The people of Greenland have taken offense to Peter Jensen's fall 2009 collection. Though he showed at London Fashion Week, which ended weeks ago, Greenlanders only staged an official protest yesterday. So it either takes a very long time for news to get all the way up there or for Greenlanders to feel the heat of their anger (and possibly their fingers). Jensen's muse this season was his aunt Jytte, who owned a chip shop and cab company in Nuuk, Greenland, in the seventies. Protesters have issues with the white thigh-high floral kamik boots worn with most looks, and have even sent death threats to Jensen.
Jensen thoroughly researched the collection in Greenland and the Faeroes, and tells British Vogue:
"In paying homage to my aunt Jytte, who was made so welcome by the people of Nuuk in the late Sixties, we hoped to bring the world's attention to the beauty of the Greenlandic national costume. Here at Peter Jensen we are shocked and outraged that our loving tribute to their kamik boots could be construed as in any way exploitative. We hoped that, as the Japanese with the kimono and the Scots with tartan, the people of Greenland would embrace the attention their heritage has received, in the form of our re-worked kamik boots.
" ... The collection and the boots were made out of pure love and meant as a celebration from the trip which we went on in November. That I am now getting death threats is really taking this thing out of proportion."
What gives, Greenland? Wikipedia tells us Kate Moss and Paris Hilton have worn modern kamik boots. So while you're enjoying this latitude, you may as well go bug them, too. Feel free to give Paris hell.
A Controversial Fashion [British Vogue]
Read more posts by Amy Odell
Filed Under: angry mobs, designers, fall 2009, london fashion week, peter jensen, shoes
