For Being a Fashionista
The fashion industry has long peddled in sexist ads, fatphobic comments, and sexual harassment. But after the Twitteratti ran out of people to cancel this week, they exhumed the corpse of Chanel legend Karl Lagerfeld over his sexist, racist, fatphobic remarks. “If any of my friends post condolences to Karl Lagerfeld it’s an automatic ‘CANCELLED,’” tweeted one person. “Fuck Karl Lagerfeld.” Apparently, it was breaking news that a man whose icy appearance was the subject of Pinterest memes could be an asshole.
The controversy goes back to Lagerfeld’s history of blabbing out insolent one-liners, the kind that journalists quoted as they put him in headlines for over sixty years. According to a Vox article, in 2009 Lagerfeld said, “No one wants to see curvy women.” Four years later, he added, “The hole in social security, it’s also [due to] all the diseases caught by people who are too fat.” When the #MeToo movement went viral, Lagerfeld joked to Numero, “If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model! Join a nunnery, there’ll always be a place for you in the convent.”
Within twenty-four hours of his death, CNN ran a story rebuking these one-liners. “We can’t ignore Karl Lagerfeld’s complex legacy,” wrote Hillary George-Parkin. Woke actress Jameela Jamil, who feels the need to comment on every situation, agreed. “A ruthless, fat-phobic misogynist shouldn’t be posted all over the internet as a saint gone-too-soon,” she tweeted. “Talented for sure, but not the best person.” The masses joined the giddy cancellation. “Stop celebrating Karl Lagerfeld he was gross and sexist and doesn’t deserve praise just because he designed the Chanel bag you wanted as a [sic] 15 year old,” tweeted one angry woman. “His old ass should have been cancelled long ago lmao.” When people pointed out that Lagerfeld was already dead and you can’t cancel the deceased, outrage only increased: “The bitch cancelled himself,” wrote a user.
Few acknowledged Lagerfeld’s fame stemmed from his demeaning glare. Only a week earlier, his sunglass-hidden face was starring in memes. His tasteless statements were also typical of the chicest fashionistas. Vogue editor Anna Wintour told Oprah to lose weight. French companies hired so many skinny girls, France banned underweight models. According to Business Insider, a 2016 study found that 94 percent of models classify as underweight.
Political incorrectness and barbaric labor environments are the fashion industry’s standards, but some of Lagerfeld’s comments even surpassed fashion’s outdated views. On a 2017 episode of Salut les Terriens!, he joked, “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.” It was a vile sentiment, but the media kept propping him. A few months later, the Guardian praised his 2018 show.
Journalists loved Lagerfeld’s offensiveness, and he was flagrant about his flagrance. As many other shock jocks and fashion elites have proclaimed, Lagerfeld said, “Everything I say is a joke. I am a joke myself.” Apparently it took his death for the digital mob to get the message. But it doesn’t really matter. Along with being dead, Lagerfeld is now officially cancelled. It’s basically a double death. RIP.
