Right-wingers cry tears of hot fury after fashion label shares video of man in dress

A fashion company that specializes in classic, traditional-style linen dresses has found itself going viral online after one of its recent Instagram posts.

Son de Flor is a Lithuania-based company founded by two sisters. On its website, it says it specializes in the sort of timeless, simple designs the sisters’ mom wore when they were growing up.

Its Instagram page features women wearing modest, linen dresses, some of which could have come from the 19th century. It’s giving Little House on the Prairie meets Midsommar vibes.

It recently shared a video posted by David Ross Lawn. The musician and influencer has a big following on social media. He often posts videos of himself modeling clothing, and this tends to include dresses and skirts. Lawn very much works a vintage or classic style, adding his own twist. He enjoys a following of over half a million on TikTok.

Here’s a video he posted of himself demonstrating how he wears Son de Flor, re-shared by the brand.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by David Ross Lawn (@davidrosslawn)

Cute, right?

Bethany Mandel

Well, it wasn’t long before the video was picked up by some right-wing extremists. They’re now trying to turn this into the next Bud Light/Dylan Mulvaney controversy.

Bethany Mandel is an ardent homeschooler who has written about the indoctrination of kids in schools. She was appalled by the video. She tweeted, “One of my favorite dress shops- a modest old fashioned linen company- featured a man modeling their dresses. They’re down 1,000 followers and the comments are a dumpster fire for them. I truly do not understand what they expected. Who do they think their audience is?”

One of my favorite dress shops- a modest old fashioned linen company- featured a man modeling their dresses. They’re down 1,000 followers and the comments are a dumpster fire for them. I truly do not understand what they expected. Who do they think their audience is? pic.twitter.com/n7YmzUXZs0

— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) July 3, 2023

She was swiftly commissioned to write a piece for the right-leaning Spectator magazine, entitled, ‘Is my favorite dress company the new Bud Light?’

Despite Mandel’s best efforts, her apparent desire to try and destroy a small, independent business seems to have backfired. Although many of her followers have echoed her fragile outrage about the video, the post has become the most liked on Son de Flor’s Instagram feed. The video also prompted thousands of comments on social media.

Today is literally a holiday celebrating the “founding fathers” of the United States, who all wore expensive wigs and dressed like this: https://t.co/YwXbgRgBgC pic.twitter.com/6k87nlpOYP

— Ryan Marino, MD (@RyanMarino) July 5, 2023

Thank you for alerting me to this fun and awesome dress company. I’d never heard of them and will definitely check them out right away!

— Sooz Kempner | soozuk.bsky.social (@SoozUK) July 4, 2023

Maybe they expected people to be grown-up in stead of responding like badly brought up easily upset angry teenagers?
Either way, I think I am their audience because David made me smile and that dress looks great.

How are their follower counts doing now?

— Fake History Hunter (@fakehistoryhunt) July 4, 2023

He looks fantastic. The Fashion-police Karens only WISH they could rock a dress like that.

— 🍇TeepToTheJunk🍷 (@teeptothejunk) July 4, 2023

You feel comfortable wearing trousers, do you not? Please explains to me what the difference is between that and this.

— Eva ? (@itsevangeliaa) July 4, 2023

Many people said yesterday that Son de Flor’s Instagram had 321k followers and seemed to be growing. At the time of writing, this had risen to 323k followers.

Son de Flor responds to backlash

This morning, Vaida, one of the sisters who co-founded the company, posted a video about the controversy.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Son de Flor (@sondeflor)

“A lot of things have been happening here at Son de Flor and we had a little bit of turbulence going on,” she says. We’re guessing English is not her first language, so bear that in mind when reading her words.

“I just want to say, first of all, Son de Flor is about slow and sustainable fashion. We just want to show to the world the beauty of linen.

“Second of all … we were always open and very friendly to anybody who wanted to work and be friends with Son de Flor. No matter if you were old or young, slim or bigger, if you were bright tone skin tone or darker, if your ethnicity is different, doesn’t matter… if you like Son de Flor, we’re very open to just collaborating and spread the beauty and make the world a more beautiful place. We were always about that and will remain about that.

“Whatever fights we are having beneath some of the posts, we are for inclusivity, for the creativity, for the beauty, and for friendship and for kindness.

“David is our friend for quite a while,” she continued. “We have shared his posts also before, so it was a real surprise this post hit so much. So, really David, we love you. We love what you’re doing, keep expressing, keep being queer.”

“Let’s be broadminded, let’s be friendly, let’s be patient with each other. And let’s just make this place a beautiful place. This world is full of a lot of problems all over the world. Son de Flor should not and never be a land for war. Son de Flor is the brand where we all can come together and where we will all find space and place here.”

Related:

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Bud Light recently congratulated Dylan Mulvaney on reaching her ‘365 days of girlhood’ milestone.