Just weeks after Dolce & Gabbana released a sexist and racist 'Eating with Chopsticks' ad, Prada is the latest high fashion brand to be shamed for its poor judgment with its latest collection. The Pradamalia collection depicted monkey figurines with enlarged red lips, resembling the awful depictions of blackface and Little Black Sambo character, a novel that played on racist stereotypes from 1899.
A serious amount of people took to social media to blast the fashion house with one user writing, "I can't wear your products anymore. Everything Prada I owe is going to be sold, given away or it's going in the trash. You can't do this to us," and another adding: "Wow. @Prada seems to think this is some kind of “mysterious” new invention. Hate to break it to you guys, this ain’t the future. It’s the past. The very recent, racist past and it’s all too present now, clearly #blackface #sambo #slavery still in vogue, apparently."
The Italian fashion house has now released a statement on the matter detailing how, of course, it was never their intention. "Prada Group abhors racist 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."
They added: "Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery. In this interest we will withdraw the characters in question from display and circulation."