Moschino sparks outrage with collection inspired by Trump's immigration policies
Jeremy Scott has been accused of being insensitive to the current immigration crisis in the US
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Your support makes all the difference.Moschino has come under fire for its latest campaign ‘Alien Nation’ which is inspired by Trump's strict immigration policies.
Starring Gigi Hadid and Kaia Gerber, the campaign was launched on Instagram by the brand's creative director Jeremy Scott, who uploaded a snap of Hadid covered in blue body paint alongside a caption reading: "the only thing illegal about this alien is how good she looks," which has since been removed.
Scott’s campaign aims to highlight the Trump administration’s severe approach towards who he calls “illegal aliens”, but the fashion designer’s concept has been heavily criticised by social media users as exploitative and insensitive to issues facing US migrants.
The designer, who also runs his own eponymous brand posted a response to the criticism on Instagram, explaining that the campaign is intended to "open a discussion on what exactly an ‘alien’ is.”
“Are they orange, blue, yellow, green? Does this matter? They are our friends, neighbours, co workers, relatives and people we love.”
But people remained unhappy, responding to his new caption saying:
“Changing the caption doesn’t change the fact this whole campaign just brings you profit,” wrote one person.
“You want to start a discussion? Stop painting the same models blue and calling it revolutionary. Actually change the fashion game by hiring models that need to be represented. Get out in the street and do something worthwhile. Until then, you’re just another white man making money off the suffering of real people.”
Others added to the criticisms by labelling the campaign “tone deaf” and “ignorant”.
In spite of the outrage, many fans of the brand praised the designer for his “alien” concept, with supermodel Linda Evangelista commenting a series of love hearts on his Instagram post.
Scott sent models down the runway sporting a range of body paints at Moschino’s autumn/winter 2018 show in February, explaining his political motivations to Vogue at the time:
“I’m not anti-alien,” he said, “I don’t want to build a wall.”
The Independent has contacted Moschino for comment.
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