“The Chanel supremo said it was ‘childish’ to even discuss the issue of wearing fur in a world where eating meat was normal.
“German-born Karl Lagerfeld, 75, a contemporary of the late Yves Saint Laurent, said that he did not himself wear fur. But he defended the practice, saying there was ‘an industry who lives from that’.
“Hunters in the north ‘make a living having learnt nothing else than hunting’, he said, ‘killing those beasts who would kill us if they could.’
“Animals should be killed ‘nicely’ if at all possible, said Lagerfeld, who admitted to being queasy about eating meat.
“‘I can hardly eat meat because it has to look like something what it was not when it was alive,’ he said.
“He concluded: ‘In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish.’
“In an interview on the Radio 4 Today programme, Lagerfeld also said the issue of size zero models was insignificant compared to the ‘zillions’ of fat people.
“Doctors have criticised the use of size zero models, saying it has contributed to a rise in eating disorders among girls who feel pressured to conform to this idea of beauty.
“But he said: ‘In France there are, I think, less than one per cent of people who are too skinny.
“‘There are nearly 30 per cent of young people who are too fat. So let’s take care of the zillions of the too fat before we talk about the percentage that’s left.’
“In further questions Karl Lagerfeld said he viewed the global recession as ‘more like a cleaning up.’
“‘It too was rotten anyway, so it had to be cleaned up,’ he said.
“A spokesman for the support group Beating Eating Disorders said Karl Lagerfeld’s comments on size zero models were ‘a very sad reflection’ on attitudes within the fashion industry.
“She said: ‘We talk to thousands of people every year with eating disorders, who say “If we look like that, we are told that we should be in hospital.” Yet these models are being celebrated.’
“A spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) described Karl Lagerfeld as a ‘dinosaur’ who had got his facts wrong.
“She said: ‘Karl Lagerfeld is a fashion dinosaur who is as out of step as his furs are out of style.
“‘The vast majority of fur these days comes not from hunters as he suggests, but from Chinese fur farms, where no law protects the millions of animals who are routinely beaten and skinned alive.
“‘Lagerfeld’s childish refusal to acknowledge the needless suffering behind every piece of fur and listen to public opinion means that he is being overtaken in the style stakes by an increasing number of designers who believe that cruelty has no place in fashion.’”
By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
Largerfeld is wrong to lump the fur industry in the same category as the meat industry because fur is never the byproduct of the meat industry (nor is leather). 90% of all fur imports around the world now come from China where the fur is produced more cheaply. You need to ask why it is cheaper and here is the reality:About 200 animals every minute, foxes, dogs, cats (strays or abducted from owners) and raccoon dogs (who are dogs) (not that the species matters!) are bashed against the ground to break their necks to be made immobile. They are fully conscious while they are skinned alive with skinning done with knife at the belly. It can take six hours. The animals scream and struggle. The workers step on their heads to hold them down of bash them. Why do they do this? Apparently it is easier to skin a live animal than one who is dead with rigour mortis. The entire skin is pulled from the animal even from its head and then the animal body is thrown on a pile of other bodies without fur. The animals continue to blink and their hearts beat for a further 10 seconds. All exploitation of animals is cruel. But this surely is unacceptable altogether. So, start taking this issue seriously and stop buying fur. It is the only way to stop this vile trade. If you think I am making this up go and read the report and watch the undercover videos at the Swiss Animal Protection site and see for yourselves:http://www.animal-protection.net/furtrade/report_fur_china.pdf. I love fashion and I like Lagerfeld- but this kind of cruelty has no justification. There are wonderful faux fur alternatives.