Cutting up a luxury bag you’ve already purchased? That’ll show 'em
Russian influencers are cutting up their Chanel bags in protest after the luxury fashion house banned them from buying its products.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Chanel has complied with EU sanctions and will
pull business from Russia and also prevent wealthy Russians from purchasing their products abroad with the intention of “using them in Russia.”
However the brand’s compliance with EU sanctions, which prohibit the sale of Russian goods priced more than €300 (£250), has left Russian influencers enraged.
TV presenter, PR agent and actress Marina Ermoshkina, 28, was one such influencer to furiously cut up her Chanel bag, as covered in
multiple outlets.
“Not a single item or brand is worth my love for my motherland and my self-respect,” she told her 299k Instagram followers recently. “I am against Russophobia, and I am against Russophobia-supporting brands.”
In a post, she added: “Chanel is simply an accessory that at some point decided to humiliate my compatriots. And discriminate by nationality. I will not tolerate this.”
DJ Katya Guseva told her 587,000 followers: “I am saying ‘No’ to Chanel.
“They are forcing me to sign a humiliating document, forcing me to reject my Motherland in favour of their brand.
“I am against Russophobia and against segregation by nationality. To show you I am serious, I will simply cut up this bag. I don’t need it any more. Bye-bye, Chanel,” she said. “We Russian women are stunning regardless of having Chanel - we know it, Chanel knows it, the whole world knows it.”
The internet has not taken kindly to their display of “resistance”, with one person writing: “Respect you? Maybe you should comment on atrocities and war crimes in Ukraine instead of acting like a victim…”
Another scathed: “U said it yourself :) “if Chanel doesn’t respect their clients why we have to respect them” :) I can say the same : “if Russians don’t respect other nations, why we have to respect them”.”
Anna Kalashnikova, a 37-year-old singer, told her followers how a manger in a Dubai store identified her as a “Russian celebrity.”
“We know you’ll be taking purchases to Russia, so we can’t sell our brand’s items,” she claimed he said.
She then seemingly attempted to draw comparisons between modern-day Chanel and the brand’s founder Coco Chanel who was notoriously in bed with the Nazi party.
“Next I remembered Coco Chanel was not only mistress of a Nazi officer, but an agent of German intelligence,” she argued,
according to reports. “So this action of her brand really makes me remember her biography. It’s so low to support fascism and Russophobia.”
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