Vetements: Fashion or Political Insensitivity?

Vetement’s Fall 2021 Menswear collection featured an 165 page look book with four changing backgrounds which Gvasalia described as “First, there is hell. Then we go to earth, and rainbows. And then, there’s heaven”

Created in 2014 as a clothing and footwear "design collective" by Demna Gvasalia and his brother Guram Gvasallia, Vetements (French for "clothing") sought to express a “'pragmatic” approach to fashion. The brand offers lines of Menswear and Womenswear in a ‘down to earth nature' that he says is “reflected in what today's youth wear.” Its look is characterized by ironic slogan tees, uneven, rough jeans, double XL outerwear, and flower dresses. In just three seasons, Demna brought Vetements to world status success, leading luxury vendors like SSENSE, Net-A-Porter, and Browns Fashion to stock up on its tongue-in-cheek garments.

Vetements, Photo from NoiseLab

The offbeat look of the brand is evident in its street cast models and unconventional show locations and it’s certainly no stranger to dancing along the borders of expression and design- especially in terms of political issues. Most recently, at its Spring/Summer 2020 show, a semi-replica t-shirt saying “Don’t shoot” in Arabic, French and English sparked controversy as it was originally worn by journalists in Lebanon during the Israeli invasion of the country in 1982. Vogue Arabia, for example accused Vetements of “instigating regional upset”, and some users on social media criticized the brand for linking apparel to a war in which thousands lost their lives.

Vetements, Spring/Summer 2020

In this Fall 2021 collection, blue painted streaks were knitted into a sweater dress and a turtleneck top, which Gvasalia expressed a meaning to mirror that blue dye the Hong Kong police sprayed on democracy protesters during the summer (in the 8/31/19 incident, the dye was also used in the PolyU Siege that occurred later in the fall of 2019.)

Vetements Fall 2021

The water cannons filled with blue dyed stained the clothes and irritated the skin of the protestors. The liquid was also laced with strong irritants, and protestors had to shower on campus after being hit. The spraying of the dye was meant to not only disperse the crowd, but also to “mark” the protestors, making them easier to spot by the Police.

Protestors being sprayed with blue water dye

This particular design, therefore brings about the controversy of whether this is merely a reflection in fashion, or the usage of victims and their sufferings for the purpose of profit, as Mower from Vogue asks “What would it say to wear a fashion piece designed to look like someone else’s experience of physical struggle and violence?” Vetements has not stated whether any of the profits from the clothing sales would be donated to a Hong Kong Freedom Charity.

Do you think this design was a pure observation in style or inappropriate given the current political situation in Hong Kong?