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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Stylish films featuring Chanel and Givenchy

Fashion and film have been inextricably linked for the past century, with designers drawing inspiration from the silver screen and auteurs going to great lengths to secure the perfect costumes for their characters. Would Holly Golightly have become a pop culture sensation without Hubert de Givenchy’s sophisticated designs? And what would Belle de Jour be without Yves Saint Laurent or Barbarella without Paco Rabanne? Below, Vogue presents 14 of the best designer and director collaborations of all time.

Raf Simons for Jil Sander in I Am Love

From Call Me by Your Name to A Bigger Splash, Luca Guadagnino’s films are packed with stylish characters – none more so than the 2009 romantic drama I Am Love, which stars the director’s long-time muse Tilda Swinton as a woman who marries into the upper echelons of Milanese society. Raf Simons, then creative director of Jil Sander, provided Swinton’s wardrobe: boxy shift dresses, jewel-tone knits and sleek coats that reflect the refined minimalism that was a hallmark of his tenure at the house.


Rodarte in Black Swan

It was Black Swan’s Oscar-winning leading lady Natalie Portman who introduced director Darren Aronofsky to Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sisters behind Rodarte. While costume designer Amy Westcott (who previously worked with Aronofsky on The Wrestler) created most of the film’s looks, she collaborated with the design duo on a number of elaborate tutus, including the feathered confections Portman wears on stage in the final scene. The designers’ mood boards referenced everything from the day-to-day wardrobes of dancers in the American Ballet Theatre to films like The Double Life of Veronique and The Piano Teacher.


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Prada Marfa Makes an Appearance in The Simpsons

When the Prada store installation appeared in Marfa, Texas, a city with a population under 2,000, back in 2005, it changed the landscape entirely. Suddenly this remote artist’s haven became a destination for fashion fans almost overnight. (Even Beyoncé paid a visit.) Now that same far-flung shop is making waves yet again—this time on America’s longest-running television show, The Simpsons. In the episode that aired on Sunday, the cartoon family makes an impromptu pit stop at the Prada Marfa installation on a road trip through Texas. When Marge sees the luxury boutique on the horizon, she immediately jumps out of the car. “Prada! In the middle of nowhere?” Lisa is quick to correct her mom. “This isn’t a store at all—it’s an art installation!” Meanwhile, in classic fashion, Homer goes behind the store to relieve himself. His reasoning? “It’s on the side of the road, so by definition it is a bathroom.” Not an unfair observation.

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Prada pulls figures that resemble blackface from New York store

The 'Pradamalia' product were pulled 

Prada has apologized after some of its products displayed at a store in New York appeared to contain blackface imagery.

The products, part of a line of goods called Pradamalia, were pulled after they prompted outrage and accusations that they depicted racist caricatures of black people.

Prada said in a statement that it had not intended the products – some of which seemed to resemble black monkeys with outsized red lips – to have any reference to the real world or blackface imagery.

“The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface. Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery,” the firm said.

New York-based civil rights attorney Chinyere Ezie had seen the products at the Prada store in Manhattan’s Soho. She later recounted on Facebook how the sight had left her “shaking with anger”.

“History cannot continue to repeat itself. Black America deserves better. And we demand better,” Ezie wrote in the post, which quickly went viral.

Scandals over blackface imagery continue to break in the US. In October, top NBC host Megan Kelly was ousted from the channel after she appeared to defend blackface Halloween costumes in a discussion on her show. She later apologized, saying: “The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.”

Prada's flame heels set the fashion world alight

Miuccia Prada knows shoes. Season after season, year after year, the Italian powerhouse manages to release a constant array of cult-like footwear—and her latest release is gearing for similar fashion week domination.

At the brand's autumn winter '18 show in February, Prada re-released their iconic 'Flame' heels—which originally debuted at the brand's spring summer '12 show five years earlier.

Prada were obviously so confident that the shoes were going to take off that the runway show was staged beside a huge neon sign depicting the shoe—which features a kitschy flaming wedge and is available in white, red, pink and black.

Kendall Jenner

Kendall Jenner stepped out in the shoes late last week, cementing their must-have status (and announcing they were now available to buy: They retail for approximately $1,380).

Mark our words: These are the heels you're going to see everywhere at the September shows.


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Is the $185 Prada ‘paperclip’ fashion’s latest mundane must-have?

Good design, it is said, should render an object invisible. Until you whack a designer logo on it, at which point it becomes the opposite: a talking point, a must-have, and (in this instance) the only Prada item that you could conceivably afford.

That, we’ll hazard, is the thinking behind its oversized silver paperclip, a snip at $185 (£145), and the latest in a litany of designer accessories inspired by the mundane and the everyday. In fairness, it’s a money clip with a logo, but everyone knows money clips are for rich people (people who deal exclusively in notes) so the irony is still there.

The Prada paperclip has a ring to it, but it’s not the first of its kind. Fashion has long found beauty, humour and profit in designing familiar objects in an unfamiliar way. We saw Jil Sander’s £185 coated-paper “Vasari” bag in 2012 which was just that – an expensive paper bag, cannily designed with coated paper so it didn’t go sodden in the rain. Then there were the £45 leather stickers by Anya Hindmarch, and carrier bags that were embellished with sequins at Ashish for £275, as well as appearing on models’ heads at Christopher Shannon (the subtext was thought to be a commentary on the reality of being a new designer with little disposable capital). Most coveted was Supreme’s logo’d $30 (£23) red clay brick from last year, an absurd item in itself, but then you find out it followed a crowbar, a boxing bag, a Bible, a fire extinguisher and nunchucks.

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