Jameela Jamil blasts Met Gala’s 2023 theme focused on late designer Karl Lagerfeld

October 6, 2022

“She-Hulk” star Jameela Jamil expressed her objection to the upcoming Met Gala over its selected theme for 2023.

Jamil made her opinion known online after it was revealed last week that the event’s theme will honor the late fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfield, who died in 2019, was a renowned creative director for the French Luxury fashion house Chanel.

While the news of the Met Gala focusing on the designer delighted many fashion fans, it also put off some people, including Jamil, who took issue with Lagerfeld’s alleged history of demeaning women and minorities.

On Sunday, Jamil wrote a lengthy Instagram post with an image of Lagerfeld that said “Nope” underneath.

According to Jamil, Lagerfeld “used his platform in such a distinctly hateful way, mostly towards women, so repeatedly and up until the last years of his life, showing no remorse, offering no atonement, no apology, no help to groups he attacked… there was no explanation for his cruel outbursts.”

To make her case, the actor also added eight screenshots of Lagerfeld’s previous statements from interviews.

In one 2009 interview with German magazine Focus, the designer stated that “no one wants to see curvy women” on the runway.

In the same interview, Lagerfeld said, “You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly. The world of beautiful clothing is about dreams and illusions.”

In 2018, he told fashion magazine Numero that “If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model!” and suggested that they instead “join a nunnery.”

Jamil also called out the way Lagerfeld purportedly regarded marginalized groups, including when he referred to “Muslim refugees” as “disgusting.”

“Why is THIS who we celebrate when there are so many AMAZING designers out there who aren’t bigoted white men?” the actress asked in her post.

Jamil then ended her post with: “Sorry, but no. This isn’t the 90s. We didn’t fight all this s—t just to throw it all away because some white guy made some pretty clothes for people’s skinny faves… come on now.”

Commenters hailed Jamil for shedding light on an issue apparently not many knew about.

“Wow. Literally didn’t know about any of this. But there’s no way Vogue didn’t! It’s their job to know!!!” one commenter wrote.

“Love you Jameela. Your courage and willingness to speak have encouraged me for years. Thank you for this post and for all you’ve done with your platform,” another user chimed in.

A biopic on the late designer is reportedly in the works, with actor Jared Leto starring as Lagerfeld.

Featured Image via Jameela Jamil

Share this Article