School shootings should be off-limits as fashion fodder.
But one brand has just unveiled controversial hoodies featuring the names of schools devastated by mass shootings, including Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and even Columbine.
To make matters worse, the hoodies were riddled with bullet holes.
The brand, Dystopia-inspired fashion house Bstroy, founded by designing duo Brick Owens and Dieter “Du” Grams, is already getting rightfully taken down on social media after they debuted the offensive garments in New York over the weekend as part of their spring 2020 menswear collection.
Comments piled on, calling their work “disgusting,” “callous” and “revolting.” Many of those calling out the designers include the family members of victims and the survivors of terrorism.
Kyle Kashuv, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas survivor, gave Bstroy a piece of his mind on Instagram: “I would just like to say, what actual the hell is wrong with you. Goddamn monetizing off a school shooting. Disgusting.”
Added user @Kzaenzz, apparently a student at Stoneman Douglas, “My dead classmates dying should not be a f–king fashion statement.”
“As a Sandy Hook family, what you are doing here is absolutely disgusting, hurtful, wrong and disrespectful. You’ll never know what our family went through after Vicki died protecting her students. Our pain is not to be used for your fashion,” wrote the Instagram account for the Vicki Soto Memorial Fund, named after a teacher who died at Sandy Hook.
The designers attempted to unpack their intention in a bizarre statement on Instagram.
“Sometimes life can be painfully ironic. Like the irony of dying violently in a place you consider to be a safe, controlled environment, like school,” the release read. “We are reminded all the time of life’s fragility, shortness, and unpredictability yet we are also reminded of its infinite potential.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2cOoPkBZl4/The Atlanta-based Grams and Owens, whose brand shills $1,000 jeans and a $150 dickey, was hailed in a New York Times profile last week, calling their line “a blend of high-concept pieces.”
At a recent pop-up in their hometown, the pair dipped a pair of Nike Air Max Uptempo 95s in concrete, a metaphor for “remaining grounded in your history,” wrote the Times.
“We are making violent statements,” Du told the Times. “That’s for you to know who we are, so we can have a voice in the market. But eventually that voice will say things that everyone can wear.”