Balenciaga Catches Flak For Creating ‘Racist’ Saggy Pants With Sewn-In Boxers
Image via Balenciaga
In true Balenciaga fashion, which usually means eccentric streetwear designs, the fashion label has created a pair of saggy pants with a sewn-in “boxer” sticking out.
Called the Trompe-L’oeil Sweatpants, the bizarre boxer-and-pants combo retails for US$1,190. Named after the French word for a type of 3D optical illusion art, it seems the brand is going for a subtle but unexpected look, hence the boxers.
Balenciaga is facing criticism after selling $1,190 sweats with boxers and profiting from ‘sagging’ pic.twitter.com/d1fXad6FlV
— 44vibe (@44vibeTV) September 7, 2021
However, the company is catching flak for its latest release, as many point out the design could be cultural appropriation. Social media users have even said Balenciaga “gentrified sagging,” and that the design was inherently racist.
@mr200m__ You know when something feels racist 🥲😂 @Balenciaga I have questions #fypシ
♬ original sound - Mr200m
According to Fortune, saggy pants rose in popularity in the early 90s, when hip-hop artists adopted it as a trademark style. Unfortunately, this led to various discriminatory rules against Black men who sag their pants.
For example, Ocala county in Florida, Wildwood county in New Jersey, and Shreveport county in Los Angeles even went so far as to prohibit saggy pants.
This led to an incident in which Anthony Childs, a 31-year-old Black man, fled police in Shreveport who wanted to detain him for sagging his pants. This led to the officer firing several shots at Childs, who died at the scene. Even worse, his death was later ruled as a suicide.
The law was later repealed, with the ACLU saying “there is no legitimate need for this ordinance beyond racially motivated animus.”
With saggy pants playing such an important role in Black history as well as being a marker for racism towards Black men in the past, it’s not hard to see why many are finding Balenciaga’s luxury copy of the trend in bad taste.
Another item in the brand’s latest collection, the Barbes Large East-West Shopper Bag, has also caught the eye of the African community online. Users have said the brand ripped off the design from a commonplace bag seen in many African households in the UK.
This isn’t the first time luxury brands have been called out for misappropriating items of cultural significance as just another object to mass produce. As Balenciaga has yet to comment on the matter, it’s unclear if the brand has any intention of taking the items down.
they’ve really just gentrified sagging I’m dead 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ImWDyL8quD
— faizah minnelli (@ffaizah_) September 5, 2021
Balenciaga could kill 😂😂😂😂
— N I C K 🌍🥂👌🏾 (@nick_intl) August 30, 2021
Black folks know what this pattern is lmaooo pic.twitter.com/vnEYVPxtTS
[via Fortune, cover image via Balenciaga]
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