Givenchy ‘noose necklace’ sparks outrage following Burberry’s infamous hoodie

Givenchy have sparked backlash after they featured a piece of jewellery that resembles a noose in their 2022 spring/summer collection at Paris Fashion Week.

Creative director, Matthew M. Williams, debuted his first live runway on Sunday, showcasing the silver ‘noose necklace’ as part of the collection.

Fashion watchdogs Diet Prada quickly highlighted that “history [repeated] itself” after comparing it to Burberry’s questionable hoodie design in their 2019 autumn/winter collection at London Fashion Week.

In a post to their 2.9 million Instagram followers, they said: “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” accompanied with a side-by-side image that drew parallels between the two designs.

“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.”

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Fellow social media users also noted the similarity to Burberry’s backlash, which prompted Marco Gobbetti, the chief executive of Burberry to apologise. He said he was “deeply sorry for the distress” and removed the hoodie from the collection.

“While the design was inspired by a nautical theme, I realize that it was insensitive”, Riccardo Tisci, Burberry’s creative director added.

Burberry soon apologised for their design in 2019 Twitter

Fury spilt out onto Twitter too, with many users highlighting the absurdity of the necklace.

“It’s almost as if they did this for the publicity,” one tweeted.

“This ‘necklace’ had to go through multiple channels, from design to final approval and they knew what they were doing. It’s not as if this was meant to raise awareness, this is straight glamorising suicide in fashion.”

Others justified the accessory and branded the piece as “edgy” and said, “it’s just commerce fashion.”

Indy100 reached out to Givenchy for comment.