published
For Russian fashionistas, the fashion shock comes in Paris or Dubai. As people die in the war, they resent poor treatment at Chanel.
She was a regular at the fashion label.
imago images/Russian Look
The singer and TV runway show host went to a Chanel boutique in Dubai and was turned away.
Instagram Anaklash
Russian influencers are angry because Chanel no longer sells them bags because of the sanctions in connection with the Ukraine war.
They threaten the label with a boycott.
Moscow Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Chanel of “Russophobia”.
Wealthy Russian women who fled the war to Dubai are outraged that Chanel refuses to sell them their favorite accessories.
After sanctions were imposed on Moscow, the luxury brand has withdrawn from Russia in protest at Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Many fashionistas have now gone shopping to Dubai. As Ukrainians and Russians die by the thousands in the war, women are upset at being banned from their favorite label, according to the Mirror newspaper.
Russian interior designer and influencer Liza Litvin took to social media to describe how she was denied a Chanel bag at a top Dubai mall. “I was in a Chanel boutique in the Mall of the Emirates,” she wrote angrily. “They didn’t sell me the bag because (note!) I’m from Russia!!!”
No earrings sold
According to Litvin, Chanel didn’t want to sell anything until she signed an agreement stating that she wouldn’t carry the bag in Russia. Several other women have told similar stories from Paris, according to the Fortune portal, and a Russian man reported that he could not buy luxury items in Italy.
Singer and TV fashion show host Anna Kalashnikova, 37, was outraged after being prevented from buying earrings and a bag in Dubai by Chanel. She recounted how a store manager said to her: «We know that you are a Russian celebrity. We know you will be bringing your purchases to Russia, so we cannot sell any of our branded items.”
Chanel boycott announcement
She wrote: “Oops I thought. Then I remembered that Coco Chanel was not only the mistress of a Nazi officer, but also an agent of the German secret service. This action of your brand makes me think of your biography. It’s so vile to support fascism and Russophobia.” She announced that she would boycott Chanel in the future.
Influencer Yana Rudkoskaya, 47, a Moscow-based music show producer and wife of Olympic figure skating champion Alexander Plyushenko, is also appalled but doesn’t blame Putin for being deprived of her favorite brand. “This is a shock for a woman who has been buying Chanel and Chanel Haute Couture for more than 20 years and has had a front row seat at the shows,” she said. She has spent more than a million euros at Chanel over the years and finds the ban “somewhat humiliating”.
“Russophobe Campaign”
Snezhanna Georgieva, 46, wife of billionaire Artem Zuev, who owns a winery in Crimea, pointed out that there are ways around the ban. “We know some boutiques that are still open when a regular customer calls there.”
Moscow Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Chanel of joining the “Russophobic campaign to remove Russia”.
Chanel’s French headquarters confirmed the new policy, saying it was forced to apply it due to EU and Swiss sanctions on luxury items. The latest sanctions restrictions prohibit “the direct or indirect sale of luxury items to any person or entity in or for use in the Russian Federation,” the company said in a statement.
Chanel continued: “We understand that these measures, aimed at meeting legal requirements, may cause certain inconveniences for some customers. “We are currently working to improve the process and apologize for any misunderstandings and inconvenience this may have caused.”
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