Burberry's noose hoodie is part of a shameful fashion tradition

Burberry's noose hoodie was called out by a model on Instagram

A year ago Gucci put an offensive jumper on their Milan catwalk, although it took that long to actually cause offence.

The wool balaclava jumper was black with a cut-out mouth and red lips which, when pulled up over the wearer’s face, bore a disturbing resemblance to blackface. At the time, no one seemed to notice. I missed it too, and I missed it again when it went on sale last autumn, both of which now seem inexcusable – looking at it, it couldn’t be anything else. Yet it wasn’t until February this year that flags were raised – on Twitter, as is often the case these days – and even then only within the context of Black History Month. Gucci apologised, and took the jumpers off the shelves, even though they had already sat there for a good six months.

Of all the trends to dominate the past season, racist blunders like this seem to be one of fashion’s most prevalent. I can’t remember the last time I woke up to a day free of them. Just last week, Burberry had us screaming into our sleeves at the sight of a hoodie with strings tied in the shape of a noose, while in December, Prada was accused of racism for its Pradamalia creatures (more blackface).

As with Gucci, both events ended with the same sorry carousel whirring into action: outcry, response and some form of action, be it the removal of said item (Gucci) or creation of an “advisory council on diversity issues” (Prada). Asking why this keep happening feels a bit like bolting the horse, not least because of how efficiently this carousel works. Yet it needs to be asked, not least because it’s been happening for ever. In my career in fashion alone, I can remember Valentino put cornrows on the catwalk in 2015, when Marc Jacobs did the same with dreadlocks in 2016, and in the same year Dolce & Gabbana launched a pair of “slave sandals” in its spring/summer collection.

Diversity in fashion has been a hot topic for the past few years, and one that tends to focus on how its image is projected to the outside world. Translated, this means that the catwalks are generally more diverse than ever – not simply in terms of race but gender too – and that there are more black cover stars on magazines. The editor of British Vogue is black (Edward Enninful), as is the biggest menswear designer in the world (Virgil Abloh of Louis Vuitton).


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