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The latest goddess-inspired collection from a whale-loving Byron Bay swimsuit designer has sparked outrage in India.
Demonstrators in Amritsar burned the Australian flag and waved placards on Sunday in protest at a skimpy swimsuit print depicting the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, which was shown at Australian Fashion Week.
The swimsuit, from Byron Bay label Lisa Blue, shows Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth and beauty - on the front and back of the cutaway design.
Media in India expressed their dismay at the depiction, prompting the label's creator, Lisa Burke, to issue an apology on Facebook and Twitter.
"This range will never be available for sale in any stockists or retail outlets anywhere in the world," Ms Burke posted on the label's Facebook page on Saturday.
"We apologise to the Hindu community and take this matter very seriously."
But the statement was not enough.
Protesters who took to the street in the north west Indian city of Amritsar, waving photos of the swimsuit and burning the Australian flag, continued demonstrations over the weekend.
The Bharatiya Janata Partya party called for an apology from the Australian government, according to London's Telegraph.
And the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism was quoted in the North India Times saying the religion's deities deserved respect.
"Lakshmi was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for pushing swimwear in fashion shows for mercantile greed of an apparel company," president Rajan Zed said.
Ms Burke issued a second apology on Saturday afternoon, saying: "We would like to offer an apology to anyone we may have offended and advise that the image of Goddess Lakshmi will not appear on any piece of Lisa Blue swimwear for the new season, with a halt put on all production of the new range and pieces shown on the runway from last week removed".
She also posted this statement: "Lisa Blue has been born out of a love of conservation, spirituality and a respect for all people. At no time would we ever have intended that the brand would cause offence. The use of images of Goddess Lakshmi was not in any way a measure of calculated risk taking, simply it was a desire to celebrate different cultures and share that through our brand".
Australia is developing a really bad reputation for insulting, hurting Indians. How can anyone claim that it is somehow "noble" to put the picture of a God/Goddess on the back of a swimsuit!!! It was intended to provoke insult and belittle our religion and people.
ReplyDeleteA lawsuit should be filed and huge damages demanded of this horrible woman who designed this. How would they react to a picture of Jesus or the cross on the very same location of the swimsuit???
Entirely inappropriate and intolerable!
Hindus have always been super tolerant.. that is why morons like this get away with all kinds of insults to our Gods and Goddesses. they will never dare to portray figures from other religions because they will get death threats and all...
ReplyDeleteM F Hussain also selectively painted Hindu Gods in the nude. Shame Shame
this is quite disrespectful and not tasty at all. as someone said, will they do the same thing and put jesus or muhammed on bikini?? i usually say there are much bigger issues but there is also a limit and this is just not right.
ReplyDeleteits sad dat ppl feel soo offended when a pic of lakshmi is placed on a swimsuit but all the indain women posing in tini bikini and going topless is considered good....if u c the pic pf lakshmi she is totally covered and that is our indian culture......women are supposed to be dressed modestly
ReplyDeleteif its happen for Islamic God then then the muslims burst out.....i like that islamic nature.....hindus shuld not tolerate that such anti Hinduism activities.......shoots THOSE BUSTERED.....
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