After a truly head-scratching choice on the runway, Givenchy is now facing backlash for featuring a noose necklace at a Paris Fashion show.
Fashion house Givenchy had their spring-summer women’s and men’s Paris fashion show over the weekend. While typically one of the biggest days of the year for any fashion house, the headlines coming out of it are unflattering, to say the least. The house and creative director Matthew M Williams are now under fire for what is being referred to as a, “blatantly offensive” necklace, which people immediately realized resembles a noose.
The backlash to the choice is widespread, with fashion accounts and even professors speaking out in frustration with the choice. Professor of media, communications and cultural studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, Angela McRobbie, shared in a statement to The Guardian, “I’m not sure what to say here, given the tired and weary ‘desire to shock’ or the absolute thoughtlessness. For me, the questions that are relevant but never gets answered are: who are the decision makers behind the scenes? Who signs off blatantly offensive items like this? When there is a reaction, do they get fired?”
She then asked, “Is there a cynical agenda to shock and then rapidly withdraw the offending piece for the media attention it accrues?”
Fashion accounts and fans expressing their discomfort and disappointment in the fashion brand have been quick to point out that an eerily similar situation happened just two years ago with Burberry, as theGrio previously reported. Burberry was slammed in 2019 over a “noose hoodie” they debuted during London fashion week (held during Black History Month, no less). Wanda Sykes at the time tweeted, “Ok, did you a**holes get together and ask, “How can we make this THE worst Black History Month ever? I mean let’s really f**k it up.”
Comparing both instances, popular fashion account Diet Prada wrote in a post, “[TW: Suicide] You’d think the industry would’ve learned not to put things that resemble nooses around a model’s neck after the whole @Burberry noose hoodie debacle in 2019… This @givenchyofficial necklace that just came down the runway steers dangerously close to that same territory. Really makes you wonder how no one noticed, but alas… history repeats itself.”
Twitter users also expressed their disappointment. One person wrote, “Ok I liked givenchy’s new pieces BUT that noose necklace … cmon now.” Another user called for Williams to be held responsible, writing, “Honestly in which world having a noose hanging on a girl’s neck is fashion, #Givenchy? Spring/Summer 2022 dragged way back to 1822. Do better, Matthew, both for the brand and the world. Young girls & guys don’t need to see this at any stage, especially #ParisFashionWeek. Tch.”
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