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Joop in an interview with SPIEGEL: "Everything was for sale"
Photo: Eva Tuerbl / DER SPIEGEL
Wolfgang Joop was in a good mood when we met him to talk about what Corona has done to the fashion world.
At the same time, he seemed in a sentimental state, wanted to tell how rapidly the industry has changed.
He cried when Karl Lagerfeld died because an era had come to an end and “this world was so wonderfully frivolous and frigid”. Then the sentences that later caused outrage came up in social networks, in the media and in personal conversations: “Everything was for sale. The agencies gave the keys to the rooms of the models, who did not bring that much money, to rich men. And when a girl complained, they said: We can do without you too. "
As pure text, these sentences must have been disturbing.
At SPIEGEL, the passage led to heated discussions internally.
In retrospect, it can be said: We could have asked more persistently at this point, demanded evidence for the allegations.
But when we sat across from Joop, we had the impression that he was only describing the past, not defending anything about it or even wishing it back.
But a printed interview can only reproduce an atmosphere to a very limited extent.
Joop later apologized and described what was happening in the industry for what it was: disrespectful and abusive treatment of models.
