We may be huge fans of his cat Choupette, but Talent Management has once again been shocked by comments from Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld.

The German born fashion designer was speaking to Channel 4′s Cathy Newman about anorexia in the fashion industry when he declared the subject “ridiculous”.

Asked if he feels a responsibility to design clothes for healthier models, he answered: “I’m sorry to say it’s a subject that I consider on the bar of ridiculous for several reasons. The story with anorexic girls–nobody works with anorexic girls. It has nothing to do with fashion. People who have that, they have issues with family and things like this.”

According to the sharp-tongued fashion renegade, rather than anorexia, the real issue we should all be concerned about is women eating junk food and getting fat.

Suggesting that junk food is indeed more dangerous than a potentially deadly eating disorder, he said: “There are less than 1% of girls [who are] anorexic, but in France over 30% of girls are big overweight. And that is much more dangerous and very bad for the health. So I think today with the junk food in front of the TV and things like that is something dangerous for the health or to girls. The models are skinny but they’re not that skinny,” he said.

Lagerfeld goes on to use ‘mature’ model Saskia de Brauw, who’s 31, to highlight the fact that not all new models are that skinny. “There are a lot of girls who are not only 15,” he explains.

And finally, when asked if he feels he has a duty to care for the models he works with, or any responsibility for health, the blasé designer just said: “If Twiggy would come today, everyone would say ‘too skinny’.”

Check out the full interview below and let the bloggers here at the model agency know your thoughts.

For more advice on spotting the warning signs of eating disorders in the modelling industry, check out the CFDA Health Initiative for sound guidance on this challenging issue.