Russian influencers are cutting up their Chanel bags to protest against the luxury brand that stopped sales in their country.
The French brand has decided to close all its stores in Russia, as well as to stop selling its products to anyone outside Russia willing to take them inside the country. Because of this move, several Russian influencers have accused Chanel of “Russophobia.”
Last Wednesday, Russian model Victoria Bonya posted a video on Instagram in which she cuts a black quilted Chanel handbag in two using a pair of industrial scissors. “If Chanel House does not respect its clients, why do we have to respect Chanel House?” asks the model at the beginning of the video. “Bye-bye,” she adds at the end of the video, right before throwing away the destroyed bag.
Like Bonya, several other Russian influencers have posted similar videos to protest against Chanel. The TV host and actor Marina Ermoshkina cut up her dark gray handbag and shared the video with her 299,000 Instagram followers. In the video, she declared to be “against a brand that supports Russophobia.” She also added that “Chanel is just 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.”
Similarly, DJ Katya Guseva also destroyed her black Chanel handbag with scissors and posted the video.
The influencers received support from their fans, as well as angry comments.
We are currently working on improving this approach and we apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused, as welcoming all our clients, regardless of where they come from, is a priority for Chanel.
Chanel
Chanel complied with all laws applicable to its operations and employees, declared a brand’s representative in a statement sent to Insider on Tuesday. This includes also trade sanctions. For this reason, Chanel has started asking its clients with unknown residency to confirm that the products they purchase will not be used in Russia, explained the French brand’s representative. Chanel’s representative also apologized for any misunderstanding their new policies might have caused.
