Rick Owens fashion show turns political with anti-Merkel sign

A model at a Rick Owens fashion show Thursday in Paris brandished a banner saying "Please Kill Angela Merkel - Not", prompting the designer to note he had nothing to do with the "act of protest."

A male model who is known as Jera, according to fashion publication WWD, flashed a white cloth which bore the message written in black marker.

"It wasn't my idea. He pulled it out and I punched him when he came backstage," Owens told AFP after the show.

"He's been my male muse for the past 12 years or something and I think he just felt comfortable enough to have to do something in a show and I'm furious!" he added.

A statement from Owens's fashion house said he did not "claim responsibility for the act of protest by a model at the spring summer 2016 show," branding it an "independent statement."

Owens told AFP: "The irony is that the collection is kind of about male aggression."

"It was not planned!" he added.

Owens raised eyebrows in January during the last men's fashion week in Paris, when his show included full frontal male nudity.