It’s handbags at dawn for Roberto Cavalli and Anna Wintour: in a video interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica (published on Friday), the Italian designer accused Wintour of making American fashion “terrible”, saying the Vogue editor “wants all women to be like her and to dress the way she does”. So in the spirit of Cavalli’s diss, Wonderland offer up five of fashion’s most explosive feuds…
1. Natasha Poly vs Jessica Hart
Call in the fashion police! The two top models were with their celeb entourages at Double Seven, an exclusive NYC nightclub, but the night ended in hospital – and Poly’s friend Adam Hock, a former club owner, wound up in handcuffs. Nobody knows how the brawl got started, but Hock claims that he acted out of self-defence after Hart’s friends attacked him. According to bystanders, Hart later flipped off Poly and shouted, “Your husband’s a loser! Fuck you!”
Winner: Natasha. Poly’s kept quiet over the incident – and in our view, that’s keeping it classy.
Possibly the most infamous feud in fashion history, the notorious rivalry between Saint Laurent and Lagerfeld dates back to 1952, when the former clinched the title of the next great couturier at the International Wool Secretariat. It even inspired its own book, The Beautiful Fall – and rumour has it that Lagerfeld even tried to stop its publication.
Winner: Lagerfeld. Even before his death in 2010, Yves had retired from the fashion world – but Karl’s still going strong.
3. Naomi Campbell vs The World
The supermodel’s anger issues are the stuff of legend: back in 2000, she was charged with assaulting her assistant and threatening to push her out of a car. Five years later, Campbell was back in the dock for slapping her new PA. In 2006, she moved on to assaulting housekeepers with her mobile (a jewel-encrusted one, no less) and in 2011, was banned from British Airways for going beserk on two police officers on a flight.
Winner: Naomi. We’re scared of her. Lest we forget her prolonged spat with fellow catwalker, Tyra Banks:
4. Coco Chanel vs Elsa Schiaparelli
Chanel may have inspired her fair share of fawning biopics, but the legendary Frenchwoman was far from a saint. In fact, she took a special dislike to rival designer Elsa Schiaparelli, dismissing her as “that Italian artist who makes clothes”. Not content with insults, Chanel also once “accidentally” set Schiaparelli on fire by pushing her into a candle arrangement.
Winner: Chanel. Schiaparelli’s designs aren’t being revived anytime soon.
In 2009, the tatt-happy designer gave an interview to The Advocate where he lifted the lid on his tumultuous relationship with his former boss. “Pierre [Yves’ partner] and Yves were just evil,” Ford says, claiming that the pair would call up the police to shut down his office. “I have letters from Yves Saint Laurent that are so mean you cannot even believe such vitriol is possible.”
Winner: Saint Laurent. Speaking ill of the dead only a year after Yves’ passed away from a brain tumour? Not classy, Tom.
Words: Zing Tsjeng