"Sexy Little Geisha" outfit launched by popular lingerie company Victoria's Secret has come under hot water recently, forcing the company to remove the lingerie from its website.
On account of the incident, the nation's most famous lingerie company has removed the entire "Go East" collection of Asian-inspired lingerie wear from its website, stopping at once the campaign which was described on its website as "Your ticket to an exotic adventure."
The $98 lingerie one-piece, modeled by South African beauty Candice Swanepoel, consists of a mesh bodysuit with an oval cut-out on the bodice and an "Eastern-inspired" floral print on the bra cups and bottoms, a mini fan and removable obi-belt in the same print, and hair chopsticks with tassels.
The outfit is undoubtedly sexy (even though Swanepoel looks a bit uncomfortable in it), but some say it's offensive to Asian women - particularly the Japanese, from whom geisha culture originated. Historically, geishas are professionally trained entertainers and generally cater to a male audience, but many non-Japanese mistake them for prostitutes.
Possible cultural misidentification aside, critics say the outfit perpetuates the sexualization of Asians, while some - such as writer Jessica Wakeman of The Frisky - say that a corporation capitalizing on a geisha ensemble for "role-playing lingerie seems a bit tasteless". Others, however, think critics are overreacting and that the backlash is "ridiculous".
"You might as well [criticize] the 'sexy French maid' [costume] for sexualizing French women," wrote commenter Inna on Styleite.com. "It's meant to be playful and sexy, not degrading."
