A Louis Vuitton dress featured on an Elle magazine cover has caused a scandal in Ukraine, accused of being sponsored by Russian President Putin. Activists say it’s no coincidence that the dress’s colors are those of Russia’s symbol of Victory Day.
Black and orange dress from Louis Vuitton recent collection has become the cause of the whole kerfuffle as it indeed matches colors of the Georgian Ribbon, a symbol of annual Victory Day celebrations since 2005, when, the highest military decoration in Imperial Russia in the past, it has adopted a new cultural usage.
In the banner featuring the new issue of Elle, 34-year-old actress Michelle Williams is posing in the orange-and-black striped dress.
LOL :+}} Ukrainian-edition cover of #Elle with the "St. George" dress caused a scandal. http://t.co/9xEIS93zvNpic.twitter.com/UgObbt7cr0
— Novorossiya Lives (@Novorossiyan) April 22, 2015
But MPs and activists in Kiev have come up with their vision of Elle’s cover. They suspect a Kremlin ploy to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.
The magazine, translated into Russian, as well as plenty of other languages, is now under attack for – quote unquote – how “Putin’s money transforms global consciousness.”
This phrase came from the MP Aleksandr Briginec of the Batkivshina (Fatherland) Party, who joined many Ukrainians expressing outrage on social media. Tempers flared up as soon as the April issue of Elle hit billboards across the country. Then, everyone, from MPs to the general public, was up in arms.
“The magazine has gone ahead and given itself another dose of ‘Georgian’ bad publicity, though the ‘dough’ it got in return probably more than made up for it,” Briginec continues to write online of the leather dress worn by Williams. As if to underline the conspiracy, Briginec goes on to say, that “completely by accident, it’s the May issue of the magazine. The model’s mug should be smeared in the blood of Ukrainians.”
Украину взорвал "георгиевский" номер ELLE. Политики и "диванные войска" в бешенстве... http://t.co/tdl177N6Jvpic.twitter.com/3fLZggLVtd
— Pravda.ru (@PravdaRu) April 22, 2015
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenuk, who has repeatedly stated that it was Ukraine who liberated the world from the Nazi’s, now wants to officially use a red poppy – “a European symbol” – as Ukraine’s new sign of victory in World War II.
Despite being used to commemorate World War I, the remembrance poppy was first used by some Ukrainians to observe WWII Victory Day in 2014.
Another prove, activists say, that the Kremlin is indeed behind the April issue of Elle, is that it used a different cover for the Russian issue – one with actress Eva Green.
What they don’t question is how Putin’s ‘pro-Russian’ Michelle Williams cover first appeared in the UK in April.