Teen who was mocked for calling Charles & Keith a “luxury” brand is now its brand ambassador

SINGAPORE: Ms Zoe Gabriel, who was widely mocked online less than two months ago when she referred to a tote from Charles & Keith as her “first luxury bag,” is now a Brand Community Ambassador for the company.

The 17-year-old, born in the Philippines and moved to Singapore at the age of four, was revealed on Saturday (March 4) as part of a lineup of women for its International Women’s Day campaign, which is celebrated on March 8.

Zoe Gabriel, Content Creator and CHARLES & KEITH's Brand Community Ambassador, with the purple Alia bag.

The launch of this special iteration of the Alia bag is in support of UN Women's ‘Storytelling for Gender Equality’ programme. pic.twitter.com/Qln9ZOYagY

— Charles_Keith (@Charles_Keith) March 4, 2023

Many netizens who saw Ms Gabriel receive backlash online cheered her success.

The teen first gained attention with a TikTok on Jan 8, wherein she thanked her father for the $79.90 tote, the priciest bag she’d gotten to date.

The video was viewed over 2 million times but resulted in Ms Gabriel being widely mocked for calling Charles & Keith a luxury brand.

However, she was defended and supported by many and was even invited along with her father to have lunch with the brand’s founders at the company headquarters.

And now, along with some other women, she represents the brand.

“women are like flowers: our time and needs to grow may not always align, but that is okay.

we are like fields of poppy and lakes of lotus – diverse and bold in our differences, beautiful in our own ways. 

this international women’s day, let us celebrate with compassion. let us celebrate with equality through equity, the way flowers do,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday (March 5).

Many commenters on her post cheered.

Twenty per cent of the proceeds from the purple Alia bag ($75.90) featured with Ms Gabriel in the campaign will go toward the Storytelling For Gender Equality programme of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. /TISG

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