KYLIE GETS CATTY
Critics clawing at Jenner's lion gown
Kylie Jenner showed up to Paris fashion week in roaring style. Yesterday, the makeup mogul, 25, wore a ruched black velvet Schiaparelli gown affixed with a lifelike lion’s head to view the label’s couture collection.
The fashion house was quick to note on Instagram that “NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN MAKING THIS LOOK” and explained that the lion’s head was constructed from “hand sculpted foam, resin, wool and silk faux fur, hand painted to look as life-like as possible.”
But, some condemned the iconic brand, saying the dress glamorized trophy hunting.
Legendary supermodel Christie Brinkley called it “sickening” and a “fashion faux paw” on Instagram.
‘Sickening’ and ‘cruel’
“It looks as though the models picked up the cruel hunters carpet and severed head wrapped them around themselves to be viewed as a stylish thing of beauty . . . pelts are a symbol of human’s cruelty and ignorance,” she wrote.
Nature documentarian Dan O’Neill said, “We have to stop showing animals as luxury ‘products.’ ”
The controversial couture wasn’t the only wild look. Model Irina Shayk prowled down the catwalk in a lion gown similar to Jenner’s. Shalom Harlow strutted in a bodyconscious strapless snow leopard number and Naomi Campbell howled in a full-length black coat with a wolf ’s head.
Missing the point
Schiaparelli was founded in 1927 by Italian socialite Elsa Schiaparelli. She often collaborated with surrealists like Salvador Dali and the design house is still known for its eccentric creations. On Instagram, the label said the authentic-looking animals were a literary reference and handcrafted by an Israeli artist. “[It’s] the leopard, the lion, and the she-wolf — representing lust, pride, and avarice in Dante’s iconic allegory,” a post explained.
The lion dress also called to mind the look sported by King Jaffe Joffer, the ruler of the fictional African country Zamunda in the 1988 classic “Coming to America.” Whatever the inspiration, Schiaparelli’s creative director Daniel Roseberry told WWD he wasn’t looking to be “literal.” “We’re not going into the nine circles of hell and meeting Satan at the end. That’s not the point,” he said. “But the point was really Dante himself and this story about trial, tribulation, doubt, and that you have to experience all of that in order to get to paradise.”
It’s unclear if Roseberry foresaw how controversial the feline frocks would be.
He said, “Above all, I want people to feel that there are risks being taken, that we take the biggest swings possible and that they don’t know what they’re gonna see.”