Harrods, the world’s leading luxury department store, recently launched its Hindu Ganesha leather clutch bags, designed by Judith Leiber. The latter is a New York label beloved by Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez. However, following an uproar by the Hindu community on social media, the giant luxury store was forced to stop selling the designs.
Other than the bags, a picture of Rihanna on Instagram wearing a diamond-designed Ganesha pendant enraged Hindus. Kashyap, director of Hindu at HCUK, believes that such incidents continue to occur because of ignorance of religious literacy and understanding among corporate management.
The Backlash
The handbags, which are sculpted into the Hindus Ganeshian god’s image, drew a lot of controversies. Many Hindus saw the image of their god on the bags as demeaning and commodifying their faith. Moreover, since they believe in animal safety, they considered leather on the bags to be disrespectful.
Therefore, following the social media backlash, Harrods tweeted that it had pulled the £6,340 item from its sale site. Judith Leiber’s Instagram page, which also featured the bag with the caption “in nature,” took it down. And the company has told The Guardian that the clutch with the leather lining will no longer be produced. In the meantime, many were left wondering how it came to stock the item in the first place.
Lela Katsune, the CEO of Harrods, also apologized to the Hindu community and aired that their intention was never to diminish them. Rather, their aim has always been to create unique pieces that respectfully celebrate art, individuals, and culture.
Since the discovery that the leather lining in the bag goes against Hindu beliefs, the label will immediately halt the model’s development with leather lining. And rather, the style will be made with a synthetic lining in the future. Meanwhile, customers who had bought the bag will have the leather lining replaced with a synthetic interior free of charge.
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Need for Religion Research
According to Rajnish Kashyap, director of the Hindu Council in the United Kingdom, world-renowned brands need to conduct proper research on religion and faith to determine what their products mean to the people who practice that faith.
Also, Singh feels that it would also be appropriate if other similar sellers conduct checks and measures to ensure that such blunders do not occur again. More so because the culture and traditions of Hindus are very colorful and vivid.
“Our gods are not fashion accessories, and representing them as such is highly disrespectful,” Nandini Singh, the head of social media at Reach, said. She went on to say that the handbag was “mocking and demeaning their religion.”
Society, inclusive of designers, must pay careful attention to specific attributes of different cultures. For instance, since the Hindus culture stands out and appears aesthetic, learning their way of life is a necessity. When the aspects of culture and religion are taken out of context and then interpreted in a blatantly offensive way, controversies arise.
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