The clouds disappeared on Monday morning in Manhattan, just in time for an early preview of the Costume Institute’s annual exhibit, this year featuring more than 200 garments designed by Karl Lagerfeld, best known as the creative director of Chanel for nearly 40 years. Lagerfeld also made significant contributions to Richemont-owned Chloé, LVMH-owned Fendi, his own namesake label and fashion-as-a-medium in general. But those years at Chanel, still owned by the Wertheimer family—who hired Lagerfeld in the early ’80s to dust off a neglected couture house—made his career. Unsurprisingly, Chanel sponsored this exhibition and tonight’s Gala.

In opening remarks, Roger Lynch, the C.E.O. of Condé Nast, called Vogue’s Anna Wintour, the Met Ball’s chief engineer, “the hardest-working, most dedicated person I’ve ever known,” which just as easily could have described Lagerfeld, who died in 2019. As two of the most recognizable names in fashion, their professional lives neatly intertwined, and this staging seemed inevitable.