On May 5th, 2005, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will open its doors to fashionistas and fashion historians who love Channel. The exhibition will run till August 7th and is sponsored by Channel and Condé Nast Publications.

The exhibition offers sort of a dialogue between the founder of Channel Empire Gabrielle Channel, who died in 1971, and Karl Lagerfeld – the today’s main designer of the Channel Fashion House, who joined the house in 1983. It features 23 LeCorbusier-like modules, 20 of which display clothing vignettes and three are video installations. Vignettes are arranged by themes such as silk, ribbons, etc. and mix both Coco’s and Lagerfeld’s models.

The organizers of the exhibition, Koda and Bolton, borrowed most of the looks from the archives of Channel and Metropolitan Museum, though some were taken from Channel customers and other institutions. The show is opened with Lagerfeld’s 1996 gold lace couture gown, and the exhibition space is peppered with quotes form Coco and Carl, which sometimes compliment each other, and sometimes don't.

Karl, most of the time, interprets Chanel in an irreverent way, but sometimes he evokes it with reverence,” Koda told WWD.com. “We wanted to start the exhibit off with something that said historic Chanel but that was done by Karl.”

While all the video installations have been made by technicians, Lagerfeld matched hairstyles and makeup to the vintage look of each dress, getting inspiration from the real women, who were loyal to the house over the years: Duchess of Windsor, the models Audrey Marnay and Stella Tennant — and Mademoiselle herself.

The colors of some of the fabrics were refreshed and brightened as Lagerfeld doesn’t like “a bunch of old clothes”. The designer also named his favorite look among the garments exhibited in the Museum. He pointed the cocktail dress in blue silk crepe with long silk fringe from 1926.