Just days after designer John Galliano’s anti-Semitic comments, the fashion industry has again prompted outrage, this time by featuring cigarette smoking on the catwalk.
British supermodel Kate Moss defied anti-smoking laws in France and smoked on the runway during a Louis Vuitton show at Paris Fashion Week.
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The incident coincided with no-smoking day in the United Kingdom and scandalised health activists, who fear Moss’ behaviour endorsed cigarette smoking and glamorised one of world’s biggest killers. Influential website style.com described Moss as “smoking in every sense”.
Moss is close friends with Galliano, who was sacked from fashion house Christian Dior last week after being caught on camera drunkenly telling two strangers that he ‘loves Hitler’.
Anti-semitic comments are illegal in France.
Related: John Galliano to face court on charges of racism
In the wake of Galliano’s comments, industry observers asked whether the fashion industry’s fondness for breaking community taboos had gone too far.
Your say: What do you think? Do you think the fashion industry should rein in the behaviour of its stars and set an example to young women? Or should Kate Moss be able to smoke on the catwalk in the name of art?
Video: Behind the scenes with Kate Moss on a Vogue eyewear shoot.
