Has Chanel’s relationship soured with Audrey Tautou?

Karl Lagerfeld thinks Penélope Cruz would have made a superior Coco Chanel to Audrey Tautou, according to a report.

Karl Lagerfeld has been involved in a petty spat with Audrey Tautou, according to a report in Women's Wear Daily. When quizzed about whether she wears Chanel, the actress, who stars in the upcoming Coco Chanel biopic, Coco Before Chanel, quipped, "Sometimes. This morning, I wore the rain boots." Karl Lagerfeld came back, saying, "I didn't even know we made rain boots." (For the record, they don't.) "After that, I don't have to be nice."

Following up on his threat, he went on to say he thought Penélope Cruz would have been a better choice for the role. Ouch.

Hitherto the relationship had been a sweet one. Anne Fontaine, the director of the film, said, "The collaboration of Chanel was indispensable to us, particularly for the final sequence... We shot in the famous staircase [at Chanel's headquarters in Paris]... I met Karl Lagerfeld several times... When he saw the pictures of Audrey Tautou, he told me she was the only ‘true Chanel'." Tautou is also the current face of Chanel No 5.

Genuine squabble or publicity stunt? You decide.

More pictures: Beauty icon Audrey Tautou

Picture:  Penélope Cruz at the Cannes Film Festival last May

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