[Update 6/25/15, 3:15 p.m.: Apparently Jera has been dropped by his longtime agency Tomorrow Is Another Day with the agency's founder saying the move was "so disrespectful. I want to distance myself completely from what happened."]
Sure it's not a peen peek, but this morning's controversy at the Rick Owens's Paris Fashion Week show has been causing quite the stir, as German model/longtime Owens muse Jera Diarc pulled out a banner mid-walk that said "Please Kill Angela Merkel Not."
Though it's unclear what exactly the ambiguous message meant, we can speculate that it may have something to do with Germany's membership in the European Union -- especially as Jera appears to be an active supporter of Anonymous and the Occupy Movement.
According to backstage reports, Owens felt like Jera's actions were ironic in regards to the theme of his collection, which was a protest against the sort of male aggression that's "just part of a man's DNA and it's something that I struggle with and I think other men do too." Owens continued by explaining, "This model just gave into his aggression, and his balance was off. He became imbalanced. His aggression took over."
Owens's message is even more poignant given that apparently his"aggression took over," too. The designer punched Jera when he came offstage, frustrated that he "felt comfortable enough" to do something like that in his show. Speaking to WWD, Owens said, "It's a crazy, rogue, fucking model that I punched when he came back out."
Now that the dust has settled somewhat, the designer is distancing himself from Jera, with his house releasing an official statement saying that "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."
[h/t Dazed and Confused]
