There is a new fashion exhibit at the Met featuring the work of Karl Lagerfeld.

KL is considered to be a great fashion designer- overhauling Chanel and Fendi and his own line. His work was daring and original and often gorgeous. You might not like his work, but he clearly left a mark on the fashion industry.

KL the man was a bit controversial. He was not shy about sharing his feelings about a variety of topics. No one would consider him to be politically correct. His statement on being politically correct was:

Be politically correct, but please don’t bother other people with conversation about being politically correct, because that’s the end of everything. You want to create boredom? Be politically correct in your conversation.

Many people were offended that Vogue and the Metropolitan decided to create an homage to his work because of his views on body image and fatphobia.

He has made statements such as:

No one wants to see curvy women as to why he only hired size 0 models

You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly. The world of beautiful clothing is about ‘dreams and illusions’. about the decision of a German magazine to use real women as models

There are less than 1% of anorexic girls, but there more than 30% of girls in France- I don’t know about England- that are much, much overweight. And it (obesity) is much more dangerous and bad for the health when asked about anorexic models

So…

Can we separate the man from the designer?

Should his legacy as a gifted designer be honored?

or

Should his statements about weight and body size make him a pariah?

or

Should we be admiring his honesty about how he felt about something, because he wasn’t being a hypocrite by saying something he didn’t actually believe?

Discuss

43 thoughts on “Anything Can Happen Friday: Karl Lagerfeld- Man vs Work”

  2. You know I don’t follow fashion unless that means hikers, flannel and jeans 😉 I know the name but that is all. Someone can have a true gift and be known for that work, but they can also be other things right? So I could love a design he created but at the same time deride his viewpoints. So if Karl made the most amazing flannel shirt ever but chose to hold beliefs that I fully disagree with then I strongly suspect I would be buying my flannel from a different brand. Case in point right now- Starbucks. I never really have found Starbucks appealing at all, but I began meeting a friend there for the occasional coffee and chat. As more came out about Starbucks/employee complaints I have taken those chats/coffee other places. I don’t support Starbucks unless something about their corporate POV changes. I wouldn’t support or idolize Karl unless he could acknowledge that female bodies come in different shapes and sizes and why his views are demeaning. He can have any viewpoint he wants, but I won’t support it or him.

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  3. Oh….geez…as much as I want to honor the artistry and the artist, it’s impossibly difficult for me to separate the man, the fashion ‘genius’ and icon from his tawdry spewing about women’s bodies — contributing to the culture of body shaming and dysmorphia. From a distance, I’ll honor any artist but I won’t support, buy, excuse the ridiculousness and hurtful commentary. Such a provocative post, LA – thank you. 💓

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  4. It is difficult for me to separate the man from his designs. I do feel he had a huge impact on why women of my generation were and many still are, insecure about their bodies. I spent my high school and college years modeling. In those days I was under 100 pounds in order to meet the demands necessary to get modeling and acting gigs. So yes, I resent KL. Were his designs lovely? Yes. But there wasn’t one actress or model I worked with who wasn’t starving or vomiting. And THAT was in the mid 60’s to the mid 70’s. I didn’t give his designs a second thought. I preferred Mary Quant and more upbeat styles by female designers, but I put on whatever I was told to wear. However, I never saw my self as too thin . Yet I was . I can only speak from experience of how his views affected girls. . I worked with so many girls who were miserable, hungry, and most of them were anorexic or bulimic. I tried throwing up a few times but I thought it was gross. So most of the time I hardly ate. I remember one week I lived mostly on black olives and lettuce. No dressing. Ick. And when my youngest son first started in the film business he was a production assistant on a Victoria secret commercial in Miami. There was a downpour for several hours and he and his buddy were stuck in a limo with three Victoria secret models. He said their thighs were the size of my wrists and they painted on a cleavage. He said they were nice girls who looked around 12 in person. Not sexy at all because they looked like middle schoolers. They looked like skinny little girls not real women. My son and his friend said said it was super disappointed. They thought they were going to spend the day with sexy models and instead they sat around with skinny vapid girls who ate a lot and threw up everything. Rather sad, don’t ya think? KL started that trend, promoted it and it’s still going on. So, yeah, I think he’s a jerk. His designs were ok. But not as fabulous as some other designers. And we can’t go back and undo the damage he created to millions of women by promoting and shaming them for not looking like skinny boys.

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    1. To be fair though, aren’t most designers working with super thin models? If he was the only one I’d be more likely to say something, but for the most part, high fashion models are still really tall and really thin. That’s the industry. We have a family friend who models in Asia. Not only is she stick thin, she knows she’s about to age out, and she wasn’t thin enough or young enough for Europe or america. He said it, but how many believe it without saying the words?

