New York Met Gala: Celebrities remember Karl Lagerfeld

Source: bing.com

The Met Gala

The Met Gala is one of the most highly anticipated events in the fashion industry, with celebrities and fashion icons from all over the world coming together to celebrate art and fashion. The event, which is held annually at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, is known for its extravagant outfits and unique themes.

Source: bing.com

Karl Lagerfeld's Legacy

Karl Lagerfeld was a legendary fashion designer, known for his work with brands like Chanel and Fendi. He passed away earlier this year, leaving behind a legacy of creativity and innovation in the fashion world. Lagerfeld was a regular at the Met Gala, and his absence was felt at this year's event.

Source: bing.com

Celebrities Remember Karl Lagerfeld

Many of the celebrities who attended the Met Gala this year paid tribute to Lagerfeld and his influence on the fashion industry. Here are a few of their comments:

Kendall Jenner

Source: bing.com

"Karl was such an iconic figure in the fashion industry, and he will be greatly missed. It was an honor to have known him and worked with him."

Gigi Hadid

Source: bing.com

"Karl was one of the most talented designers of our time, and his influence on fashion will be felt for years to come. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to walk in his shows and be a part of his vision."

Lily-Rose Depp

Source: bing.com

"Karl was a true genius, and his designs were always ahead of their time. The fashion world will never be the same without him."

The Fashion at the Met Gala

Of course, the Met Gala is also known for its incredible fashion. This year's theme was "Camp: Notes on Fashion," and celebrities did not disappoint with their over-the-top outfits.

Source: bing.com

Lady Gaga

Source: bing.com

Lady Gaga, who co-hosted the event, stole the show with her multiple costume changes, including a stunning pink Brandon Maxwell gown and a black lingerie-inspired look.

Billy Porter

Source: bing.com

Actor Billy Porter also made a statement with his gold-winged ensemble by The Blonds, which he revealed on the red carpet with the help of six shirtless men.

Celine Dion

Source: bing.com

Celine Dion made a bold statement in a silver, fringe-covered gown by Oscar de la Renta, complete with a matching headpiece and feathered cape.

Conclusion

The Met Gala is always a night to remember, and this year was no exception. From the incredible fashion to the heartfelt tributes to Karl Lagerfeld, the event was a celebration of creativity and artistry in the fashion industry. Lagerfeld's legacy will undoubtedly continue to influence designers and fashion lovers for years to come.

Related video of New York Met Gala: Celebrities Remember Karl Lagerfeld

Read More

The greatness of Muhammad Ali and the decline of boxing

In his pomp Muhammad Ali was just about the most recognisable man on the planet. Supreme as an athlete, he risked everything that had earned him to stand up for his people and for what he believed to be right.

One reason for his extraordinary fame was that he was a great athlete in a sport that enjoyed a popularity it hard to imagine today.

Heavyweight boxing was the blue riband event. In the years of rationing after the second world war British men like Bruce Woodcock, who were really no more than middleweights, had to take on American heavyweights so we had someone to compete in it.

When I was a small boy the great heavyweight bouts were global events of extraordinary significance. I have a clear memory of listening to them on the radio late in the evening.

So much so, that when I was in New York I went to look round the foyer of Madison Square Garden, where so many of those great fights were held, just so I could say I had been there. (Admittedly, the recent Clapton and Winwood concert there may have had something to do with it too.)

Time moves on and sports lose popularity. In the first year of this blog's life I wrote:

Thirty years ago the British heavyweight boxing champion was just about the biggest name in sport - think of Henry Cooper. Can you name the current holder of the title without using Google? I can't.

That would have to read 42 years ago today. There are several credible British heavyweights around today, but I have not idea if any of them is British champion.

I fell out of love with boxing when Michael Watson suffered brain damage in a bout with Chris Eubank. That had been an era when there were great British middleweights - Watson, Eubank, Nigel Benn - and their clashes made for wonderful fights.

It was magnificent when Eubank got off the canvass and from God knows where found a punch to knock Watson out and win the fight. But the damage it caused convinced me that professional boxing was insupportable.

I did watch Eubank's son Chris Eubank Jr fight Nigel Blackwell. The younger Eubank is clearly a very talented fighter, but I found the proceedings sickening.

Not just because Blackwell ended up in a coma and almost died, but also because of the dishonesty of the commentators.

It was clear almost at once that Eubank could unload combinations on Blackwell's head at will and that Blackwell lacked the weapons to stop him. Yet the commentators talked up the idea of Blackwell fighting back right up until the point that the fight was stopped.

The nearest equivalent to Muhammad Ali today in talent and personality is Usain Bolt. It is hard to see how a boxer could ever achieve that sort of fame again.

Until things change (and they will), you have to put your money on the next sporting figure to matter beyond sport in the way Ali did being a footballer.

