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The producer of Omaha Fashion Week has released a statement after an apparent swastika was displayed on the runway at one of its events in late February and early March.
Buf Reynolds, a long-time designer who became Omaha Fashion Week’s producer in 2023, said in an Instagram post on Thursday that the organization “stands against hate” and acknowledged that a “hateful image” made it to the runway at a recent event.
“I was appalled at the sight of a hate symbol walking on the runway,” Reynolds said. “Those who know me know I staunchly stand against everything that symbol stands for.”
Omaha Fashion Week owner Brook Hudson told the Omaha World-Herald she was at the show and saw the hate symbol while the model was walking the runway. In response, the production team pulled the jacket so it wouldn’t be seen for the rest of the show, Hudson said.
While it has ancient roots, the swastika became a symbol of “hate, antisemitism and infamy” after it was adopted as the primary symbol for the Nazi Party by Adolf Hitler in 1920, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
“Since 1945, the swastika has served as the most significant and notorious of hate symbols, antisemitism and white supremacy for most of the world,” the ADL’s website says.
Here’s more about Omaha Fashion Week and the response to an apparent swastika displayed at one of its events.
What is Omaha Fashion Week?
In 2008, Omaha Fashion Week began as an event held for 12 designers, 20 models and 2,000 attendees. Now, it’s the fourth largest organized fashion week event in the country, and it’s the first to make participation free for designers, the organization’s website says.
The organization is “socially conscious” and meant to be “an incubator for fashion industry talent and provide opportunities for the Omaha community to enjoy a unique, red-carpet experience,” its website says.
How did an apparent swastika appear on the runway?
The organization wasn’t aware of the jacket that had the apparent swastika on the back before it was displayed, Reynolds’ statement says.
“It was not at our rack check, which happens a few weeks before shows, and was not put on the model until shortly before she walked the runway, so our team did not have the chance to pull the garment until after it had walked the runway once,” Reynolds said.
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.
Omaha Fashion Week also released a statement to ticket holders who attended the event, the other models, the hair and makeup team and volunteers to “let everyone know immediately where we stand,” Reynolds said.
Has the designer released a statement?
Molczyk said in an Instagram post on Friday that the design in question was from an “antique pinwheel quilt remnant” she bought from a store in central Nebraska two years ago.
“At no point did I believe the pinwheel pattern represented or depicted a swastika, nor was it ever my intent to design the outfit with a swastika,” Molczyk said.
Molczyk added that she has never been a member of a hate group and condemns “in the strongest terms the swastika and any form of hate speech or conduct.”
“To associate me with any such acts of hate or hate groups is reprehensible and defamatory,” she said.
