The French designer is leading the charge, and calling others to follow suit.
Sophie Theallet is refusing to design for Melania Trump and wants other designers to boycott dressing the incoming First Lady.
Theallet, who has designed for First Lady Michelle Obama over the past eight years, penned an open letter that stated she could not work for the new president-elect’s wife as her brand stood against all forms of discrimination and prejudice.
“As an independent fashion brand, we consider our voice an expression of our artistic and philosophical ideas,” the missive began.
Open letter | Sophie Theallet | November 17th, 2016 pic.twitter.com/g1hIAyBmdF
— sophie theallet (@sophietheallet) November 17, 2016
While the designer wrote that it’s “not wise to get involved with politics”, she stated her family-owned company “is not just about money.”
“We value our artistic freedom and always humbly seek to contribute to a more humane, conscious and ethical way to create in this world.”
The French designer, an immigrant to the US herself, closed the note by writing “I will not participate in dressing or associating in any way with the next First Lady.”
“The rhetoric of racism, sexism and xenophobia unleashed by her husband’s presidential campaign are incompatible with the shared values we live by. I encourage my fellow designers to do the same,” she said.
“Integrity is our only true currency.”
Harper’s Bazaar reports that the future First Lady wore an array of well-known designers on the campaign trail including Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Ralph Lauren, all of which were purchased – either online or from boutiques – and not provided by designers themselves.
