Louis Vuitton’s Latest Release Is a Slap in the Face to Jamaica and Africa

The luxury fashion house tried to appropriate Caribbean culture and instead disrespected Black history

Design by Felton Brown

Any clothing item made of 49% polyester with a $1,340 price tag is a commerce crime. That’s the ask for Louis Vuitton’s newly released Jamaican Stripe Pullover LV Intarsia. Yet, sadly, marking up the price of inexpensive materials to match one month’s rent in many major cities isn’t the fashion brand’s biggest, most recent transgression.

The shirt’s design consists of three horizontal stripes: green on top, yellow in the middle, and red down bottom. This colorway, according to the item description, was inspired by Jamaica’s national flag. The problem is that the Jamaican flag is not green, yellow, and red; it’s green, yellow, and black. It’s not striped, either. If Louis Vuitton was so wedded to this specific palette and design, the homage’s rightful home would’ve been Ethiopia; if it weren’t for the East African country’s national emblem, the pricey pullover would be a replica of its flag.

Long story short? Louis Vuitton fucked up by not doing its due diligence. Despite the flowery messaging, honoring the culture and people of Jamaica was apparently less of a priority than profiting from their…