By: Lily Struble
Karl Lagerfeld was a German fashion designer who began his career in the 1950s. He was the creative director of Chanel from 1983 until his death in 2019. As such, the Metropolitan Museum of Art honored him with an exhibition of his works titled “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” which showcased his works with fashion brands such a Balmain, Paton, Chloe, Fendi, Chanel, as well as his self-titled line.
Much criticism has erupted in the aftermath of the Met Gala due to Lagerfeld’s many controversies during the span of his life. He has been accused of being fatphobic, Islamophobic, and opposing the Me-Too movement.
Animal Rights
Lagerfeld supported the use of fur in the fashion industry, citing that the debate of fur-use in a meat-eating and leather-wearing society was “childish.” In 2010, after a failed pie-ing at a fashion premier which incidentally hit Calvin Klein, Lagerfeld used fake fur in his Chanel collection. PETA dubbed this a “triump” for fake fur.
PETA once titled Lagerfeld, “a fashion dinosaur who is as out of step as his furs are out of style” and “particularly delusional with his kill-or-be-killed mentality. When was the last time a person’s life was threatened by a mink or a rabbit?”
Fat-phobia
Heidi Klum, one of the highest paid supermodels in the world, was heavily criticized after the 2009 release of the Germany’s Next Top Model. Klum was deemed “simply too heavy” by Wolfgang Joop, a former magazine editor turned designer. Other commenters also weighed in, describing Klum as “too short” and “too voluptuous.” Lagerfeld was noted for his remarks that Klum is irrelevant, “She was never known in France.”
Lagerfeld also started an international uproar when he called famous pop star Adele “a little too fat” when asked about his opinions on female popstars for the Metro newspaper. In the same interview, he was asked about Lana del Rey, to which he answered “not bad at all… she is beautiful. Is she a construct with all her implants?”]
Lagerfeld later apologized to Adele, sending her a selection of handbags and saying that he is her biggest admirer and claiming that his sentence was taken out of context.
Racism
In 2017, Lagerfeld sparked yet another outrage when he referenced the Holocaust in criticisms of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refuge policy. Lagerfeld is quoted, “One cannot — even if there are decades between them — kill millions of Jews so you can bring millions of their worst enemies in their place…I know someone in Germany who took in a young Syrian and after four days said, ‘The greatest thing Germany invented was the Holocaust.’”
His remarks stemmed from the European migration crisis in 2015 when Merkel pledged refuge to Syrians fleeing civil war, a decision which divided politics across Germany. That year nearly 900,000 immigrants were received in Germany. “Merkel had already millions and millions [of immigrants] who are well integrated and who work and all is well … she had no need to take another million to improve her image as the wicked stepmother after the Greek crisis,” Lagerfeld said.
Me-Too
Lagerfeld famously had a distaste for Harvey Weinstein, who was accused of sexual misconduct, drawing him as a pig with the caption “Do you know Schweinstein?” Lagerfeld has repeatedly stated that he doesn’t like Weinstein, explaining “I found him always nasty” and reportedly ceasing from attending the amfAR gala after a disagreement between the two men.
Lagerfeld is also reported as telling a French indie magazine that he is “fed up” with the Me-Too movement, suggesting that models join a nunnery “If you don’t want you pants pulled about”
He has also criticized regulations meant to protect young models, calling them “too much” and arguing that “you can’t do anything.” Lagerfeld has also defended Karl Templer
