Karl Lagerfeld Defends Skinny Models - 'No One Wants to See Round Women'
Filed under: News
Karl Lagerfeld looking a little wide himself -- in the tie and collar area. Photo: Pascal Le Segretain, Getty images
Lagerfeld was interviewed by the German magazine Focus, during which the designer responded to the announcement of best-selling German magazine, Brigitte's commitment to using "ordinary, realistic" women instead of professional models in future fashion spreads, the U.K. newspaper reports.
Lagerfeld, speaking in German, his native tongue, told Focus that Brigitte's plan was "absurd," and that the women complaining about too-skinny models were just fat and jealous.
"These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly," the Chanel designer tells Focus, going on to say that the fashion industry supports "dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women."
According to The Guardian, he also tries to dispel the myth that skinny models have eating disorders.
"It's just as much a cliché as saying that all models take drugs and get drunk at sex orgies," he says. "Ninety percent of them are quite normal, properly proportioned girls with less fat and more muscles, who also eat pizzas and burgers."
Brigitte's editor, Andreas Lebert, sees things differently. On October 5th, he told The Guardian that after years of "fattening up" too-thin models through Photoshop, starting on January 2nd, the magazine will start working with real women only.
"Today's models weigh around 23% less than normal women," Lebert told the paper. "The whole model industry is anorexic. We will show women who have their own identity, the 18-year-old A-level student, the company chairwoman, the musician, the footballer."
Of course, all of this comes on the heels of Ralph Lauren's emaciated ad and, at the opposite extreme, Glamour's commitment to showing plus-size models and women of more diverse sizes.
So, how do you weigh in on the model controversy? Is Lagerfeld right to defend his runway rails or are Brigitte and Glamour taking steps in the right direction?
Leave a comment below!
jangeekli 10-12-2009 @ 5:02PM
I was lucky enough to never have been overweight in my life. That all ended after the birth of my second child. I got down to 20 pounds over my normal weight but no matter what I did I couldn't lose the rest. I didn't know if was age catching up with me or if somehow my metabolism changed. Whatever the reason, nothing was working. I tried all the bogus "diet" pills that we see all over the internet, but are just scams. All I ever lost with that stuff was money. One of my friends, knowing what I was going through, told me that she had been losing weight using a special plan http://bit.ly/FatLoss4You It laid out the facts in a way I never saw before and had easy to follow meal plans and diets. Not only have I lost the weight and kept it off but I'm leading a healthier lifestyle, mostly from the knowledge I gained from this amazing program.
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Greef 10-12-2009 @ 8:06PM
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pinkthenred 10-12-2009 @ 8:27PM
Jealous and fat just because I don't prefer a body type other than what Karl Langerfield finds to be attractive? What this really boils down to is an arrogant man making an arrogant statement. Whoop dee doo, like that has never happened before :)~.
getwithitlagerfeld 10-13-2009 @ 7:08AM
there are girls who are naturally skinny who don't like all the attention they get. They do not get attention from men, but from bigger girls who glare at them assuming they have a glamorous life. Now people are saying that skinny girls should be called ugly or told to eat more. Just like fat girls are told to eat less. This is stupid. Some of these girls do not even like men and the idea of bigger girls glaring in jealousy just because they are trying to buy groceries and the like is just another unwanted focus. A few gay men who do not even like women use these models because they can make them look stark and artsy and hang clothes on them but that is about it peeps, and that went out with the 90's. It is not a representation of what men want, and more men would be able to talk to you curvy girls if you would not let yourself become one of those stereotypical "big girls with a bad attitude." Can we quit fostering this nonsense over skinny versus curvy it is becoming ridiculous. The fashion industry has always put every skinny girl in America on the spot and some of them just want private lives. This guy has outdated methodology and needs to sharpen up. you can't just go blaring personal tastes like they are the universe anymore.
genetics 10-13-2009 @ 7:53AM
every women has different genetics, and a range of sizes. if she is healthy it is attractive. these fashion designers are stuck in the 80s. they have an ideal and want women who are not even genetically inclined to look a certain way to "try." that is deceptive of them to make it seem like this is realistic. who knows why this became the in thing back then, but it is impulsive and no one was thinking about anything but the fad. People should be whatever they are born to be, men have different tastes and would like to know what you really are inside and out, stop pressuring yourselves to be something else or change your bodies through surgery over trends that don't even last. don't even pay attention to these crazy people.
