Model Ayesha Tan-Jones staged a protest against Gucci while walking in the brand's runway show during Milan Fashion Week. Tan-Jones, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, said they were speaking out against the company's use of straitjackets in its spring/summer 2020 collection.
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Hello ✨ I just want to say Thank You for all the support so many of you have given me since I lifted my hands in peaceful protest on the Gucci Runway show yesterday -- I feel very blessed to be surrounded by supportive comrades, and to know that there are so many people sharing support online for this action ✊-- I want to use this opportunity to remind people that this sort of bravery, is only a simple gesture compared to the bravery that people with mental health issues show everyday. To have the bravery to get out of bed, to greet the day, and to live their lives is an act of strength, and I want to thank you for being here and being YOU ! ☀️ The support people have shown to my act is more than I could imagine, so I only trust that we will share this same support to our friends, siblings, loved ones, acquaintances, internet friends or even strangers, who might be going through tough times with their Mental Health. Showing up for them may come in many forms, check in via text or DM, listen to them with patience and without judgement, offer a helping hand with household tasks like food shop, cooking or cleaning, regularly remind them how amazing and strong they are, but also that is okay feel the feels too, Lets show up for people with mental health and help end the stigma together !-- Many of the other Gucci models who were in the show felt just as strongly as I did about this depiction of straightjackets, and without their support I would not have had the courage to walk out and peacefully protest. Some have chosen to donate a portion their fee, and I 100% of mine, to mental health charities, who are doing amazing work for people today! Below are tags to some amazing charities that I encourage, if you have the resources and capacity to, please donate in any way you can, and in my linktree ( in bio ) is a google doc to websites for more charities ! <3 also, please comment any other mental health organisations globally you would like to support and share, as my resources are uk us based currently -- blessings, love & rage - ayesha yaya ✨ @mindcharity @mermaidsgender @qtpocmentalhealth @stonewalluk @switchboardlgbt @lgbtswitchboard a>
A post shared by YaYa Bones (@ayeshatanjones) on Sep 23, 2019 at 3:17am PDT
During the show, they held up their palms to reveal the words, "Mental health is not fashion." Tan-Jones explained their decision in a lengthy statement posted to Instagram Sunday.
"I chose to protest the Gucci S/S/ 2020 runway show as I believe, as many of my fellow models do, that the stigma around mental health must end," they wrote. "As an artist and model who has experienced my own struggles with mental health, as well as family members and loved ones who have been affected by depression, anxiety, bipolar and schizophrenia, it is hurtful and insensitive for a major fashion house such as Gucci to use this imagery as a concept for a fleeting fashion moment."
Tan-Jones, who described themselves as an artist and musician, said straitjackets were "a symbol of a cruel time" in medicine's history when mental illness wasn't "understood."
"It is in bad taste for Gucci to use the imagery of straitjackets and outfits alluding to mental patients, while being rolled out on a conveyor belt as if a piece of factory meat," Tan-Jones said. "Presenting these struggles as props for selling clothes in today's capitalist climate is vulgar, unimaginative and offensive to the millions of people around the world affected by these issues."
A post shared by YaYa Bones (@ayeshatanjones) on Sep 22, 2019 at 8:23am PDT
Tan-Jones later wrote in a separate Instagram post that they, as well as other models, chose to donate part of their fees to mental health charities.
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Uniforms, utilitarian clothes, normative dress, including straitjackets, were included in the #GucciSS20 fashion show as the most extreme version of a uniform dictated by society and those who control it. These clothes were a statement for the fashion show and will not be sold. @alessandro_michele designed these blank-styled clothes to represent how through fashion, power is exercised over life, to eliminate self-expression. This power prescribes social norms, classifying and curbing identity. The Creative Director’s antidote is seen in the Gucci Spring Summer 2020 lineup of 89 looks, he has designed a collection that conveys fashion as a way to allow people to walk through fields of possibilities, cultivate beauty, make diversity sacrosanct and celebrate the self in expression and identity. #AlessandroMichele
A post shared by Gucci (@gucci) on Sep 22, 2019 at 11:25am PDT
Gucci said in an Instagram post Sunday, "uniforms, utilitarian clothes, normative dress, including straitjackets," were included in the show "as the most extreme version of a uniform dictated by society and those who control it."
Uniforms, utilitarian clothes, the normative dress dictated by society and those who control it—this idea is represented in the opening 60 beige and ivory looks of the #GucciSS20 fashion show by #AlessandroMichele. #mfw pic.twitter.com/vwKTSpozj5
— gucci (@gucci)
September 22, 2019 The brand added that the specific clothes were just a statement for the show, designed by the company's creative director Alessandro Michele and will not be sold.
The brand also clarified the sterile-looking ensembles that opened the show were only a portion of the designs — with the "antidote" being the other more vibrant looks later on. The company explained the collection aims to convey "fashion as a way to allow people to walk through fields of possibilities, cultivate beauty, make diversity sacrosanct and celebrate the self in expression and identity."
Michele told The New York Times that for him, the show "was the journey from conformity to freedom and creativity" and that the restrictive clothes were "part of a performance." Gucci felt the model should be free to protest, as the show was partly about freedom, reported the outlet.
This isn't the first time Gucci has been under fire for insensitive designs. In February, the brand removed a controversial sweater from its site and issued an apology after some people said the garment resembled blackface.
Last winter, a namesake turban resembling the traditional Sikh dastar was modeled by a white male at the luxury brand's Milan Fashion Week show and led to backlash. The controversy bubbled up again in May when social media users discovered Gucci's "Indy Full Head Wrap" for sale on Nordstrom's website.
Gucci did not immediately respond to request for comment.
