Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Karl Lagerfeld Defends Skinny Models - 'No One Wants to See Round Women'


Karl Lagerfeld, who famously dropped 92 lbs in 13 months in order to squeeze into skinny Dior Homme duds -- and wrote the book, "The Karl Lagerfeld Diet," about it -- is defending the waifs who march down his runways, and calling out the "fat mummies" who complain about them, according to The Guardian.

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?

9 comments:

  1. 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 :)~.

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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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  5. 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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  6. Got news for you Jace, 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.

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  7. 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!

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  8. 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"?

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  9. He's a total idiot and not too handsom himself, better eat more Karl, you just might look sexier!

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