The fashion industry can channel literally anything off as “fashion”. Remember the time when hipster jeans were a thing and people would gloriously wear them and show off their undies? While a lot of their “discoveries” turn out to be bizarre, some of them are downright outrageous.
Recently, Gucci has been receiving a lot of flak after they began selling Sikh turbans aka pagdis online for an insane 55K INR!
According to sources, the Italian luxury fashion brand has been selling the blue turban online through a luxury brand shopping site called Nordstorm for $790 USD.
And what’s worse? It is the same turban which a Gucci model had worn while walking the ramp in Milan Fashion Week last year, a day after a Sikh man’s turban was ripped off during a racist attack. The brand had received severe backlash due to the incident.
And while Gucci sends white models down the catwalk wearing turbans, a Sikh environmentalist has his turban ripped off outside parliament in a hate attack. As someone whose family has been on the receiving end of this sh** for decades, this is utterly depressing. pic.twitter.com/35stzYF7BO
— Tina Daheley (@TinaDaheley) February 22, 2018
Sikhs have taken on Twitter to express their anger and criticism over Gucci’s act of monetizing an object faith, blaming the brand of cultural appropriation and hurting their religious sentiments.
“The turban is not just a fashion accessory to monetize, but a religious article of faith that millions of Sikhs around the world view as sacred,” the Sikh Coalition, an advocacy organization, told NBC News.
This is beyond aggravating. Did someone at @gucci even bother to figure out what a dastaar (turban) means to Sikhs? Did it cross your minds to consider the history behind our identity? My people are discriminated against, even killed, for wearing a turban. pic.twitter.com/G62edSmjhf
— Aasees Kaur (@SouthernSikh) May 14, 2019
@gucci @Nordstrom Dastar/“Sikh turban” comes w/ great responsibility. Sikhs were boiled alive & cut limb by limb for tying it. Post 9/11- bullied & murdered. Sikhi is accessible not luxurious. $5 for the cloth we die(d) for. #culturalappropriation at the expense of #Sikhgenocide pic.twitter.com/NbPXvWlEEt
— Jasjit Singh ਜਸਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ (@JasjitSDhanoa) May 14, 2019
Dear NON-SIKHS …. don’t waste $750 buying a fake n fancy @gucci turban from @Nordstrom !! You can inbox me your location and I can arrange FREE lessons in Turban tying in most places and provide cloth material..FREE ! Any colour ..@cnni @AJEnglish @jonsnowC4 pic.twitter.com/olrE5z1JYR
— ravinder singh (@RaviSinghKA) May 14, 2019
What @gucci needs is to understand what a turban for us means and what it signifies to us..how important it is. Then maybe they will remove it…maybe…
— Saheb Singh (@unboxsingh) May 15, 2019
@gucci should be ashamed of themselves for cultural misappropriation and outrageous commercialism
— Junayd (@junayd_g) May 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/sassy_preet/status/1128379728434552833
https://twitter.com/Naureenksingh/status/1128316022451085312
Luxury brands should at least have the conscience to not take for granted the religious sentiments of people from across the world, especially when there are ones who are racially ostracized for it in first-world countries.