KUALA LUMPUR – Fast fashion brand Zara’s much criticised “Atelier” collection that allegedly evokes death and destruction in Gaza has been taken down from the front page of its website and app amid boycott calls.
Parent company Inditex said the collection was devised in July and the photos were taken in September, while refreshing content on the site and app is part of its normal procedure, reported Reuters.
The war between Israel and Hamas started after October 7.
So far, the brand’s Instagram page has been flooded with comments slamming the collection while #BoycottZara has been trending on social media platform X.
The collection launched on December 7 was said to be inspired by men’s tailoring from past centuries and photos were set in a supposed artist studio with ladders, packing materials, wooden crates and assistants wearing overalls.
However, critics noted the use of rubble, a wooden box resembling a coffin, dummies or sculptures wrapped in white burial shrouds, and a suspended piece of cardboard or plaster that appears strikingly similar in shape to the map of Palestine.
Another image, now deleted from Zara’s social media platforms but screen capped by angry netizens, showed a model carrying a human-like figure fully wrapped in white material, akin to shrouds used in Islamic burials.
The collection, of six jackets, is priced from US$229 (RM1,072) for a grey wool blazer with chunky knit sleeves, to US$799 for a studded leather jacket.
However, this would not be the first time the Spanish-owned multinational label is courting such Israel-related controversies.
Social media users previously called for its boycott in October last year, after the brand’s Israeli franchise holder Joey Schwebel hosted an anti-Palestinian Knesset member, Itamar Ben-Gvir, for a campaign event.
Ben-Gvir had previously urged East Jerusalem settlers and police to shoot at Palestinians who threw stones at its occupation forces. – December 12, 2023