Gucci Creative Head Breaks Silence Over ‘Blackface’ Sweater
February 13, 2019
NEW YORK (AP) — Gucci’s creative director broke his silence Tuesday over an $890 sweater that resembled blackface, saying racism was never his intention. Alessandro Michele, a design force at the Italian fashion house, lamented in a letter to employees both his own pain and “that of the people who saw in one of my creative projects an intolerable insult.” The black sweater with a pull-up neck featured a cutout surrounded by cartoonish red lips. Michele wrote that it was not inspired by blackface but by the late Leigh Bowery, a performance artist, club promoter and fashion designer who often
