Lifestyle
Wealthy Russians Vent Their Anger After Chanel Refused To Sell Them Their Favorite Accessories
The brand was forced to apply the ban because of EU and Swiss sanctions.
As Chanel, the luxury brand of fashion accessories, pulled out of Russia due to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s wealthy socialites interestingly didn’t foresee restrictions on their regular expeditions abroad. But reality has hit them, and they’re now moaning about being barred from their favorite label.
Leading TV fashion show presenter Anna Kalashnikova was angered after Chanel barred her from buying earrings and a bag in Dubai.
The 37-Year-Old Singer explained how a manager at the store told her: “We know you are a Russian celebrity. We know you’ll be taking purchases to Russia, so we can’t sell our brand’s items.” She then posted: “Oops, I thought. Next, I remembered Coco Chanel was not only mistress of a Nazi officer, but an agent of German intelligence.”
“So this action of her brand really makes me remember her biography. It’s so low to support fascism and Russophobia.” Anna announced she would, in the future, boycott Chanel.
Snezhanna Georgieva [pictured below], the wife of billionaire Artem Zuev, owner of a winder in Crimea, indicated ways to pull strings and get around the ban.
According to Daily Mail, she said: “I will love it when these brands are back. But we know some boutiques that are still open when a regular customer calls them.”
Influencer Yana Rudkoskaya, a Moscow-based show producer, is likewise left horrified but doesn’t blame Putin for being deprived of her favorite brand.
Yana, the wife of Olympic figure skating champion Alexander Plyushenko, shared: “This is a shock for a woman who’s been buying Chanel and Chanel Haute Couture for more than 20 years and who sat at its shows in the front row. Shock and shock. She had spent more than one million euro at Chanel over the years so found the ban somewhat humiliating.”
Russian interior designer and influencer Liza Litvin told how she was refused a Chanel bag in a top Dubai Mall.
She explained: “I went to a Chanel boutique in the Mall of the Emirates. They didn’t sell me the bag because (attention) I am from Russia!!!” She told how Chanel “has a new order that they only sell after I sign a piece of paper saying that I won’t wear this bag in Russia. What?!” Litvin told how they also asked for her ID details, and she gave them a Russian phone number. “Next, the manager said that starting from today, they were selling to Russians only if they sign an agreement not to wear their items in Russia.”
Moscow foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova revealed that Chanel had joined the Russophobia campaign to cancel Russia.
She stressed that “during the Second World War, Coco Chanel herself was a collaborator and agent of the Third Reich.” She then claimed: “Russia was in a campaign against fascism in Ukraine. The Chanel house can return to normal as its creator support Nazism. But now everyone will know about it.”
However, Chanel’s French HQ has confirmed the new policy and said it was forced to apply the ban because of EU and Swiss sanctions on luxury items. The latest sanctions prohibit the sale, directly or indirectly, of luxury items to any natural, legal person or entity in the Russian Federation or for use in the Russian Federation; hence customers were urged to confirm the products they purchase will not be used in Russia.
