‘What were you thinking?’ Trendy Australian designer is slammed after using an African woman to model a $750 outfit named ‘lynch mob coat’
- High-end designer brand slammed over controversial name of its pricey outfit
- The ‘Lynch Mob Coat’ was modelled on an African woman to customers’ anger
- Coat first came to attention after it was spotted at department store in Auckland
- Designer Salasai has said it will change the name of coat following the outrage
A high-end designer has been forced to rename one of its jackets after the pricey outfit was slammed over its controversial name.
The ‘Lynch Mob Coat’ sparked outrage online over its poor choice of words, after the coat was modelled on an African woman.
‘Yup offensiveness on offensiveness on offensiveness,’ one person tweeted.
The coat first came to attention after a disgruntled customer found the $750 outfit on the change rack at department store Smith and Caughey’s in Auckland, New Zealand.
The ‘Lynch Mob Coat’ sparked outrage online over its poor choice of words, after the coat was modelled on an African woman
The upset customer said she was appalled at the controversial name and felt sorry for the model
The upset customer said she was appalled at the controversial name and felt sorry for the model.
Her outrage has since spread online with other angry customers slamming the choice of words.
‘Hey Smith and Caughey genuine question – wtf were you thinking?’
The term lynch mob refers to a group of people who set out to hang someone.
Lynchings are closely tied to American history, when African Americans were targeted in race-hate crimes.
Smith and Caughey quickly changed the name of the outfit to ‘Check Wool Coat’ before it removed the item completely from its site.
The department store defended itself and said it didn’t choose the original title.
That responsibility fell on the designer Salasai – a high-end fashion designer based in Perth, Western Australia.
A designer spokesperson said the outfit drew its name from film afficcionado David Lynch.
‘The lynch mob slogan actually comes from David Lynch, the movie director from the 70s,’ the spokesperson said.
Lynch is better know for his classics on mind-bending thriller Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive and collected a following over the 70s and 2000s.
‘The nickname for his followers was the Lynch Mob Crew,’ a Salasai spokesperson said.
The spokesperson noted the coat had been on the rack for at least a month before the first complaint rolled in.
While Salasai said it never intended to offend anyone, the spokesperson has admitted that the name could be interpreted differently and said it will rename the coat.
The spokesperson noted that Salasai is accepting of all cultures and religious denominations and past collections had illustrated this stance.
‘One of the themes of our collection was called Human Kind, which embraced humanity, cultures and different religions.’
While Salasai said it never intended to offend anyone, the spokesperson has admitted that the name could be interpreted differently and said it will shorten the title to ‘Lynch’