Fashion’s Most Talked-About Campaigns – For All The Wrong Reasons

It isn’t far-fetched to open a magazine, look up at the billboard on your street or open your phone to find fashion show reels and find a provocative fashion campaign. In fact, it could even be expected by a few. How else do you plan to stand out in a sea of glitzy campaigns, all armed with their well-fed brand ambassadors? Nonetheless, a few may cross the border of acceptable and stir up the internet’s academic armchair critics. Here are a few that have left a lingering bad taste in the mouths of fashion connoisseurs. 

It was only a few weeks ago when Italian fashion giant Gucci found itself relentlessly badmouthed in Instagram comment sections. Their use of artificial intelligence to promote their upcoming show by generating images that fit Gucci’s aesthetic – such as a glamorous grandmother being watched by all while walking in a restaurant, or a chic car that appealed to Gucci’s glitz – ‘provoked’ many traditional viewers who found it appalling that a reputed fashion house would resort to a cost-cutting tactic as such.

Nevertheless, others argued that the focus wasn’t on cost-cutting; rather, it was to tap into the intersection of fashion and the world’s favourite new toy by placing Gucci at the heart of it. Could the incentive be to stir up such intense debate? 

However, loyalists still argued that the craft of Gucci had been dishonoured by utilising a technology that had already taken away so much from the world of craftsmanship. On the other hand, some found that the pictures definitely had the right prompts: the visuals captured the essence of Gucci in totality.

Now, while the internet may be divided on its justifiability, it definitely achieved its aim of getting people talking.

Sex Sells; But It Also Offends

Sensuality is a common theme targeted in advertisements, especially in high fashion. However, some ads may tread a fine line while others absolutely leave it astray. The latter could be said for a certain Dolce & Gabbana campaign from 2007. The visual depicted a woman being pinned down by one shirtless man while a group of similarly clothed men surrounded her.

This quickly results in heavy backlash for romanticising rape and the violation of body autonomy, being termed the ‘Gang rape’ ad. It eventually led to a ban in Spain and Italy, as well as criticism from bodies such as The Advertising Self Discipline Institute.

Beg, Borrow, Steal

It would be hard to address all the kinds of provocative fashion campaigns that have sprung up over the passage of time. Fortunately, there seems to exist a host of fashion brands, typically operating out of the global north, that unsuspectingly follow a certain genre.

That is, namely, couturiers and labels that sell products with roots of Indian origin. Whether it’s the Kolhapuri-inspired footwear sold by Prada in 2025, or the BVLGARI Mangalsutra adorned by Priyanka Chopra in 2021 or Gucci’s 2019 show that featured turbans or “In on the runway or even the ‘Scandinavian scarf’. 

Many allege a gross appropriation of Indian culture and profiting from the same. However, on the bright side, as dependence on social media increases, so does accountability. In the case of Prada & the stolen Kolhapuri chappals, the missing credit was finally found when Prada acknowledged the inspiration it took. 

This, of course, was a result of artisans from Maharashtra calling out the fallacy of simply touting the chappals as leather sandals. In fact, it even resulted in a collaboration with artisans in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka and the signing of a memorandum of understanding with two state-supported organisations that support the heritage of the leather industry in the named states.

While some still debate over it, one could argue it’s a step in the right direction. Gucci, instead, chose to stop the sale of the turbans and apologise.

Taking Accountability

While intended to be or achieved through a mistake, all labels manage to achieve at least a few provocative fashion campaigns or moments (if not an array to pick from). However, it could be postulated that the outcome & response from the brand is more important than the incident itself. Is all press good press? Or is a carefully curated brand image necessary? Could the answer be found at an intersection of the two? It remains a mystery. To us, at least. 

Nevertheless, as the world moves at such a rapid pace, the relevance of these individual, currently discourse-evoking moments may turn obsolete, simply left in the newspapers of the past, only recollected at certain instances for a certain few whose wounds never scabbed completely. It could just become another provocative campaign, a small component of a plethora of similar accounts. 

This doesn’t translate to not holding brands accountable; however, when companies and luxury brands flout the rules of respecting cultures as well as glamorising horrible acts such as rape and returning to a patriarchal mindset, there exists no room for tolerance. And that is possibly a huge positive that arises from the fast-spreading use of the internet.

Authored by Jai Shah, freelance fashion writer, for SheThePeople Sartorial Series. | Views expressed by the author are their own.