Louis Vuitton blasted for ‘disgraceful’ keffiyeh with Israel flag colours
Worn throughout the Middle East region as a traditional Arabian headdress, the thick black and white chequered cloth or keffiyeh has become a symbol of resistance and solidarity in the Arab countries, particularly in Palestine. Signifying the Palestinian quest for self-determination, nationalism and struggle against the occupation of their land by Israel, the keffiyeh garnered widespread popularity courtesy Nobel Peace Prize awardee Yasser Arafat, then leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation or PLO, who wore it as the political symbol of resistance against the Israeli occupation and violence since 1948.
Traditionally, keffiyeh is folded diagonally into a triangle and worn draped over the head of rural Palestinian men as a turban or held in place with a circlet of rope called an agal and it rose to popularity further as Kanye West and David Beckham wore it to music festivals or shoots which inspired several high-end and high-street brands. Apart from also being seen loosely draped around the shoulder or fashioned around the necks, especially in recent cases when soccer players from all around the globe took their solidarity straight to the football pitch alarmed by the bloodshed and destruction in Gaza last month, catwalk star Gigi Hadid too was seen wearing it at pro-Palestinian march in Canada.
Bella Hadid & Gigi Hadid being vocal about every time Palestine under attack, they being outspoken. We need more celebrities like them! The world needs them, as good support. #FreePalestine❤💚 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/bKyw7gqt8J — Ubaidur Rahman (@Ubaid4R) May 16, 2021
French fashion house and luxury goods company, Louis Vuitton, raked up a controversy as it recently released a new Monogram Keffieh stole which is inspired by the classic Keffieh. Enriched with House signatures, a jacquard weave technique is used to create the intricate Monogram patterns on its base of blended cotton, wool and silk while its soft and lightweight with fringed edges makes the timeless accessory create an easygoing mood.
If the whopping price of the keffieh, that is $700, was not enough to spark a widespread outrage, its change of colours from thick black and white to blue and white which is also the colour of Israel’s flag, drew massive flak. Taking to their respective Twitter handles, the netizens blasted LVMH for cultural appropriation.
It soon gave birth to memes that carried the infamous explanation “if i don’t steal it someone else will”, by an Israeli settler who recently went viral for trying to take over a Palestinian’s house illegally. While one accused, “profiting off the oppressed people of Palestine is beyond disgraceful @LouisVuitton why don’t you speak up about the genocide & ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people (sic),” another tweeted, “@LouisVuitton is politically neutral when it comes to Palestine & Israel, but they’re totally cool w/ making money off the keffiyeh. There better be plans on donating the proceeds to Palestinian victims (sic).”
Check out Twitter’s reaction on Louis Vuitton’s new keffiyeh here:
@LouisVuitton is politically neutral when it comes to Palestine & Israel, but they’re totally cool w/ making money off the keffiyeh.
There better be plans on donating the proceeds to Palestinian victims. pic.twitter.com/vLbH1iEPO3 — Nancy 🖤 نانسي (@tdesignerwth) June 1, 2021
Where there is 💰 involved Culture and Religion are of No consequence to these people selling the Keffiyeh as per Louis Vuitton has done !
It is yet another slap in the face to the Palestinian 🇵🇸 people by Israeli and their Supporters !
👣🐾🐨✊🌿🌳🌏 https://t.co/cskpKJzVLs — lucaDiGiorgio 🐨 ✊ Save the Planet 🌍Anti LNP. (@lucaDiGiorgio9) June 2, 2021
@LouisVuitton @virgilabloh Selling a keffiyeh in Israeli colors with a white model is like selling a du rag with a confederate flag for $700 and using a white model to sell it. I’m shook at the sheer audacity. All proceeds should go to #Palestinians who have lost homes and lives. pic.twitter.com/HICaJbm9bS — Regina Victor (@OfficialReginaV) June 2, 2021
@LouisVuitton It is so disrespectful to sell the symbol of Palestinian culture, the keffiyeh for a ridiculous amount of $705, without acknowledging that it belongs to Palestinian culture. At least acknowledge the Palestinian people and their struggle. Talk about appropriation. — . (@pastastromboli1) June 2, 2021
This is however, not the first time that a fashion brand has been called out for cultural appropriation. In 2016, Israeli brand Dodo Bar Or triggered a public outcry for using the keffiyeh fabric to make “sexy dresses, flouncy skirts, hippy draping gowns”. Cultural appropriation is controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures without any benefit to them.
