Hindu goddess in designer swimsuits at Australian Fashion Week spark angry protests wordwide.

Depiction of Lakshmi on swim-wear at Sydney fashion show spark angry protests in India.

Posted by hinduexistence on May 15, 2011

Hindu groups protest against the Australian designer Lisa Blue who designed swimwear featuring the image of the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi. Photo: REUTERS. Reports came in from Amritsar and Delhi, India.

Hindu goddess swimsuits at Australian Fashion Week spark angry protests

By Bonnie Malkin, Sydney 6:14PM BST 09 May 2011 | The Tlegraph UK.

Hindus have staged angry protests after a fashion designer exhibited swimsuits bearing the image of the goddess Lakshmi at Australian Fashion Week.

The row has come close to creating a diplomatic incident betweenAustralia and India.

Models wearing colourful swimsuits and bikinis covered in pictures of the goddess took to the catwalk in front of hundreds of people in Sydney last week.

A model parades swimwear featuring the Hindu goddess Lakshmi by Lisa Blue during the Australian Fashion Week spring/summer collections show in Sydney on May 5, 2011.

However, not everyone thought it was appropriate to use of the revered goddess’s image on a skimpy piece of clothing.

When news of the fashion show reached India, some Hindus were outraged.

Over the weekend, demonstrators in Amritsar burned the Australian flag in protest, waving photographs of the offensive swimsuit and demanding that all of the garments be recalled.

Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, fertility and courage. She is worshipped every day by Hindus and her image is considered to be sacred.

Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism, demanded an apology from the designer. He said Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world and its deities deserved to be respected.

“Lakshmi was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for pushing swimwear in fashion shows for mercantile greed of an apparel company,” he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Partya party (BJP) also called for an apology from the Australian government.

The incident is the latest in a long line of fashion faux pas by Western designers when it comes to Indian gods, including US designer Guess using the image of Ganesh on a tank top and the French shoe brand Minelli putting images of Lord Rama on shoes.

The Australian fashion house responsible for the design was quick to apologise.

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