Celebrated fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has come in for intense criticism after he labelled British singing icon Adele "too fat". The German designer, 78, also gave his views on polarizing American singer Lana Del Rey.
The designer, currently head of the Chanel fashion house, told Metro New York he thought Adele had a "divine voice" but was "a little too fat". On the subject of Del Rey, Karl said, "Lana Del Rey is not bad at all. She looks very much like a modern-time singer. In her photos she is beautiful. Is she a construct with all her implants? She's not alone with implants". The designer's comments have already come in for criticism, with the blog Curves and Chaos (a celebration of full figured women", writing, "Are you freaking kidding me? We're done with him and Chanel as long as he's involved with them". The blog later used Twitter to send a direct message to Adele, saying, "You are beautiful! Creepy designers just want to be in the news I guess". The British singer is yet to respond to Lagerfeld's comments, though speaking to Vogue magazine about her weight in 2011 she explained, "It's just never been an issue - at least, I've never hung out with the sort of horrible people who make it an issue. I have insecurities of course, but I don't hang out with anyone who points them out to me".
After a lengthy throat illness, Adele is set to return to the stage at Sunday's Grammy Awards (12 February 2012) at the Staple Center in Los Angeles.