Fast fashion brand Zara becomes the centre of yet another political controversy and this time, it was by no fault of its own! First Lady of the United States of America, Melania Trump wore a Zara jacket with a statement ‘I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?’ emblazoned on the back when she went to the detention centre in Texas where migrant kids are being kept.
The fact that she chose the piece of clothing with such a message on it irked many organisations and individuals alike across the globe; especially after it came in the heat of Trump administration’s widely criticised and now rolled back policy of separating immigrant families at the US border.
Needless to say, her clothing choice was massively trolled on social media for being ‘insensitive’, ‘dumb’ and of course ‘heartless’. In response to the situation, her stylist Stephanie Grisham dismissed the uproar by saying there was no ‘hidden meaning behind it.’
The question is: Does a slogan so prominently placed for everyone’s viewing even need to have a hidden message? Naturally, Grisham’s damage control attempts fell on deaf ears. Later in the day, President took to twitter to say that it was intended to be a swing at ‘Fake News Media.’ Clearly, Mr. President did not care to be in coherence with what the stylist had stated earlier.
A positive outcome of all the uproar is that a few brands actually took this incident as an opportunity to churn out a quick capsule of t-shirts and jackets that clap-back using an antithesis slogan – I REALLY DO CARE, DO U?
Two brands, namely Wildfang and PSA Supply Co, have released and sold out several pieces of this political merchandise with a promise to donate 100 per cent of the proceeds to organisations working towards the fair treatment of immigrant children in the US.
