Fashion store pulls £360 Jimi Hendrix swim shorts from shelves because they feature images of Hindu gods
A FASHION store is pulling £360 Jimi Hendrix swim shorts from sale because they feature images of Hindu gods.
Religious leader Rajan Zed said the depiction on clothes worn around the groin and genitals was “highly inappropriate”.
He demanded MatchesFashion, which has a five-storey shop in Mayfair, central London, and its HQ in The Shard, drop the product.
The brand apologised to Mr Zed, of Nevada, US, and withdrew the shorts.
The offending garments are based on a design used by The Jimi Hendrix Experience for their classic album cover on Axis: Bold As Love, which shows the legendary rocker with his bandmates dressed as the Hindu god Vishnu.
It also pledged to make employees more aware of similar religious concerns.
MatchesFashion’s Paul Watson said: “This was not intentional.”
In response to the withdrawal, Mr Zed who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism in Nevada, said: "We thank MatchesFashion for understanding the concerns of the Hindu community, who thought images of Hindu deities on such a product was insensitive."
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Cleric Mr Zed called on other companies to send their senior executives for training in religious and cultural sensitivity.
He added: "The many Hindu deities displayed on these shorts are highly revered in Hinduism and are meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to adorn one's thighs, hips, groin, buttocks, genitals and pelvis.
"Such trivialisation of Hindu deities is disturbing to Hindus the world over. Hindus are for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else, if not more."
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