By Sydney Dalske
Mowalola Ogunlesi is a London based Nigerian fashion designer. She is mainly known for working with a wide variety of textiles in her clothing and creating non-traditional silhouettes, which are inspired by both the Nigerian and London fashion culture.
In her new Spring 2024 collection at the London Fashion week this past Friday, Mowalola displayed a miniskirt that had the print of the Saudi Arabian flag on it. While the clothing collection did have a multitude of country’s flags displayed on miniskirts, such as China, the UK and Japan, the Saudi-Arabian flag in particular has the Shahada Islamic oath on it, which states: “there is no god but God; Mohammed is the messenger of God.”.
Multiple large fashion accounts from Arab and Muslim businesses have urged the public to stop sales of all Mowalola items. This is due to their large customer base in the Middle East. The issue Middle Eastern countries are having with this design is that the flag is considered holy to them and to have it displayed on a piece of clothing is blasphemous.
This means that it is typically not imprinted on clothing due to respect for it. The Saudi Ministry of Commerce has even banned business from commercial purposes in 2022.
Designer Ogunlesi originally reacted with mockery towards the controversy, posting on X (formerly twitter) saying, “A miniskirt being an act of war in 2023 is so dystopian,” and also “Cry me a river,” both captured by screenshots from the Couture is Beyond account. The reaction this warranted soon led to the designer deleting the posts and apologizing for them.
One of her apologies included the quote, “…I have found that one of these flags – Saudi Arabia – features sacred words, and its use has caused great offense. I’ll ensure this design is removed from the collection. I deeply regret any hurt or offense my oversight may have caused…”
Despite this apology, religious symbols have been used in Mowalola designs multiple times before, using the crucifix frequently also in their Spring 2023 collection. But hopefully the removal of the piece will be successful since Vogue Runway has already removed the picture of it from their online overview.
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