In the age of sustainable fashion, German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has been criticised by environmentalists after reportedly chopping down several old oak and poplar trees for his Chanel AW18/19 catwalk show. Indeed, he turned the vast glass nave of Paris's Grand Palais into an autumn forest for the event, strewing dead leaves, moss and logs on a mirrored runway and installed nine tall trees inside. Some 508 poplar wood benches were also made for his guests. France Nature Environment group (FNE) denounced the extravaganza as 'heresy'. "Chanel has missed the point once again. The celebrated fashion house chose to present a 'natural' decor with real trees for its haute couture event. The result: trees, some of them a hundred years old, were chopped down for a few hours of show," FNE said in a statement. Stung by the criticism, Chanel issued a vehement riposte, insisting that none of the oak and poplar trees it sourced legally from a forest in western France were 100 years old. "In buying the trees Chanel also promised to replant 100 new oak trees in the heart of the same forest," the brand added in a statement.

This is not the first time that Chanel has raised the hackles of environmentalists; last year they protested its PVC-themed collection at a time when plastic pollution is a hot topic.