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      1. They weren’t as tall as they are now in the 50’s and 60’s. It’s interesting that if you google them now it’s stated they are much taller. When Twiggy was popular (when I was in high school) all the magazines said she was about five ft four. And since I was modeling for Jordan Marsh at the time I thought that was great because I was the same height. Model Colleen Corby was a huge teen model at the time and was 5’5”. Now it says they are much taller. But, Twiggy, who is my age, used to have a cute clothing brand she sold on One of the shopping channels and she mentioned how she had shrunk and was no longer five four any more. Yet if you google her it says she’s 5’6”. It also says Sylvester Stallone is 5’10. But I went to college with him at U of Miami and he’s short. Maybe five 7. Because I had acting classes with him and in scenes I could look him right in the eyes. My first husband was about 6’1” and did a play with Stallone and my ex towered over him. So whatever PR people write isn’t always accurate about celebrities regarding age, height, weight etc. The reason thin models were used was because the designers wanted it to be about the clothes. Models weren’t supposed to be sexy because the goal was to notice the clothes not the girl.

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      2. You can even look at store mannequins. How often do you see a mannequin that is appropriate for a size 12 person?

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  5. I will not say that he doesn’t have talent or isn’t creative, BUT, I can’t support him! I would not be buying his clothes. Having dealt with the hell of anorexia with my child, its his kind of attitude that makes anorexia all the more prevalant!! He says its only 1 percent, I dispute that. That may be the ones you hear about, but anorexia or any kind of eating disorder has such a stigma to it that many won’t admit they have a problem. Throwing up after a meal is NOT healthy! Our society applauds those who are skinny. Everywhere you look, its about a new diet and how to lose weight fast and have a beach body, etc. I am not saying that obesity isn’t a problem, it is. But saying that anorexia isn’t that bad, and only hiring size 0’s, that just makes my blood boil towards him. Sorry!

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      1. You mention size 12. Size. 10-12 used to be a medium. Now a 12 is a large or XL. Sizes have changed. I have a friend I went to high school with. His mom owned a high end dress shop. He took it over as an adult for many years. In his retirement he went into making modern T shirts, masks during the pandemic, and he designs all kind of clothing. But he told me how sizes have changed over the years. And different designers have a difference in sizes. I’m a smaller size in Democracy jeans than in DG2 jeans. There doesn’t seem to be a standard size anymore.

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  6. I do not have, nor have I bought a single thing associated with KL. Everyone is entitle to an opinion (he is a dick head – sorry to offend). The Met is more than welcome to create an exhibit of his work. Now if they want to promote him as a great guy. I’d have to skip that exhibit.

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  7. Not many women get to be on the cat walk, so if they deserve the honor of wearing his clothing and being on the walk, celebrate them. Years ago, when I lived in Manhattan I did some modeling and at size 6-8, was told I was not thin enough for some things. In the end, I moved forward as nervousness about always putting my body out there and competing against so many other women very similar to me was not for me. It made me nervous, update and I moved on. But if I like his clothes, I will disregard his quotes, lifestyle, etc. I am very open that way. I appreciate talent without making judgments about personality but this is not for everyone.

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  9. I’m against cancel culture. I say let the exhibit go on even though I find his words offensive and harmful to women. My daughter struggled with an eating disorder, which I think being a swimmer contributed to. In any case nobody is forced to see the exhibit or buy his clothes. It’s a slippery slope because we are all human and have faults.

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  12. I can understand how he feels after going from a size 16 to a size 10. I would have never understood his honesty when I was 205 and a size 16. It’s just easier to make clothes for skinny people.

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    1. Size 0 is unattainable for most, but we all have bad attitudes towards food and body image to a degree. I’m exploring this more for fridays post

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  14. I strongly disagree with his comment on curvy women. Not all of us think less is more. As for putting aside values for something you enjoy, I hate Chik-Fil-A’s political stance on certain issues, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the occasional chicken sandwich there.

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  16. I’ve known people to boycott people/products because they don’t agree with their views. In my opinion it’s very narrow minded. The world has so much to offer us, yet we miss out when we’re caught up in something other than the gift itself. Who cares if the gift giver feels a certain way? Enjoy their offering and be glad we’re made to be different. How boring would this world be if we all thought the same? Even if you don’t agree, it doesn’t have to detract from enjoying something wonderful they have to offer.

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  17. I think we’re all flawed, and I would hate for someone to not engage with me because of one aspect of my personality.

    On the other hand, if an artist is causing physical harm to someone, then I think we need to consider all of the things (i.e., Cosby, Weinstein, etc.).

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