A Russian influencer posed with what looked like a Chanel bag 5 months after cutting one up on camera in protest against the luxury brand
- Russian model Victoria Bonya appeared to wear a Chanel bag in an Instagram post on Saturday.
- Bonya previously cut up a Chanel bag in an Instagram video and accused the brand of "Russophobia."
A Russian model and influencer posted a photo posing with what appeared to be a Chanel bag on Instagram on September 3 — five months after she cut up a bag from the fashion house to protest its closure of Russian stores.
Victoria Bonya, who has more than 9 million Instagram followers, was one of several Russian influencers who spoke out against Chanel after it ceased trading in Russia following Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The creators accused Chanel, and other brands who closed Russian stores, of "Russiaphobia" and discrimination against them based on nationality.
"If Chanel House does not respect its clients, why do we have to respect Chanel House?" Bonya said in an Instagram video posted on April 5 in which she appeared to cut a quilted Chanel bag into two pieces using a pair of industrial scissors.
On September 3, Bonya posted a picture of herself sitting inside a car, with a caption saying she was visiting Dubai. Commenters were quick to notice that the bag Bonya was wearing in the picture appeared to be a black Chanel bag that looked similar to the one she destroyed in her April video.
"Don't you cut the same bag from the photo?" one commenter asked, while other top comments, which were written in Russian but can be translated on the Instagram app, appeared to mock the influencer.
"Chanel is back??? " asked one commenter, with another saying, "Chanel cut bag on point," receiving 470 likes. "She has been raised," another commenter responded.
In an Instagram statement posted on April 11, Bonya said that she would be auctioning "all" her Chanel bags and giving the proceeds to "people who are in need in this current situation.'"
"Chanel's discrimination towards Russian customers based on their nationality is unspeakable and unacceptable. When did fashion become a political discriminatory tool against nationalities?" she captioned the post.
Bonya did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Chanel stores are currently still closed in Russia, and the brand also stopped selling products to Russian consumers outside the country, according to the BBC. Various Russian citizens have taken to social media to say they were turned away from Chanel stores while shopping in other countries.
In a statement provided to Insider in April, a representative for Chanel said the brand complied with "all laws" applicable to its operations and employees, including trade sanctions.
Bonya typically posts modeling content on Instagram, and also has a TikTok account with 450,000 followers, where she films herself getting ready for modeling shoots.
The influencer faced intense backlash in May when she appeared on the red carpet for the Cannes Film Festival. According to the Daily Mail, some Twitter users said that Bonya should not have been invited to attend the event, citing pictures of the model which had resurfaced in various news articles that showed her wearing a T-Shirt and swimsuit bearing Putin's image.
The outlet reported that a spokesperson for the Cannes Film festival explained that a "few" Russian media outlets who upheld an "anti-war position of the festival" were invited to attend the event, but did not provide an explanation for Bonya's presence at the festival when approached for comment. Representatives for the festival did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
In a series of Instagram posts from May, Bonya said she was "invited" to the festival but was "discriminated against" while at the event, saying she was asked to step off the red carpet, though she did not say by whom, in a caption under one post which was written in Russian but can be translated on the Instagram app.
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