He said, she said. Karl Lagerfeld claimed in a recent story published in Women’s Wear Daily on Friday, February 24, that Hollywood icon Meryl Streep dropped Chanel in favor of another brand that would pay her to wear its design.
“I made a sketch, and we started to make the dress,” the 83-year-old German designer told the publication. A few days later, he said, he received a phone call from someone in Streep’s camp. “‘Don’t continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us,’” he claimed the messenger said.
Lagerfeld, who is the creative director of the iconic fashion house, said that Chanel has a policy of not paying celebrities to wear its clothes, even those of the highest A-list caliber. “After we gift her a dress that’s 100,000 euros [$105,000], we found later we had to pay [for her to wear it],” the outspoken fashion designer said. “We give [celebrities] dresses, we make the dresses, but we don’t pay.”
A rep for Streep, 67, denied Lagerfeld’s claim in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying that the designer’s accusation is absolutely false, and that it is “against her personal ethics” to be paid to wear a gown to any red carpet event.
The gown that Streep had reportedly been eyeing was an embroidered gray silk number from Lagerfeld’s most recent couture collection; the Florence Foster Jenkins star has favored Lanvin designs in the past. According to WWD, Streep had asked Lagerfeld if it would be possible to tweak the design to have a higher neckline before her team pulled the plug on the dress.
“She could keep the dress because of the size,” Lagerfeld said of what he’s planning to do with the gown now. “It’s couture. It’s perfect for her. A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?”
The always-outspoken Lagerfeld made headlines last week after he told the WSJ. Magazine that he thinks Americans have to learn to “deal with” new president Donald Trump. “I knew Trump before, when he was not in politics,” he said at the time. “I’m not American, but he’s a democratically elected president of America, so people have to deal with it.”
The designer also made disparaging comments about German Chancellor Angela Merkel when noting that he didn’t believe politics and fashion should mix. “Fashion people are fashion; they are not politics,” he said. “Maybe [Merkel’s] clothes are horrible, but she is not in fashion, hmm?”
It is not yet known which designer 20-time Oscar nominee Streep will choose for Sunday’s Oscar ceremony. Us Weekly will have the inside scoop at the Oscars on Sunday, February 26, so be sure to check back to catch all the best moments!
