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Karl Lagerfeld and Meryl Streep clash over Oscars gown

Meryl Streep and Chanel head honcho Karl Lagerfeld have kicked off a bizarre war of words over the actress' Oscars dress.
Meryl Streep, Karl Lagerfeld

There’s a reason why Oscars viewing parties begin well before the airing of the event’s opening monologue…the diamonds, the feathers, the silks, the sequins…the GOWNS.

But this time around, in a very bizarre turn of events, we can confirm that Meryl Streep will NOT be wearing Chanel as she attends the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday.

In fact, head designer Karl Lagerfeld confirmed the news himself.

Speaking with Women’s Wear Daily Lagerfeld explained that work had already begun on Streep’s Oscars’ gown when her team pulled the plug.

The dress, an embroidered gray silk gown from Chanel’s most recent couture collection, was ordered and even featured an adjustment to the design – a higher neckline – at Meryl’s request.

“I made a sketch, and we started to make the dress,” Lagerfeld told WWD. He adds that shortly after production had commenced on the gown, a member from Streep’s camp reportedly canceled in favour of a label that offered a payout.

“‘Don’t continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us,’” Lagerfeld said, quoting the messenger.

Lagerfeld, who is also the brand’s creative director, said that Chanel has a policy of not paying celebrities to wear its garments, even those of the “greatest living” ilk.

Lagerfeld is known for his creative genius as much as his outspoken nature.

“After we gift her a dress that’s 100,000 euros [over $AUD 137,000], we found later we had to pay [for her to wear it]. We give them dresses, we make the dresses, but we don’t pay,” Lagerfeld said.

In typical Lagerfeld style, he added, “A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?”

However, the acting legend wasn’t content to let the accusations go unanswered and she released her own statement to media outlets claiming Karl had “defamed” her.

“Karl Lagerfeld, a prominent designer, defamed me, my stylist, and the illustrious designer whose dress I chose to wear, in an important industry publication. That publication printed this defamation, unchecked. Subsequently, the story was picked up globally, and continues globally, to overwhelm my appearance at the Oscars, on the occasion of my record-breaking 20th nomination, and to eclipse this honor in the eyes of the media, my colleagues and the audience.”

A rep for Meryl also denied Lagerfeld’s claim in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying that the designer’s accusation is absolutely false. They added that it is “against her personal ethics” to be paid to wear a gown to any red carpet event.

Meryl has fired back at Karl with a bold statement of her own.

Meryl, who’s picked up yet another Oscar nod this year for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film Florence Foster Jenkins, made headlines earlier in the month as she spoke at a Manhattan gala for the Human Rights Campaign, a non-profit for LGBT equality.

Similar to her highly-publicised Golden Globes acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award in January, the actress used the momentous occasion to slam President Donald Trump, without even using his name.

But there was no doubt who she was talking about…

“If we live through this precarious moment, if his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn’t lead us to nuclear winter, we will have much to thank our current leader for,” she said.

“He will have woken us up to how fragile freedom is. The whip of the executive, through a Twitter feed, can lash and intimidate, punish and humiliate, delegitimise the press and imagined enemies with spasmodic regularity and easily provoked predictability.”

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This story originally appeared on Now To Love

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