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Add Zac Posen to Designers Who Won't Dress Trump Family
Add Zac Posen to Designers Who Won't Dress Trump Family
The famed designer says "everybody has a political responsibility," even in fashion.
One more out fashion designer refuses to dress the Trump family.
Zac Posen, the designer of his eponymous fashion collection and judge for Project Runway, who is also the head of Brooks Brothers' womenswear line, tells the Daily Beast that he's protesting by choosing not to dress the first lady or the rest of the Trumps.
Posen cited "issues that are being questioned that are fundamentally upsetting to me" such as LGBT rights, immigration, women's rights, and funding being threatened for the arts and Planned Parenthood.
"These are just issues that are very close to my heart, and I use my own private voice and funds to fight for them and in support of them," he told the Daily Beast. "I think it's important to use your voice."
Posen takes the view that brands and people have a right to speak up and are capable of making an effect.
"I think everybody has a political responsibility," he told the Daily Beast. "Everybody has a voice, whether in fashion or any field."
Not every designer agrees, not even every out designer. Calvin Klein has said he would design for Melania Trump. So has out designer Thom Browne. They're joined by powerful names Diane von Furstenberg, Tommy Hilfiger, and Marcus Wainwright of Rag & Bone.
Designers who dress the Trumps still stand to make a lot of money. Ralph Lauren's stock price soared after the designer dressed Melania Trump for the inauguration speech.
Designers opposed to dressing the Trumps include fellow Project Runway favorite Christian Siriano, who said Melania Trump and he "don't share the same values."
Marc Jacobs won't do it. Neither will Joseph Altuzarra, Derek Lam, Humberto Leon, or Sophie Theallet. Vogue's Andre Leon Talley said he couldn't now support the Trump administration by helping the first lady, even though they had been friends. Tom Ford won't dress Melania Trump either, and Donald Trump's allies have tried to make him pay a penalty. Steve Wynn won't let Ford products be sold at his Wynn hotels in Las Vegas.
That hasn't stopped Jacobs and others from speaking out. He told WWD, "Personally, I'd rather put my energy into helping out those who will be hurt by [Donald] Trump and his supporters."
