A fashion label just launched a #MeToo collection

Amy de Klerk
Updated
Photo credit: Kholo
Photo credit: Kholo

From Harper's BAZAAR

Photo credit: Kholo
Photo credit: Kholo

An Australian fashion label has completely missed the mark and released a wildly inappropriate #MeToo collection, seemingly attempting to cash in on the worldwide movement against sexual harassment and assault. Kholo – which sells mid-priced ready-to-wear and accessories – insists that the collection was in support of those who have suffered, yet called one of the pieces a "take me off slip dress".

The label wrote on its website that the collection was "for the warriors" and "all the wounds," suggesting that it was inspired by the women who have suffered.

However, the very suggestive names of some of the pieces proves how badly thought out this idea was. From the "take me off slip dress" to the "sex on legs wrap dress" and the "bounce with me jumper," Twitter users jumped to criticise the move.

"What kind of nasty degenerate would try and cash in on the #MeToo movement #BoycottKholo," one user wrote, while another said: "This sank to a mercenary opportunity pretty quickly."

Following the uproar, Kholo has since gone on to rename the '#MeToo collection' the 'Magnificent collection' and has posted an apology onto its Instagram account, yet doesn't appear to have renamed any of the pieces on its website.

"Last night I learnt it had hurt women," a post on Instagram read, presumably written by the founder. "They felt it was monetising on the concept and I would never want to monetise on someone’s hurt. I want to spark the conversation, I want those things to never happen again, I want to make change. And I truly felt, just the way we talk about “hey where did you get that dress from”, we can talk about, “hey, I don’t feel comfortable about what he did, what do you think?”. And. I don’t want what I do to make money for the wrong reasons. That is such bad energy. So changing the name was instantaneous for me. "

So. To my crew and fam here on Insta - you may not know it, but we renamed the MeToo collection to The Magnificent collection. It was inspired by the MeToo movement (ages ago, I saw a post from Cameron Russell and it started there), so for me, it felt so natural to name it the MeToo collection. The whole series has pieces that tie back to empowerment, MeToo, feminism and warrior women, we would take the conversation offline AND to the caffe. That is what I truly wanted to happen. Last night I learnt it had hurt women. They felt it was monetising on the concept and I would never want to monetise on someone’s hurt. I want to spark the conversation, I want those things to never happen again, I want to make change. And I truly felt, just the way we talk about “hey where did you get that dress from”, we can talk about, “hey, I don’t feel comfortable about what he did, what do you think?”. And. I don’t want what I do to make money for the wrong reasons. That is such bad energy. So changing the name was instantaneous for me. I started from a place of good intent and I am so sorry if it was a trigger for you, or caused you pain in any way. I truly never meant for it to be received that way. From a place of love, X Karishma

A post shared by Khòlò 💕 Art In Your Wardrobe (@kholo_thelabel) on Jun 13, 2018 at 6:36pm PDT

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