Karl Lagerfeld’s apology to Adele about weight comments rings hollow

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld made a half-hearted apology yesterday for his stupid comments about Adele. Here’s what he told the magazine Metro earlier this week that got him into trouble in the first place: “The thing at the moment is Adele. She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice.” He compared her to Born To Die singer Lana Del Rey, who he admitted wasn’t as great a singer as Adele but was thinner and more beautiful.

Lagerfeld’s apology yesterday in another interview with Metro again left him looking like a fool talking about how he “lost over 30 kilos over 10 years ago and have kept it off.” (How nice for him.) Then he added, “I know how it feels when the press is mean to you in regards to your appearance.”

Actually, Karl, you -- not the press -- were mean to Adele.

I’m guessing right about now Adele is tempted to curse him out with her phone app, which she told CNN she used in order to swear while resting her voice after vocal surgery last year at Massachusetts General Hospital.

While Adele hasn’t publicly slammed Lagerfeld, she’s clearly dealt with the weight issue before and has a smart comeback for those impolite enough to ask: She told Marie Claire magazine in a recent interview that she won’t work with industry folks who tell her to lose weight and that she’s “never wanted to look like models on the cover of magazines. I represent the majority of women and I’m very proud of that.”

Always the model of diplomacy, Lagerfeld came under fire a few years ago for criticizing a German magazine’s decision to ban superskinny models by saying in a television interview that “no one wants to see curvy women.”

(Tell that to Kim Kardashian, who’s made bijillions off of her curves.)

I wonder what Lagerfeld thinks about the Media and Public Health Act, legislation now being considered by Congress that would require disclosure labels for ads and editorial content that have been digitally altered to make models and actors look thinner -- or more beautiful or muscular.

The National Eating Disorders Association issued a statement last month in support of the proposed law saying that portrayals of “unrealistic ideals of physical perfection” have contributed to a rise in eating disorders in both women and men.

I’m also curious whether Lagerfeld supports new guidelines adopted by the Council of Fashion Designers of America -- to be implemented next week during New York Fashion Week -- that call on designers to recognize eating disorders in their young models and encourage them to get help before allowing them to step onto the runways.

I haven’t seen any comments from him on these two initiatives, but perhaps his public support would go a long way toward making up for all those belittling comments concerning women and their curves.