Fashion is—or at least it should be—for all women, not just thin ones. That fact alone is just one reason it’s so baffling (not to mention absolutely disgusting) that online clothing retailer Revolve is selling potentially the most messed up shirt we’ve seen in a long time: a t-shirt which reads “Being fat is not beautiful, it’s an excuse.” WTF?
There’s understandably been a ton of social media backlash to this piece of crap, which is apparently based on a comment someone left on plus-size model Paloma Elesser’s Instagram account. Not only does this shirt cost $168, but it’s a terrible thing that only a really awful person would be willing to wear. However, a spokesperson for Revolve’s parent brand LPA swears that everyone is taking it out of context and the shirt is to benefit charity, so it’s totally cool, right?
“The sweatshirts went up early on revolve for some reason. But it’s a collaboration with 5 women with the worst troll quotes. The point was to shine the light on how horrible trolling is. The proceeds benefit charity, so basically it’s the opposite of what it seems,” the rep explained to London artist Florence Given via Instagram DM.
Elesser said she was “mortified” in how her quote had been used and asked to be pulled from the project entirely, and LPA did eventually decide to take the shirt down, as well as putting out another statement trying to backpeddle on their bad taste.
They claimed that this shirt and others in the series were “prematurely released” and that they were “not only included without context of the overall campaign but regrettably featured one of the pieces on a model who’s [sic] size was not reflective of the piece’s commentary on body positivity.”
The sales from the shirts were meant to benefit Girls Write Now, but now that Revolve’s entire campaign has been rightfully pulled, LPA has decided to give $20k to the charity outright. Yeah, because that makes it any better.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the World’s Worst “Feminist” Lena Dunham was organizing this whole fiasco, which makes a whole lot of sense. Fewer public figures have been so clueless and backward about women’s empowerment as Dunham, so her statement on the shirt (and the project as a whole) reeks of BS.
Newsflash: If you have to give multiple statements explaining your terrible, offensive, fatphobic—and frankly, overpriced and kinda ugly—”fashion,” you’re doing it wrong. Let’s not forget it was only ever available up to size XL anyway, so it’s not like it ever would have fit the women they were clearly mocking.
UGH!
