Fake News Jeans: Travesty or Sign of Our Era?
- 6 years ago
Fake News Jeans: Travesty or Sign of Our Era?
Presumably part of the issue is that Topshop, while known for its slogan items (it has sold an average of one slogan T-shirt a minute since September, according to a
spokeswoman), is not really known for its political positions, so the jeans smack of bandwagoning as opposed to a call to arms during a sensitive cultural moment.
The flurry has all picked up steam since the presidential campaign, which included fashion statement making
and symbolism on both sides: women who dressed up in pantsuits or suffragist white to support Hillary Clinton, and Mr. Trump and his “Make America Great Again” red baseball cap.
“The term ‘Fake News’ became so ubiquitous last year
that it was officially named the word of the year, so we thought we’d immortalize this of-the-moment phrase on a pair of our jeans,” said Mo Riach, Topshop’s head of design, by way of explanation.
Though there is as yet no official ceremony or red carpet attached to President Trump’s Fake News awards, scheduled to take place next Wednesday (after being postponed from Monday), anyone who suspects
that he or she may be in the cross hairs, has a perfect potential outfit.
Give me a break @Topshop https://t.co/n3t4RHn9Ys
This exploitation of anything remotely iconic or zeitgeist-ish by the fashion industry is so crude and so recurrent
that I’m starting to regret not thinking about these things before they hit the market
Then some commentators got a little snarky about upset liberals.
That particular accessory was adapted late last year by the entrepreneur Elon Musk, who created
“Boring Company” black baseball caps to promote his Los Angeles tunnel-drilling initiative
Presumably part of the issue is that Topshop, while known for its slogan items (it has sold an average of one slogan T-shirt a minute since September, according to a
spokeswoman), is not really known for its political positions, so the jeans smack of bandwagoning as opposed to a call to arms during a sensitive cultural moment.
The flurry has all picked up steam since the presidential campaign, which included fashion statement making
and symbolism on both sides: women who dressed up in pantsuits or suffragist white to support Hillary Clinton, and Mr. Trump and his “Make America Great Again” red baseball cap.
“The term ‘Fake News’ became so ubiquitous last year
that it was officially named the word of the year, so we thought we’d immortalize this of-the-moment phrase on a pair of our jeans,” said Mo Riach, Topshop’s head of design, by way of explanation.
Though there is as yet no official ceremony or red carpet attached to President Trump’s Fake News awards, scheduled to take place next Wednesday (after being postponed from Monday), anyone who suspects
that he or she may be in the cross hairs, has a perfect potential outfit.
Give me a break @Topshop https://t.co/n3t4RHn9Ys
This exploitation of anything remotely iconic or zeitgeist-ish by the fashion industry is so crude and so recurrent
that I’m starting to regret not thinking about these things before they hit the market
Then some commentators got a little snarky about upset liberals.
That particular accessory was adapted late last year by the entrepreneur Elon Musk, who created
“Boring Company” black baseball caps to promote his Los Angeles tunnel-drilling initiative