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Louis Vuitton draws backlash over $705 ‘Israel-coloured’ Palestinian keffiyeh
The $705 keffiyeh-inspired scarf has drawn accusations of cultural appropriation and profiting from Palestinian suffering.
Luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton has drawn criticism over its release of a men’s scarf based on the keffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress strongly associated with the Palestinian struggle.
The French fashion house describes the $705 accessory - named the “Monogram Keffieh Stole” - on its website as being “inspired by the classic keffiyeh and enriched with House signatures”.
“Soft and lightweight with fringed edges, this timeless accessory creates an easygoing mood,” the website’s product description reads.
The product listing drew swift backlash, with social media users accusing the fashion house of cultural appropriation and exploitation.
“Profiting off the oppressed people of Palestine is beyond disgraceful @LouisVuitton why don’t you speak up about the genocide & ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people (sic),” wrote one Twitter user.
“@LouisVuitton is politically neutral when it comes to Palestine & Israel, but they’re totally cool w/ making money off the keffiyeh. There better be plans on donating the proceeds to Palestinian victims (sic),” wrote another user.
Fashion watchdog Diet Prada, which has an Instagram following of over 2.7 million, also weighed in with a post highlighting the origins of the keffiyeh.
“So LVMH’s stance on politics is ‘neutral’, but they’re still making a $705 logo-emblazoned keffiyeh, which is a traditional Arab headdress that’s become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. Hmmmm…” Diet Prada wrote, accompanying its post with the hashtags #freepalestine #savesheikhjarrah and #gazaunderattack.
Others also highlighted the blue and white colour of the scarf, which is traditionally red or black and white. Some have pointed out LVMH’s choice of pastels resembles the national colours of Israel.
“This is the symbol of Palestinian’s resistance against the Israeli’s Apartheid. @LouisVuitton wickedly put it on the colours of israeli flag,” said one Twitter user.
Israel’s bombing of Gaza last month, which killed more than 250 Palestinians, brought the plight of the Palestinians back under the spotlight, drawing condemnation from across the globe.
As Palestine solidarity marches took place across the globe, celebrities and fashion icons - including Bella Hadid and Paris Hilton - spoke out against Israel’s brutal bombing campaign.
Amid pressure from pro-Israel groups and activists, several celebrities withdrew their remarks and social media posts in support of Palestine.
What will Bella Hadid do now? Louis Vuitton has culturally raped Palestine with its $705 keffiyeh in the Israeli flag’s colours
Chris Sweeney is an author and columnist who has written for newspapers such as The Times, Daily Express, The Sun and Daily Record, along with several international-selling magazines. Follow him on Twitter @Writes_Sweeney
Chris Sweeney is an author and columnist who has written for newspapers such as The Times, Daily Express, The Sun and Daily Record, along with several international-selling magazines. Follow him on Twitter @Writes_Sweeney
The French fashion house has rightly been met with a backlash for its ill-judged Arab scarf, whose price and colour scheme make it unedifying. Why was it allowed to be produced or was stoking controversy the plan all along?
What will Bella Hadid do now? Louis Vuitton has culturally raped Palestine with its $705 keffiyeh in the Israeli flag’s colours
The French fashion house has rightly been met with a backlash for its ill-judged Arab scarf, whose price and colour scheme make it unedifying. Why was it allowed to be produced or was stoking controversy the plan all along?
