Molly-Mae Hague and PrettyLittleThing unofficially kicked off London Fashion Week last night with a fast fashion disaster-slash-spectacle of epic proportions.
While the Love Island alum and PLT creative director hoped to generate buzz with her new collection, a range of Jacquemus-esque separates that were probably made by criminally underpaid garment workers, the influencer instead sparked a full-blown protest.
Demonstrators gathered outside of The Londoner Hotel with signs protesting PLT and its parent company, Boohoo, for allegedly subjecting its garment workers to unsafe conditions and unfair wages, as well as contributing to fashion’s waste problem by churning out a seemingly never-ending supply of cheaply made, disposable garments.
“This is unacceptable, and all it’s doing is allowing [PLT founder] Umar Kamani to spend 1.5 million on an engagement ring for his fiancée… buy more cars, go to Dubai, and maybe see the Maldives before it drowns,” one protestor proclaimed.
“You have the power to take a stand against this brand. We don’t care about their resale platform; this is just greenwashing,” she continued, referencing Hague’s announcement of a secondhand trading site specifically for items from PLT. (Worn out leggings for $1, anyone?)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CaEumjoDp3Y/
Other protest attendees came armed with signs pointing out the dissonance between Hague’s infamous stance on building success (we all have “the same 24 hours in the day”) and the shockingly low salaries of PLT garment workers.
Aside from Hague’s penchant for stirring up controversy, as well as the environmental and ethical issues that plague fast fashion companies like PLT, it’s pretty rare that a runway show fuels protest.
Sure, there was the Extinction Rebellion activist who crashed Louis Vuitton’s show last fall, and the Gucci model who clapped back at the label’s use of straitjacket-like jumpsuits on the runway.
Those certainly made a statement, but there’s something next-level about a crowd of protestors stationing themselves outside of a runway show — even the ever-problematic Dolce & Gabbana hasn’t sparked that sort of outrage.
