Fashion's most controversial
Fashion's long history is riddled with scandals and contentious figures - some more offensive than others.
From Kate Moss' cocaine unravelling to John Galliano's much-publicised anti-Semitic tirade, the industry's leading players have always attracted international attention and not always for good reasons. There have been sudden sackings, heated lawsuits and even hitmen hired.
Models, designers, business brains and photographers - we take a look at 10 of fashion's most controversial names.
PA PhotosJohn Galliano
John Galliano was considered one of the world’s greatest fashion designers before his anti-Semitic rant in February 2011. He held the powerful position of Dior creative director, as well as running his eponymous label. The designer was sacked from both positions after ranting at a group of Italian women in a Paris bar. He declared "I love Hitler... People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers would all be fucking gassed." The designer went to rehab and began working with the Anti-Defamation League, whom eventually gave him absolution. He began working at Oscar de la Renta briefly in 2013, but in October 2014 he was hired as creative director at Maison Martin Margiela.
PA PhotosKate Moss
Kate Moss’ career looked to be on shaky ground in 2005, after The Mirror published a picture of her seemingly snorting cocaine. She was swiftly dropped by Chanel, Burberry and H&M – brands she had campaign deals with. The supermodel checked into rehab and made a public apology. The scandal hasn’t dampened her career though and she is still considered one of the world’s most chameleon-like and successful models.
Rex FeaturesTerry Richardson
Terry Richardson is one of fashion’s most famous and successful photographers, yet his career has been blighted in recent years by a slew of sexual assault allegations made against him. Numerous models have claimed that Richardson sexually harassed and exploited them. The photographer has denied all claims. “He takes girls who are young, manipulates them to take their clothes off and takes pictures of them they will be ashamed of,” said Rie Rasmussen, a Danish model. "They are too afraid to say no because their agency booked them on the job and are too young to stand up for themselves.”
PA PhotosVivienne Westwood
Punk pioneer and fashion veteran, Vivienne Westwood is known for having designed some of fashion’s most daring pieces (think back to her punk days of old), her catwalk shows which are consistently used as a platform to voice her views on the environment and politics. She has marched in numerous protests against capitalism and fracking, and is not afraid to speak her mind; she’s criticised the Duchess of Cambridge for wearing too much eye-liner, complained that food in the UK are not expensive enough and famously once said that the poor should stop moaning and go to free art galleries instead. Oh and she wore no knickers to collect her OBE in 1992, and did a twirl in her skirt just to make sure everyone knew about it.
Rex FeaturesDov Charney
In June 2014, American Apparel chairman Dov Charney was sacked, amid multiple claims of sexual harassment in the workplace. Rumours about Charney include buying employees vibrators as presents, walking the factory floor in his underpants, asking employees to masturbate in front of him, and a female journalist claimed that he had oral sex with an employee during an interview.
Getty ImagesHedi Slimane
The stylist-turned-designer caused a wave of sighs and groans after he began revamping the hallowed house of Yves Saint Laurent. As the brand’s new director, he changed its name from Yves Saint Laurent to Saint Laurent, prompting a line of T-shirts bearing the slogan “Ain’t Nothing Without Yves”. His self-important reputation grew after his press office emailed fashion editors telling them that they could only ever use two agreed black and white pictures of him – both in which he did his best broody James Dean impression. He began banning editors who criticised his shows, even engaging in a high-profile feud with renowned fashion journalist Cathy Horyn, whom he called a “school-yard bully”.
Getty ImagesCoco Chanel
It has long been rumoured that Coco Chanel worked as a Nazi spy. According to a new book, Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War, by Hal Vaughan, the legendary designer led a double life and was the lover of a spy, Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage. Chanel the brand "refuted the claim (of espionage). What's certain is that she had a relationship with a German aristocrat during the War. Clearly it wasn't the best period to have a love story with a German even if Baron von Dincklage was English by his mother and she (Chanel) knew him before the War," the Chanel group said in a statement.”
Rex Features‘Gucci Black Widow’ Patrizia Reggiani
Patrizia Reggiani was imprisoned in 1998 after being convicted of hiring a hitman to murder her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci, after he left her for a younger woman. She was nicknamed Gucci’s ‘black widow’, despite consistently denying the charge but did admit the idea had crossed her mind. While in prison (she is now free), she rejected the offer of being released on parole in exchange for getting a job saying: "No, thank you; I've never worked in my life.”
Rex FeaturesKarl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld has cultivating an almost cartoonish image of himself (white ponytail, black glasses, a dark uniform and leather gloves, neatly accessorised by his beloved cat Choupette who he takes everywhere) and his outspoken views have attracted international headlines over and over again. Among the more controversial was the time he called Adele fat (he later made a rare apology), his dislike of “ugly, fat people” and the occasion he famously said Pippa Middleton “struggles. She should only show her back.”
Getty ImagesNaomi Campbell
Hell hath no fury like Naomi Campbell scorned. Who could forget the time she threw a phone at her housekeeper’s head? The 2006 incident resulted in lacerations that required four stitches and Campbell was charged with second-degree assault charges. In 2003, she was sued by her assistant whom the supermodel had thrown a phone at during a tantrum in a Beverly Hills hotel in 2001. In another incident, in 2000, Campbell pleaded guilty in Toronto to an assault charge for beating an assistant during the making of a 1998 film. Then there was the blood diamonds incident, when she testified in the Charles Taylor war crimes trial. She admitted that she was given " dirty little pebbles" the night that she met the African warlord, who is now in prison, although claimed she didn’t know who they were from.
