A little over a week ago, Harry Potter darling Emma Watson delivered what is now being christened a “game-changing” speech at the United Nations New York Headquarters on the big F-word: feminism.
In her address, she strived to dispel many of the common notions that the social movement carries, including the idea that the word feminism has become synonymous with “man-hating”.
By the conclusion of Watson’s thirteen-minute speech, she called not only the women, but also the men of the world to join the fight against gender inequality. Yesterday morning, at one of the biggest events in Paris, none other than Chanel Creative Director Karl Lagerfeld answered that very plea.
Always one for dramatics, Lagerfeld is known for putting on some of the most over-the-top runway shows. In the past year alone, he has turned Dallas’s own Fair Park into an old-fashioned drive-in movie theater and the Grand Palais into a chic supermarket complete with aisles of double-C branded food and drink items.
Returning to the Grand Palais Tuesday morning on one of the final days of Paris Fashion Week, Lagerfeld put on a slightly different show than he is used to. He turned the historic site into a faux avenue dubbed “Boulevard Chanel No.5,” complete with sidewalks, sewage puddles and guardrails.
Although impressively erected and realistic, the set was certainly tame compared to his past productions.
Instead of shining the spotlight on the created atmosphere, Lagerfeld made the models the stars – or more importantly the message on the picket signs they carried. In a twist that no one saw coming, the Chanel runway went from catwalk to full-blown protest.
During the last walk, the very women who had just strutted the brands ready-to-wear offerings turned into avid activists, toting signs with pro-feminist slogans that read “Ladies first,” “History is her story,” and “Be your own stylist,” among many others.
There were also signs that read “He for she,” the title of the women’s equality campaign backed by Emma Watson.
At the front of the model pack was none other than Lagerfeld’s muse, Cara Delevingne, with a quilted double-C megaphone in hand chanting for freedom. Following her was top-model Gisele Bündchen, as well as Kendall Jenner, Georgia May Jagger, Joan Smalls and many other runway favorites.
It is safe to say that this was an unexpected surprise to the people lining the runway, but was it a genuine nod to Lagerfeld’s allegiance to feminists — particularly fashionable ones — everywhere? That may be difficult to determine, especially since one of Lagerfeld’s famous quotes is: “Everything I say is a joke. I myself am a joke.”
