Topshop has pulled a "festival-ready" romper from its site after facing serious backlash for co-opting the pattern of the keffiyeh scarf, a well-known symbol of Palestinian nationalism. The traditional black-and-white head scarves have been worn by many political parties and religions in Palestine, but gained particular popularity as a sign of resistance in the 1960s, Mashablereports. It's maybe not the type of thing you should turn into a romper.
Per Teen Vogue, the original description for the item (which can no longer be found) read: "Get festival-ready with this cute playsuit in monochrome scarf print with knot tie neck detail. Team with sliders for perfect summer-cool." Yes, cultural appropriation goes great with some freakin' sliders! Very "summer-cool" as they say.
Sometimes I wonder if the people who design clothing for fast fashion brands all periodically get hit in the head and lose their memories, because these problematic items and cycles of outrage happen so frequently. It is the only solution I can come up with for this ridiculous trend. What's even crazier about the keffiyeh controversy is that Urban Outfitters sold the scarves as "anti-war woven" accessories in 2007, and faced a whole backlash over them back then, according to Mashable. And here we are, a decade later, making the same mistakes. In fact, we made the mistake even worse by turning the scarf into an ugly-ass romper. Like, this is not even a cute romper. And imagine trying to get that situation off your body to pee.
Well, at the very least that's one less offensive item of clothing for girls to wear to Coachella this year. But Topshop apparently will supply plenty of other ways to culturally appropriate for festival season this year. This trainwreck was found inside a Topshop just a few days ago:
Will corporations ever learn? (No, the answer is no.)