“Celebrities from shein” - Alexander Wang comes under fire for using Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, and Beyonce lookalikes in latest bag campaign

Fashion designer Alexander Wang and his eponymous fashion brand just came under fire for a brand new ad campaign that went viral on social media. On Monday, May 20, Wang's fashion label posted a reel aimed at promoting the brand's Ricco bag, which was, at the time, going to be back in stock by Wednesday, May 22. The reel showcased a bunch of models testing out the product.

However, the models employed by Wang all looked eerily similar to a plethora of high-profile celebrities. The look-alikes featured on the reel included those of Bad Blood hitmaker Taylor Swift, Single Ladies singer Beyonce, model and reality TV star Kylie Jenner, and Into You hitmaker Ariana Grande. On Instagram, the video amassed over 1.5 million views, at the time of writing this article.

The caption to the reel explains that the "100% certified authentic" Alexander Wang Ricco bags were back in stock on May 22. The video promoted various features of the fashionable bag, including its studded bottom, logo embossed strap, pebble textured leather, two different lengths of adjustable straps, and small and medium size options.

On X, many users criticized Alexander Wang for the reel and called it "weird". Some felt this was a downright "impersonation" of the celebrities in question and wanted the brand to get sued.

Some even felt like none of the supposed impersonators even remotely resembled the people they were impersonating. Here are a few X reactions to the Alexander Wang reel:

"This is weird. These celebrities need to start suing ASAP.," said one X user.

"This is creepy and lowkey impersonation, these celebrities should all sue…," said a second user.

"None of them even look like the celebrities. The only one close is Taylor and Swifties can tell it’s not her. No one is gonna be influenced to buy this IJBOL 😭 Alexander Wang ruined his reputation for nothing," commented another X user.

"that's so weird...," said a fourth netizen.

"You know times are rough when they need to use knock of to promote authentic purses," said yet another X user.

On Instagram on the other hand, many users were quite amused by the reel and joked about the models being celebrities ordered from shopping websites. Some even gave fake names to these supposedly fake celebrities. Here are a few Instagram reactions to the reel:

"celebrities from shein," said one Instagram user.

"Ordered celebrities from Temu much like your garments," said a second user.

"Ariana pequena, Kylie gender, Taylor missed, Bey once upon a time," commented a third Instagram user.

"Taylor swoft , Kylie gander , Ariana not grande , beyoncer," said another Instagram user.

"What in the bootleg celebrity is going on," said yet another user.

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Alexander Wang's Ricco bag is a successor of the iconic Rocco bag

Alexander Wang's iconic Rocco bag became a big hit back in 2009 and was a must-have for every it-girl in town. The mini duffle-style bag with its flabby leather metal studs was seen with a plethora of high-profile celebs including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Zoë Kravitz, and Ashley Tisdale.

However, as big bags went out of fashion, so did Rocco, which prompted the fashion brand to launch the Ricco bag, a smaller updated version of the Rocco bag. The new genderless bag rests easy on the shoulder, and according to Elle, is also 30% lighter than its predecessor, courtesy of its aluminum trapezoidal studs.

As mentioned above, the bag also has removable and adjustable shoulder straps with a different strap length on either side. The Ricco bag is available in two sizes: medium, which has a flap-top magnetic closure, and small, which has a double zip-top closure. The bags retail at $1,050 and $850 respectively.