Yesterday during fashion designer Rick Owens' Spring/Summer 2016 menswear presentation at Paris Fashion Week, a model staged a protest on the runway against German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
According to Women's Wear Daily the model, known only by the name Jera, unfurled a small banner midway through his journey down the catwalk. Written on the white piece of cloth were the words "Please Kill Angela Merkel Not" in black letters.
Designer Rick Owens, Speaking with WWD backstage the show, was livid at the stunt:
"It's a crazy, rogue, f***ing model that I punched when he came back out," the designer told WWD after the show, adding: "Please say that I punched him."
Owens adds that Jera has been a close collaborator of his for many years:
"I think it says Kill Angela Merkel or something? Is that what it said? I don't know because it was not my idea. He pulled it out and I punched him when he came off stage. He's been my male muse for the past twelve years or something and I think he just felt comfortable enough to do something in a show and I'm furious."
Owens is not a designer to shy away from controversy. At his previous menswear presentation for Fall/Winter 2015, the designer sent male models down the runway with their crotches exposed. However the 52 year old Owens says this latest act of runway theatrics was totally out of his control. An official statement from the brand reads:
"Rick Owens does not claim responsibility for the act of protest by a model at the Spring Summer 2016 show. This was an independent statement and does not reflect the opinion of the house of Rick Owens."
The house is also requesting that press remove or blur out the images.
