Revolting fashion lines guide! In November, Dolce & Gabbana canceled a Shanghai fashion show, just as it was scheduled to start, after being accused of racism. The controversy started after the luxury label shared videos on Instagram in which an Asian model attempted to eat Italian food with chopsticks. The videos were meant to promote the Shanghai event, which the brand had dubbed “The Great Show,” but instead they sparked anger online. Users on the Chinese social media platform Weibo accused the label of trivializing Chinese culture and presenting a racist view of women. To make matters even worse, it appeared Stefano Gabbana, one of the brand’s co-founders, was responding to upset commenters online with offensive insults. He later claimed his account, and the account of the brand, had been hacked.
Alexander McQueen’s Fall/Winter 1995 Collection, “Highland Rape”, McQueen was one of the greatest provocateurs in the fashion industry, so it’s no surprise that another one of his shows makes this list. For his Fall/Winter 1995 show, Highland Rape, McQueen sent out models bruised and battered wearing tattered clothes of tartan and lace. With some thinking that McQueen was promoting violence against women, the backlash was swift. But, in McQueen’s eyes, the show was meant to represent the ethnic cleansing of the Scottish Highlands by British soldiers during the 18th and 19th centuries and the ensuing controversy upset the designer, especially since he cared so much about designing clothes that empowered women.
Designers Refusing To Dress Melania Trump, After the election of Donald Trump, several designers grappled with how to handle dressing the new First Lady, Melania Trump. Sophie Theallet wrote a public letter stating that she would not be dressing Melania (despite the fact that she had done so for former First Lady Michelle Obama) because of her husband’s policies. Following the letter, other designers followed suit including Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs. For her first Presidential appearance at the inauguration, Melania ended up wearing an American designer, Ralph Lauren.
You won’t remember this outfit from the VS 2012 runway because it was cut before the TV broadcast aired due to the stir it caused. Cultural appropriation much? As usual, it was the Native American tradition that was misused, this time by the fashion world. Controversially, Karlie Kloss, a white woman, walked the runway in a what appeared to be a knock-off of a traditional Native American headdress and tribal-inspired lingerie. Apparently, no one at the brand saw the potential problem entailed in the appropriation of traditional dress, in ignorance as to its meaning and origins. Cultural appropriation is a buzz phrase at the moment, and the use of Native American tradition in a non-traditional sense has been a hot topic throughout the United States, from sports to, of course, fashion in recent years. Perhaps picking up on this trend, or perhaps ignorantly participating in it, Victoria’s Secret used their platform to showcase some pretty overt cultural appropriation. The brand and model later apologized for the awkward fashion mishap.
Another shocking clothing line is Headhunters Line, a very bold fashion line that already generated a lot of controversy. Sex, guns, scandalous message, this fashion clothing line has them all. Read more details on Headhunters Clothing.