Romanians angered by designer Tory Burch’s ‘faux pas’

BUCHAREST, Romania – U.S. designer Tory Burch has changed the description of one of her designs, a traditional Romanian-style coat, after her brand angered thousands of Romanians for marketing it as a garment inspired by Africa.

The online group La Blouse Roumaine, which promotes traditional costume, showed on Facebook Burch’s design next to a virtually identical Romanian one on display in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Some Romanians claim Burch lifted the design for her Resort 2018 collection and accused her of cultural appropriation. La Blouse Roumaine asked her to “kindly … give the right credit for your inspiration. “

Burch said Tuesday that “in our effort to summarize the collection, we missed a reference to a beautiful Romanian coat which inspired one of the pieces.”