Louis Vuitton is facing criticism for selling a scarf inspired by the Palestinian keffiyeh.- The brand sells the "monogram keffieh stole" for $705.
- The black-and-white keffiyeh has become synonymous with Palestinian liberation movements.
Louis Vuitton is facing backlash for selling a scarf inspired by the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh.
The luxury brand is selling the "monogram keffieh stole" for $705, saying on its website that it's "inspired by the classic Keffieh and enriched with House signatures."
"A jacquard weave technique is used to create the intricate Monogram patterns on its base of blended cotton, wool and silk," the description on the Louis Vuitton site says. "Soft and lightweight with fringed edges, this timeless accessory creates an easygoing mood."
Diet Prada, a popular Instagram account that seeks to expose wrongdoings in the
The post included several photos of the traditional keffiyeh beside the Louis Vuitton stole. "So LVMH's stance on politics is 'neutral,' but they're still making a $705 logo-emblazoned keffiyeh, which is a traditional Arab headdress that's become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism," it said. "Hmmmm…"
The caption alluded to a statement sent to Diet Prada on May 21 after the model Bella Hadid posted about Palestinian causes on her Instagram account. Diet Prada quoted a source associated with LVMH as saying, "LVMH's stance on politics is neutral, but they are not cancelling Bella's contract."
As of Wednesday afternoon, about 100,000 people had liked Diet Prada's post about the stole.
Representatives at LVMH did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the criticism.
Khaled Beydoun, an author, scholar, and lawyer, criticized the scarf as disrespectful and exploitative in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
"Let me be clear, companies and designers like @virgilabloh have the right to make whatever they want to make within the bounds of legality," Beydoun wrote, speaking of the brand's artistic director, Virgil Abloh.
"I typically champion artistry and the freedom that comes with it," Beydoun wrote. "But this is patently disrespectful and insensitive, on a myriad of levels.
"Especially right now. Amid 11 days of bombings, land dispossession and 215 Palestinians killed," he continued. The UN has estimated that 58,000 Palestinians were internally displaced and made homeless in Gaza after a week of Israeli airstrikes in May.
Beydoun also suggested that Louis Vuitton's color choices could have been a way of nodding to Israel's flag and taking a political stance.
"The blue and white colors are either tone deaf or an insidious form of passive political commentary. Or a disastrous attempt at political irony," he wrote in the post, which had over 61,000 likes on Wednesday.
The traditionally black-and-white keffiyeh, or kufiya, has become synonymous with Palestinian liberation movements. Hirbawi Textile Factory, which describes itself as the Palestinian territories' last and only keffiyeh factory, dubbed it "the unofficial Palestinian flag."
The intricate pattern, according to the factory's website, "is said to represent a fishing net, a honeycomb, the joining of hands, or the marks of dirt and sweat wiped off a worker's brow, among other things."
It also has symbolic significance for Palestinian communities. Omar Joseph Nasser-Khoury, a Palestinian fashion designer, told The Guardian in 2019 that the scarf represented "dispossession, systematic displacement, extrajudicial killings [and] oppression."
According to a Middle East Eye report, the origin of the fabric is uncertain. The
Anu Lingala, the author of the essay "A Sociopolitical History of the Keffiyeh," told the publication that it was "traditionally associated with working classes," while Jane Tynan, a cultural historian, said that it was used "as a tool to disguise the identity of the wearer from British authorities" and that it "became shorthand for the Palestinian struggle."
Nasser-Khoury told The Guardian that designers co-opting the keffiyeh were not drawing from a "random design."
"There is a context, there is a power imbalance," he said.
He added: "You have people who were dispossessed in 1948 and made refugees and they still live in camps in Lebanon and then you use this garment, which carries all that pain, for personal advancement."