Stella McCartney, usually known for her ethical approach to fashion and strict anti-fur stance, has been torn apart by social media users after debuting her latest collection.
The designer showed her Spring/Summer 2018 ready-to-wear collection at Paris Fashion Week earlier this week, and ever since, people have been tweeting that the designer has allegedly taken heavy inspiration from African 'Ankara' prints and fabrics.
In a piece published on OkayAfrica, Damola Durosomo wrote, "The brand infused Ankara designs into their new collection to create dresses, jumpsuits and tops, that look a lot like what our favorite aunties wear casually around the house or to run errands," referring McCartney's use of the prints as "fashion colonialism".
Durosomo also wrote that the expensive dresses and shirts could "very easily be sewn by your local tailor in, let’s say, Lagos, Dar es Salaam, Dakar or Accra for less than a quarter of the cost".
To rub salt into the wound, McCartney's Paris Fashion Week runway show also included very few black models, bar Karly Loyce, who is Martinican, and Lineisy Montero, who is Dominican.
People have been venting their frustrations with the designer on social media:
Stella McCartney has not given a statement on the backlash at time of writing.
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