Even rid of its controversial founder, Dov Charney, who was fired in December 2014, American Apparel still manages to get itself in hot water, this time with a casting call description, announcing its image change and a declaration that “Instagram hoes or thots” (short for “that [w]ho[re] over there”) need not apply.
The casting call flier (shown above and revealed by AnimalNewYork), was actually distributed by Photo Genics, a model agency whose director, Phira Luon,has taken full responsibility for the language, adding that it was an internal email whose references to hoes and thots was meant in jest. Still, the American Apparel employee who forwarded the flier to Animal said the language reflected the look and direction the company’s brand new marketing director, Cynthia Erland, is aiming for.
Granted, while Charney did a lot of unsavory things, including having someone we know fired for not fitting his body standards, he at the very least was a proponent of models who didn’t fit the typical industry standards of tall, skinny and white.
As such, we can’t help but laugh that the company, which at long last rid itself of Charney, still is managing to get in its own way. With this gaff, it’s not just insulting any woman that ever modeled for it, but also reinforcing the usual negative assumptions about women based on how they appear on an Instagram feed. Do we want to see Charney return? Heck no, but an about face on everything he brought to the table isn’t the ideal either.
