Last week, the fashion house Gucci has removed an $890 sweater that was criticized for its resemblance to blackface, from its stores and website after social media users denounced it as resembling blackface.
The “balaclava” knit was part of Gucci’s autumn/winter 2018 range.
In a letter to all the employees, Creative Director of Gucci, Alessandro Michele said racism was not the intention behind the balaclava sweater — which featured a pull-up neck and bright red lips as a cutout for the mouth.
“The fact that, contrarily to my intentions, that turtle-neck jumper evoked racist imagery causes me the greatest grief,” he said in the letter to Gucci’s 18,000 employees, first reported by the website Women’s Wear Daily.
“But I am aware that sometimes, our actions can end up with causing unintentional effects. It is therefore necessary taking full accountability for these effects.”
Gucci, the Italian luxury brand also released a statement last week that said, “We are fully committed to increasing diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond.”
