During Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, designer Lisa Burke of swimwear label Lisa Blue sent a swimsuit down the runway that has outraged many members of the right-wing Hindu organization Shiv Sena. The design featured Hindu Goddess Lakshmi who symbolizes prosperity and beauty.
Rajan Zed, a Hindu statesmen released a statement saying, "Lakshmi was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for pushing swimwear in fashion shows for mercantile greed of an apparel company." Zed thinks the image is offensive to devotees.
People in India burning the Australian flag
John Olgivie, a Byron Bay-based yoga instructor who has studied Hinduism for 30 years said, "There is a lot of clothing like that in India with images of the Goddess Lakshmi. But the image of the goddess on the bikini bottom, Hindus would consider that very tasteless. As a sign of respect, the one-piece falls into that category, but perhaps the swimwear bottom was a little bit too far."
Burke has promised that the design will not be produced or sold and released a statement saying, "The image of Goddess Lakshmi will not appear on any piece of Lisa Blue swimwear for the new season, with a halt put on all production of the new range and pieces shown on the runway from last week removed/ The use of images of Goddess Lakshmi was not in any way a measure of calculated risk taking, simply it was a desire to celebrate different cultures and share that through our brand. This range will never be available for sale in any stockists or retail outlets anywhere in the world. We apologise to the Hindu community and take this matter very seriously
John Olgivie, a Byron Bay-based yoga instructor who has studied Hinduism for 30 years said, "There is a lot of clothing like that in India with images of the Goddess Lakshmi. But the image of the goddess on the bikini bottom, Hindus would consider that very tasteless. As a sign of respect, the one-piece falls into that category, but perhaps the swimwear bottom was a little bit too far."