Read More

Six of the Best 600

Allison Keyes on a rediscovered manuscript that casts light on the Tulsa massacre of 1921 - an attack on a thriving Black neighbourhood.

Alexandra Lange contrasts the reactions to Garden Bridge and Pier 55 - "Two cities, one designer and one strategy – to build a privately funded park above a river."

"Thanks to my older brother, I was an Observer reader as a schoolboy. On most Sundays in the year or two either side of 1960 he would take the bus six miles to our nearest town and return with a paper that augmented the Sunday Post – delivered to the door that morning by the village newsagent – and its claustrophobic worldview formed fifty years before in Presbyterian Dundee." Ian Jack reviews a new life of the paper's editor David Astor.

"[Jack] Cardiff achieved many of the visual effects in camera by drawing inspiration from the use of light and colour by such artists as Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh." David Parkinson looks back at Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus.

"One of the reasons I can’t stand United is the air of sanctimony that hovers over the club. If Mourinho takes them back to the summit it ought to puncture that – it’ll show they’re no better than anyone else, just another plaything for the great man’s ego." David Runciman is right about Jose's re-emergence at Old Trafford.

The Beauty of Transport celebrates Tynemouth Station.

Read More

Simon and Garfunkel: America

The first LP I ever bought was Band on the Run by Wings. Though the title track and Jet were great singles, that rather embarrasses me today.

I suspect the second LP I bought was Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, which does not embarrass me at all as Paul Simon is one of the great songwriters of the post-war era.

This recording of America is taken from their 1981 concert in Central Park, New York.

Read More

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Do you know New Rutland?

The new issue of Liberator is on its way to subscribers, which means that it is time to spend another week at Bonkers Hall.

Except, Lord Bonkers if far from the Hall as he writes this...

Do you know New Rutland?

I sit in one of the dives on 52nd Street writing this diary before I take a yellow cab to JFK and a jet to Oakham International Airport. I was a regular visitor to New York as a young man, the more so after I was given a Manhattan penthouse by a grateful President for rendering services to the American nation that I had better keep under my hat even today. You will have seen what the locals call the ‘Bonkers Tower’ – perhaps because of the moustache-like structure that protrudes from either side of the 34th floor.

The purpose of this visit has been to observe the contest for the Democrat and Republican nominations at close quarters – the New Rutland primaries in particular.

Do you know New Rutland? No doubt you have heard the tale of how, after a painful schism in the Church of Rutland following an attempt to reform the LBW law, a party of settlers sailed from Oakham Quay. After many vicissitudes they reached New England, before trekking into the interior until they reached unclaimed land.

What became New Rutland was bought from Red Indians and proved to be difficult to farm. (Foolishly, the settlers failed to keep the receipt, with the result that the Indians refused to take it back. Some urged legal action, but the majority felt it unwise to sue the Sioux.)

Nevertheless, the settlers tilled the soil and raised their animals to build an economy based on the production of Stilton cheese and pork pies. Why, to make themselves feel even more at home they even dug a vast artificial reservoir and named it New Rutland Water!

I travelled there last week, receiving something of a cool welcome when I disembarked at a wayside station. There were three fellows hanging about, and not one of them had thought to bring me a horse! Well, I soon put them right, I assure you, and also told the stationmaster to oil his wind-pump.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10

Read More

Sergey Karjakin qualifies to challenge for the world chess title

While the geeks were watching a rerun of the election night coverage from 1966, I outgeeked them by watching the final round of the Candidates chess tournament in Moscow.

The tournament was held to find who would challenge the world champion Magnus Carlsen for his title in a match in New York this November.

In today's final round the leaders were playing one another: Sergey Karjakin had white against Fabiano Caruana.

A draw would give Karjakin victory in the tournament, but Caruana needed a win. (By a quirk of the tie-break system that situation could have been reversed if Vishy Anand had won his game, but that never looked likely and he agreed an early draw.)

Caruana obtained an active, unbalance position without taking on too much risk. I got the impression he was drifting slightly when he got to move 35 or so, but there still seemed all to play for.

Then Karjakin played a devastating rook sacrifice that the grandmasters commentating on the game had not anticipated.

A tremendous achievement in such a tense game, though most people believe that Carlsen will retain his title when they meet.

You can play through the game on chess,com.

Karjakin played his sacrifice in the position above: the devastating 37. Rxd5.

Read More

NY rat dies in freak accident just as her Broadway career was flourishing

Thanks to a nomination from a reader, the Independent wins Headline of the Day.

Read More

20’s Plenty: The Move to Safer Speeds in the UK

A video by Streetfilms:

For those watching in the United States, this film is like a road map to how to get public support and your community energized around lower speed limits. 

New York City may have recently set it's city speed limits at 25 mph, but to keep driving down serious injuries and fatalities, we should be following the example set by the UK.

Read More