Readers! Welcome to another edition of “public figure foot in mouth!” It’s been like, what, five minutes since the last one?
This week’s fodder comes to us straight from Vivy Yusof, founder of Islamic clothing retailer Fashion Valet, and the woman behind dUCK, a luxury lifestyle, housewares, makeup, and headscarves line. Her entrepreneurial credentials check out; her PR skills, however, leave the wider public wanting.
In an Insta story post that she has since taken down, Vivy posted her ire and frustrations at the consumers who buy fake versions of her luxury lifestyle brand.
Gosh plebs, don’t you know the difference between real dUCK and fake dUCK?! No, sorry – we neither eat, nor wear, dUCK.
Apparently real dUCK doesn’t come wrapped in plastic (gauche), nor is it made in Vietnam (very unfashun).
Mildly haughty, Vivy, but we’d have given you a pass if you left it at that. We respect that you’ve built your brand, and pretending to be your brand in name, is stealing. Period.
It’s also not cool that they’re maybe even duping consumers who don’t know the difference (like us). We’ve all fallen victim to accidentally buying a pair of Armando Exchange jeans in our day.
However, many took offense to the second half of her statement, linking her consumer goods to the piousness of those who decided to wear the hijab. Apparently, good Muslims don’t wear knock-offs.
Granted, there are (as acknowledged above) legit ethical concerns about the knock-off industry. But there’s something off-putting about suggesting out loud that fake dUCK scarves, and that knockoff Chanel bag you got on Petaling Street for a deal are what is going to come between you and your maker come judgement day. Or does God not care about handbags, only headscarves?
For good measure, she added that she had no idea how people could wear “fake” telekung (what women wear praying in mosque), because apparently there’s a difference between a branded pious telekung, and whatever else you bought, peasants.
Offensive, and we can’t really tell what you’re getting at Vivy. Are you just worried about your brand integrity? What about personal integrity? Where’s that at?
Somewhere in the nebulous zone that lies between brand and personal integrity, Vivy decided she should deleted the post, and replace it with these:
Ah, the good ‘ol it’s how you read it, not how I intended. It’s our fault that we read what Vivy was saying incorrectly — just like it’s our fault when we buy a knock-off version of her hijab.
Also, she wants you to know:
K.
Social media was having none of it, and were quick to point out how painfully consumerist Islamic fashion had become.
One woman pointed out that while there was much more choice than when she was younger, it came at a (literal) cost: Using religion to guilt people into buying luxury goods.
On the bright-side? At least it’s just fabric, and not using your social media fan base to shill anti-wrinkle supplements to babies.
