BURBERRY HAS issued an apology after it featured a hoodie designed to include a noose around its neck at a recent fashion show.
The hooded jumper was debuted during the show for the brand’s autumn/winter 2019 collection at London Fashion Week.
However, there was an almost immediate backlash to the new design with Liz Kennedy, the model chosen to showcase the new design, taking to Instagram to slam the fashion firm.
Writing alongside an image of the offending garment, Kennedy claimed she was “ashamed to have been a part of the show.”
“Suicide is not fashion,” she added. “It is not glamorous nor edgy and since this show is dedicated to the youth expressing their voice, here I go.”
Kennedy was particularly critical of Burberry’s chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci.
“Riccardo Tisci and everyone at Burberry it is beyond me how you could let a look resembling a noose hanging from a neck out on the runway,” she wrote.
“How could anyone overlook this and think it would be okay to do this especially in a line dedicated to young girls and youth. The impressionable youth.”
Burberry has now issued a statement to CNN apologising for the incident.
“We are deeply sorry for the distress caused by one of the products that featured in our A/W 2019 runway collection Tempest,” Burberry chief executive officer Marco Gobbetti said in the statement.
“Though the design was inspired by the marine theme that ran throughout the collection, it was insensitive, and we made a mistake.”
The controversy comes just a few days after Gucci was forced to remove a jumper from sale over concerns it resembled ‘blackface’.
