A local fashion week in Omaha, Nebraska, is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. During the series of runway shows held between February 27 and March 1, designer Kelli Molczyk presented a jacket with what looked a lot like a swastika across the back — drawing outrage online in the weeks that followed. Molczyk has since said the graphic was meant to be an antique pinwheel, not a Nazi symbol.
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Omaha Fashion Week’s owner, Brook Hudson, told local television channel KMTV that her team clocked the problem during the show, made sure the jacket didn’t appear on the runway again as initially planned, and apologized to participants and volunteers backstage. But in the weeks since the show, backlash grew online as more people saw images of the jacket. This week, the event’s organizers released a statement on Facebook disavowing the symbol. They explained that they had not seen the jacket and its “hateful image” before the show. The statement said Molczyk will not be allowed to return to Omaha Fashion Week in the future, and that the organization will change its backstage and pre-show protocols to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Meanwhile, Molczyk also released a statement on Instagram, stating that she has “never been a part of a hate organization, and I condemn, in the strongest terms, the swastika and any form of hate speech or conduct.” She said her jacket was inspired by an antique pinwheel quilt and was never meant to resemble a swastika. “To associate me with any such acts of hate or hate groups is reprehensible and defamatory,” she wrote.
