As the Russian conflict in Ukraine continues, and, while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that the situation in the town of Borodianka is "much more disastrous" than in Bucha, a rocket attack at Kramatorsk train station killed at least 50 civilians (at the time of writing this post). Among them there were also children. Zelenskiy said that no Ukrainian troops were at the train station when it was attacked, while Russia denied it was responsible.
In the face of all these atrocities happening on a daily basis, with reports about women and children being raped and tortured and while the conflict has pushed millions abroad, killing or injuring thousands, and destroying several cities and towns, Russian influencers have been shredding their Chanel bags.
In response to the invasion, Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia; besides, several brands and fashion houses shut shops and boutiques in Russia or ceased product/website sales and shipments to the country. Some retailers also ceased both exports and imports.
Chanel is among the luxury houses that shut its boutiques in Russia, but this week the luxury house also announced in a statement that it was halting sales of its clothes, perfume, accessories and other items (all products valued at over 300 euros) to Russian customers abroad if they plan to take the products back to the country. In the statement, Chanel explained: "We have rolled out a process to ask clients for whom we do not know the main residency to confirm that the items they are purchasing will not be used in Russia."
The decision is not Chanel's as the luxury house is simply complying with trade sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, Switzerland and others that prohibit the "sale, supply, transfer or export, directly or indirectly, of luxury goods to any natural or legal person, entity or body in Russia or for use in Russia". At the end of March the Russian government had approved parallel imports that imply that retailers are allowed to import and sell trademark-bearing goods without explicit authorization from the brand owners (a decision that opens the market to fake goods and to authentic products obtained from one market, imported into another and sold there without the trademark holder's consent).
A few Russian social media influencers complained about Chanel's decision: Russian socialite Anna Kalashnikova, stated she was asked for identification and denied the ability to buy goods at an outlet in Dubai.
More Russian influencers started complaining and posting videos of themselves shreadding Chanel's (fake? real?) handbags accompanied by the hashtag #byebyeCHANEL
TV presenter and actress Marina Ermoshkina took her garden shears to cut up a dark gray handbag. "Not a single bag, not a single thing is worth my love for my Motherland," she added in her Instagram caption. "It's not worth my respect for myself. I am against Russophobia, I am against a brand that supports Russophobia. Chanel is just an accessory. An accessory that at some point decided to humiliate people, my compatriots, decided to discriminate against people on the basis of nationality, which I will not tolerate."
Model Victoria Bonya, currently living in Monte Carlo rather than Moscow (and accused in 2017 by the American State Department of being part of a spy network), in a post on Instagram stated she felt discriminated and accused Chanel in a video of being disrespectful to clients.
DJ Katya Guseva posted her own video with a message in which she stated she had dreamt of adding a Chanel bag to her wardrobe and she had managed to do so last year. But, inspired by Marina Ermoshkina, she decided to destroy her bag, adding that she was against Russophobia and therefore against a brand "which supports Russophobia and discrimination against women based on nationality."
The influencers who complained on social media aligned with Maria Zakharova, Moscow's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, who said earlier this week that Chanel had joined the "Russophobic campaign" to "cancel Russia." Zakharova also invited to boycot Chanel to follow Vladimir Putin's "denazification" policy, a reference to Coco Chanel's Nazi affiliations and connections.
This week pro-Putin supporters in Paris and Moscow vandalised Chanel's flagship store windows with Adolf Hitler stickers incorporating the maison's logo. Interesting how before the war in Ukraine, no Russian socialite wanted to "denazify" Chanel.
Now the crime of these influencers, who in some cases do not even live in Russia, is not shredding a luxury bag, but actually shutting up about the massacre going on in Ukraine on a daily basis. Chanel's decision is indeed the consequence of sanctions imposed on Russia because of the horrors it unleashed on Ukraine.
Yet, while they shut up about the situation in Ukraine, as soon as they touched their luxury accessories, they decided it was time to speak up. Well, it looks like the sanctions work then.
Who knows, one day these fashionistas devoted to their "Motherland" may even be able to buy fake Chanel products approved by the Russian government. In March the Russian Ministry of Economic Development announced that it was considering "lifting restrictions on the use of intellectual property contained in certain goods" that at the moment can't be imported after sanctions imposed by Western nations against Russia.
After the announcement, there was an increase in trademark applications at the Federal Service for Intellectual Property in Russia (Rospatent) for the names and logos of various Western brands, including Chanel (application number: 2022716514, filed on 17th March). Which actually makes you wonder, if Russians think Chanel is linked with Nazis, why would they want to register such a brand? We may never find the answer. What's sure, though, is that Chanel should instead be rather happy: looks like they may have finally lost a very vapid bunch of obnoxious clients.
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