s-shaped lines or the serpentine lines reflect liveliness, movement, historical and decorative parts of his work and his experimental tendencies that made him stand out.
Karl Through Tadao Ando’s Lens: The Mind behind the Exhibition Design
This concept, often noticed in Karl’s works, was recognised by Tadao Ando, the Pritzker-winning architect. He further developed this concept to create a series of rooms, which creates a constant sense of fluidity and smooth transitions. The use of these lines can be seen while travelling across these rooms. The entrance features a display of Karl’s table, which is usually cluttered with scribbled sketches, books, magazines for inspiration, and a staple: Diet Coke. Here, the speakers feature a scribbling noise, and a screen simultaneously showcases scribblings and concept sketches in progress. This acts as a spatial experience that caters to every sense in a way that consciously and subconsciously aligns the viewer with the designer’s thought process. As the first point of contact between the viewer and the exhibit, it sets the scene for the rest.
Moving further, there are nine rooms, each featuring a collection based on the duality of lines, like masculine and feminine lines, romantic and military, rococo and classical, historical and futuristic, ornamental and structural, canonical and countercultural, artisanal and mechanical, floral and geometric, and figurative and abstract. The whole idea of lines is explored by the designers on an emotional level, where each “line” depicts a certain dichotomy of life or eras of fashion or simply honours the designer’s philosophy.
The Power and Play of Light in Exhibition Design
One of the couture pieces is displayed on a pedestal which can be seen only from 5 feet below. A sense of drama, which makes fashion what it truly is, is employed using the appropriate use of light. This emphasises the use of light, a key principle in exhibiting and also a key principle seen in all of Tadao Ando’s work. The garments are placed in arched alcoves, which are reminiscent of Fendi Headquarters photographed by Karl. These niches use soft lights to display the details on each piece.
A Continuous Collaboration
This brings to light that Karl also had his endeavours in the domain of architectural photography. He photographed the “Vitra House”, which was Ando’s first building outside of Japan, and then published a small book with those pictures. This is one of the earlier collaborations between the designers. Another one was when, in 1990, Tadao’s office received a package from Karl, and he wondered if it was Karl Lagerfeld who had sent him the mystery box. It certainly was, and he invited him to Paris, requesting that he build a home cum studio there for him. They had conversations about their design philosophies and understood each other’s visions, only to realise that they might be in different fields, but the way they approach their projects isn’t all too different. Both of them had this innate love for sketching out the ideas they had, which is also a theme realised in this exhibit.
The Paris studio home was never built, but they developed a mutual respect and admiration for one another. While designing for this exhibit, Tadao fondly said, “Though I am evermore reminded of [Karl’s] departure as I finish designing for this exhibition, the endeavour became another chance for me to talk with an old friend, one last time.”
The Final Steps Through the Display
The show concluded in a final gallery which is modelled like an ellipse; these curves seem to be inspired by the ones from Tadao Ando’s Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art. The space is made such that it feels like an envelope surrounding the visitor. Here, his 81 iPhones are displayed, depicting his mode of communication and his evolution through all his eras. Across these phones, a video of Lagerfeld being filmed by Loïc Prigent plays. It is compiled by the famed filmmaker Baillie Walsh. An immersive video installation by the French filmmaker Loic Prigent featuring interviews with seamstresses regarded as the architects of Lagerfeld’s vision is also displayed in the gallery. A section of the exhibit is dedicated to them, “the premières d’atelier”, or the seamstresses, are paid due respect since they were responsible for bringing Karl’s visions to life and thus play a huge role in his legacy.
Details and Sustainability
Recycled Plastic Bottles as a Futuristic Centre-piece
The central showpiece, which was referred to as “futuristic and cutting edge”, was completely made out of recycled plastic bottles. The staircase leading up to the main gallery is also lined with these bottles, and so are the barriers separating the photographers and the celebrities on the red carpet. These bottles are transparent and arranged such that they reflect the surrounding light, and the design feels enticing. Along with giving a sense of cohesion, it also promotes a sustainable and more mindful approach towards everyday things, especially given the current environmental scenario. These bottles were said to be further recycled after the MET.
Made in India: The red carpet
The red carpet, which ironically wasn’t red but white with red and blue lines of beauty, was woven by the Indian artisans from “Neytt by Extraweave”. It is a Kerala-based luxury rug brand that focuses on blending authentic Indian art with modernism and sustainability as its key principles. They used Sisal fabric, which is obtained from the bark of the Agave plant and took 60 days to complete the carpet, after which it was sent for design to the artisans in New York.
Set Design meets Exhibit Design.
The walls of the tent are inspired by the doors of Karl’s Paris house; they reflect the French decorative arts of the 18th century and his love for them. This was ideated and designed by the set designer, “Derek McLane”.
The juxtaposition of different aesthetics loved by Karl, featuring multiple designers from various domains, including set design and architecture, comes together to create a temporary space that pays homage to the late designer while also respecting the environment. This is a testament to how multiple fields of design are actually parts of a whole picture and constantly overlap in one place or another to make up a whole picture.
Citations:
- Editor, Blog. “Exhibition Design: Creating Immersive Experiences.” National Design Academy, 20 June 2022, www.nda.ac.uk/blog/exhibition-design-2/.
- Florian, Maria-Cristina. “Tadao Ando Designs the Exhibition: Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.” ArchDaily, 5 May 2023, www.archdaily.com/1000498/tadao-ando-designs-the-exhibition-karl-lagerfeld-a-line-of-beauty-at-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-new-york.
- Hess, Liam. “The Story behind Tadao Ando’s Exhibition Design for “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.” Vogue, 3 May 2023, www.vogue.com/article/tadao-ando-exhibition-design-karl-lagerfeld-a-line-of-beauty. Accessed 14 June 2025.
- Klein, Kristine. “Architect Tadao Ando Designs Decor for Met Gala.” The Architect’s Newspaper, 2 May 2023, www.archpaper.com/2023/05/architect-tadao-ando-designs-decor-for-met-gala-and-upcoming-karl-lagerfeld-exhibition/. Accessed 14 June 2025.
- Luckel, Madeleine. “Take a First Look at the Met’s Karl Lagerfeld Exhibition Design.” Architectural Digest India, 18 Apr. 2023, www.architecturaldigest.in/story/tadao-ando-take-a-first-look-at-the-mets-karl-lagerfeld-exhibition-design/. Accessed 14 June 2025.
- Nast, Condé. “This Futuristic Centrepiece Greeted Guests at the 2023 Met Gala.” Vogue, 1 May 2023, www.vogue.com/article/centerpieces-met-gala-2023.
- Pratyush Sarup and Jessica Doyle. “Inside the Met Gala: 9 Iconic Interior Installations That Transformed the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” AD Middle East, 30 Apr. 2025, www.admiddleeast.com/story/inside-the-met-gala-9-iconic-interior-installations-that-transformed-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art. Accessed 15 June 2025.
- Silva, Rachel. “At the Met, Tadao Ando’s Quiet Backdrop Sets the Stage for Karl Lagerfeld’s Larger-Than-Life Creations.” ELLE Decor, 4 May 2023, www.elledecor.com/life-culture/a43754818/karl-lagerfeld-met-exhibition/. Accessed 12 June 2025.
