The day after the show, Cooper apologised on Facebook and Twitter. "I genuinely respect and honour all cultures, races and religions. It was never my intention to disrespect another culture ... It is my hope that through my mistake and ignorance, like me, people now know and are aware of the Sacredness of the headdress to Native Americans."
But even her apology caused controversy, with some feeling it was uncalled for.
One could argue Cooper was wise to apologise. If she had caused offence to some then the right thing to say was "sorry".
But you could also argue fashion, like art, is an expression of creativity.
Designers - like artists - have always used culture and history for inspiration. Fabrics and designs are often borrowed from cultures - in the last seasons we have seen tartan and checks but there were no protests from Scottish clans. Tribal and Aztec prints adorned our pants last summer. Gaucho pants, inspired by Argentina, are making a revival.
Fedora hats have been everywhere this winter - originally worn by Orthodox Jews, and then adopted by gangsters, and now at a high street near you. Last summer we wore harem pants - inspired by India? Or MC Hammer?
Fashion has always been a comment on society, history and the zeitgeist. Speaking in Cooper's defence, Fashion Week managing director Dame Pieter Stewart told TV3: "It was beautiful to be honest," she said. "It's a beautiful culture. Designers draw their inspiration from all sorts of things and she drew her inspiration obviously from the Indian culture."
You could argue like Stewart, that Cooper was not offending but honouring the culture. The headdresses were not items to purchase but part of the show. In other words, they were art. If they were in a painting, would people be so offended?
This year, an art exhibition in Auckland caused offence when it featured images of gangs, including a heavily tattooed alleged murderer.
Opponents accused the gallery of glamorising gang activities but Gow Langsford gallery boss Gary Langsford told media at the time: "We are not here to censor the work. It would be like you guys gagging freedom of speech."
Art is often provocative and in provoking can offend. The balance between freedom of expression on the one hand, and what is politically correct on the other hand, is full of "blurred lines" to quote Robin Thicke, an American-Canadian musician whose music - and the wider hip hop genre it is part of - is full of macho posturing.
Lyrics could be charged with being degrading and even violent towards women. Despite the lyrics of Thicke's song Blurred Lines - which could offend say - a rape victim, "And that's why I'm gonna take a good girl, I know you want it," - we not only accept it as art, we buy into it, making it a global hit.
Over in Britain this week, another form of art has caused offence. That is, if you can call iconic television programme Doctor Who "art". The New Zealand Herald reported this week the British television watchdog Ofcom had received six complaints after a lesbian kiss featured in Saturday night's Doctor Who episode, "Deep Breath". It was the first screen kiss between lizard-woman Madame Vastra and her human wife Jenny Flint - despite having been depicted as lovers for three years. The New Zealand Herald reports some were offended by what they perceived as a "blatant gay agenda," with one reviewer accusing the BBC of "wanting to become a porn channel".
Taking offence to the kiss seems absurd on many levels. First of all, why would a gay kiss be any more inappropriate than a heterosexual one?
If anything, portraying gay fictional characters in shows watched by children provides a balance hitherto lacking. Second of all, if there was any doubt at all that this is art, one person in the partnership is a lizard. That is a big clue to the fact it is not real. It is entertainment. It is art.
As contrived and symbolic as Trelise Cooper's head-dress wearing models or Robin Thicke's lyrical fantasies.
In the US this week, people took offence to a restaurant in Indiana that included an adjacent purpose-built birthing room where diners can go and watch calves being birthed.
The goal of the birthing room, said the restaurant's owner, was to remind people where food comes from.
Here in New Zealand the story caused more mirth than offence, with Facebook poster Ben Crossman quipping: "1 table for Hannibal Lector please" and Sarah Barclay noting: "And yet you can't breastfeed in a restaurant, interesting".
Deciding what is offensive when it concerns art or entertainment is always going to be controversial and subjective.
But there are some things that are surely universally offensive. Like people who recline their seats on planes. This week a row broke out on a US flight between two passengers when one male used a gadget called a Knee Defender, which prevents the person in front from reclining their seat. The woman in front got so agitated that she threw a glass of water over the man, the flight was diverted and both passengers were removed.
While throwing a glass of water over someone is extreme, few people who have experienced flights with their knees rammed against the seat in front, especially if tall and flying long haul, would argue with the consensus that reclining airline seats are truly offensive.
If there is a lesson in the offensive this week, it is to hone in on what really matters.
Someone ramming their seat into my knees in a long-haul flight? Yes, definitely offensive. Someone expressing themselves through art and unintentionally - like Cooper - offending people, or intentionally like the Gow Langsford, provoking people? Not so offensive. Or Doctor Who's lizard lesbian kiss - a step too far for some, a so-what for others and an inspiration for some? Completely fine.
Taking people's feelings and sensitivities into consideration is vital for a harmonious society. But letting a concern for offensiveness censor art and thus diminish creativity and freedom of expression is dangerous.
And if that offends people, I have put my name on the list for the T shirt.
"To those who I have offended, I sincerely apologise."
• Annemarie Quill is a reporter at the Bay of Plenty Times.
