Meryl's Oscars dress war with Karl Lagerfeld

Meryl Streep has had the last laugh after enduring a nasty fashion spat with Chanel head Karl Lagerfeld.

In a scathing interview with WWD, Lagerfeld (falsely) claimed he was part-way through making a couture dress for the actress when he was told to halt.

“I made a sketch, and we started to make the dress,” he explained, then someone from Streep’s team allegedly called to say, “Don’t continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us.”

Needless to say, this didn’t go down too well with the fashion maven who doesn’t believe he should pay stars to wear his designs – I mean they’re already getting a couture dress for free, right?

“After we gift her a dress that’s 100,000 euros [AU$140,000], we found later we had to pay [for her to wear it]. We give them dresses, we make the dresses, but we don’t pay,” he said, “A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?”

Lagerfeld has since retracted the comments, but not before they made their way back to Streep who was understandably furious at the misleading claims.

“After an informal conversation, I misunderstood that Ms. Streep may have chosen another designer due to remuneration, which Ms. Streep’s team has confirmed is not the case,” Lagerfeld later said in a statement, “I regret this controversy.”

But a “sorry, not sorry” wasn’t going to cut it for Streep who fired back with some pretty harsh words.

“In reference to Mr. Lagerfeld’s ‘statement,’ there is no ‘controversy’,” she told WWD, “Karl Lagerfeld, a prominent designer, defamed me, my stylist and the illustrious designer whose dress I chose to wear.”

Worse still, the bad press was threatening to overshadow the fact that this year Streep has been nominated for a record 20th Oscar – a remarkable achievement.

But she didn’t let the fake news rain on her parade, and the 67-year-old stepped onto the red carpet looking mighty fine in a midnight blue Elie Saab dress with her head held high.

Want more celebrity, entertainment and lifestyle news? Follow Be on Facebook,Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram