London-based Nigerian designer showed an ultra-mini skirt with a print of the Saudi Arabian flag. There is only one way it will fly

Right: the controversial skirt based on the flag of Saudi Arabia. Photo: Launchmetric Spotlight

Nigerian designer Mowalola Ogunlesi, who shows her collections in London, recently sent out on her recent runway show extremely short skirts, seemingly inspired by flags of different nations—not necessarily a brilliant idea, considering how controversial the use of such symbols of nations could be. And of all the flags she picked for her spring/summer 2024 Mowalola show during London Fashion Week, she chose Saudi Arabia’s, with the Shahada—the Islamic oath, which for Muslims is sacred—on the garment. It was not enough that she featured the Arabic text, she had it emblazoned across a skirt that could not have been longer than eight inches (or about 20cm) in length. It is hardly unforseeable that, as a consequence, deep displeasure would be aroused.

It is surprising that the designer did not see the potential blasphemy of her choice of text and its placement. Ms Ogunlesi was initially indignant with the online reactions. She wrote on X, “Cry me a river”. And then defiantly, “a mini skirt being an act of war in 2023 is so dystopian”. These posts were eventually removed when most social media users were not moved, and demanded that she apologises. She then relented, issuing the statement: “One of my key inspirations for SS24 was to use the national flags of different countries. After the show, I found that one of these flags—Saudi Arabia—features sacred words, and its use has caused great offense. Now that I’ve been educated on this topic, I sincerely apologize for this. I’ll ensure this design is removed from the collection. I deeply regret any hurt or offense my oversight may have caused. Thank you for holding me accountable, and I appreciate your understanding as I learn from this experience.”

With the very public outcry, even Vogue Runway removed the photo that featured the problematic skirt, shown alongside another that seemed to be in the likeness of the flag of China (only the skirts with the British and Japanese flags remain). In fact, even Chinese text appeared on the Mowalola garments—the name of the brand 魔娃洛啦 (mowa luola) was used on singlets and bike shorts, possibly for the purpose of appealing to the Chinese market or those who consider 汉字 (hanzi) exotic. It is not clear, why, when it came to the abjad or Arabic script, Mowalola Ogunlesi, who worked with Kanye West on the doomed Yeezy Gap, did not ascertain the meaning of the phrase used, or why it should appear in a collection with provocative illustration, such as the girl on a T-shirt clearly pleasuring herself. Is ignorance more rampant in fashion than we think?