Zara skirt pulled from website due to resemblance to ‘Pepe the Frog’

A denim skirt in Zara’s limited edition ‘Oil on Denim’ collection has been pulled from its website due to a striking resemblance to beloved internet meme turned “alt-right cartoon” Pepe the Frog.

The skirt is embroidered with cartoon frogs, a motif that social media users claim appears to show a sunglasses-wearing Pepe. Fashion and Music writer Megan Fredette quickly noticed the product and took to Twitter, later telling Dazed that Zara has “no idea what they are doing” given the image’s political connotations following the ‘hijacking’ of Pepe by the alt-right during the course of the American electoral campaign. Numerous others pitched in on social media claiming the design is inappropriate.

Pepe’s creator is cartoonist Matt Furie. He has launched a campaign to reclaim the meme, telling the Guardian that it is “the worst case scenario for an artist to lose control of their work”.

This is the not the first time Zara has been engaged in a “bad taste battle”. They have several other incidents under their belt, including the withdrawal of a controversial handbag in 2007 and a complaint from an unfortunate customer who found a mouse sewn into her dress last year.

The original link to the product now redirects to Zara’s homepage. Zara maintains that the design is the work of artist Mario de Santiago (known online as Yimeisgreat) who took inspiration for the design from a past painting and not from the contentious cartoon amphibian.