ABOVE: The New York Times stuck its manicured finger in the eye of the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday, with an op-ed calling the Met’s “Chanel” show a syncophantic Karl Lagerfeld infomercial (or words to that effect).

A New York Times op-ed by Art in America contributing editor Lee Rosenbaum yesterday withered the Metropolitan Museum of Art for its new exhibition, “Chanel,” which opened on May 5 and goes to August. Rosenbaum’s beef is that the show is an uncritical and superficial commercial blowjob for a major fashion label, and furthermore, mostly a monument to the plus-size ego of current Chanel ringmaster (see picture, above) Karl Lagerfeld, whose designs take up roughly a third of the show. Where’s Coco? Rosenbaum cites news reports from around the time of the Met’s first attempt at this show, five years ago, when Lagerfeld allegedly tried to strongarm the curators into altering the show to his taste, quoting the designer as calling Coco Chanel’s iconic designs “old dresses.” Meow!

Chanel has put a slick online exhibit on their website, far cooler than the Met’s online treatment, which makes it look even more like the Met has essentially rented Chanel several galleries’ worth of prime fifth-avenue showroom real estate. Even worse, the chief curator of the Chanel exhibit, told Rosenbaum that the Chanel show is a test run to see if exhibits of living fashion designers would fly with the Met’s crowd. What’s next, a museum exhibit dedicated to Armani? Oh wait: been there, done that.

LINK: New York Times > Op-Ed > Fashion Victim