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Tribune News Service

Chanel’s creative director Karl Lagerfeld, who died aged 85 on Tuesday, was known for his many biting quips as well as his designs.
Tributes have been flowing in for Lagerfeld, but there have been less positive messages about the German designer too.
Already a millionaire, Choupette Lagerfeld could become world’s richest cat
British model Cara Delevingne is embroiled in a Twitter war of words with countrywoman Jameela Jamil, an actress who described the late designer as “ruthless” and “misogynistic”.
Delevingne, who regularly worked with Lagerfeld, defended the designer, telling Jamil in now-deleted tweets to “just go home” and “stop bashing people for attention”.

@jameelajamil I understand what you were trying to do and I apologize if I offended you or anyone else. I just don’t feel that living in the past and bringing up things that have already happened helps anything. Let’s move forward and lead with love. That’s it...
— Cara Delevingne (@Caradelevingne) February 20, 2019

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But it is hard to dismiss some of the controversies in which the designer found himself embroiled.
In 2017, he and actress Meryl Streep got in a bitter dispute when he claimed Streep had rejected one of his dresses. He later issued a statement of regret for the comments, but Streep’s anger remained undimmed. In another controversy, Chanel had to apologise to the Muslim community in 1994 when Lagerfeld created several dresses printed with verses from the Koran.
Here are some other controversial moments courtesy of the designer.

On #MeToo
“I’m fed up with it,” Lagerfeld told French fashion magazine Numéro last year of the movement against sexual harassment and assault.
“What shocks me most in all of this are the starlets who have taken 20 years to remember what happened. Not to mention the fact there are no prosecution witnesses.”
And while discussing allegations against a magazine creative director who was accused of yanking models’ breasts and pulling their underwear down during shoots without asking them, Lagerfeld added, “If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model! Join a nunnery.”

Karl Lagerfeld Slams #MeToo Movement: 'If You Don't Want Your Pants Pulled About, Join a Nunnery'. Karl, your cruelty is tired. You’ve made so much money off of women’s insecurities, time for you to ride off into the victim shaming sunset. #BoycottChanel #SisterIrene pic.twitter.com/JZfYIkyN4X
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) April 15, 2018

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

On Adele
English singer-songwriter Adele now has 15 Grammy Awards among dozens of other honours. But apparently her talent, fame and good looks weren’t enough for Lagerfeld. “She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice,” he told Metro Paris in 2012.
After much backlash, the designer apologised and told Metro, “I’d like to say to Adele that I am your biggest admirer. Sometimes when you take a sentence out of the article it changes the meaning of the thought.”

On Heidi Klum
Lagerfeld added to the trashing of fellow countrywoman Heidi Klum by German designer Wolfgang Joop in 2009.
After Joop said Klum was “no runway model” and “she is simply too heavy and has too big a bust”, Lagerfeld claimed, “I don’t know Heidi Klum. She was never known in France.” By then, the supermodel had already been on the cover of Vogue magazine several times, was a Victoria’s Secret Angel, and was host, judge and executive producer of the fashion-themed reality TV show Project Runway.

On curvy women
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone aware of his other comments, but Lagerfeld didn’t want curvy women on the catwalk.
“No one wants to see curvy women,” he reportedly told German magazine Focus in 2009. “You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly.”

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Karl Lagerfeld’s ugly side: ‘ruthless’, ‘misogynistic’, cruel to curvy women

Adele poses in the press room with her trophies, including the top two Grammys of Album and Record of the Year for her blockbuster hit "Hello" and the album "25", during the 59th Annual Grammy music Awards on February 12, 2017, in Los Angeles, California. / AFP PHOTO / Robyn BECK

A South Korean demonstrator holds a banner during a rally to mark International Women's Day as part of the country's #MeToo movement in Seoul on March 8, 2018. The #MeToo movement has gradually gained ground in South Korea, which remains socially conservative and patriarchal in many respects despite its economic and technological advances. / AFP PHOTO / Jung Yeon-je

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 10: Heidi Klum attends the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Karl Lagerfeld (right) with model Cara Delevingne, who has recently become involved in a war of words on Twitter defending the German fashion designer. Photo: Reuters

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Lifestyle

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Europe

German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who died on Tuesday, was known for his controversial comments as well as his designs
From his criticisms of the #MeToo movement to fat-shaming Adele, we round up some of his worse moments


From his criticisms of the #MeToo movement to fat-shaming Adele, we round up some of the German fashion designer’s worse moments.


Fashion

Fendi

Haute Couture

Meryl Streep