Many were surprised, weirded out, or in stitches over the debut of Pharrell's "Gandalf Hat" earlier this year, but it probably didn't outright offend anyone. That much can not be said for the singer/producer's latest choice of headwear, a Native American headdress worn on the cover of Elle UK.
Members of the Native American community, and well as people with general common sense have reacted to the use of a cultural image as a fashion statement, expressing their distaste for the choice via social media and using the #NotHappy hashtag.
The original tagline was said to have read "We persuaded ELLE Style Award winner Pharrell to trade his Vivienne Westwood mountie hat for a native American feather headdress in his best ever shoot," but the magazine has since changed it to “Continuing our tradition of featuring cult male icons on collector’s edition covers we persuaded ELLE Style Award winner Pharrell to collaborate with us on his best ever shoot.”
Pharrell himself has issued a short apology for the choice, saying “I respect and honor every kind of race, background and culture. I am genuinely sorry.”
Take a look at the cover in the gallery above.
[via]