For decades, luxury fashion houses consistently set the stage for trend-setting and mind-boggling designs of art and clothing. Despite this, how can these evolving brands miss incorporating morals of diversity and inclusion? 

Story by Maya Halabi // @mayaemii

At first glance, I wasn’t too sure how to take Gucci’s SS20 runway show  which presented  models statically gliding down a conveyer-belt runway clothed in utilitarian garb, including the use of straightjackets. Designer, Alessandro Michele, justified the show’s opening on instagram by stating that, “power is exercised over life, to eliminate self-expression,” hence the unlivliness, robotic nature of the designs. While his statement may be valid and demonstrated throughout the show, does it truly suffice for the use of a straightjacket? The fashion industry isn’t new to controversy. It begs the question, are designers indeed making statements or is it plain ignorance to our social and political climate? Here’s four haute couture moments that made me wonder…what the h*ck were they thinking?

Burberry’s A/W 2019-Nautical Nonsense 

Can you think of a time where a noose wrapped around someone’s neck  meant something good? Me either. In Burberry’s Pre-Autumn/Winter 2019 collection, model Liz Kennedy debuted the luxury brand’s “noose hoodie.” It was an unnecessary rememberance of the history of lynching and our current rising suicide rates. The model made a point to address this issue to Chief Creative Director, Riccardo Tisci, and the whole Burberry brand. Burberry claimed the noose was supposed to coincide with the “nautical” theme of their collection and issued a mass apology to anyone affected by their, albeit, nonsense. 

https://twitter.com/elisadoucette/status/1097914759159136256

The Prada Keychain

It’s not surprising that Prada, one of the oldest luxury brands, sold a small toy keychain of their “Sambo-esque” mascot. You’d think a brand as accredited as Prada would take the time to do a bit of research beforehand, but I guess not! Times have vastly diverged since 1913 when Prada was founded There really isn’t room for error when it comes to implementing diversity within a company. If there was a more diverse culture at Prada, we could say that this type of memorabilia would be non-existent. Expectedly, the brand later attempted to issue an apology via twitter. 

Gucci-Belittling with Blackface

It’s no surprise that Gucci was put under fire for another controversial piece, a sweater with identical blackface features. Interestingly enough, there’s been two different justifications for this look. The first one being that “the season ‘reflected the stark environment of an operating room, emulating the theme of the collection where reconstructing materials and fabrics created a new identity”. The other being Creative Director, Alessandro Michele, stating the design of this sweater (even with a matching mask!) “…was a tribute to Leigh Bowery, an Australian performance artist, club promoter and fashion designer known for his flamboyant makeup and costumes.” These two premises don’t truly cancel out the fact that the $890 jumper still made it through design executives, onto the runway and onto store shelves accordingly. After images of the jumper rapidly circulated the internet in February (Black History Month), Gucci issued an apology and has hopefully made honest efforts to become more inclusive and aware of designs being put out. 

Dolce and Gabbana (D&G)-Dragged from Distaste

A few factors contributed to Italian fashion brand, Dolce and Gabbana’s, distasteful representation of Chinese culture. D&G released a promotional video series, “the Great Show,” that seemingly made fun of Chinese culture by showcasing an Asian model struggling to do simple tasks, such as eating Italian food with chopsticks. The model ate as stereotypical “Asian” music played in the background. Following the video, direct messages sent by Gabbana went viral. He defended the advertisement, insulted Chinese culture and then attempted to convince everyone he had been hacked. This made the controversy worse. Later that November, their Shanghai runway show was cancelled after two dozen models pulled out. Not too long after, the two co-designers released this sub-par apology video. 

The solution to controversy in fashion is pretty evident. If high-fashion brands increased diversity in their workplace, cultivated a committee for inclusivity and simply became aware of the content or designs they created, these catastrophes could be easily avoided. My love for fashion could never die but these slip-ups make me question how much support one should give to brands that lack awareness in 2019. Today, our current culture is consistently amplifying progressiveness and productivity when it comes to inclusion, mental health awareness and diversity. Get on the bandwagon, or die trying.