Gucci Accused of Appropriating Sikh Turbans, Niqabs, and Hijabs in Milan Fashion Week Show

Emily Wang
Updated
People are accusing Gucci of appropriating from several cultures after it featured models wearing bindis, hijabs, niqabs, and turbans on the runway.

Gucci may have gotten a lot of buzz for having models carry severed heads and dragons down the runway during Milan Fashion Week, but now the brand is receiving a lot of attention for a very different reason. As Huffington Post U.K. reported, Gucci is being accused of appropriating pieces that looked suspiciously similar to bindis, hijabs, niqabs, Sikh turbans, third eyes, and Asian architecture. Many social media users are also doubling down on the show's largely white cast, some of whom were chosen to wear the pieces in question.

Actor and model Avan Jogia sparked a wide debate on Twitter after he tweeted a photo of a white model wearing a turban. "Yo.. @gucci ... I mess with you guys... but this isn't a good look for you... could you not find a brown model?" he wrote. "Brother, I know it might be hard for you to get why this is a big deal to Sikh people and people of colour in general, but try to be compassionate and respectful," he added in a reply to a user who told him to "chill." "We get torn down for our things, only to find them on the runway. It hurts."

In the replies, Twitter users slammed the look for being disrespectful toward Sikhism, and other users asked why Gucci couldn't have just found a Sikh model instead. Some followed up on Jogia's tweet by breaking down how Sikhs are targeted with violence for wearing turbans in public, making Gucci's use of turbans as a fashion accessory largely offensive.

Other critics of Gucci's Milan show made their points in interviews with news outlets. Fashion photographer Faiyaz Kolia, for example, told Indie magazine he thought he might have been "overreacting" until he saw all of the different appropriated pieces. "Gucci got to pick and choose from cultural imagery all the things that are aligned to their ‘fantasy’ narrative without any consequences, and then so easily put on white skin," he said. "What message does that send? That it’s ok to wear a hijab if you’re young, beautiful, rich, and white but not if you’re actually a Muslim or a person of color? It may seem like borrowing or being inspired by something seemingly superficial, but what’s not being borrowed is the social implications, the prejudice, and the internalized racism."

Meanwhile, reporter Lamisa Khan, who writes for Muslim women-centered publication Amaliah, told Huffington Post U.K. her feelings on the matter. “The turban look was an absolute mockery and the bindi. It doesn’t feel like it’s done by accident anymore. It’s as though they’re doing it on purpose for attention,” she told the outlet. “Imagine growing up being mocked for wearing henna, a hijab, turban, or bindi and then seeing it on a catwalk considered to be fashionable and its actual meaning and cultural importance neglected and sidelined for the purpose of aesthetic for that season."

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