Coronavirus: Amal Clooney's sister Tala slammed for selling $30 luxury face masks amid global crisis
Amal Clooney's fashion designer sister, Tala Alamuddin Le Tallec, has faced criticism for selling luxury, non-medically approved face masks and hand sanitizer pouches for over $30 each on her website amid the coronavirus crisis.
The owner of the brand Totally Tala, who lives in Singapore, has uploaded a wide variety of denim, camouflage and leopard-print face masks in a range of colors. The 47-year-old’s recent collection is called "Le Masque" under which she is selling masks and sanitizer pouches.
A description on Tala’s fashion website says, “In our ever-changing world, we've got you covered: some comfortable (and chic) coverage goes a long way.”
The fashion site terms the collection as the “luxury face coverup”, which offers “protection with flair”.
Tala is also selling hand sanitizer pouches, named Sanity Stasher Zip Pouch, described as an attempt to “save your hand sanitizer and your sanity” on the website. The matching pouches come in a variety of colors and patterns with names like “Wicked White”, “Yo Yo Yellow” and “Punk Pink Camo”.
Tala has posted about her new collection on her website’s Instagram account too, where she received a lot of criticism. One commenter wrote: “You should be ashamed of yourself for selling these. Trying to profit off the coronavirus, that's literally killing thousands of people.”
While another commented, “How incredibly disappointing — selling rip-off medical face masks (your #LeMasque) that absolutely DO NOT MEET medical standards whatsoever... I expect more from a well-known businesswoman with a world-renown attorney sister... Stop taking advantage of this Global Pandemic and DO BETTER.”
However, after facing criticism, Tala told Hello that all profits from Le Masque will be donated to Red Cross Singapore to help those affected by the pandemic.
She added: “I've been an expat in Asia for over 20 years. Part of TALA brand's mission is to make a difference wherever we can to help those in need, through fashion.
We created Le Masque as a response to help during these unprecedented, scary times. Masks are a staple in Asian households and used regularly for colds, pollution, and cosmetic recovery. Our masks are NOT N95 certified and should be considered a physical barrier for sneezing and colds with flair, but they are not medically certified.”
“We are doing our part, we hope that you do yours and we'll help bring you some joy by wearing a TALA Le Masque,” the mother-of-four concluded.