Mexican President’s wife accuses Ralph Lauren of stealing indigenous designs

Mexico City. – Beatriz Gutierrez, wife of Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, President of MexicoChairman of the Cultural and Historical Affairs Committee. American designer Ralph Lauren has been accused of stealing local designs to make one of his clothes.

For its part, the American fashion house apologized, Friday, and said Be open to dialogue.

Hi Ralph: We already knew you really like Mexican designs […] However, by copying these designs, you are committing plagiarism, and as you know, plagiarism is illegal and unethical.Lopez Obrador’s wife wrote on her Instagram account.

Gutierrez accompanied his claim with a photo of a colorful casual jacket displayed in a Ralph Lauren branded store. In addition, he made it clear that the designs used in the dress correspond to Textile creations from the communities of Kontla (centre) and Saltillo (north).

The dress is also marketed in many online stores under the name A striped cardigan with a belt has an average cost of $300.

“At least admit it. p I hope you repair the damage done to indigenous communities Added writer and historian who honorably coordinates the Committee on Historical and Cultural Affairs.

For its part, Ralph Lauren said in a statement that the piece It was removed from his wallet “months ago”.

“We deeply regret this happened and as usual, we are open to dialogue about how we can improve,” he said.

“We were surprised to find out that this product is on sale (…) when our team discovered months ago that this product is in our product line, We have issued a strict directive to remove the article from all channels‘, argued the American company.

Mexico in 2021 denounced other fashion houses, such as Chinese Shen, Spanish Inditex, American Anthropology, and Batol, for using Mexican designs in their clothing.

Because of the inappropriate cultural appropriation, the country also complained in 2020 about French designer Isabel Marant, who later apologized to the government and the indigenous community of Michoacan (west).

In 2019, the Ministry of Culture also denounced Carolina Herrera, a US-based Venezuelan designer, for duplicating the colorful embroidery typical of the Tenango community (center).

France Press agency

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