In an interview with Spiegel, Wolfgang Joop gossips about politicians and reminisces about the times of Karl Lagerfeld – in all their cruelty.
Potsdam – it was “wonderfully frivolous and frigid”, this world that Wolfgang Joop made to burst into tears when Karl Lagerfeld died. A world in which free mink coats could still generate good press in some places, when “insolence”, “cheek”, “ignorance” set the tone in the fashion world and the agencies “gave the keys to the models’ rooms, who did not brought a lot of money to rich men ”. That was “fashion as bad fun”, and Joop still seems to mourn this today.
In any case, this is the impression given by a Spiegel interview published on Friday (November 12th, 2021) with senior fashion designer Joop in the run-up to his 77th birthday. They not only talk about the “wonderful” days of Lagerfeld, but also about the appearance of today’s politicians: inside and the developments in the modern world of fashion (“There is a very strong trend towards wanting to look the same”).
Criticism of Wolfgang Joop and the Spiegel interview: “Scary, but revealing document”
The fashion designer interview has already caused a lot of outrage on Twitter and in the media. The author Heike Specht (“Your side of the story”) comments on Joop’s statements: “The interview with #Joop is a creepy but informative document. It shows how naturally privileged white men regard the world and everything in it as their own. And it shows why these guys are no longer with you today. ”Journalist and photo blog maker Lorenz Meyer also spoke clearly to the former fashion star.
With all due respect, Mr. Joop: you are a special specimen of asshole. pic.twitter.com/tOzfENULSn
– Lorenz Meyer (@shengfui) November 12, 2021
Not only did Joop himself receive criticism for his statements, but also those responsible for the Spiegel, who let the misogynistic anecdotes of Joops disappear almost without comment in the article and opened up with statements about the fashion tastes of today’s top politicians: “While #Joop raves about it, how great it was when young women were still being subjected to sexualized violence, the Spiegel believes that Habeck’s clothing style was more interesting, ”tweeted the“ Union Watch ”channel.
Joop in Spiegel interview: Merkel’s outfits are “clever marketing coup” – he calls Habeck “sloppy”
In a large part of the interview, Joop and the Spiegel authors deal with the clothing preferences of high-ranking politicians. For example, Joop described the outfits of the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (“badly cut” and “the chest is pressed under the arm”) as a “clever marketing coup” and said: “Merkel’s blazers signal stability.” Green politician Robert Habeck said he would “ want a tie “and criticized the lack of fashion perfection in his view:” If someone dresses sloppily, he thinks sloppily. “
Regarding the big fashion trend of sustainability, Joop says that you can no longer reach young people today without “greenwashing” and that from a fashion perspective, the sustainability trend is about offering people “that they can buy back their freedom” and not have a guilty conscience. “I want to be honest: If my grandchildren came and asked me who has to foot the bill for our excessiveness – I would say: Don’t ask me today, I have a headache.” (Sandra Kathe)
