A collection of the shoe brand Arezzo based on ancestry and African prints was criticized on social networks this Tuesday (27) for having as a poster girl the influencer Jade Picon, who is white.
The campaign is part of the company’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Arezzo has more than 356 stores distributed in 180 municipalities in the country, according to the brand’s website.
The campaign was carried out in partnership with Meninos Rei, a clothing brand from Salvador. The company says it reveres ancestry and is based on African fabrics.
“The proposal is to praise our ancestral culture and celebrate the appreciation of our race”, says the company’s website.
Sought after, Arezzo and Meninos Rei did not respond until the publication of this text.
For the celebration, Arezzo partnered with five Brazilian fashion names, who were invited to reinterpret iconic shoe models from each decade, starting in the 1970s.
The first photo of the campaign was published on Arezzo’s Instagram a week ago. In the image, Jade Picon poses in a printed dress and holds a sandal. The two pieces refer to African prints.
“The stylists of Meninos Rei brought elements of African culture in vibrant colors and striking texture, with the proposal to create a sandal that translates the brand’s codes: boldness, authenticity, beauty and representation!”, says the caption of the post, which It has around 13k likes so far.
The Meninos Rei publication about the campaign also highlights that the inspiration for the collection was ancestry. “The African prints, the patchwork, the knot that makes the tie was an allusion to turbans, crowns and a symbol of female empowerment,” wrote the brand on Instagram.
On Tuesday afternoon (27), Twitter user Nah Rivelli mocked the campaign images.
“Arezzo created a collection to honor African women and the texture of African prints. The only problem is that the campaign model is Jade Picon. I can’t even open my mouth,” he wrote. The tweet went viral and had about 70,000 likes before being deleted.
Other users accused the brand of racism for using a white poster girl to illustrate a collection based on African fashion.
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