After Italian luxury fashion brand Prada’s ‘Kolhapuri chappal’ fiasco, now a California-based fashion label marketed a saree-inspired outfit as a ‘Western-style dress’ and priced it at nearly Rs 26,000.The controversy erupted when social media users noticed that the garment had key features of a saree, including waist pleats and a pallu draped over the shoulder. It was argued that the outfit was essentially a saree being repackaged for a Western audience without proper acknowledgment of its cultural origins.Calling out the description, the Threads user contended that the outfit was unmistakably a saree. “While the founders are an Asian husband-and-wife team based out of California, their embellished maxi dress is a saree. You know how I know? Check the pictures,” the post read.Netizens react:A user wrote, “JW PEI brand is an example of how cultural appropriation can happen even within 2 marginalized communities’ members, especially in the diaspora.”Another pointed out, “That is not an overlay dress wt. That is a saree.”The backlash appears to have prompted the brand to revise the product description. The garment, which was originally listed as a “draped maxi dress,” was subsequently renamed “Embellished Saree-Inspired Gown.”