'Being fat is not beautiful, it's an excuse': U.K. brand criticized for 'body-shaming' sweatshirt
Celebrities involved renounce the collaboration, saying the collection was executed poorly
Celebrities involved renounce the collaboration, saying the collection was executed poorly
Celebrities involved renounce the collaboration, saying the collection was executed poorly
Fashion e-tailer is experiencing considerable backlash this week after an Instagram post revealed the brand was selling a sweatshirt with the slogan: "Being fat is not beautiful, it's an excuse."
Florence Given, a U.K.-based artist, posted a series of images from the Revolve website on her Instagram account, showing models wearing a range of sweatshirts with controversial quotes.
The quotes included "Fat Is Not Beautiful," "Slut Feminist Nightmare" and "Too Boney To Be Boned." The sweatshirts were set to retail for about $217.
Each of these slogans were supposed to satire or highlight a real comment made to a celebrity woman. Revolve partnered with Lena Dunham, Emily Ratajkowski, Cara Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse and Paloma Elsesser to display the most "abusive and controversial comments" they have received online.
Underneath the controversial phrases were the words "As said to ..." printed in small letters.
Unfortunately, without enough context, the sweatshirts caused outrage on social media:
Dunham took to to apologize and explain that the project was meant to be a feminist statement, highlighting "quotes from prominent women who have experienced internet trolling & abuse."
However, she agreed the collection had been executed in bad taste.
The "Girls" creator continued to criticize the presentation of the collection, which she says was added to the clothing company's website without her consultation.
"As a result, I cannot support this collaboration or lend my name to it in any way. I am deeply disappointed in ’s handling of a sensitive topic and a collaboration rooted in reclaiming the words of internet trolls to celebrate the beauty in diversity and bodies and experiences that aren’t the industry norm," she wrote.
Dunham explained that proceeds from the clothes were "meant to benefit charities that help young women by empowering them to express themselves through writing and art."
Elsesser, who modeled in last night's , took to Instagram Stories to tell her fans that she was "at a loss for words."
Given between her and the parent company of Revolve, LPA, which created the clothing, and said when she reached out to Elsesser, she said she was "mortified."
"Problematic marketing = a problem with diversity in the work place," Given wrote in her caption.
reports LPA told Given, "The whole point was the exact opposite of this."
In a press release the company apologized and told consumers:
"The prematurely released image featured on Revolve.com was not only included without context of the overall campaign but regrettably featured one of the pieces on a model who's size was not reflective of the piece's commentary on body positivity."
Revolve has since removed the sweatshirt from its site and told E! News is will be donating $20,000 to , a nonprofit organization serving at-risk girls from New York City public high schools. Originally, it was reported that 20 percent of each sale was meant to go to the charity.
They hope the donation will help, "In the hopes that those who need it can still benefit from what was to be a meaningful, insightful and impactful collaboration by LPA."
Check out six quick confidence boosters in the related video above.