The #MeToo movement may have gathered pace at an unprecedented speed over the last 12 months, but its most recent incarnation took us all by surprise.
Launching a collection named after the crusade, Australian fashion label Kholo has come under fire for jumping on the bandwaggon via a wholly inappropriate new collection.
Incorporating pieces such as a “sex on legs” wrap dress, a “bounce with me” jumper and a “take me off” slip, it came as no surprise that Twitter users were quick to criticize the move.
“What kind of nasty degenerate would try and cash in on the #MeToo movement #BoycottKholo,” one user wrote, while others questioned whether the collection was “a joke”.
The collection contains a dress entitled “sex on legs” and a jumper called “bounce with me”, seriously what kind of nasty degenerate would try and cash in on the #metoo movement #BoycottKholo
– Shanoobis (@Shannon1ford) June 13, 2018
Reacting to the negativity, the brand briefly removed the products from their website before re-instating them under a new name: The Magnificent Women.
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Kholo also addressed the situation on their Instagram page, writing: “So.
To my crew and fam here on Insta – you may not know it, but we renamed the MeToo collection to The Magnificent collection. ”
“It was inspired by the MeToo movement (ages ago, I saw a post from Cameron Russell and it started there), so for me, it felt so natural to name it the MeToo collection. The whole series has pieces that tie back to empowerment, MeToo, feminism and warrior women, we would take the conversation offline AND to the caffe. That is what I truly wanted to happen. ”
So. To my crew and fam here on Insta – you may not know it, but we renamed the MeToo collection to The Magnificent collection. It was inspired by the MeToo movement (ages ago, I saw a post from Cameron Russell and it started there), so for me, it felt so natural to name it the MeToo collection. The whole series has pieces that tie back to empowerment, MeToo, feminism and warrior women, we would take the conversation offline AND to the caffe. That is what I truly wanted to happen. Last night I learnt it had hurt women. They felt it was monetising on the concept and I would never want to monetise on someone’s hurt. I want to spark the conversation, I want those things to never happen again, I want to make change. And I truly felt, just the way we talk about “hey where did you get that dress from”, we can talk about, “hey, I don’t feel comfortable about what he did, what do you think? ”. And. I don’t want what I do to make money for the wrong reasons. That is such bad energy. So changing the name was instantaneous for me. I started from a place of good intent and I am so sorry if it was a trigger for you, or caused you pain in any way. I truly never meant for it to be received that way. From a place of love, X Karishma
A post shared by Khòlò ? Art In Your Wardrobe (@kholo_thelabel) on Jun 13, 2018 at 6:36pm PDT
“Last night I learnt it had hurt women. They felt it was monetising on the concept and I would never want to monetise on someone’s hurt. I want to spark the conversation, I want those things to never happen again, I want to make change. ”
“I don’t want what I do to make money for the wrong reasons. That is such bad energy. So changing the name was instantaneous for me. ”
“I started from a place of good intent and I am so sorry if it was a trigger for you, or caused you pain in any way. I truly never meant for it to be received that way. ”
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