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A sweatshirt was removed from the Revolve clothing website following public outrage over its "toxic" and "fat-phobic" message.
The sweatshirt in question, designed by the LPA label in Los Angeles, carries the following quote: "Being fat is not good, it's an excuse."
A photo of a slim model wearing the controversial sweatshirt soon became viral after it appeared on the Revolve website on Wednesday.
Many people, including model and body activist Tess Holliday, launched the sweatshirt on Twitter.
Florence Given, a London-based artist and activist, was one of the first people to draw attention to the sweatshirt on Instagram. Given, 19, asked that Revolve discontinue the sweatshirt – and the brand listened.
Revolve quickly removed the sweatshirt from its website and within hours, LPA announced that the design had been completely removed.
"It was cancelled!" Given wrote on Instagram. "We did that !!!"
Here's the twist: The sweatshirt was actually meant to send a stimulating message about cyberbullying, according to Revolve.
It was part of a collection of sweatshirts highlighting the real and cruel comments of online trolls on five influential models and actresses: Lena Dunham, Emily Ratajkowski, Cara Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse and Paloma Elsesser.
The profits from the sweatshirts were to be donated to Girls Write Now, a charity that allows young women to write.
"The capsule collection … was to debut tomorrow as a direct commentary on the modern" normality "of cyberbullying and the shared desire to create a community for those most affected by the epidemic," said a spokesman. from Revolve.
"We know that the quotes from the collaboration were shocking, which was very relevant," LPA added in a public statement on Instagram. "To highlight how we have normalized the way we intimidate and talk negatively to each other via the Internet."
Online bullying is definitely a serious problem for women (for example, a writer who covered this controversy about sweatshirts for fashionistas was herself cruelly hunted on Twitter to speak), but many felt that the sweatshirts were missing the mark.
The sweatshirts featured a line of attribution "As told to …" to show that it was true quotes from trolls online – but the text was so small that it was barely readable in product photos. Instead, only the average comments of the bullies were easily visible.
"What was conceived as a statement about today's Internet culture and its treatment of women has gone terribly wrong," LPA wrote on Instagram.
LPA and Revolve stated that even if the sweatshirts had been removed, they would continue to donate to the Girls Write Now charity.
While many fans have praised the decision of LPA and Revolve to remove the sweatshirts, many people also said that the latest scandal was part of a larger and ongoing problem with size discrimination.
"I'm glad they pulled the line of sweatshirts, but that does not mean that Revolve is relieved of its inherent fat phobia," said Florence Given, an activist who urged Revolve to remove the sweatshirts.
She criticized Revolve for not offering more inclusive sizes and for displaying the sweatshirt in question on a slim model.
"Selling designs to" empower "the fatest girls when someone over the age of 12 would not even have been able to fit into one of them, says only lean women would have carried, "she said. "To see a skinny woman wearing" Being fat is not good, it's an excuse "is inexcusable."
Tess Holliday made a similar comment on Twitter.
And Lena Dunham herself criticized the collection of sweatshirts saying that it was not what she had registered when she joined the project.
"Without consulting me or any of the women involved, Revolve presented the sweatshirts on thin white women, without ever thinking about the fact that difference and individuality are what punishes you on the Internet or that the lack of diversity the problem (in fact, the problem itself), "Dunham wrote in a statement on Instagram.
"As a result, I can not support this collaboration or lend my name in any way," she said. "I am deeply disappointed by the way Revolve deals with a sensitive subject."
Revolve apologized for posting the sweatshirt on a skinny model, stating in her statement to TODAY Style that she had "unfortunately presented one of the pieces on a model (whose size) did not reflect the comment positivity of the body.
Now the company seems focused on repair, with the spokesman saying TODAY's style: "At Revolve, we sincerely apologize to everyone involved – especially Lena, Emily, Cara, Suki and Paloma – this mistake."
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