ADELE is a “little too fat”, Russian men are “ugly” and the Royal Family is “unnecessary”.
Ooh Karl Lagerfeld knows how to put a designer cat among the pigeons doesn’t he?
Chanel’s creative director came out with all this, along with a whole bunch of other crazy talk, in an interview with a French newspaper this week and quickly made headlines around the world.
Adele fans have hit back calling Karl a “cretin” and an “idiot”, with some suggesting if you love Adele then boycott Chanel. But before women run out and start burning their Chanel 2:55s (nothing is worth that), I think we should get some perspective on this.
While I don’t condone Karl making jibes about Adele’s weight we should all remember that being bitchy is what Karl does, when he is not making jaw-dropping frocks or commanding his minions to make them, that is.
Over the years Kaiser Karl – who, may I point out, was no stranger to the plus-size rail himself for many years before he shed over six stones in 2001 (he said he wanted to be able to wear Hedi Slimane suits) – has regularly come out with statements so bonkers they make Eric Cantona sound like Stephen Fry.
He once described himself as “a sort of vampire, taking the blood of other people” and declared that “vanity is the healthiest thing in life”.
He called his fashion rival Yves Saint Laurent “very middle-of-the-road French – very pied-noir, very provincial”. And, in his documentary Lagerfeld Confidential, declared: “I'm rather pro-prostitution. I admire people who do it. It can't be much fun. Thank goodness for it. People need relief or they become murderers.”
In the same interview where he discussed Adele, Karl also said: “If I was a woman in Russia I would be a lesbian, as the men are very ugly”. You must have laughed at that one surely?
He also said: “People in magazines are 50% bimbo and 50% pregnant women.” What?!?!?
While he has clearly been honing his bonkers quotes over the years, it is probably also worth remembering that Karl is now 78. I am not suggesting he is going gaga but in my experience 78-year-olds don’t have the same filters younger people have.
And he is in fashion dahling, hardly a business known for touchy-feely niceness.
No, fashion is a world known for back-stabbing, bitchiness and attention-seeking.
And that is exactly what this little stunt with Paris Metro – which Karl was guest editing for the day – got: attention. And then some.
I am sure Adele is intelligent enough and tough enough to rise above Karl’s comments. Or channel (Chanel?) them into a hit record.
After all, he did say she had a “beautiful face and a divine voice” and, if you read the full quote, that he preferred Adele to current sensation Lana del Rey (although he thinks she is “not bad”).
As for Karl, the best thing he could do now would be to knock up Adele a killer piece of Chanel couture to wear to this weekend’s Grammy Awards.
That would really grab them both some headlines.
