On Tuesday, Anna Wintour went on Late Night with Seth Meyers and recounted how she ended up in tears in the basement of Madison Square Garden after the Yeezy Season 3 show in February. As she was telling the story, she described the Kanye West-designed clothes on display as "migrant chic" — and, obviously, that's not going over well.
As the interview went viral, people started taking to social media to call out the Vogue 's editor-in-chief on her comment. One Twitter user wrote: "Anna Wintour called Yeezy season 3 'Migrant Chic.' Even though 'Chic' is a good thing, the word 'Migrant' can be taken [many] other ways." Another user tweeted: "Anna Wintour, you are indelibly callous; Condoning Kanye's collection and describing it as 'migrant chic.' Wholly inappropriate." Others shared memes reacting to Wintour's remarks, and called out the fashion industry more widely for this type of insensitive behavior.
Following the backlash, Wintour issued a statement on Friday via a Vogue representative: "I apologize if my remark was offensive in any way. The migrant crisis is real, and I didn't intend to trivialize that issue."
According to Time, West's latest Yeezy collection was inspired by a 1995 photograph of a Rwandan refugee camp — which also raised some eyebrows at the time of its reveal. In October, a Hungarian photographer pulled a "migrant chic" fashion editorial series following accusations that it glamorized the harsh realities immigrants face, BBC reported.
Somewhat ironically, later this week, Wintour spoke on the Today Show about the experience of being filmed for The First Monday in May, and how documentary filmmakers "just follow you around until you say something you regret."
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