Dame Trelise Cooper has been criticised for the name of one of her dresses. Photo / Supplied
Dame Trelise Cooper has been criticised for the name of one of her dresses. Photo / Supplied
Kiwi fashion designer Dame Trelise Cooper has apologised for an "embarrassing mistake" of naming a dress with a phrase associated with a bleak period in Native American history.
The "Trail of Tiers" dress has been called out on Twitter for its similarity to the phrase "Trail of Tears".
During the 1830s thousands of Native Americans were forced to relocate from ancestral land, it is now referred to as the "Trail of Tears".
Cooper has now apologised for the "embarrassing mistake in using a term whose meaning we were completely unaware of".
Professor of Māori Education at Victoria University of Wellington Joanna Kidman described the event as a "genocide" as the Indian removal act of 1830 allowed white settlers to remove Native Americans in large numbers from their ancestral homeland.
The dress has now been taken off the website. Photo / www.trelisecooperonline.com
It is estimated 46,000 Native Americans between 1830 and 1850 were forcibly removed by the US Government.
The trail is more than 8000km long, with thousands dying on the journey.
Last night while scrolling through the internet, Kidman came across an ad for Trelise Cooper, looking through the fashion labels website she came across the "Trail of Tiers" dress.
"The dress came up and I couldn't quite believe it, I took a double take, I couldn't believe what I was seeing and then I realised what I was seeing," a shocked Kidman told the Herald.
"The trail of tears is one of the most shameful episodes in American colonial history, it's not the sort of thing one would generally use as a selling point for a frock, a polyester frock."
The $299 dress has now been removed from Cooper's website and is now being recalled from stores to be renamed.
The dress is no longer available. Photo / www.trelisecooperonline.com/
"I'm not sure there would be many women who would want to wear a dress that summoned images of genocide, starvation and rape."
NZ fashion designer Trelise Cooper names one of her dress designs: "Trail of Tiers." I guess it's cool to be ironic about genocide and the forced relocation of 46,000 Native Americans. @trelisewgtnhttps://t.co/lwuwtj6WGk
Although the spelling of the dress name is different Kidman says her mind immediately went straight to the "Trail of Tears".
Kidman says the fashion industry needed to "engage more readily with indigenous populations and groups" so incidents like these do not continue.
"If there were people around her or who know about the name she claims this wouldn't have happened."
Kidman took to Twitter to share the conversation with other indigenous people nationally and internationally saying "we have this conversation all the time on and off Twitter".
Her tweet has received a lot of reaction, with many Twitter users shocked to learn about the dress name.
Kidman has called on Cooper to donate all proceeds from the sale of her "Trail of Tiers" Dress to Navajo Nation and Hopi Nation reservations in the US.
This is not the first time Cooper has received allegations of racism in her clothing line.
In 2014 Cooper apologised on social media after models on a runway wore a Native American headdress.
In 2011, a number of Cooper's models had the skin around their eyes stretched back with tape to create an "Asian" look.
Kidman said she wondered whether Cooper had not learnt from the past mistakes.
"This is not the first time this has happened and I wonder is she genuinely not learning from her experiences or is there kind of a willful ignorance or is she wanting to use controversy to sell dresses."
