Woke Fashion Brand’s Patriotic Line Triggers Massive Meltdown From Its Own Customers

Liberty Check

• Progressive fashion brand Selkie launches American flag-themed collection and gets torched by its own leftist fanbase
• Customers claim seeing someone in the patriotic designs would make them feel ‘unsafe’ and assume they’re MAGA supporters
• Brand founder refuses to apologize, defending creative freedom despite online mob outrage

A luxury fashion brand beloved by progressives just discovered the hard way that its customer base can’t stomach the American flag. Selkie — the TikTok-famous label known for its extravagant “puff dresses” — unleashed a storm of rage from its own fans after releasing a patriotic capsule collection featuring red, white, and blue designs.

The woman-owned, LGBT-friendly brand dropped its Americana line during Pride Month, thinking its feminist followers would embrace “reclaiming” American symbolism. Instead, the announcement sparked an absolute meltdown in the comment section.

“Could have been a Pride collection. Instead it’s… this,” complained a self-described trauma therapist with she/her pronouns.

“Releasing literally nothing would have been better.”

Founder Kimberley Gordon, a U.K. native who built her brand in California, attempted to frame the collection as a statement against the supposed threats to women’s rights, immigrant communities, and LGBTQ individuals. She urged customers not to “surrender the symbols of this country” and asked them to share their “American story.”

The progressive faithful weren’t buying it. Not even starry-blue corsets or Colonial-inspired red-and-white striped skirts could convince them that a nearly $800 petticoat represented fighting the patriarchy.

“If I saw someone wearing this collection, I would think them an unsafe person to be around,” one commenter posted.

Others branded the line “colonial chic” and dangerously tone-deaf.

“If someone wears any of this I would immediately assume they’re MAGA,” another critic warned.

The brand had previously posted vintage photos of 1900s suffragettes advocating for equality, attempting to tie the collection to feminist history. That backfired spectacularly.

“WTF. Just bought my first Selkie dress last month now I won’t EVER buy from you again,” fumed one former customer.

Even a follow-up post promoting “queer American flag chic” couldn’t calm the outrage.

“I dunno if now is the right time to be celebrating America when everything has collapsed into a facist [sic] oligarchy and we have literal concentration camps everywhere,” one commenter declared, apparently oblivious to the irony of suppressing creative expression while complaining about alleged authoritarianism.

The American flag — a symbol representing valor, purity, and justice for all citizens — has become the internet’s most triggering image for the progressive left. The Pledge of Allegiance promises “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” but many schools have stopped reciting it altogether.

Gordon launched Selkie after being pushed out of WILDFOX, a brand she founded and grew over a decade. She envisioned Selkie as empowering female expression through luxurious, imaginative designs.

“I had this dream of this dress … like a piece of bubblegum. I wanted to make my first ever princess-y dress that was like a dessert — like a confection come to life for your body,” Gordon explained.

The brand takes its name from mythological mermaid creatures in Scottish and Irish folklore — half seal, half human beings vulnerable to captivity if their aquatic skin is stolen. Gordon wanted her brand to protect women’s souls and authentic expression.

Breaking from fashion industry norms, Gordon demanded inclusive sizing from XXS to 6X for women of all body types. Her runway shows featured models in wheelchairs and being carried by men in romantic tableaus. The cupcake-like gowns have been described as wearable paintings.

After debuting in 2018, the line found retail homes at Revolve, Anthropologie, Free People, and Bloomingdale’s, earning celebrity approval along the way. The brand showcased models with curves, freckles, kinky hair, vitiligo, and even full beards in its diverse campaigns.

But even that exhaustive commitment to progressive representation couldn’t satisfy the constantly hungry outrage machine.

Progressives refuse to tolerate American patriotism, even when packaged in their preferred aesthetic of radical inclusivity. The stars and stripes remain unforgivable in their eyes, permanently tainted by association with traditional American values.

On Reddit, one international commenter captured the disconnect between how foreigners view American symbolism versus how American leftists see it:

“I think it is weird if you are an American haha, it gives patriotism. But if you are a foreigner (like me who lives in a third world country where everyone’s dream is being American) it goes with the ‘lana del rey americana’ aesthetic of the 2010s.”

Selkie has pivoted toward damage control, promising to donate 100% of net profits (a $40,000 minimum) from the collection to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and UN Women.

Plus-size model Tess Holliday chimed in with her objection:

“As a white woman, the idea that we get to decide this symbol can simply be reclaimed feels deeply uncomfortable to me.”

But Kimberley Gordon isn’t backing down. In a rare display of backbone against cancel culture, she’s standing by her creative vision.

“This collection is, in part, about the pressure to conform under public scrutiny and the way online outrage can sometimes shut down meaningful dialogue,” she responded.

“To apologize simply because there is criticism would undermine the very conversation the work is intended to spark.”

Gordon maintains her right to creative liberty over her vision of modern Americana.

“It was the symbol of the world I was moving to from the UK, it was the symbol of my new life and friends and the kindness of my California peers. It’s a pattern I’ve played with my whole career in fashion,” Gordon wrote of the U.S. flag.

“The thing about choices is that I have them, these collections are my American story.”

Americans deserve better.