Swastika at Omaha fashion week

[suegeo]

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2025/03/21/omaha-fashion-week-responds-to-hate-symbol-displayed-on-runway/82590899007/


Omaha Fashion Week is the fourth largest organized fashion week event in the country,

An image of the model walking the runway while wearing the jacket with the apparent swastika was shared in posts on social media.

The designer, Kelli Molczyk – a former senior vice president for Buckle, according to KMTV – was removed from her role as a panelist and told she wouldn't be allowed to return for the remaining events.

The designer said that the design in question was from an "antique pinwheel quilt remnant" she bought from a store in central Nebraska two years ago.

There were right wing fascist bros marching through downtown Des Moines a few weeks ago (2025).
Patterns, patterns. I hate Nazis. Jeder Nazi ist ein hoerrn sohn.

[Tanuki]

1. This is a picture of the jacket.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHZ7kqQM87z/

There's no fucking way the designer didn't know exactly what she was doing. 😡

[hatrack]

2. OFFS - it's the only decorative feature on the back of the garment . . . .

Yeah, she freaking knew.

[tblue37]

5. She also made it black whereas the supposed quilt inspiration was multicolored.

Picture of the antique quilt & the jacket:
https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1BpHnM.img?w=534&h=356&m=6

My guess: she thought she'd get a lot of attention/publicity, but would then be able to claim she was just inspired by an antique quilt.

[Srkdqltr]

3. Omaha has a fashion week?

Quilters I know have used the ,old time design, excuse to use that symbol. They get called out for it every time.
Actually they are right, but, they know what that means now so there is no excuse for using it.

[dobleremolque]

4. I don't cut her any slack, but before Nazi Germany ruined it, the swastika or "hooked cross" was

a motif in many cultures around the world. It was used by a number of Native American tribes.

It's worth noting that in early 1940, a consortium of tribal leaders met in Tucson, Arizona to sign a declaration banning it's use after Nazi Germany appropriated it.

Here's a pre-World War II Navajo rug that incorporated what was known as the "whirling log."

[marble falls]

6. My wife and I quilt and vend at shows and buy and sell quilts ...

... it may provoke, but this is an old square pattern and in fact, it looks like she salvaged a square from an old pre 30's quilt and aplied it to the jacket.

Would I sell that quilt? But only at a quilt show.

I bought a quilt I saw advertised as a "Nazi Quilt". It was a pre Nazi pinwheel pieced by a beginner by hand. I couldn't find a block online like that, the pattern was changed sometime pre-fifties. I think because it looks like what it looks like. Frankly the new pattern still looks swaztikalike in my opinion:



But I did find this:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/40s-folk-art-african-american-swastika-fly-foot




*Hello and Welcome to my Site! *For those of you new to my Site I offer an array of Outstanding Antique Quilts and Quilt Tops, with emphasis on African American Textiles, acquired from the Tri-State area of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas *My Quilts are acquired from Old Anglo and African American Estates in the area, that I handle for local Attorneys that Probate Wills. I try my best, when available, to share with you, any history and information I have on each Quilt. *As many of you know, a great majority of the Old African American Quilts originated in the South, so we are very fortunate in our area to have access to these beauties! *This auction is for a STUNNING, FOLK ART, Antique 40's, African American, Swastika/Fly Foot, Quilt *This is truly a piece of ART and a MOST UNUSUAL Quilt. It is a MUST-HAVE for your collection! *Circa: 1940's *Measurements: 67" x 84" *Colors: Assorted *Fabric: Old Cottons. *Machine Pieced and Hand Quilted with naive, primitive large hand stitches *This Quilt is VERY unusual, using many many scraps of old fabrics, pieced together with what the lady had available at the time, with no rhyme or reason. The intricateness of the piecing and the design, make this Quilt an excellent Folk Art African American example!! *This Quilt is VERY unusual and fabulous primitive Folk Art, with amazing Graphic Appeal!! *This is a wonderful Old Lightweight Quilt *SPECTACULAR Find!! *Condition: I would consider this Quilt in Very Good, Beautiful Antique Condition, and a 'Must-Have' for your collection! *This would be OUTSTANDING Framed and Displayed, used over your favorite bed, tossed over a chair, or used for Exhibition purposes...it is a work of ART! Certainly a great example of African American Folk Art Textile History! Check out my other items ! Be sure to add me to your favorites list ! hide

[4catsmom]

7. The most surprising thing about this

is that Omaha has a fashion week

[BigmanPigman]

8. I always thought the Nazi symbol was inverted from American Indians' designs.

I just looked it up and this is correct. Also, visually, the Nazis used the symbol on an angle/diagonally, while American Indians use the symbol horizontally. I think that is the main difference, visually speaking. I studied art and design and trained as an illustrator so I am more of a visual person. If it is used by a fashion designer on a diagonal/angle (as in this case) I think it is intentionally a hate-symbol.
......
"The Nazi party adopted a right-facing, inverted version of the swastika as their symbol, which led to the symbol's association with hate, antisemitism, and the Holocaust.

Confusion and Misinterpretation:
Because of the Nazi association, the traditional swastika is often misinterpreted as a symbol of hate, even though its original meaning in many cultures was positive and spiritual.

Examples of Navajo Symbol:
The "whirling log" or "falling log" is a sacred Navajo symbol that's sometimes confused with a swastika, representing humanity, life, the constellation, moon, sun, equinox, the four directions, and the rotation of the earth."