Milan Fashion Week: Gucci features straitjackets on the runway and social media goes nuts
Model Ayesha Tan-Jones sparked a catwalk controversy when she called out Gucci for its insensitivity to mental illness
Kering S.A.’s Gucci faces a possible backlash for showing straitjackets – meant to make a statement about self-expression and not to be sold in stores – at Milan Fashion Week.
Model Ayesha Tan-Jones held up her hands, which were marked with the note: “Mental Health is Not Fashion”, on her way down the runway. She then posted on Instagram straitjackets symbolise “a cruel time in medicine when mental illness was not understood”. She called Gucci’s use of the imagery “hurtful and insensitive”.
Gucci said in a statement that creative director Alessandro Michele designed “blank-styled” clothes to make a point about fashion and self-expression. The clothes were included “as the most extreme version of a uniform dictated by society and those who control it”. They will not be sold in stores.
That comment drew a few negative responses on social media, including a tweet on how the fashion label is mocking mental illness.
This isn’t the first time the Italian luxury label has had controversy follow it. In February, it apologised for selling a US$890 black polo neck resembling blackface images. The company said it immediately removed the jumper from all stores.
Michele has sparked rapid growth for Gucci with his decadent, more-is-more aesthetic. Gestures such as donating to a gun-control march and banning fur from runways have also helped Gucci to win over young consumers.