About three weeks ago, with Paris Fashion Week in full swing, Karl Lagerfeld marched down ‘Boulevard Chanel’ at the Grand Palais in Paris during the finale of his Chanel Spring-Summer 2015 fashion show, with a crowd of leggy celebrity models staging a feminist protest in tail. The catwalk turned into a heap of screaming women drenched in colorful floral and box-pleated patterns, shouting, “What do we want? Tweed! When do we want it? Now!” through megaphones. The internationally renown German fashion icon Lagerfeld, who has been Chanel’s chief designer for over 20 years, tells Fashionista that his mother was very much a feminist and the decision to create a faux-feminist-protest to close his show felt “right for the moment.”
However, there has been extreme backlash at Lagerfeld for incorporating feminism into the world of fashion, especially the house of Chanel. Just last year Lagerfeld faced legal action in France after a woman’s pressure group filed a defamation claim against him for his comments deriding “curvy women.” Lagerfeld is well known for publically bashing women who do not meet the “Chanel-standard”, in other words women who he personally labels “unattractive”. In 2009 Lagerfeld responded to supermodel Heidi Klum’s nude photos in the German GQ magazine saying, “She is no runway model. She is simply too heavy and has too big a bust.” The model has 36-27-37 measurements. In 2012 he called Adele “a little too fat” in a free newspaper he was guest editing, and mocked Lana Del Rey, saying she were filled with implants. The same year Lagerfeld criticized Pippa Middleton’s looks, “I don’t like the sister’s face. She should only show her back.” Women around the world feel Lagerfeld harms female self-confidence with his insensitive remarks and superficial aura. Critics of the Chanel finale in Paris say Lagerfeld should not be staging feminist riots, as he himself displays no sort of feministic character. The show indeed lacked substance as it contradicts his previous statements that demean women.
But to what extent can the designer’s Chanel show be interpreted as an attempt to influence female advocacy? The protest could just as well have been a way to present the fashion collection- another form of art. Led by Cara Delevingne and Gisele Bündchen, the Chanel models, frosted in paint-splattered suits and tie-dye purses, held up protest signs with English and French quotes saying “Women’s right are more than alright”, “Feminism not masochism” and “Ladies First”. Other signs had an ironic and humorous twist to them, hinting towards the light-heartedness of the protest “Tweed is better than Tweet”, “Boys should get pregnant too”, “Be your own stylist”, “Can we match the machos?” Lagerfeld himself explained how he thinks feminism is something “light-hearted” and that he liked the idea for his show. His previous views on feminism might suggest his not-so-serious take on the topic, as he explained how Chanel’s founder Coco Chanel (a woman he admires and respects) was never ugly enough to be a feminist. The public knows not to take the 81-year old fashion guru too seriously. He himself has stated, “Everything I say is a joke. I am a joke myself.” His fake feminism rally should probably be taken with a grain of salt as well. Instead, perhaps, we should just sit back and admire the rainbow pinstripe trousers, pastel lace-up sandals, the elaborate golden carving around the windows of the French vanilla stone and the funny facetious signs that scream out “Make fashion not war!”