Louis Vuitton ‘Jamaica jumper’ features wrong flag colours
Louis Vuitton has been criticised for producing a jumper that pays tribute to the flag of Jamaica – but in the wrong colours.
The label’s £995 menswear item, called the Jamaican Stripe Jumper online, featured three wide stripes in green, yellow and red. But the flag of Jamaica is green, yellow and black.
The error was called out online, with @pam_boy tweeting: “I cannot stress enough how important it is to implement diversity as a value and not a symbol within fashion companies.”
Others were quick to point out that the jumper appeared to be inspired by the Rastafarian flag (which featured the Lion of Judah at its centre), the religious movement with its roots in Jamaica, instead of the official Jamaican flag.
“So no one at Louis Vuitton googled the Jamaican flag?” asked Twitter user Black Women Matter.
Cedella, the daughter of Bob and Rita Marley, also commented, posting on Instagram: “Bob says that’s the Ethiopian flag @Louisvuitton”, with an embarrassed face emoji, beneath a photo of Marley looking displeased.
When the item first appeared online, the product description read: “With striped design inspired by Caribbean island’s national flag.” After updating the description of the jumper to remove the word “flag” and swap it with “cultural heritage”, the product was pulled from the official Vuitton website. Clicking on the link, you now get a “404 page not found” error message.
“Traditional Rastafari symbols and imagery have been popularised and used extensively in commercial products, ranging from T-shirts, jewellery, arts and crafts items, smoking paraphernalia, hats, clothes, bags and shoes,” wrote Jamaican attorney Marcus Goffe in 2011. “Very few of these products are made by Rastafarians and none of the monies accrued from their sales benefits the Rastafarian community.”
Louis Vuitton’s creative director, Virgil Abloh, who is the son of Ghanaian parents (the colours of the Ghanaian flag are green, golden yellow and red), has previously done a sneaker collaboration with Jamaican skateboarder Lucien Clarke.
Luxury fashion has got into trouble before for producing culturally offensive items, such as Gucci’s blackface jumper and Burberry’s noose hoodie. Last year, Commes des Garcons sent white models down their menswear runway wearing dreadlock wigs.
Many have commented online that this points to the need for having more diverse teams at fashion houses, working at every level in order to battle structural racism and avoid issues like the Louis Vuitton one happening again.
The Guardian has approached Louis Vuitton for comment.
Louis Tomlinson: Why Fans Are ‘Proud’ of the One Direction Singer
One Direction fans have always been known to be a passionate and loud group of supporters. They’ve shown up in incredible ways for band members Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, and former member Zayn Malik in the the band’s 10 years of existence. The fans’ latest feat has been a beautiful way to support Tomlinson — read on to see why fans have said they’re “proud” of the oldest band member.
Louis Tomlinson performing in Spain in early 2020 | Javier Bragado/Redferns
How Louis Tomlinson fans have shown support before
Tomlinson’s fans have moved metaphorical mountains for him in the past. In May 2015, they decided to organize Project “No Control,” an effort to make One Direction’s song “No Control” a single. The song, from album Four, features strong lead vocals from Tomlinson as well as his own writing embedded through the song.
The project included calling radio stations, asking them to play the Tomlinson-written song. (Liam Payne also co-wrote it.) Eventually, the fans’ passion was so hard to ignore that the band added “No Control” to the setlist for their On the Road Again Tour and Tomlinson spoke about the project on The Late Late Show with James Corden in a 2015 interview.
Fans made his song ‘Defenceless’ No. 1 on the global iTunes chart
RELATED: One Direction Fans Notice Something Concerning About Liam Payne and Niall Horan’s Social Media
Fans began trending the topics “Support Defenceless” and “Proud of Louis” on Twitter on Feb. 6 after their latest effort to get Tomlinson’s song “Defenceless” to No. 1. It reached that top spot on the Global 100 iTunes chart per data-tracking site Kworb.net, knocking off formerly consistent song “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo.
“Defenceless” is a track from Tomlinson’s album debut, Walls, released in January 2020. The album track came out over a year ago, and is a favorite among fans. While Tomlinson never released “Defenceless” as a single himself, it appears that fans are pushing for another fan-released song and may prove to have another successful campaign for the singer.
Louis Tomlinson replied to fans on his Twitter account
#1 on the worldwide iTunes chart and it’s an album track, crazy! Never have enough words to thank you all for everything you do! — Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) February 6, 2021
Fans took to Twitter to express how proud they are of Tomlinson for reaching No. 1 with “Defenceless” so quickly in this new effort.
“I hope his smile was wide and his eyes sparkled when he saw ‘Defenceless’ up at No. 1,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
Another fan remembered when Tomlinson recounted an anecdote in the 2013 One Direction documentary film This is Us, that his Geography teacher said he would “never amount to anything.”
“Proud of Louis you deserve it,” they wrote.
Someone else commented, “Now that’s the sh*t I wanna see. I can’t even describe my love for him! I’m so proud of Louis, he deserves the world.”
Tomlinson, who often uses his Twitter account to interact with his fans, responded to the outpouring of love on Feb. 6.
“#1 on the worldwide iTunes chart and it’s an album track, crazy,” he said. “Never have enough words to thank you all for everything you do!”
This might be only the beginning for where the song “Defenceless” will go — but one thing’s for sure, we’re definitely #ProudOfLouis, too.
Louis DeFreitas
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