Globally renowned fashion brand Zara is facing unprecedented outrage for its despicable campaign mocking the massacres of Palestinian children. Labelled as The Jacket, Zara’s campaign attempted to recreate the death and destruction in Gaza. While netizens launched hashtag #BoycottZara on social media in disgust, soon the focus shifted to Zara’s Israeli Head Designer, Vanessa Perilman. It didn’t long many to establish the link between Zara’s decision to mock the deaths of over 7,000 Palestinian children and its new fashion campaign.
Who Is Vanessa Perilman?
Perilman is not new to controversies and has faced global outrage for her disgusting remarks about Palestinians in the past. In response to model Qaher Harhash, who is from East Jerusalem, Perilman had said, “Maybe if your people were educated then they wouldn’t blow up the hospitals.”
Writing to Harhash in a private conversation on Instagram, Perilman had said, “Israelis don’t teach children to hate nor throw stones at soldiers as your people do.”
Zara’s Israeli head of design did not stop here as she went berserk. She wrote, “I think it’s funny that you are a model because, in reality, that is against what the Muslim faith believes in and if you were to come out of the closet in any Muslim country, you would be stoned to death.”
Not to be lectured by a Zionist, Harhash had replied, “Does your little brain teach you about power dynamics and how this could possibly hurt me?”
The controversy turned so nasty for Zara that it had to issue condemnation for Perilman. “We condemn these comments that do not reflect our core values of respect for one another, and we regret the offense that they have caused,” a statement from Zara had read.
Now, Perilman is back in the spotlight once again as Zara’s dirty campaign upsets Muslims globally.
Perilman, who hails from Israel, has completed her degree in fashion from Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris. She describes herself as the ‘Women’s Head Designer specializing in wovens, embellishment, draping, patternmaking, and illustration, managing a team and overseeing all designs from proto to fit to finish.’
Religion, Children
She, who previously worked with brands such as Inditex, Revolve and Forever21, is Jewish by faith. She reportedly has three children including two boys and a girl.