New Zealand fashion designer Dame Trelise Cooper has apologised for an “embarrassing mistake” after naming a $299 dress the “Trail of Tiers”. The name bears a close similarity to the forced relocation of Native Americans during the 1830s Trail of Tears.
The Trail of Tears saw an estimated 45,000 Native Americans forced from their ancestral homelands by the US Government at the time. Thousands died along the 8000km relocation, with many falling ill and starving.
In a statement to 1 NEWS, the Trelise Cooper group said they were “completely unaware” of the meaning of the term.
“We called a dress Trail of Tiers because it is a long tiered dress with a trailing back hem, unaware of the meaning of the term Trail of Tears.
“We are recalling this dress from all stores to be renamed immediately.
“This mistake was made out of ignorance. But, given how much pain ignorance of past injustice has caused, we are distressed that we have added to this harm.”
The dress is no longer listed on Trelise Cooper's website . But, the dress was still on Australian boutique fashion store Tea Lily's website at 1pm today.
The apology came after criticism of the name on Twitter.
In a tweet, Professor Joanna Kidman, of Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Raukawa descent, likened the dress’ name to “colonial violence in floral polyester”.
“Accounts of Native women being raped by settlers and soldiers on the Trail of Tears and the Long Walk of the Navajo don't translate well into a fashion statement,” The Professor of Māori Education at the Victoria University of Wellington said.
Kidman told 1 NEWS she hoped to see action behind the apology, for example, a donation from the dress’ proceeds to the Navajo nation and Hopi nation reservations.
“Some of them are the hardest hit by the virus,” she said.
She also urged businesses to have meaningful conversations and “work really closely” with indigenous communities, instead of simply “cherry-picking” cultural symbols for profit. Kidman said this was important because businesses like fashion designers were in positions of privilege.
“I want to see mature and respectful conversations about racism,” she added.
In 2014, Cooper came under fire after using a Native American headdress . In 2011, she was also criticised for using tape to stretch the eyes of models during a Fashion Week show to give them an “Asian” look.
1 NEWS has contacted the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association for comment.
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