The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
NEW YORK, United States — A jarring image from the headquarters of Lilly Pulitzer kindled a firestorm of criticism, calling out the preppy fashion label for fat-shaming.
In a photo tour of the label's King of Prussia, Penn, offices by New York magazine's The Cut is a picture of two illustrations. One reads, "Just another day of fat, white, and hideous. You should probably just kill yourself." The other reads, "Put it down carb face." Business Insider's Molly Mulshine first noticed the sketches buried within the slideshow.
According to the photo caption, the drawings are "personal illustrations" from one employee who put them up in her cubicle. The rest of the tour showcases the lighter side of the pink-and-green offices, revealing such perks as macarons in the cafeteria and featuring blurbs on individual employees.
Jane Schoenborn, a spokeswoman for Lilly Pulitzer, confirmed that the illustrations were created by an employee and apologized in a statement to Bloomberg. “These illustrations were the work of one individual and were posted in her personal work area," she said. "While we are an employer that does encourage people to decorate their own space, we are a female-dominated company and these images do not reflect our values. We apologize for any harm this may have caused.”
Lilly Pulitzer faced an immediate backlash once people took notice of the illustrations. Critics called them "awful," "hateful," and "horrifying."
When the label released its much-hyped collaboration with Target in April, it included plus-sizes in its selection. But these sizes were available only online, prompting many shoppers to voice their outrage. A Target spokesperson said at the time that offering plus-size clothes for a designer collection in stores didn't work the last time the retailer tried it.
By Kim Bhasin; editor: Peter Jeffrey.
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