[Photo via Pexels]

School shooting-inspired streetwear line by Bstroy sparks controversy

September 19, 2019

[Photo via Pexels]

Streetwear brand Bstroy’s spring/summer 2020 collection left show attendees (and the internet) baffled and angry on Thursday. Four of the runway models wore hoodies embroidered with the names of the U.S.’s deadliest school shootings across their chests.

Bstroy co-founder and designer Brick Owens shared in a statement that he was attempting to “comment on gun violence…while also empowering the survivors of tragedy.” But his hoodies, donning distressed holes resembling gunshots, say otherwise.

**Read more: Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace on Orlando Terrorist Attack: “It’s completely F*cked up”**

Owens referenced the infamous 1999 Columbine High School shooting—which took 13 lives—along with Virginia Tech’s 2007 shooting, which claimed 32 victims’ lives. His hoodies also mentioned the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which took 26 lives, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of a mass shooting which left 17 people dead in 2018.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2cOw_6BBvp/

Social Media Backlash

Industry insiders have praised Owens for his attempt to bring attention to gun violence. However, victims and their families have responded by insisting that Owens shelve the line entirely and apologize.

The Bstroy hoodies initially went viral when Owens posted images of them to Instagram. By the following Tuesday, his posts generated a slew of comments. Most of them criticized his choice to make light of the ongoing history of school shootings in America.

What in the fuck is wrong with you? If you think hoodies with bullet holes bearing the names of schools where famous massacres occured is making some kind of statement you missed the mark. This is really bad taste.

— Thisuserfightsfascism (@Thisuserfights1) September 17, 2019

@sandyhook @davidhogg111 @fred_guttenberg

WTF is wrong with you? School clothing with bullet holes is not at all “edgy”. It’s hurtful, mean-spirited and sociopathic.

SHAME! Making money from people’s worst possible pain. #NoShame #NoDecency

— TheActivistsDaughter (@Lee_Resists) September 18, 2019

These are the victims. I’ll add survivors & victim families. Are those better than the clothes? If you want to have a conversation on gun violence in all it’s forms, & the response to all gun violence, there are better ways to do it. Please try to be empathetic to these families

— FaithEWasHere (@gigglemuch1) September 18, 2019

Inspiration Behind the Collection

Another post included show notes, which provides attendees with the designers’ inspiration for the collection. It reads, “Like the irony of dying violently in a place you considered to be a safe, controlled environment, like school. We are reminded all the time of life’s fragility, shortness, and unpredictability, yet we are also reminded of its infinite potential.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2cS67DhspL/?utm_source=ig_embed

Designing with Darkness

This isn’t the first time Owens and co-founder Dieter Grams have taken their designs to a dark place. After meeting over Myspace, the duo founded their label as teenagers in Atlanta in 2012. Owen and Grams have taken creative risks, including staging one of their shows at funeral home for a “post-apocalyptic” line. They’ve also sold T-shirts that glorify guns, and crew necks featuring fencing teams fighting with assault weapons.

Grams chalks up their latest collection as a ploy to gain recognition in the crowded market of merchandising. “We are making violent statements,” he told the New York Times. “That’s for you to know who we are so we can have a voice in the market. But eventually that voice will say things that everyone can wear.”

Owens wrote in an email to Today that he believes the reactions are based in prejudice, citing that he and Grams are both black men in their 20s.