Fashion brand Revolve is being criticised online for releasing a £165 jumper with the slogan "being fat is not beautiful, it's an excuse."
The jumper which is available in sizes XXS to XL (that's up to a size 12 FYI), is part of Revolve's new charity collaboration against cyber bulling.
Update: Following the backlash online, LPA - who designed the jumpers for Revolve - announced that the collection is being removed from Revolve's website. In a statement on their Instagram they said: "What was conceived as a statement on today’s internet culture and its treatment of women has gone terribly wrong."
However, they still backed the campaign and said the problem was a 'lack of communication'. "Where we faltered was not intention, sincerity or conception, but in my own lack of communication that lead to how the collection was portrayed on Revolve.com and the pre-mature release of the e-commerce imagery, a day prior to launch."
Revolve has since released their own statement, confirming they are pulling the collection entirely:
"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. We at Revolve sincerely apologise to all those involved – particularly Lena, Paloma, our other collaborators – our loyal customers, and the community as a whole for this error.
The collection has been pulled. We are proud to donate $20,000 to “Girls Write Now” in the hopes that those who need it can still benefit from what was to be a meaningful, insightful and impactful collaboration by LPA."
Revolve and design brand LPA teamed up with Lena Dunham, Emily Ratajkowski, Cara Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse and Paloma Elsesser to display the most "abusive and controversial comments" they have received online.
Other jumpers in the collection have slogans like: "Too boney to be boned", "If you translated a bum onto her face, she'd have a better face", "Horrible result of modern feminism" and "Slut feminist nightmare".
Revolve say their intention was to "shed light on the modern day normality of cyber-bullying and create a safe community for those affected to share their stories." With 20% of each purchase being donated to the organisation "Girls Now", a charity which "mentors underserved young women to help them find their voices through the power of writing."
"Being fat is not beautiful, it's an excuse" is a comment apparently made to Paloma Elsesser, a plus-size model who has featured on the cover of Vogue Arabia with Ashley Graham.
However, I just don't see how printing such an offensive comment and charging £165 for it, raises awareness of online bullying. That's without even mentioning the fact that it's modelled on an industry standard sized model, and only available up to a size 12.
Artist, Florence Given took to Instagram to voice her disgust at the jumper, and reached out to Paloma directly, who stated that she was "mortified" about her quote being used this way and has asked for it to be pulled.
Naturally, the Internet was quick to react. With Cosmopolitan cover star, Tess Holliday calling Revolve a "mess" and influencers Felicity Hayward and Chloe Elliott having their say.
We have reached out Revolve for further comment.
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