Also on rt.com Bella Hadid receives widespread support for statements condemning ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians
There’s cultural appropriation and there’s outright political and capitalist opportunism. Louis Vuitton is guilty of the latter, with its crass and insulting Monogram Keffieh Stole.
But then that’s likely part of this swivel-eyed ploy.
It’s the traditional headdress worn by Arabs in various nations but for long has been associated with Palestine’s oppression. The country’s former leader Yasser Arafat famously introduced it to Western audiences, as he wore it at high-profile political events.
The keffiyeh has morphed into a fashionable item for some, while it stood for opposition to injustice and is a staple at left-leaning universities.
Louis Vuitton has ripped it off, which is nothing new as often cultural items are copied.
Currently the Mexican government is alleging the same of the brands Zara, Patowl and Anthropologie for reproducing symbols used by their Mixe community.
What is different about LV’s keffiyeh is the deliberate attempt to be provocative. To be selling such an item while the people it represents are being bombarded by Israel is disgusting.
Israel maintains a chokehold over Palestine, illegally occupying land it has no right to and in the recent conflict used force and weapons way beyond that of their Arab neighbours.
The price further proves how those in charge at Louis Vuitton reside in an Ivory Tower, with no concept of the real world. It costs $705 which at today’s exchange equates to approx 2,290 Israeli shekels.
In 2019, the average daily real wage in Gaza was 43 shekels. The same study revealed that 80% of employees in Gaza’s private sector earned less than the minimum wage of 1,450 shekels.
So it would take six weeks for a Palestinian to buy one of the keffiyehs, assuming they didn’t need to purchase any food, clothes or pay any bills.
Then there’s the pure aesthetics.
Louis Vuitton has selected a combination of pale blue and white for its keffiyeh. Those, of course, are the colours of the state of Israel.
Of all the facets of this debacle, that is the one that hits the hardest.
Some deluded designer has whipped up the idea that taking a Palestinian symbol and draping it in the colours of Israel would be an edgy statement.
It’s not, it’s cultural blasphemy.
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The Palestinian people live on their knees due to Israel’s disregard for basic humanitarian rights, so to use blue and white on an important Arab piece of clothing is a desecration of their identity.
The levels of wrongness are hard to comprehend, and it is impossible that Louis Vuitton didn’t know what it was doing.
Most big companies favour Israel over Palestine in their statements and actions, but they don’t deliberately throw a match onto an open bonfire.
This has been designed, looked over, manufactured and then stocked in their stores. Why at no point along that journey did no one in a senior position speak out? The answer is they may have but it didn’t matter, as those in charge sought the attention.
In the way that Sinead O’Connor will always be deemed controversial for tearing up a photograph of the Pope on the American TV show Saturday Night Live, Louis Vuitton wanted to cultivate an image like that.
Their artist director of menswear Virgil Abloh attempted a similar toxic stunt when he planned to launch a Michael Jackson-inspired line, following the explosive Leaving Neverland documentary when two men recounted graphic sexual abuse at the hands of the singer.
Due to a backlash the line was never sold, but why did Abloh even embark on such a scheme unless it was to attract controversy?
Also on rt.com Israel carries out the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and robs them of their homes, yet it pretends it’s the victim
The keffiyeh follows the same logic but on a far bigger scale. It’s beyond offensive and only reveals what Louis Vuitton is. It may want to gain credibility and appear edgy, but it’s none of these. It’s an expensive brand that only the rich and wealthy buy.
No one who is part of the majority associates with them, as they represent the elite and privileged.
By trying to make a statement with the keffiyeh, Louis Vuitton has actually made a confession: it is a profit-hungry money machine and morally bankrupt.
Khaled Beydoun, an author and lawyer, summed it up when he said that the brand’s design was “disrespectful and insensitive on myriad levels,” adding, “This is more than just cultural appropriation. This is something more vile. Far more exploitative.”
All eyes will now turn to supermodel sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid, whose father is Palestinian, and who have defendedthe country.
Because after this stunt, why would anyone with integrity want to be seen in Louis Vuitton’s highly-priced products?
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