As I scrolled through the Chanel Official Instagram feed, the images of Kaia Berger posing for Karl Lagerfeld in Gabrielle Chanel’s Parisian apartment for the CHANELHandbag stories campaign had me enamoured and transported to another place in time.
I couldn’t help but think of how surreal this moment must have been for this young model who by all accounts is in the genesis of her career.
Surely this is the essence of what fashion dreams are made of.
And then. Karl Lagerfeld’s interview with Numero makes headlines (nothing like a razor sharp dagger to burst a whimsical daydream bubble).
In Summary, Karl is “Fed up” with the #metoo movement, refers to victims as starlets, shows a complete lack of respect and consideration for models defining them as toxic, stupid and sordid creatures, and suggests that models who don’t want their pants pulled down should “join a nunnery”.
Speechless.
Lagerfeld made abhorrent remarks during this interview which we have all now read numerous times over, and they serve only to remind us just how far we have to go in the fight against discrimination and abuse in the fashion industry, both in action and in attitude and at the highest altitude
After mulling over the interview and reading through responses from within the fashion community, my next thought was this; “What would Coco think?
Coco Chanel. She was not only a woman who redefined fashion and the way women dressed in the 20th century; she continually defied convention by becoming a power force and leader in a male dominated industry. No small feat. Not then, not now.
Audacious and ambitious, she was a woman of firsts, leaving a legacy of determination and liberation for all women.
She was the perfect definition of a modern woman, ‘advocating and practicing a departure from traditional (out-dated) styles and values’.
Building an empire unapologetically on her own terms, She was determined to change the game of fashion as she designed clothes to give women “the ability to laugh and eat without the possibility of fainting”. BUT that was not all she did. She empowered women; Her legacy proving way more powerful and influential than her designs.
What a contrast.
It has been said that ‘fashion’ eventually caught up with Coco Chanel; but will Chanel, catch up with the new fashion?
What would Coco think? #timesup
