Lagerfeld, Chanel Trade Heels for ... Sneakers

The footwear at Chanel's summer 2014 couture collection unveiling in Paris yesterday caused the audience to actually gasp, and the New York Times to lead its review with: "Look at the shoes! Look at their SHOES!" What could the models possibly have been wearing? Sneakers. "Flat, flirtatious, fancied-up sneakers," as Suzy Menkes puts it, but sneakers still. Designer Karl Lagerfeld explains: "You can be in fashion without being a victim." Unless you're him, of course. He was wearing snakeskin boots, and said, "For myself, I don't do sneakers." (More Chanel stories.)