Elle magazine has been accused of "deplorable ignorance" for a fashion shoot on North Korean "military chic".
The website for the US edition of the magazine incorporates an image of a North Korean soldier looking through binoculars with a model in camouflage-pattern trousers available from the Shopbop web site that cost US$425 ($510). The "slouchy" fatigues have "a bold, androgynous look", the website adds. "Some iteration of the military trend stomps down the runways every few seasons," the Elle website states. "This time, it's edgier, even dangerous, with sharp buckles and clasps and take-no-prisoners tailoring."
The shoot for autumn fashions, which appears in a feature entitled "Fall's 2013 Top Fashion Trends", has angered Ken Kato, director of Human Rights in Asia. "If they knew anything about North Korea - more then 2 million people starved to death by the regime, child slaves, public executions, infanticides in detention facilities, threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes - they would never have shown North Korean military fatigues as a fashion trend," he said.
