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Non-binary musician and model YaYa Bones staged an unexpected silent protest at Gucciβs SS20 fashion show, criticising the brandβs blatant insensitivity towards mental health.
Gucci is no stranger to controversy, its most recent scandals involving a campaign for aΒ sweater that resembled blackfaceΒ and a headpiece that wasΒ basically a Sikh turban. However, itβs rare to see a brandβs mistakes called out on the runway, much less by a model wearing its clothes.
During this yearβs fashion week in Milan, Gucciβs show took place in a bleak, brightly lit space with metal shutters covering the doors and plastic waiting room chairs for attendees.
The clinical room was reminiscent of a hospital or asylum and to make matters worse, models were sent down the conveyer belt catwalk wearing reworked versions of garments historically worn in psychiatric wards.
βAlessandro Michele designed these blank-styled clothes to represent how through fashion, power is exercised over life, to eliminate self-expression. This power prescribes social norms, classifying and curbing identity,β they said in a statement issued onΒ InstagramΒ this Monday.
While they have responded to the backlash explaining that it was part of a broader concept about breaking free, youβd think they mightβve learned by now the importance of addressing delicate subjects in a tasteful way.
Instead, they defended the concept βas a provocative reminder of submission than a glamorisation of insanityβ which has provoked even more outrage online.
Ayesha Tan Jones (YaYa Bones) however, refused to let it slide. Walking to the front the front of the runway dressed in one of the straitjacket ensembles, they held up their hands to the cameras revealing βMENTAL HEALTH IS NOT FASHIONβ written across their palms.
Having previously suffered with depression themselves, they found Gucciβs design choices deeply offensive, vulgar and triggering, taking to social media to comment further. βAs an artist and model who has experienced my own struggles with mental health, it is hurtful for such a major fashion house to use this imagery as a concept for a fleeting fashion moment,β they wrote.
Accusing Gucci of presenting these issues as βprops for selling clothes in todayβs capitalist climate,β they added that it was βin bad taste to use outfits alluding to mental patients rolled out on a conveyor belt as if a piece of factory meat.β
