Designer slammed for ‘I heart Ozempic’ shirt: ‘Toxic values’
Fashionistas did not “heart” this collection.
Provocative clubwear brand Namilia triggered uproar at Berlin Fashion Week last weekend after debuting an “I heart Ozempic” shirt, with some calling the brand “toxic” and “distasteful” for playing off the controversial weight loss fad.
In a statement to The Post, Namilia’s co-creative director Nan Li said their critics are missing the point: The tawdry tee is “a piece of pop art commentary and satire” targeting the health and beauty industry’s latest obsession with quick fix weight loss drugs.
Namilia’s Spring/Summer 2025 line, titled “Good Girl Gone Bad,” highlighted society’s sordid obsession with celebrity gossip and paparazzi shots that dominated the culture of the early aughts, when ultra-thin was in among the Von Dutch era “It” girls. The collection features bedazzled Ed Hardy designs, leather lace-up pants and mini skirts, barely-there one-pieces and a slew of tees with slogans like “fame kills” and “too pretty for rehab.”
But in its attempt to be satirical with its abrasive Ozempic tank — a nod to the recent weight loss drug craze that has yielded nationwide shortages and a swell of rumors about which A-lister is taking the once-weekly jab — the label seems to have missed the mark among the masses.
Social media users slammed Namilia for seemingly promoting eating disorders and unrealistic — and potentially damaging — beauty ideals.
“This brand has become way too influential in the past couple of years to be spreading such low, superficial, capitalistic, and toxic values,” wrote one user in a lengthy diatribe on Instagram.
“‘Making a statement/joke’ and the statement is just ‘eating disorders are cool and fun and won’t ruin your life at all,'” sneered one critic. “SNOOZE.”
“What a poor and distasteful joke. Such a shame,” commented another.
“Your brand is incongruous,” one asked. “How can you be ’empowering’ women by normalizing the use of a medicine that is scarce and that many people do need to live healthily?”
“WTF….really? Are you promoting this?” someone else said in disbelief.
Li told The Post he believes that “fashion is a visual tool for political and cultural statements” that can “provoke discussion” about the current culture.
“The Ozempic craze for us has been played out in a double standard in pop culture,” Li said. “On one side celebrities and their followers are willing to do anything they can to fit the still prevalent super slim body ideal in pop culture but on the other side nobody is willing to admit to abusing medication to meet the often unrealistic expectations of current beauty standards.”
Since the Ozempic boom, there has been a newfound cultural glorification of thinness as more celebrities are seemingly shrinking their silhouettes and those who cannot afford the costly prescription resort to knock-off medication and DIY hacks for budget weight loss.
The semaglutide drug, which was initially manufactured for those with Type-2 diabetes, has also been reported to cause a wide array of side effects in users, such as eye conditions or a sunken face.
Svelte frames were also en vogue during the heyday of indie sleaze and Y2K in the ’90s and ’00s, to which Namilia’s collection pays homage with Y2K trucker hats, shrunken, rhinestone-bedazzled baby tees and pink leopard print fabric.
Trashy tramp stamps and belly button piercings are making a comeback, while “Brat Summer” — inspired by Charli xcx’s club album “Brat” and is defined “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra” — is gaining viral popularity among Gen Z, or self-proclaimed “brats.”
“Namilia asks why pop culture pushes us to our breaking points for recognition, attention and some kind of belonging? Why does society desperately categorize us into stereotypes only to be disappointed when we fail to fully live up to these impossible standards?” the brand wrote on Instagram.
“Why do we love to watch others fail?”