Hugh 10-13-2009 @ 1:59PM
He looks like a ghey Dr. Strangelove. Hahahaha.
"b" 10-12-2009 @ 8:19PM
this idiot just got lucky in life and probably has never got his precious little hands dirty. i myself like a little meat on women
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Jerry 10-12-2009 @ 8:30PM
Why don't fat women open up their own fashoin show? They do not because even they don't want to see fat women walking up and down the aisle.
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sadiemae1214 10-12-2009 @ 8:41PM
Got news for you Jerry, Large size women are now walking the runways and even doing nude photo layouts. They have NO SELF ESTEEM problems and their men love them. Maybe all you've dated is anorexic bimbos with boney butts and no brains.
john 10-12-2009 @ 8:47PM
Jerry what an empty headed ass you are! What passes for beauty nowadays, bones, tattooed titties and piercings don't interest a real man. Someone like you always prefers bony women because their built like boys. Keep it real jer.
LGC 10-13-2009 @ 9:45AM
You're a pig and probably single.
Tammy 10-13-2009 @ 10:01AM
Jerry, I hate to tell you this sweetie (actually, no I don't) but 'big girls' do everything the skinny ones do. I am a 'big girl' and I have been approached to model for several companies. So the reason behind my personal dislike for the waif look has nothing to do with wanting to be like them. My concern is my daughters will become swept up in the 'glamour' of it and want to become these girls. There isn't anything wrong with being thin, however, everyone is built differently and some people (like my girls) have to make themselves sick to look that way. It can cause a bad body image for girls who don't look rail thin.
I am proud of my curves, my husband loves them and I wouldn't want to look any different.
Heather 10-13-2009 @ 10:52AM
Normal weight models (to you, fat women) do have runway shows. Why is it assumed they don't? And normal is still thin. A size 10 is average. When the models top out at 6'......a size 10 is small. Trust me, I'm 6' 2" and wear a size 8 at the moment.....I could stand to gain some weight. To me, plus size would be just that, plus size, size 14 and up, and the model being of varying heights. 6' is not the norm. About 5' 8" is.
Enough ranting. I just wanted to say that plus sizes do get their time on the runway. Maybe not as much as they deserve, but they get it.
dconn4 10-13-2009 @ 9:50AM
Nobody wants to see ugly,gay men modeling either-but that hasn't stopped you.
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lunatune 10-12-2009 @ 8:37PM
Look at the man!! Who, regardless of size, could care about anything he says?!
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Lotte 10-12-2009 @ 10:37PM
THANK YOU! This is one extremely hideous looking man...wait, is he a man? Frankly, I would run screaming into the night if I saw this freak in a dark alley! Who CARES what these people think? Not the REAL women out here!
And REAL men are men like "b" and John! Thank you gentleman!
Hope 10-14-2009 @ 12:47PM
haha you're one of the few people actually talking sense on this thing! :)
thankyouuuuuu
punkycolour 10-12-2009 @ 8:48PM
Coco Chanel broke down barriers in order to liberate women in the fashion world. She must be rolling over in her grave...
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Debi Drecksler 10-13-2009 @ 4:42PM
I just posted a column 10/12/09 at www.debidrecksler.com called Beautiful At Any Size.
I do not agree with Karl Lagerfeld!!
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KadyL 10-13-2009 @ 7:22AM
I am most definitely in agreement that women are beautiful no matter what size they are, however, there comes a point when being too over weight is unhealthy. Having too much body fat can lead to many problems with your heart, joints and other vital parts as well.
Do I think that women should be required to look anorexic to model? No, absolutely not. I think that it gives bad images to "regular" women/girls. But, I also think that people need to stop bashing the women who model... maybe they really do have a problem with their bodies.
Growing up I was always very thin, and I had kids in school make fun of me all the time, asking if I was anorexic. Out of school, I had adults telling me to eat more, that I should fatten up. It has taken YEARS for me to gain a higher level of comfort with my own body.
It's just not fair to have a double standard like this. As a very skinny woman it is not socially acceptable for me to go up to a fat women and say "you're too fat", so why is it acceptable for someone to come up to me and say "you're too skinny"?