Tory Burch Apologises After Accusations Of Cultural Appropriation In Her S/S17 Campaign Video

“I personally feel very badly”

Tory Burch released her latest campaign video this week and the American designer has faced a barrage of criticism as a result.

The video (titled #ToryStory: An American Road Trip) was directed by Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert and features Poppy Delevingne and two other models singing to Juju On That Beat by Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall, as well as performing the accompanying dance that helped make the song a viral hit. 

Twitter users immediately took umbrage with the fact that, despite the song and dance having been created by black artists, the video didn’t feature a model of colour and swiftly accused the designer of cultural appropriation.

The designer reportedly apologised in the video’s comment section on YouTube, which has now been taken down. She also issued a formal statement in response telling Vogue US, “The video was intended to celebrate music that we love with our spring collection. It was never meant to be insensitive in any way. We have removed the video from our channels. I personally feel very badly if this hurt anyone and I am truly sorry.”