Melbourne Fashion Festival apologises for clothing featuring 'Allah'

REBEL STORE AUSTRALIA

Get Rebel News Australia merchandise! All our products are printed in and fulfilled from Queensland.

SHOP NOW

• By Avi Yemini

Sign up for Rebel News Australia!

Get updates on Rebel News coverage in Australia delivered straight to your inbox so you never miss a story!

Sign Up

A Melbourne Fashion Festival and a featured clothing designer have issued grovelling apologies after displaying clothing featuring the word “Allah”.

The streetwear brand called Not a Man’s Dream displayed the clothes at the Melbourne Fashion Festival on Saturday.

One of the designs was a sleeveless jumpsuit made from transparent fabric with the phrase “Allah waks with me” written all over in Arabic.

The model's head, neck and ears were covered with the same fabric.

The phrase featured on another design, a short-sleeve midi dress with a large split.

A Melbourne-based Muslim fashion blogger Mona Khalifa, who attended the show, said she was "disturbed" by the designs which were “wrong on so many levels”.

She complained on social media that the clothing showed "blatant disrespect" for Muslims.

Both the fashion festival organisers and the offending brand were quick to issue apologies.

A spokesperson for Melbourne Fashion Festival said they were aware that certain garments "caused offence" and reassured people that they had removed online images of the garments.

"The Festival did not intend to disrespect anyone and we apologise for any offence caused," the spokesperson said.

Not A Man's Dream designer Samantha Saint James was also quick to apologise, saying she had "come to understand how some garments have caused offence".

"It was the opposite of my intention and for that, I'm truly sorry,” she said.